Discovery Bay

I booked a Salt Lake City - Heathrow - Salt Lake City on BA.com. The outbound portion was via SEA and the inbound via SFO.
All the flights carried a BA flight number and issued on BA ticket stock.

SLC/SEA BA 2850 operated by Alaska Airlines. F/C
SEA/LHR BA 0048. CW
LHR/SFO. BA 0285 CW
SFO/SLC. BA 2857 operated by Alaska Airlines. F/C

I telephoned the GGL line and upgraded the the 2 BA operated sectors to FIRST using a GUF1.

There is an AA Admirals Club at T2 in SFO and also a BA Lounge in the l terminal (international terminal).
Due to schedule change there was a 5.30 transit in SFO.
I was refused access to the Admirals Club as Alaskan was not a One World partner. BA code share changed nothing.
The British Airways Lounge took the same stance re Alaskan and also stated that it was also not an 'arrivals' lounge.

I raised the issue with BA customer Relations and got the following response:

"I understand how frustrated you must have felt because you were unable to use either the Alaska Airlines, or the American Airlines lounges in San Francisco. I can see you made your booking with British Airways and you expected lounge access for your entire trip. I've checked and I'm afraid lounge access isn't available when travelling with Alaska Airlines. I'm sorry you weren't aware of this."

My expectation is that when BA enters a code share agreement they should also have made suitable lounge access available at the effective departure stations.
If BA are unable or unwilling to make a local arrangement - as in this instance - either in their own lounge or in the Admirals club the passenger should be made aware.

I don't Know whether this situation is an oversight on the part of British Airways or whether it is a cost item they did not wish to accept.
If that is the case I feel I was enticed to buy the ticket under false pretences!

wmaciej

This is correct, I’m afraid. Since you were travelling in domestic first you would have lounge access to AS lounge (not sure if there is one in SFO). Otherwise the flight has to be marketed and operated by a OW carrier for OW lounge access.

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, this would have been on the return to SFO before SLC. And you appear to have been correctly advised all the way through. You are not the first to be caught out by the non-oneworld codeshare differences (there was a case last week involving VY) and I doubt you will be the last, but it's fairly well known in this forum that non oneworld codeshares can cause these problems. Had it been an AA codeshare on SFO-SLC you would not have got TPs or Avios either. In drawing up codeshares - of which there are dozens - lounge access is just not part of the package that airlines draw up. You were particularly unlucky here since AS is more generous with lounge access than most USA airlines, unfortunately there isn't a lounge at SFO and the previous arrangement with AA at SFO ended on 1 January 2018.

AlanA

On this same point, I have a trip booked via BA
LHR-DUB BA CE
DUB-MCO Aer Lingus J

MCO-DUB Aer Lingus J
DUB-LHR BA CE

I assume that even though they are owned by the same company, I will not have access into BA lounge at MCO?

corporate-wage-slave

Well there isn't a BA lounge in MCO, BA has made arrangements with The Club by gate 91, B terminal in other words, (as is the case at a number of other USA locations), though there is a new AA club there too at gate 55. However you do have access to the United Club in MCO, that's just the arrangement Aer Lingus has for business passengers in MCO, and that's at gate 43. But essentially it's part of the same answer, namely you're outside oneworld so can't rely on oneworld lounge access rules, so The Club and Admirals can't be used. Don't plan on a long visit to MCO, the United Club is fairly basic, as are the others really.

Discovery Bay

Thank you very much for your reply CWS - most informative as always.
It's unfortunate that the customer experience is not considered when these codeshare packages are drawn up.

Raffles

AlanA