riced

I would have said "Get the Police." At least that would have stirred the attention of the manager and perhaps they would have continued the conversation.

Does anyone have a link to the One World lounge entitlements page? It might be helpful for those sending friends and family to have a printed page at the ready. This happens far too often at LHR to be a random occurrence.

mrow

Because I have seen others with similar issues on this forum and have also experienced poorly informed agents not realise that CX Gold is equivalent to BA Silver and AA Executive Platinum is not equivalent to BA Gold.

mrow

As a British Citizen I would have stood my ground knowing I was in the right and happily had a conversation with the police.

Other half is an American with an indefinite leave to remain visa so generally we have the view that it's better not to cause problems as who knows when/if brushes with the law (no matter whether in the right or the wrong) will have an impact on visa renewals.

In hindsight it's probably good I wasn't there. Suspect I wouldn't have taken too well to being called a pain in the ... by a member of BA staff!

mrow

Thanks to all the responses. I had already considered contacting BA about this as I do believe the tone of this conversation was not acceptable. Hadn't thought about escalation to Frank van der Post.

Thanks to sigma421 for the suggestion of involving Frank van der Post and c-w-s for contacting AA as well as BA. Wouldn't have considered these steps.

Magic01273

British Airways. To Serve. To Cry.

paulwuk

That image dates back to pre t5.


I too would have told them to call the police. The area the op was in is part of the public terminal, with an Amex facility and a BA "museum".

As well as a letter to the highest level detailing the name of the person who needs a p45, I'd strongly suggest writing to a reputable travel journalist, perhaps Simon Calder (either in the independent, or the bbc's fast track travel clinic)

It is unacceptable for Ba staff to threaten to arrest their customers.

HilFly

This is appalling. No passenger should be treated this way, whether they were entitled to lounge access or not.

Please do report this incident to BA, with as much detail as possible that would help to identify the member of staff involved. This person should not be working for BA.

Though there are those on this forum who would say it could all have been avoided by a smile and a greeting (or even a joke) from your other half.

pomkiwi

Not in the same league but I can confirm that the staff at the entrance to GF were not at their most welcoming today. Mrs PK and I (both BA G card holders for a few months more) approached with our adult daughter (no status) I approached the desk and my BP was scanned followed by my daughter. The staff member looked at Mrs PK and then told me that I was only allowed to bring one guest into this lounge. I smiled and replied that Mrs PK was also a G card holder. 'Oh all right then' was the response. My wife was not spoken to nor welcomed at any point

Really not out of the top drawer of examples of how to make reasonably premium customers feel valued.

The guy tidying up just past the desks could not have been more charming or welcoming however....

jerry a. laska

http://www.oneworld.com/ffp/lounge-access

jerry a. laska

It's a fairly common issue for lounge access by class of service after having arrived off a longhaul in J or F and connecting to a shorthaul in domestic or ET. The agents seem to become confused and forget about OW rules that the J or F longhaul arrival allows access when connecting to another oneworld flight regardless of status or the class the short haul connecting flight is booked. If you retain your long haul boarding pass it sometimes jogs their memory and assists one in obtaining the access that is allowed under the rules.

T8191

Which is what we did for family members ... Bring the old BP and present that. And a copy of the Lounge brief as backup. As it happened, there was no problem, armed and eqiuipped for the challenge.

Nor should there have been one!

And that's where BA is getting it so very wrong. We have no problem, via status and booking class. But we're new enough in this situation to understand how annoying/embarrassing the inconsistencies can be.

BahrainLad

This behaviour is completely unacceptable. Take the staff member's name and complain at the highest levels. If you're on a lounge desk your sole purpose in life is to understand who to let in and who to not. If you can't grasp that, then you should foxtrot-oscar.

AJLondon

Agree entirely. ^ ^

stargold

And crucially, less of the "You're now being a pain in the arse and I'm going to call the police if you don't leave immediately". That would have really gotten my blood boiling and I would have actually gotten them to bring the police.

h15t0r1an

Do people ever just take out their mobile phone and take a photograph of the staff member with whom they're having difficulty in these circumstances?