BobbySteel

In this cost cutting environment it doesn't seem like the CCR provides value anymore to BA. Surely if the ME3 have a lock on premium eastbound traffic and west bound is a monopoly effectively - or competition with weak US carriers - what's the business sense of keeping it open at all? I'm genuinely curious.

Soupey202

Because I hope to have my first (and only) First later this year and would like to experience it before it goes?

ajeleonard

The business case is that there are so many Emeralds passing through Heathrow that segregating the cattle market from genuine first class passengers helps avoid further deterioration in the already weak First product. The passengers have to be lounged somewhere anyway, so it's just a square footage issue

The idea that ME3 have a "lock" eastbound is nonsense, not everyone wants to fly via the Gulf

Tobias-UK

Quite, and not everyone is enamoured with the ME3 either.

BillyBleach

Agreed to Japan, I often opt for Finnair. Timing are quite convenient.

obduro

But haven't you heard? QR J is better than BA F...

*gets coat*

Calum

If it's still there in 2020 I'll be surprised.

ahmetdouas

Concorde Room is a source of prestige for BA.
It is for the F passengers and GGL only. So they use it to maintain prestige as 'their flagship' lounge.


I think it is here to stay!

Fitch

I am in the CCR a lot at the moment and will miss it when it's gone, though perhaps not so much the tatty furniture, slightly surly staff and lack of powerpoints

It's the Board Room I would miss the most - it's not until you spend time in there that you realize how few quiet spaces there are in T5

Often1

BA has many large corporate contracts which are the backbone of its business. The same for AA and therefore the BA/AA JV. The true HVC is not only someone who may personally generate revenue for BA, but who controls large amounts of business for BA.

Even if you personally believe that you are better off with some other carrier, if your employer has a significant discount negotiated with BA/AA and you are flying BA F and do not have a choice unless you are prepared to fund that out of your own pocket, access to the Concorde Room is there.

Perhaps it will go away - perhaps not, but that will not be determined by one-off's on FT.

Tobias-UK

It still makes me chuckle when I read those claims

corporate-wage-slave

What I would say, is despite all the constructive and destructive criticism going on around here, it would be a very rare day when someone doesn't raise a question on how to get into CCR - whether in terms of guesting or connecting flights or T3 versus T5. It remains a greatly sought after lounge, and if you track the Cathay or Qantas fora this seems to me to pop up less often over there. Much this is due to one simple word, London, but still for many people it remains a key feature of the BA product.

I doubt there is much business sense in offering First as a cabin, it performs less well than WTP or CW, and pulls in a minute fraction of WT cashflow, but if you're doing First, this is probably the cheapest and easiest way to distinguish the airline.

Nuster

This is an arguable point but what is not arguable is that the equivalent classes are not remotely equal.

I also saw "prestige" being cited but only in the way that having an iPod was prestigious but is now nostalgic 😜

Smid

Really? Just wondering. It is a valid point...

For QR J

Food is very good. Though a bit arabic meze based. But I did find it better than BA F.
Seat has aisle access (across the board).
Pyjamas
Slippers (think maybe only A380)
Probably a bigger IFE screen than BA F.
Service is very attentive (in both my champagne glass wasn't empty unless I asked it to stop being poured).
And the bar on the A380 was spectacular. Far less of a gimic than VS's bar.

Maybe I had a good set of flights (FRA-DOH-HKG (AKL on CX/QS to) SYD-DOH-FRA, but what I found different was the quality of the champagne. And lack of a CCR like lounge at home base, but to be fair it's J vs F. Was I just lucky?

Only flown BA F twice eastbound from West Coast US, and once westbound.

I get it when people compare AA J on 777W to BA F. It's just a decent seat.

But of course, not all people want to hop via the gulf...

(Quick edit to append) Ah yes, better than BA F. Ah I was reading is as near equivalent....

London_traveller

It'll be kept for the same reason F is: not so much about profitability but much, much more to do with brand perception of BA. We clearly know Cruz is hell-bent on cost reduction but I do make a vague assumption that sufficient people around him understand the brand value to BA of their F proposition (of which the CCR is a key element).

Choice of airline, especially flying east, is secondary to that (and no, QR J is not better than BA F... they're merely on par with each other )