tuonopepper

EDIT: Lounge is Philly (PHL), not Phoenix but seems I can't change the title!

First time for me, normally being Gold, flying AA using the BA lounge is fine, not today!

Lovely lady on the desk told me the BA flight was oversold and they are downgrading people so her boss had told her only to let people on the BA flight in.

I suspose its at their discretion but the AA lounge, where I'd have gone first if I could as flying with them, is closed to have showers installed. The only other option is the small domestic AA lounge a decent walk away, at least it's something for an hour or so then maybe I'll try and find a Cheesesteak!

Is refusal of lounge access in this type of scenario common and I've been lucky so far or rare and it's just one of those days?

Obviously a first world problem in the scheme of things!

Geordie405

As I understand it, the BA lounge at PHX is only for BA passengers. That is certainly what is shown on the Oneworld website here: https://www.oneworld.com/airport-lounges?location=PHX

I am not sure if the situation is different at the moment with the various lounge construction projects that are going on but certainly in the past The Club at PHX would change from being a PP lounge to a BA-only lounge mid-afternoon.

Often1

The issue is that it is not a BA lounge and thus not OW. It's entry criteria include Emerald/Sapphire flying on BA only.

tuonopepper

I don't know why i put Phoenix as I'm at Philly! Will try and fix that!

Geordie405

Oh lol - that makes a world of difference

tuonopepper

Not to the end result on this occasion it didn't 😂

mec72

I finally made it to the mythical PHL lounge a month ago - after years of reading reports about pax being turned away. I found it so mediocre that wouldn't even bother next time...

tuonopepper

I went to Jack Duggans instead after a quick stop in the AA basement dump of a lounge which was totally rammed and fully chaotic.

Geordie405

I was at PHL on both last Friday and yesterday and thought I would try my luck at the BA lounge. On Friday I was unceremoniously turned away with the excuse being "capacity" and that they were allegedly 10 passengers over the occupancy limit. This was in spite of the lounge being almost empty when I was there (you can see in through the windows from the corridor). Explaining that I was only going to be there for 30 minutes made no difference, nor did citing Oneworld rules.

On Sunday I was told "Yes, no problem," by the same agent, "But can you come back in 10 - 15 minutes please?" to which I said "Yes, of course"

When I went back it was a different agent who told me the lounge was closing imminently as there was only one flight on Sunday and therefore I couldn't come in. Seriously? Why the first agent couldn't have just said that I really don't know.

BA should probably consider having the PHL lounge exclusively for BA passengers and removing the OW entitlement.

Mike P

Reviving this thread with a current data point. Sitting in the BA lounge at PHL now having initially been refused entry on the grounds of capacity. I'm due to fly back to Europe in J on AA but on a BA issued ticket and as GGL. The lounge agent didn't seem to know what GGL is but reluctantly let me in when I said I'd only be here for an hour or so.

Wouldn't normally have pushed it but the BA lounge is literally next to the gate I'm departing from and the Admirals Club nearby is closed. For what it's worth the lounge is less than half full currently.

Vasco Pridat

Will they let me in when I'm arriving on ba F to phl connecting to an AA flight?
U think it's worth trying.. If there was a flagship I wouldnt...

lrbenko

Reviving. Refused entry today at BA lounge PHL, flying on fully paid J on AA. Desk agent said only Air Lingus Passengers can use the lounge on Sundays. Hard to keep up with all the extra rules.

AirbusA350

PHL (and most US BA lounges) have their own rules (stemming from ignorance rather than the actual oneworld policy) sadly and there looks to be no appetite for change and proves the point that any BA customer relations complaints about it are clearly not being forwarded on to the relevant people but just being filed away after a few Avios have been thrown in (if one's lucky to even get that beyond a generic copy/paste reply)! So annoying. Thankfully most US BA lounges are rather mediocre anyway and at PHL the Admiral's Club and Centurion lounges are quite decent.

ISTFlyer

I was there around 2:30pm and the lounge door was closed and there was no staff at the front desk but some employees resting at couches so didn't bother checking since BA didn't operate PHL-LHR today and the EI and QR flights were 6-7 hours later so it felt logical to see that the lounge wasn't open.

However, the answer that you have received shouldn't be acceptable if the lounge was open and there were other passengers in there.

The only lounge that I had issues since today in the past was PHL.
Other lounges such as IAD, EWR, etc... always accommodated me even when flying AA or AS domestic without issues and only a reminder that they don't make announcements for domestic flights.

lrbenko

The BA lounge didn't open Sunday until 5pm, I'm guessing to just accommodate the Air Lingus Flight? They were still open when I walked past at 7pm for my flight.