crazyanglaisy

Hopefully they'll rename the dining room then.

crazyanglaisy

Sure, but I've never seen the CCR dining room at IAD full. There's always been more tables free than those that are taken. Your question is a fair one though, but I would have thought that, for an airline that seems to be focused entirely on its bottom line, that the answer to your question would be "no". Perhaps I'm wrong, however, and my bias as someone who definitely falls in the latter category is coming across!

Flexible preferences

I think on FT there may be a further bias in so much that a greater proportion of the CCR holders (not all!) may have earned their status from TP runs or similar, which is likely to be unprofitable business for BA (or at the very least, less profitable). Therefore, on this forum at least, there may be a greater sway towards the argument that CCR dining should be provided for CCR holders everywhere.

Tobias-UK

You have a valid point, and one that I have raised at BA. The issue is a branding one, my understanding is that there was never an intention to open up First Dining to CCR Cardholders.

I'm not affected by this, and I agree with you that I have never seen the CCDR busy at IAD during my many visits there. The name is confusing, and it is no surprise that CCR Cardholders are confused (and no doubt ruffled) when entry is refused to any 'Concorde' branded location.

pjh981

I saw in another thread the statistic that there are only c.490 CCR Card Holders worldwide. Whilst, clearly, to gain such status you are by definition, a 'frequent flyer', what are the odds of more than one, or maybe two, of those 490 turning up at IAD for one of the three flights a day, and not also being on a First Class ticket? So is capacity really an issue here, or just penny-pinching? Either way, re-branding gets my thumbs up in order to kill the debate, and solve "the problem". As a CCR Card Holder I'm fine with the situation, as long as it is consistently applied. Just as I was fine in the IAD lounge (or any lounge) in not availing myself of 'Club Dining' when I had the status to enter the lounge but was travelling on a WTP Fare.

DYKWIA

I'd like to see your workings here... You really think that people do TP runs for CCR cards (5000 TPs)?

orbitmic

Totally agree. I personally find it odd that one can have the menu at JFK but not the same menu at IAD given that I've never seen the IAD F dining room booked up and I doubt there are more than 1-2 CCR card holders on any given day. For the records, this is a route I have almost always flown in F in recent years so that is not making a big difference to me, but I would find it would make sense if the CCR card gave access to all CCR lounges, dining rooms and bars rather than some yes and some not.

I also personally think that this is more than a mere branding issue.

Tobias-UK

In what way?

smokie36

Its way beyond my BAEC grade but a very amusing tale of brass counting by Steptoe & Son Airways.

orbitmic

In the sense that in my view, it is about whether the CCR card consistently gives access to F ground service hard perks (at least on a space available basis if that must be specified at all which I doubt). So far it did, and that seemed like a consistent and easy to grasp concept. Now it sometimes does and sometimes doesn.t.

footballfanatic

In other news:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37904703

AlanA

What's the betting that this enhancement will be rolled out eventually to the other lounges?

TabTraveller

I agree with this entirely.

A more sensible policy would be: CCR card gets access to all F ground services however, as with all lounge access, this is subject to capacity. If the IAD dining room was expected to be full on a busy day and they had to turn a CCR cardholder away I don't think there would be many complaints. Turning them away when there is space seems inconsistent.

Tobias-UK

It isn't supposed to, nor was it ever intended. The CCR Card simply gives the holder access to the CCRs at LHR and JFK only. It confers no other benefit and never has, and does not allow pre-flight dining privileges at outstations.

When the Concorde Dining Room opened at IAD, it was always intended to be for First passengers only. The local lounge agents were regularly asked for admission by CCR Cardholders and this was often allowed (with several reports of guesting abuse). However several months ago IAD started to refuse admission except for those who were flying BA First.

There is no change here, IAD mistakenly allowed CCR Cardholders to use the facilities.

My own view is that CCR Cardholders should be allowed access to all Concorde branded facilities irrespective of the class of travel, they should also have access to preflight dining wherever it is available.

VSLover

while it may not have been outright intended, i would laugh at the suggestion that there is no 'intention' of ensuring food or beverage available in lounges--and while i an make exceptions for outstations, it is different when dealing with longhaul outstations.

further becoming a laughable issue as i was invited into the very under construction AA first dining invitation only room the other weekend on a BA flt number, in J. point being a OWE is recognized by a partner airline in a way BA no longer wishes to recognize the internal tiers beyond OWE.