OldHigsonian

Edited because I am an idiot!

stifle

I beg to theoretically disagree.

I go into a shop and ask for two dozen widgets, and the clerk takes a dislike to me and puts 20 in my bag and charges for the 24.

I make an order at the restaurant for a 12oz steak with mushrooms and chips, and the waiter decides he's going to give me an 8oz steak and forget the mushrooms, but they still show up on my bill.

Both of these people have wilfully cheated a customer out of something that they have, or are going to, pay for. Lounge access is something that is built into the cost of a premium class flight. The only thing that currently mitigates the infringement committed by the lounge dragon that the OP saw is that the lounge access rules may not be fully clear. The rules I posted are crystal-clear, and I think that a lounge dragon who sees the rules, sees a passenger meeting the rules, and refuses to admit the passenger is at the very least incapable of doing their job.

Well done!

Final 3 Greens

Absolutely, as is the lack of intelligence (or care) to discretely check who is entitled to enter.

mrow

Unfortunately my partner had exactly the same problem again today!

On a positive the BA staff member was more willing to listen and I spoke them through the Lounge Access guide rules.

The staff member was worried about letting her into the lounge, but did so on the basis of my conversation.

Very disappointing BA. Customer relations being contacted again!

yohoho

It makes me wonder whether BA frequently rotate staff between roles leaving few with real in-depth knowledge of lounge access rules and possibly other business areas for that matter.

OT: Also currently trying to enlighten BA CS staff on rules relating to TP earning on partner airlines, already on my 3rd attempt with CS despite my line of argument being consistent with their published rules on ba.com

mrow

The BA staff member I spoke to on the telephone (my partner passed him her phone so I could speak to him) was very helpful and explained that it'd be on his head if he got it wrong so he needed to make sure he was correct. He said he didn't work in the lounges very often and that is was quite confusing to know what is and isn't applicable.

Unlike the previous time when the BA staff member was downright rude, on this occasion I felt quite sorry for the BA staff member and think he went out of his way to try and seek clarification. The problem is that he escalated to 2 separate people before speaking to me. The first person said Lounge Access wasn't allowed and the second said that it was!

Disappointing that BA cannot get the basics like this correct. Their staff on the frontline seem to be quite often under-supported in this regard. It's a shame.

MarkedMan

It's definitely arcane for most normal people and folks who wander on sites like FT aren't representative. I've got a few months of this as I switch from AA to BA, the first example being this last weekend. I will say the staff member at T3 GF was not totally on top of rules, but listened and got it sorted eventually. Attitudes sound different, much better than in the example that started this thread and the results are more positive in the end.

MillionMileMarker

It becomes sad when we as customers know company policies better than the staff themselves. The only reason we do have this knowledge is because of situations like these that force us to know the in's and out's of what's promised to us as customers.

Slightly off topic - was departing FRA last week and had 32.6kg in my luggage (I figured I'd try it). The trainee (her name badge said trainee) stood up and walked into the office. The supervisor came out with a raised voice and negative tone that my bag is way too heavy and it's completely unacceptable. I said I'd happily take out 600gram to comply with policy and she started saying I'm only entitled 30kg as gold...at that point I did say I know the policy and I'm taking out 600grams and we could have had a normal conversation about this but she was being very rude. Once again said I had to bring it down to 30 and then left. I took 600grams out and the trainee checked it in.

Swiss Tony

I believe it has been reported on here that BA at Heathrow do this, which doesn't really help...

mrow

Yup, the staff member I spoke to today confirmed this and said he didn't work in the lounges very often.

I understand it's not straightforward and that not all staff will get it right, but if a customer has the right to use the lounge then they should not be denied access purely because BA staff aren't familiar with the rules. BA need to address this problem and ensure their staff have resources at their disposal to ensure that they can interpret the rules correctly.

At least today the BA staff member was willing to try to find an answer and was willing to listen to my explanation of the rules. Previously my partner wasn't quite so lucky and had to deal with a rude BA staff member who called her a "pain in the ar*e" (exact words) and threatened to call the Police!

Dicksbits

…and here was me wondering why fellow FT members called them 'lounge dragons'. Now I know….!

p.s. I think she was very unlucky, I've never found BA lounge access staff anything less than extremely helpful and friendly..