First time I've seen one of these in a UK lounge.
Dec 9, 2017, 3:41 pm
#31
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Dec 9, 2017, 3:55 pm
#32
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Dec 9, 2017, 11:58 pm
#35
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Given that this sign seems to appear in certain lounges, but not others, I think it's safe to infer that lounges without the sign are designated as take-away lounges. BA would find it hard to argue otherwise.
Dec 10, 2017, 7:13 am
#36
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No, you'd maybe get a suspended sentence if this was in LHR as there are specific water machines around for this. However in some of the regional outstations it would be fully understandable. The signage that sporadically springs up from time to time is surely aimed at those who commit far more serious crimes.
Dec 10, 2017, 8:34 am
#38
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Basingstoke, UK
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Posts: 54
Uh oh.....
(If CWS were to google my forum username and find one of many social media profiles google returns he’ll recognise the thieving ....... from last weeks first lounge encounter without a doubt!)
It was 15 all in for outside the lounge (plus 2-3 during the lounge visit but they’re okay I guess
) - but good observation skills!I remember that glare this time last week so well it’s as if you’re glaring at me right now CWS!
*bows down in humbleness*
I did think to myself at the time “that glare can only come from a FTyer...” and I did check the forum a couple of times during the week before returning to see if someone did and low and behold....
If I had known who it was at the time (and that we’d be spending the next 2 hours within close proximity to each other en route to NUE) I would of quite happily wandered over to put an end to the passive aggressiveness and explained myself.
I would have also happily produced both the receipt for the 15 cans (as they were in fact purchased! The plot thickens...
) as well as the advance notice and authorisation letters to help support said explanation (after all: you’ve just witnessed daylight robbery - A theft from the lounge is a theft from all of us eligible to use the lounges - so why would you believe anything said criminal said to explain himself? I know I sure wouldn’t.My letters specifically said to bring them and the receipt with me into the lounge in case one of the staff members or members of the public enquired as to what I thought I was doing stealing 1.5L of full fat coke!).
I understand most people would never choose to purchase 15 ~110ML cans at extortionate prices and although I don’t want to go into too much detail as to why I can say there is a medical reason behind it and as such fully justified and I’m very thankful BA allowed this (my work travel agency negotiated it and it took a while!) otherwise I wouldn’t of been able to fly BA out of LGW.
I would never normally take any large amount of anything from the lounge. I don’t have the guts to out of (apparently justified) fear of peoples glares, judgements or even the potential risk of confrontation.
The thought of it terrifies me.
It was bad enough doing it with permission and knowing I was authorised to.
That’s why the glare didn’t phase me; I was determined to as quickly as possible get what was agreed in the fastest possible way otherwise I’d of been to anxious to get it myself and would have had to get a staff member to which I would have just drawn more attention to the whole thing! - something I definitely didn’t want as I feel out of place enough in the Flounges/CCR as it is for various reasons.
One benefit of all this; I finally know what CWS looks like as we keep flying the same sectors and I only realise after the fact who he is, and although I’ve followed this forum for years I’ve only recently started posting I’ve never seen any of the “legendaries” IRL so that’s something off the bucket list.
Dec 10, 2017, 9:12 am
#39
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Just out of interest from who did u purchase the coke from? I may be getting the wrong end of the stick here; apologies if I am. You asked your travel agent to strike a deal and pay BA for 15 150ml cans of coke and were told to take them from the lounge, with BA then providing you with areceipt and letter of permission in the event staff thought you were thieving?
Seems like a right load of hassle to me! Why not just either purchase 15 cans from WDF before entering the lounge, or just take one or two for the flight....or buy them onboard at extortionate cost? This situation has me highly intrigued, and even though there may perhaps be an innocent explanation, strange looks have to be expected if that's the way you chose to operate.....it is very unusual you have to admit. Anyhow, I do hope they did the job for you
Seems like a right load of hassle to me! Why not just either purchase 15 cans from WDF before entering the lounge, or just take one or two for the flight....or buy them onboard at extortionate cost? This situation has me highly intrigued, and even though there may perhaps be an innocent explanation, strange looks have to be expected if that's the way you chose to operate.....it is very unusual you have to admit. Anyhow, I do hope they did the job for you
Dec 10, 2017, 9:15 am
#40
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I'd have asked (begged, if needed) a staff member to stay with me while I did that, or to have them fetch them and put them in the bag for me, if I were in that situation, partially because people might think it's OK to do this and start doing it, but also to avoid any misunderstanding.
Dec 10, 2017, 10:15 am
#44
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No, it was never supposed to compensate for BoB per se, but increased consumption must have been factored in.
The strike was by Gate Gormet, hence many flights at the time went out with no food onboard for substantial lengths of time. This was in 2005 IIRC, and no offer with any sort of likeness has been introduced since.....so using a one off circumstance 12 years ago does seem like pushing reasoning boundaries to the limit. The only exception was when the grab and go stations existed for a short while, which were well signed and etiquette clearly understood.
The strike was by Gate Gormet, hence many flights at the time went out with no food onboard for substantial lengths of time. This was in 2005 IIRC, and no offer with any sort of likeness has been introduced since.....so using a one off circumstance 12 years ago does seem like pushing reasoning boundaries to the limit. The only exception was when the grab and go stations existed for a short while, which were well signed and etiquette clearly understood.
Dec 10, 2017, 11:19 am
#45
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Basingstoke, UK
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Just out of interest from who did u purchase the coke from? I may be getting the wrong end of the stick here; apologies if I am. You asked your travel agent to strike a deal and pay BA for 15 150ml cans of coke and were told to take them from the lounge, with BA then providing you with areceipt and letter of permission in the event staff thought you were thieving?
Seems like a right load of hassle to me! Why not just either purchase 15 cans from WDF before entering the lounge, or just take one or two for the flight....or buy them onboard at extortionate cost? This situation has me highly intrigued, and even though there may perhaps be an innocent explanation, strange looks have to be expected if that's the way you chose to operate.....it is very unusual you have to admit. Anyhow, I do hope they did the job for you
Seems like a right load of hassle to me! Why not just either purchase 15 cans from WDF before entering the lounge, or just take one or two for the flight....or buy them onboard at extortionate cost? This situation has me highly intrigued, and even though there may perhaps be an innocent explanation, strange looks have to be expected if that's the way you chose to operate.....it is very unusual you have to admit. Anyhow, I do hope they did the job for you
Our TA is great and has expertise (that they've proven to me on occasions in the past) in detailing with medical requests during bookings so knew the right people to talk to at BA.
Yes; the staff initially seemed confused but I have a standard letter from a consultant that they were happy to read and oblige to all requests after then. During the one call I had with them they sounded almost surprised that we were offering to pay. I got the impression they thought I was seeking permission to take something away from the lounge and they seemed prepared to handle that given the advance notice it was my insistence to pay for it that caused the most confusion as they didn't seem to have a process for that.
The letter wasn't confirmation I wasn't stealing! - It's sole purpose was confirming the order and details of what to do on the day and contact details of who can help if things didn't go according to plan. But having it (along with the receipt) was my backup plan for if someone did accuse me of stealing so I guess we could say it was a convenient byproduct.
Naturally when I say someone accuse me I mean any of the lounge staff. If a passenger had confronted me or said something I would of directed them to the lounge entrance staff who were aware of my situation and not engaged with them directly (no passenger should have to justify or explain his or actions to any other passenger in the lounge IMHO. If someone commits a "crime" in the BA lounge the issue is between BA, the pax and the police (if required) and all any bystander should ever do is report it to the staff and let BA staff deal with it unless there's a risk of physical harm or death to other pax. That's just my opinion anyway).
The receipt part was printed at the ticketing desk, she phoned someone to validate and then took payment off my corporate AMEX. All polite and simple with no questions asked really.
So in answer to your question the TA was merely the start of the contact with BA and did not pay themselves - that was for me to do and expense it and I should of made that clearer.
The TA did do a lot more before this though mainly looking into alternative options (most of which were either shipping medicine in Lieu of Coke to my hotel in Nue but most of this wasn't viable with the timescales involved).
To put it simply (and also why I didn't just go to WDF or Smiths or other options) is that I **had** to have the smaller ~150ml cans. Most places do 330ml cans or 500ml+ bottles but at most airports I've struggled to find the 150ml cans anywhere else but the lounges and on aircraft themselves (so the lounge via BA seemed like a logical approach that the TA suggested and started the ball rolling on).
Combine that with a bunch of other factors around chemical composition and the plant/location/water type that the Coke is produced/bottled at and it really narrows down the source.
Despite what many people think (OT time!); Coke is not Coke worldwide. In fact it varies wildly sometimes within the same country. What I got at LGW is (for the purposes I needed it for) completely different to what I'd get at GLA for example. It's complex and a process I don't fully understand myself but long story short getting 150ml cans reduces the variables in "where" the coke has come from and the chemical composition of said Coke by a non-trivial factor.
It was a relatively short notice trip (for me anyway) and to procure what I needed for the time away I'd of needed 4-5 days from order to door from a Coke franchiser. It was quicker to reach out to BA and ask them that directly. I knew for sure I'd never get what I needed in NUE so I had to take it with me. Normally I would buy in advance and put it in the hold (when using Coke. Normally I would use the supplemental medicine that is recommended over Coke any day but also has issues obtaining supply at short notice).
If I wasn't able to obtain it at the airport then I wouldn't of been able to fly.
In answer to LTN Phobia around why not get the staff to help?
Pride I guess? I'm a very private person and 95% of people that have ever stumbled on about this little "thing" of mine with Coke always want to know more. I chose in advance to be discreet and not involve anyone else unless I had to. With the exception of CWS's glare this worked well.
That and I don't feel the need to have staff be there with me. Realistically if anyone notices they'll do one of 3 things:
They'll glare and stare and judge, they'll confront me verbally, or they'll report me to the entrance staff.
1 really isn't a huge deal for me as I don't really care what others think so much in that area when I'm not doing anything wrong. If they confront me verbally then I can remind them what I do in a lounge that doesn't impact their life is none of their business and they should report me to the BA staff and if they take option 3 the staff will advise them they're aware of it and it's not an issue.
I don't want to bother anyone unnecessarily just to avoid the potential (but very unlikely) verbal confrontation. People are still going to stare and judge if someone brings it to me in a bag anyway and if anything it'll draw more attention to it.
But why is all of this needed at all you ask?
I don't want to go into too many details on a public forum but it's part of a rare medical condition and the treatments associated with that. Coke isn't the treatment of course but chemicals inside the coke (which vary from country to country and region to region) can interact either negatively or positively with some medication and treatment.
Similar to how you should avoid all grapefruit juice while on certain medications like antidepressants but in reverse. What I have is something that works best when taken with "supplementary medication" (think of it as something that activates the main treatment). Coke and only certain kinds of Coke act as this supplementary medication.
I believe it's similar to a precursor? - I'm not a chemist or Dr though so not too familiar with that side of things.
Of course yes; we have drinks available that have the similar chemical makeup to the 150ml cans of coke (without as many calories!) but they're on prescription as well and can take a few days for the pharmacy to order in. I wouldn't of had enough time before this trip so my "backup plan" of Coke was formed.
As the normal supplementary treatment (as well as the main medication) is entirely private from consultations through to prescriptions I can assure you £25.80 for 15 cans is a bargain compared to the alternative supplemental medication I get prescribed.
Things are a lot more complicated than this of course as life often is but typing long responses on a smartphone in the Norwegian snow is a lot of effort.
This all sounds incredibly random and I get it! - It is random. Random and rare.
But the reason why I choose to go down that route should be irrelevant.
The relevant piece here is that I did go down that route and wasn't stealing from BA, the lounge nor anyone else and didn't want anyone else but the people at BA involved.
If people judged me for it not knowing the whole story?....I'm not really fussed. I can understand why they would and they're entitled to their opinion. I would of course want to inform some people (such as CWS) of the reasoning behind it as wouldn't want to think someone that I've read a lot of over the past few years and greatly respect to think negatively of me because of that.
But 98% of the general public? Yeah not bothered
The 1% (if that) that are likely to confront someone like me? Go ahead. As per the above I'll be polite and civil but insist you speak to the BA staff on duty rather than wasting my time with your overinflated sense of self importance and a burning desire to "do good". Do what the rest of the British population do and judge, glare and be passive aggressive
The final question I'm sure some people are thinking....
What happens if I didn't have the Coke?
Well the main medication I'm on wouldn't be as functional or effective for the time I'm away. That's okay for a day or two but after then I get very sick and unable to work. Sick as in headaches, high blood pressure and visual disturbances (at it's worst it can be almost impossible for me to see). Before I sought treatment of this there were also the occasional psychotic-like episodes as well.
So I wouldn't of travelled and gone home ready to collect my next script of the non-coke suppliment the following morning at the pharmacy
Went very OT there so apologies.
But it does leave me wanting to ask a question...
...are there any reported cases on here of anyone doing the 1% thing and confronting someone in the Lounge?
What did they do and how did it go?
I remember reading something about the PRG lounge a while back where things got very heated but I am curious if we ever see similar "protector of the lounge" acts in the UK?