Jagboi

Doesn't need to. It's a well established principal in English law that unless something is prohibited, then it is permitted. If there is no sign saying that items must be consumed in the lounge, then there can be no prohibition on taking some away. I also don't quite see how I can "steal" something that is being given away.

My personal rule is I'll only take what I can reasonably consume while I'm BA's guest, either on the ground or in flight. The lounge refreshments are provided to make my time with BA more enjoyable, so I don't see a lot of difference if I consume the items on the ground or in the air. I wouldn't stock up to refill the larder at home though.

Flexible preferences

So you fulfill your in-flight catering needs from the lounge?

Jagboi

I like having a piece of fruit on a long haul, so I'll take a banana from the lounge. So partially, yes.

Flexible preferences

Well that is a long way from one poster I remember posting about pouring JW Blue into his drinks container for later consumption. Tricky one on where to draw the line, but my sense is that your example and his are either side of it.

Ancient Observer

This thread is nearly as daft as the thread about getting Seq 1.

Er, life, anyone?

brewdog11

Nowhere does it explicitly say that things like coffee, tea, crisps, and the like are acceptable for takeaway. However, I'd like to think that a reasonable person could see that there is little harm in taking a bag of crisps or a takeaway cup of coffee while leaving the lounge on the way to another BA flight.

If someone filled a backpack with crisps and beers to take home, that's a different story...

I wouldn't say I'm purporting a theory here--I'm just being reasonable. I do think that there is some innate/subconscious/natural "line in the sand" that differentiates between taking a bag of crisps for personal consumption (acceptable) and filling a Nalgene bottle with JW Blue (wrong). BA offers the snacks as a benefit for passengers to enjoy in transit, so I think they want you to enjoy them so long as your not abusing the benefit.

Say you just came off a long intra-Europe flight and have a fast connection to an international flight in the Satellite concourses, leaving you with about a 10-minute visit to the lounge. You're also very hungry, and you know that air traffic at LHR is snarled and it will be a long time until you're fed. Wouldn't it be acceptable to take a bag to-go?

dylanks

On more occasions than I can count, outstation lounges and various crew over the years on many airlines have given me an extra bottle of water for the upcoming flight or hotel. Perhaps it's because water is about all I drink, but I could see how someone might not understand the difference.

That said, I would never drink out of one of the large bottles or believe that it is for takeaway purposes.

Regarding UncleT's question about why so much water, it's to make up for the missing alcohol. That and it's part of my jetlag prevention technique.

NeedstoFly

This weekend I attempted to refill my water bottle from the soda fountain in a Deutsche Bahn lounge. The lounge dragon rushed over and wags her finder saying "verboten." I was filling it with sparking water and it's a 330ml bottle.

LTN Phobia

Possibly hygiene concerns, i.e. bottles that have been directly touching people's mouths touching the outlet?

At some QF lounges there is an instruction to use a fresh glass every time you want a drink for that reason.

Diver Boy

Yes several times, once at LTN on the way to a ski trip the rest of the group were busy getting drunk at 09:00 - I was the designated driver (through choice as I knew the others would just drink and drive).

All the other occasions were rugby related and that is as far as that will go.

With regards to stuff being taken from the lounge the test if reasonableness comes into play. I have seen a guy enter the CPT SLOW lounge, go straight to the fridges and fill his duffel bag with cans of coke and then just walk out. I just stood there shocked at how brazen he was as there was a member of staff stood there watching.

IAMORGAN

Common sense probably. There are normally loads of bottles of water (like 30 or 40)!

HilFly

T8191 posted a picture of a sign in a non BA lounge at LBA, which stated something about the refreshments being for lounge consumption only.

sammyg901

More one for the DYKWIA thread but I was in that god awful Tenerife lounge and a member of the pink trouser brigade took the only bottle of red and put it on his table! I just sat in silent British disbelief but another chap went over, topped the guys glass up and took it back - much to everyone's amusement

He then proceeded to make a big fuss about priority boarding yet funnily enough I didn't see him in CE during the flight....

HilFly

There used to be signs in the BA lounges inviting passengers to take something with them for the journey. They even provided take away cups and bags to enable this.

BA could stop passengers from removing food and drink from lounges any time they choose, but they don't. If BA don't want to stop people removing snacks, why should we?

KARFA

I am sure I have seen them at BA lounges too.