Silver/Sapphire access to Las Vegas Mc Carran BA lounge ?
 

Hello
I am a BA Silver.
I have bought from BA a one world alliance ticket comprising 8 different flights: 4 long haul international flights all on BA and 4 domestic flights all on AA.
The ticket is marketed and sold by BA and my first destination is Las Vegas.
From Las Vegas, I will be flying first class on AA to Dallas.
My question is: just prior to taking my LAS-DFW flight on AA, will I be allowed access to BA Lounge in LAS airport?
My hope is that since the ticket has been sold and issued by BA as a BA ticket, and am a Silver, I may be allowed to access the BA lounge, but am not sure.
Thank you.

LAS does not have a BA Lounge - it has shared use of "The Club"

Details under Post #8 here

I can't recall if you can access when flying AA domestic, but it will certainly be in the wrong terminal !

Hello lall and welcome to flyertalk !

At LAS all the AA flights depart from T1 but the lounge (not strictly a BA lounge) that BA use is located in T3, so even if it were possible to use the lounge it would not be really be practical.

AA use the D Gates in T1, which are only actually about 5 minutes away from T3 airside via a little underground train. However the lounge is bland and unexciting, so I would not waste the effort to get there. The Centurion lounge at the D gates is a far better prospect, if you have access to it.

The Oneworld rule relating to lounge access is here: OneWorld lounge access

The key points are - you are BA Silver and you are travelling on a OneWorld marketed and operated flight. The only limitation to gaining lounge access would be if you were OneWorld Sapphire via American Airlines Platinum status (exception 2), or your flight wasn't operated by a OneWorld airline, e.g. by Alaskan Airlines on a codeshare. So you can (read should be able to) gain access. However, as noted above, the lounge is in a different Terminal than your flight.

As said above the only lounge worth using is the Amex one although depending on your layover duration (after the immigration/customs bit) it may not be cost effective unless you have the Platinum card.

thanks a lot.. well understood
cheers

Post #7 above is 100% correct; AA has no lounge or lounge arrangements with 3rd parties so regardless of OW agreements or status there is no lounge to use when flying AA domestic (there is no AA international from this airport). I'm not sure how long your connection time is between BA and AA, but LAS airport is not the greatest for connections so leave plenty of time. Arrivals at T3 on BA can sometimes take over 90 minutes to clear immigration & customs (do you have Global Entry or are you a US Citizen, in which case you will be out quicker), and baggage delivery is notoriously slow at this station. Once you clear customs you'll need to change terminals landside and go through security again at Terminal 1, which depending on time of day can take over an hour due to all the tourists in this terminal (unless you have TSA Pre-check or are travelling AA First Class). I'm not trying to freak you out, but LAS is not really set-up as a connections airport (unless you are making a domestic to domestic connection on Southwest), so when you make a connection of this type it takes longer then it would at a hub-style airport).

Assuming you have lots of time and cannot use the Amex Platinum Lounge (which is hands-down the best lounge at LAS by far), you can always enjoy the slot casino and bar airside in terminal 1 (and if you are a smoker you can also smoke there).....

I can't believe they'll be backtracking to DFW on same day as arriving in LAS? I imagine it's a different day.

I can offer mostly different experiences to themax I've found LAS to be a very efficient airport when arriving off the two LHR flights; plenty of desks open and often through and out airport in around 30 mins. Last time was so swift had a surprise Limo arranged, and they weren't even there as the arrivals process was so swift

Thanks TheMax
We (my wife and I) will be staying in Las Vegas from 06 June for 3 days and thereafter, on 09 Jun, taking AA flight (first class domestic) to Dallas.
Will be flying J class LON-LAS, we hope to be able to get off the plane (BA 747) and pass immigration fairly quickly. The flight lands at 15.00 hrs.
We visited LAX a few months ago and thanks to automatic passport control (APC) there, we were out of the airport within 30 mins of landing. Hoping for similar experience at LAS.
My post was mainly aimed at obtaining confirmation as to whether The Club lounge in LAS is accessible to BA Silver/Oneworld Sapphire members flying domestic on AA in first class. I read somewhere in Flyertalk that the Club Lounge at LAS is meant only for international passengers departing on a BA flight. This is still not clear to me. But i retain form this thread that my AA flight to DFW will not be in the same Terminal as The Club.
cheers

I fly both BA (international) from LAS and AA (domestic) from LAS fairly frequently.

There are two terminals at LAS - Terminal 3 (International and Domestic) and Terminal 1 (Domestic)

There are 5 concourses - A, B, C (part of or closely linked to Terminal 1 and used by airlines based at T1) E (part of Terminal 3) and D (on an "island" and linked to both Terminals by transits. There is a transit from T1 to D and another from T3 to D)

As stated in post #4 above, once you have passed through security at either Terminal 1 or Terminal 3 you can access all the concourses freely. So, in theory one can go from Terminal 1 to concourse E (part of Terminal 3) simply by changing transits at concourse D. In this sense you can physically reach the T3 lounge in E from any other concourse including D.

BA fly from the E gates (Check in at Terminal 3)
AA fly from the D gates (Check in at Terminal 1)
United (just added for comparison) fly from the D gates (Check in Terminal 3)

(FWIW - I have actually used Terminal 3 (no check in - hand baggage only) to access D even when flying on AA)

There are 4 (I think) lounges at LAS.

• An AMEX Centurion Lounge in D (recommended by many),
• A United airlines lounge in D
• A Club lounge in D
• A Club lounge in E

The Club lounges offer paid access but also operate on agreement with some of the airlines.

BA has an agreement with the Club lounge in E.

AA has no lounge and no agreement with any lounge.

As (pointed out by others above) the lounges are offered by agreement only, the standard OW rules do not apply.

I hope this helps. Enjoy the trip !

Incidentally, I wonder if LAS is one of the largest AA destinations (now larger since the US merger) without an AA lounge ??

No, you will NOT be entitled to use The Club at LAS unless you have Priority Pass or pay the $40 entrance fee.

It's not that the Club Lounge at LAS is only for international passengers departing on a BA flight (there are other airlines that have agreements with this private lounge as well, which may be the reason for your confusion). The simple answer to your question is that AA passengers (and admirals club members) at LAS have NO option of using any lounge, so you and your wife as AA passengers will not have a lounge option provided by AA. Your BA status is a red herring, it doesn't matter in these circumstances because AA is not providing anything in the first place. The aforementioned Club lounge is not part of the OW alliance, so even though BA uses this lounge for F/J and status passengers on their flights to London you cannot use it when travelling on AA (or other OW carriers) regardless of your status. It's a rare example of such a situation because usually AA has an Admirals Club or Flagship lounge in the same airport that BA flies from in the USA (but not all, such as New Orleans, etc)

If you don't have Priority Pass, keep the $40 as the lounge really not worth it.