Geneva British Airways Lounge
Nov 22, 2019, 6:14 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2017
Programs: Honors Diamond
Posts: 1,639
Saturdays and Sundays in ski season are always going to be hard to manage, more flights and crucially transfers that drop people off very earlier to avoid any liability for weather delays on the way to GVA. That said the seating in the new lounge does look denser so I would hope the lounge can accommodate more travellers now.
Nov 22, 2019, 2:52 pm
#4
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,783
Here is the Business Traveller's story on the new lounge, largely taken the BA press release and with some nice photos. One interesting new feature is a Brewdog counter, something also present in JFK.
https://www.businesstraveller.com/bu...refurbishment/
https://www.businesstraveller.com/bu...refurbishment/
Nov 22, 2019, 5:56 pm
#5
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: LON
Programs: BA Gold; LH FTL; IHG Diamond; Marriott Gold; ALL Gold
Posts: 1,758
Nov 25, 2019, 6:01 am
#6
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: GVA
Programs: IB Platino/OWE, LX SEN/*G, TP Gold/*G, ALL Accor Platinum
Posts: 23
I was able to visit the lounge this morning, despite four flights (3x BA + 1x IB) it was empty and quiet.
The lounge looks really very good - a clear improvement!
The selection of food and drinks is much better than before.
There is a whole new team, both at the welcome desk and at the service, which still has to be enrolled.
With the opening of the lounge there is unfortunately a bad BA rule change in Geneva for using Fast Track. Only passengers booked in business class will now have access to the Fast Track. I am Emerald (IB Platino) and had a BA Premium Economy - access not allowed... I asked then at the gate: Even in the highest economy booking class (Y) there is no fast track for oneworld status holders. I don't get it - Is Fast Track not a privilege of oneworld Emerald status (regardless of the operating airline)...?
Best regards from T5
The lounge looks really very good - a clear improvement!
The selection of food and drinks is much better than before.
There is a whole new team, both at the welcome desk and at the service, which still has to be enrolled.
With the opening of the lounge there is unfortunately a bad BA rule change in Geneva for using Fast Track. Only passengers booked in business class will now have access to the Fast Track. I am Emerald (IB Platino) and had a BA Premium Economy - access not allowed... I asked then at the gate: Even in the highest economy booking class (Y) there is no fast track for oneworld status holders. I don't get it - Is Fast Track not a privilege of oneworld Emerald status (regardless of the operating airline)...?
Best regards from T5
Nov 25, 2019, 7:44 am
#7
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Switzerland
Programs: BA Exec GGL CCR, Turkish M&S Elite, HHonors Diamond, SPG Gold, Avis First Plus
Posts: 72
I was able to visit the lounge this morning, despite four flights (3x BA + 1x IB) it was empty and quiet.
The lounge looks really very good - a clear improvement!
The selection of food and drinks is much better than before.
There is a whole new team, both at the welcome desk and at the service, which still has to be enrolled.
With the opening of the lounge there is unfortunately a bad BA rule change in Geneva for using Fast Track. Only passengers booked in business class will now have access to the Fast Track. I am Emerald (IB Platino) and had a BA Premium Economy - access not allowed... I asked then at the gate: Even in the highest economy booking class (Y) there is no fast track for oneworld status holders. I don't get it - Is Fast Track not a privilege of oneworld Emerald status (regardless of the operating airline)...?
Best regards from T5
The lounge looks really very good - a clear improvement!
The selection of food and drinks is much better than before.
There is a whole new team, both at the welcome desk and at the service, which still has to be enrolled.
With the opening of the lounge there is unfortunately a bad BA rule change in Geneva for using Fast Track. Only passengers booked in business class will now have access to the Fast Track. I am Emerald (IB Platino) and had a BA Premium Economy - access not allowed... I asked then at the gate: Even in the highest economy booking class (Y) there is no fast track for oneworld status holders. I don't get it - Is Fast Track not a privilege of oneworld Emerald status (regardless of the operating airline)...?
Best regards from T5
Nov 25, 2019, 7:58 am
#8
Join Date: Jun 2017
Programs: BA Gold (GGL/GfL), LH FTL, SPG Plat
Posts: 52
BA gives with one hand and takes with the other. Jokes aside Switzerland is an expensive country, presumably including what the airport charges the airlines for fast track. The bean counters clearly saw an opportunity to save a penny. All the alliance privileges have various carve outs. Who knows, perhaps part of the theoretical future saving helped justify the lounge refit...
Nov 25, 2019, 9:44 am
#9
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: Executive Club: Gold - Flying Blue: Gold
Posts: 1,382
BA gives with one hand and takes with the other. Jokes aside Switzerland is an expensive country, presumably including what the airport charges the airlines for fast track. The bean counters clearly saw an opportunity to save a penny. All the alliance privileges have various carve outs. Who knows, perhaps part of the theoretical future saving helped justify the lounge refit...
Nov 25, 2019, 6:30 pm
#10
Join Date: Oct 2006
Programs: BA Gold (GGL/CCR)
Posts: 315
To my knowledge it's not a new thing. I have been on the wrong end of the policy many times during ski season. Long, long, long snake queues for security. Nothing to be done about it but turn up with enough time and wait.
Nov 25, 2019, 6:52 pm
#11
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: UK. West Sussex
Programs: BAEC. Gold
Posts: 786
Had the same at Faro airport last week, travelling in economy but BAEC Silver...... Walked up to fast track where no one was waiting, and after scanning BP told to join the normal queue.....
Nov 25, 2019, 10:36 pm
#12
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 151
I wonder if the BA lounge will yet be as good as the priority pass one!
Dec 8, 2019, 8:36 am
#13
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 151
I was able to visit the lounge this morning, despite four flights (3x BA + 1x IB) it was empty and quiet.
The lounge looks really very good - a clear improvement!
The selection of food and drinks is much better than before.
There is a whole new team, both at the welcome desk and at the service, which still has to be enrolled.
With the opening of the lounge there is unfortunately a bad BA rule change in Geneva for using Fast Track. Only passengers booked in business class will now have access to the Fast Track. I am Emerald (IB Platino) and had a BA Premium Economy - access not allowed... I asked then at the gate: Even in the highest economy booking class (Y) there is no fast track for oneworld status holders. I don't get it - Is Fast Track not a privilege of oneworld Emerald status (regardless of the operating airline)...?
Best regards from T5
The lounge looks really very good - a clear improvement!
The selection of food and drinks is much better than before.
There is a whole new team, both at the welcome desk and at the service, which still has to be enrolled.
With the opening of the lounge there is unfortunately a bad BA rule change in Geneva for using Fast Track. Only passengers booked in business class will now have access to the Fast Track. I am Emerald (IB Platino) and had a BA Premium Economy - access not allowed... I asked then at the gate: Even in the highest economy booking class (Y) there is no fast track for oneworld status holders. I don't get it - Is Fast Track not a privilege of oneworld Emerald status (regardless of the operating airline)...?
Best regards from T5
The boarding pass on my app showed “fast track” and the paper one I was issued at check in worked for the premium security channel.
New lounge is nice, but the seating feels less dense than before so I worry that it’ll be worse than last year in peak ski season.
Dec 15, 2019, 8:45 am
#14
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 384
No evidence of any rule change for me - Fast track worked as it always has today at Geneva. I was travelling economy (Avios one way, so no connections) and BA Gold.
The boarding pass on my app showed “fast track” and the paper one I was issued at check in worked for the premium security channel.
New lounge is nice, but the seating feels less dense than before so I worry that it’ll be worse than last year in peak ski season.
The boarding pass on my app showed “fast track” and the paper one I was issued at check in worked for the premium security channel.
New lounge is nice, but the seating feels less dense than before so I worry that it’ll be worse than last year in peak ski season.
Though, it feels smaller than before - and I would agree with the poster above - that it seems there seems to be no net additional seating as the seats added are bigger. I would guess the total seat capacity is around 75, which is really not a lot for peak season, even if BA did extend the lounge fractionally. It really needs much more space!
Fasttrack worked as normal too!
Last edited by SinoBritAsia; Dec 15, 2019 at 9:55 am