Chokkoubin

So my flight is very delayed and I'm a glutton for punishment so I thought I'd try again. IB J ticket, BA club lounge.

Long story short, despite pointing out that I regularly access the CX lounge at LHR T3 when flying BA and AY J, (ie that access can be granted on ticket class, not just status), and despite quoting directly from the OW website that states "Customers flying First or Business Class have access to the equivalent class of lounge regardless of their frequent flyer status," I'm back in the No. 1 Lounge.

Really not not impressed with BA on this.

corporate-wage-slave

I suggest you send in a complaint, or DM via Twitter.

Chokkoubin

Just tweeted them - I hope I'm not wrong about this or it'll be embarrassing

ChemicalWoody

Just to add, the silver lounge was fairly empty after 6pm, so definitely not an a capacity issue. Those who were there were mostly huddled around the Arsenal game...

KARFA

Bizarre. Did they just say only BA passengers allowed? Any attempt to check in the lounge eligibility handbook?

Chokkoubin

They flicked through a couple of laminated sheets but didn't seem to find anything that proved me right.

All they kept saying was 'IB Express has an agreement with the No.1 lounge' until I gave up.

KARFA

Page 21 of the lounge eligibility guide is for Iberia. It clearly mentions both Iberia and Iberia Express and makes no distinction between the two for access. Both IB and I2 J shows as having GC access.

Chokkoubin

I actually pointed them to page 21. They looked at it but I still got a 'no'. I should mention that they didn't seem super experienced or certain of what they were doing, hence the reliance on the 'I2 has an agreement...' line.

Maybe this is a training issue for LGW lounge staff? I suppose they don't have to handle many non-BA passengers.

KARFA

Wow, they got to the right page and still couldn't work it out? Sounds like the training they need is how to read!

corporate-wage-slave

OK, so I've staggered off my rocking, rolling Cathay flight and made it to the sanctuary of Flounge LGW, coffee to hand. Recovering as we type.

I went over to the front desk, the two gentlemen there had a bit of a think about it for a few seconds, but then said "my colleague" should have had access. One of them grabbed a blue backed clipboard by the side of the monitor, which didn't have enough sheets in it for the Lounge Eligibility Guide, and came to an unofficial laminated black and white sheet of A4 with a short, but as far as I can tell fairly accurate summary of the access provisions for CX and IB. The top of the sheet went through the various status provisions and names, and roughly half way down the page it said words to the effect: "Note Business class travellers on CX and IB do get lounge access". Now further up there was reference to HKG and MAD, and it's possible that your flight was to somewhere else. But the person who looked into this said "I can only apologise, they should have had access".

Interestingly - and as a digression to this discussion - but very much relevant to the thread, I notice the Gold codeshares arrangement (typically for VY and EI on 125 tickets) is in big letters on the free standing sign outside the lounge, which I haven't seen elsewhere, and has caused problems in GLA and NCL before.

Fly_By_Wire

So when they scan the boarding pass at the counter, what does that actually do?

corporate-wage-slave

It certainly registers your presence in the lounge, and sends a bill to other airlines if necessary, but I have a feeling it isn't a full eligibility check. Moreover any such system is bound to give a lot of false positives and negatives, based on people not adding their card to the booking, swapping their cards around, other airlines' card validity not being correct, eligibility based on a previous flight (perhaps not on BA) and so on.

Chokkoubin

Thank you very much for checking with the staff there! Good to know that the three (!) members of staff I spoke to yesterday were incorrect, if good is the right word...

corporate-wage-slave

Well the laminated white sheet for Iberia and Cathay on the clipboard should be the key to this if it happens again. Funnily enough the same crib-sheet made an appearance on the Cathay forum today.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...access-ba.html

Chokkoubin

I got a response from BA customer services. They did a cut-and-paste job of the exact Oneworld access rules I quoted to the staff on the door at the LGW Club Lounge:

Not sure where else to go from here, really.