lotus918

Interesting, just arrived from LHR to IAH and have a connection on AA in +5 hours (yikes). As no admirals club at IAH I decided to try the BA lounge and initially meet the same fate as the OP (no access for you, AA flight is from a different terminal!). After some "discussion" and showing OW rules it was agreed we could enter as a courtesy based on my BA status.

While that was nice and sincerely appreciated, I think this business of your flight leaves from a different terminal and thus no access for you clearly needs some clarification all round. I've gone through the OW lounge rules and can't find anything about this ....

I had a similar issue at DFW but couldn't be bothered to argue on that occasion.

tsg20

I'm flying LHR-IAH-DFW later this week in BA J followed by AA F. I had imagined that I would have lounge access at IAH as a BA Gold, but this thread is making me worry - is it still the case that

- there is no AA lounge at all;

- there is a BA lounge, in terminal D, and one can get to terminal A for the AA flight by an airside train, but:

- the BA lounge might well refuse access on the grounds of the change of terminal, despite being a BA elite arriving on a BA flight?

corporate-wage-slave

All correct, plus if you are on the late or only BA service of the day, the BA lounge will be shut by the time you've worked your way through the worst entry point into the USA [not a phrase I use lightly, but it is].

However Houston is getting a brand new Admirals club in "Spring 2017", to replace the one closed in 2011. I don't have a better date, but I could probably find out if it was relevant.

ukgooner

It must be hard in N America to be consistent: if you could access the BA lounge on a domestic itinerary due to OW status - what would stop all the AA status holders accessing it? Currently they can only use Admirals if they have paid subs.

I dont think its about capacity 'on the day' - more about there isn't the capacity to deal with AA when there is no available Admirals Club. DFW is the same, I'm sure. These lounges are only specced to cover the BA flights, not serve all OW carriers - so unless there is some arrangement, perhaps determined by schedules (Like the JAL lounge at Frankfurt) I can see why there would be some restriction.

Calchas

Deleted

Phorbas

Even if the BA lounge did not enforce the same-terminal restriction, AA status pax would still be unable to access. The OW lounge rule exempts all lounges for domestic itineraries, not just Admirals Clubs (eg. the TBIT J lounge).

ab007

I arrived BA F LHR -IAH last year with a 3hr connection onto AA F IAH-LAX and was also refused entry on grounds of capacity.

I remember reading on flyertalk at the time that it's common there.

tsg20

Thanks all. I take it there are no other OW lounges at IAH? The Oneworld site lists a Qatar lounge, but I'm guessing that won't work either?

That's just for AA status passengers though, right? At least according to the rules here:

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

(which I just read, and don't see anything that prevents access as a BA status passenger to the lounge at IAH, so I'm glad I saw this thread ahead of time, or I would have been very surprised to be denied access).

vibguy

OK, the lady at the lounge reception should not refuse entry according to OW rules but hey GGL guys you are in the US, give her a 20 dollar tip and you will be very welcome (diner included).

tsg20

thanks all. so just to be totally clear, when we fly this weekend there aren't any lounges we can use at all, assuming we don't get lucky at BA lounge?

Looks like our connection flies out of terminal A, any advice for where to while away a few hours? Is Chilis really the best option?

dylanks

With that long of a layover, I suggest the following:

* Try the BA lounge anyway. It's a holiday weekend and less likely to be busy
* If you have Priority Pass, I believe the Air France and KLM lounges provide access
* If you have Amex Platinum or higher, there's the Centurion Lounge (or any Amex below that has a $50 charge)... Platinum or higher receive access for the entire family.
* The international terminal as a whole is far more pleasant than the domestic terminals, in that it will be less crowded. I would look at food options in terminals D or E... there's an airside train connecting the terminals, so it doesn't take that long to move between them. Terminals A/B/C tend to be a zoo, whereas terminal D is sometimes as serene as the LHR T5 underground passageways

tsg20

thanks, dylanks, that's helpful and we'll keep it in mind, and assuming we have enough time to try, will report back on how the BA lounge goes.

whiteheatsyd

Came back last night from Houston in Club world. My girlfriend who is silver exec club and was travelling to SFO on AA wanted to join me in the lounge. When she arrived at the lounge she wasn't allowed in as you had to be flying BA, after arguing with the BA staff on the door they still said that the rules were different for Houston. After being told by Kyle on the door that he knew rules after working for BA for 30 years....I was not impressed. Eventually after pulling up the website she was allowed in.

Has anyone else experienced this? Going to email BA about it now as it was pretty poor.

KARFA

whiteheatsyd

I did think about that at the time, but he didn't mention that. The lounge was about 25% full with 1hr 15 to take off and it didn't get any busier than that. Interestingly we went through Philly in March doing the same thing and they were fine.