celtic_warrior

spot on!

Misco60

Almost everything written on this and every other forum is an opinion, and I don't think it should be necessary to prefix every post with "In my opinion..." to make that clear.

AAtticus

Some lounges in Asia beg to differ

T8191

Many of the comments above reinforce my preference for serving myself ... getting what I want, when I want it. In the general Lounge context, the prospect of getting quick service is fairly slim, regardless of whether it's a FLounge, Lounge or the CCR.

I guess I'm not really fussed about being waited on hand and foot.

Jermyn

I was pleasantly surprised on my last couple of visits to the CCR.
The food has improved quite significantly as has the service.

However, the bathrooms and cabanas are still woeful when compared to offerings from other European carriers in their F lounges.
As an overall experience I'd classify the CCR as serviceable but in no way special.

If you want special you'll go with LX, LH or AF and very likely plan to arrive 3-4 hours before your flight to fully enjoy the experience.

In LHR I find the VS Clubhouse, QR and CX Lounges worth arriving early for.
Otherwise I'd agree with your sentiment.

Scots_Al

Agree. And this is the biggest problem with the CCR for me - particularly the terrace area. If you’re offering a fully-serviced lounge, then you have to have people pro-actively and regularly going around asking people if they want anything (or at the very least walking around and making eye contact). The problem with the terrace is that either there’s never anybody serving it, or it is passive service that fails on the very basic premise that most of the seats are facing away from the door where staff will come from, so you don’t see them. I would have no problem whatsoever with a self-service bar, but the current set up just doesn’t work.

windowontheAside

I can't believe that some posters are suggesting the OP's expectations are unreasonable when they have described a 20 minute wait, the wrong order delivered (twice) and cold food. Those things have to be failings at any establishment, let alone a flagship lounge - they're not a matter of taste or opinion. How are they the OP's fault? Or do people feel the OP is lying? Surely we have to take a poster's account at face value until proven otherwise?

Actually, I've been around FT long enough to believe it because I see it often. It's a really poor practice.

And the fact that people have been to the CCR and had a good experience isn't really the point here, is it? My house has never burnt down either, but I'm quite prepared to believe it happens to some people.

TWCLAM

As one of those who self funds and only having had the one experience of it i'm glad people get that for some it is a rarity and it was 100% part of the whole experience for us at least. We could've flown F out of LGW but picked LHR specifically so we could experience the, by BA's own blurb on the place, "epitome" of what they have to offer lounge wise. Those staff we interacted with were very pleasant but there was about 50% too few of them imho. I appreciate that at the moment we have the grand sum of one experience to base that off of but as a, marketed, part of the whole F experience it really left us asking why you'd do it instead of business.

As with others and I think because we are purely leisure travellers, albeit we do a lot of it, the lounge is a part of the experience be that CE/ CW or F. Totally understand why those who seem to spend a third or more of their working lives stuck in an airport or flying between them aren't nearly as phased/ interested in them but for many of us it forms part of the experience/ fun/ adventure. We've certainly clocked up enough visits at hubs and outstations to learn to temper those expectations but placed against competitors and the image that BA themselves promote regarding the place i'm not sure it lives up to the hype. In fairness though with out next 2-4-1 ready to go I stand open and open to being shown our experience wasn't the norm however the thread, generally, seems to be leaning towards it being so. Personally speaking I have found the service standards and levels in QF T3 much better than the CCR. I've clocked 4 visits there this year, 5 as of tomorrow and so far the CCR can't hold a candle to it service wise from my admittedly limited experience.

With LGW as our home airport we much prefer the self service approach of GC there to anything we've had at LHR this far. Principally because it's less crowded, food and drink can therefore be better managed availability and freshness wise not to mention they allow you to pour your own bubbles there whereas at LHR the request for a glass is often met with disdain from those you've had the audacity to ask.

T8191

IMO the BA First Lounge at LGW is the only redeeming feature of what is otherwise a singularly inconvenient airport. Oh, and Premium Gatwick security ... usually quick and remarkably friendly.

LCY8737

It’s kind of interesting to see that those who pay least (avios redemptions) expect to maximise the experience by spending many hours in the CCR, while those on flex fares costing the equivalent of a car seem to just want to get from A to B while spending as little time in the lounge as possible...

Wonder how BA’s bean counters approach this...

T8191

LCY8737 ... you are, of course, referencing 2 completely different populations. Redemption pax are likely to be spending their own money to travel (likely for leisure), whilst those on Flex fares are either rich or very important business people and have other significant things to do.

Mike P

Those people who have paid the least are probably those for whom the Concorde Room is a novelty and therefore something to be maximised. I bet there are a large number of people for whom a flight in F is at most an annual Avios redemption or even less frequent than that and who can blame them for wanting to maximise the experience?

On the other hand, people with CCR cards and / or people who are on 'highest class available' travel contracts at work are potentially very frequent visitors to the CCR who will often just want to get through as quickly as possible. It's not somewhere I would want to spend a great deal of time unless I had to personally but I do understand the novelty factor for less frequent travellers.

contrails7

I think the answer to your question is in the experience described up thread i.e. under the (correct) assumption that the majority of business / corporate travellers will arrive relatively close to departure time and are not expecting much more than a place to charge their devices and grab a quick drink. As has been discussed many times BA makes the bulk of its profits from its CW cash cow. FIRST is just not a priority in an era when J is so much better than it used to be (and here I'm mainly referring to the lie flat aspect) and most corporate policies no longer allow it. So FIRST is kept as an upgrade / aspirational carrot but to a strict cost given it does not pay its way on most routes. And you see that in the relatively lacklustre ground / onboard product. But say what you like BA management aren't stupid - there just isn't the demand to pay for a better product. Yes the LH FCT is better but LH has cut / is cutting F from most routes. AF ditto. Again there isn't the demand. Yes that means the full Flex F traveller is short changed. But they are few and far between. The premium leisure traveller booking in discounted A, AVIOS spenders, etc, arriving 4 hours before - they just aren't a core focus for BA. As increasingly one of the latter and no longer the former corp travellers does it frustrate me - yes. But I would still rather have the discounted access even with less polished service. And I will miss F when it is eventually gone from most routes. But in the interim I know I can't expected the Four Seasons at Sheraton prices. Just my two cents.

LCY8737

Which is exactly what I meant: There appears to be a group of people paying relatively little for their tickets but demanding the utmost luxury, and another group frequently paying large amounts of money while trying to use the service as little as possible.

contrails7

I completely agree with you! I was just trying to say that in my view BA's way of bridging the divide between the two groups is like the NHS does i.e. through rationing. So by not having enough waiting staff in the CCR, not having proactive waiting staff, etc, etc. The typical corp travellers (not on the ball FT kind ) have low attention to detail and are just passing through, worried about the 101 things that fills their day. They constitute the bulk of my ex-colleagues. The expectation high / time rich leisure traveller "suffer". But (and sorry to use the NHS analogy again) the 'pushy patient' knows how to work with the system. So you go hunt the LPGS and don't expect it to come to you. CCR insanely busy, decamp to B gate lounge early. So go in preparing to be underwhelmed and with a proactive attitude, and you will come out pleasantly surprised. Go in expecting Four Seasons service and you will likely come out disappointed. I'm not having a dig at the OP or others who often post similar threads, as they have a right to expect the best service - that is indeed how the product is being marketed. But they are being sold a myth. And the clue as to why it is a myth is in the blended price. Not the full flex F price. That is a red herring. In the blended revenue that an average F traveller brings BA.