richard9

Hello

I have managed to grab a good First Class fare from LHR to MLE (Maldives).

As a First Class ticket holder I believe I can guest one person into the lounge with me.

The issue is that my wife and children are travelling in WT+.

Before I attract claims of mis-treating my family - it was all agreed beforehand !

So if I guest my wife into the lounge with me - would the lounge staff refuse entry for my 3 children too (ages 7, 10 and 13)

Is it the case that I would just need to accept non-entry and book/pay for our own lounge entry elsewhere ?

Thanks for any guidance and experiences you can help me with.

Richard

ratechaser

Afraid to say that you have absolutely zero chance!

mikeyfly

Welcome to flyertalk! Nil chance at all for five of you. Enjoy your family time, don’t pay for lounge entry, go somewhere the kids will enjoy like Wagamama’s or just a good mooch around the terminal. Lounges are very sterile places for children

richard9

Okay - thankyou for giving it to me straight.
Our children have accompanied us into the Cathay P, BA, Qatar, Sri Lankan and Emirates lounges before so they understand the setup.
The BA telephone staff implied that it might be possible depending on door staff - but the message from you is that it won't happen. Shame :-(

Thanks

KARFA

Hi richard9 and welcome to FT!

So generally with BA the only official allowance is children under 2 don't count as guests so you can bring them in to the lounge. I think some other airlines are a bit more relaxed - Qantas allows two under 17 year olds I think.

By all means do ask and it is possible they may say yes, but I think it is unlikely with three children. You can try the concorde room and galleries first.

ratechaser

It was a bit of a culture shock for me when I initially switched over from Virgin to BA as my main carrier, as Virgin were always a lot more flexible and you could at worst buy in extras if you had status (plus let's face it, the clubhouses were rather nicer lounges too). BA however are a lot more rigid, which is sort of understandable because I've seen just how busy their lounges get, especially in school holiday time when of course everyone wants to be in there with their families.

Contract outstation lounges can be more accommodating (even then, 3 would be pushing it...) but doesn't hurt to ask nicely.

But closer to home - I long ago resigned myself to Giraffe at T5 when my kids are in tow.

ratechaser

By the way OP, you may well have much bigger problems to deal with than lounge access if you are really planning to travel in F, and have your wife and kids go in WTP

1Aturnleft

You can pay to guest in extras at the MLE lounge which is a contracted third party affair. Not sure I'd bother personally as its not a particularly enjoyable place to be.

SFO777

Indeed.

His wife may have told OP that it's fine for him to be in F with her and the kids in steerage. From experience, this is one time you should not believe her. You need to figure out a way to at least get her into F or swap seats with her on boarding. Remember the four most important words in marriage... happy wife, happy life.

mikeyfly

Agreed! One way each in F would be the fairest / least controversial on this one !

ratechaser

Any married man that doesn't know the true meaning of that word is not long for this world

Fraser

This!

As for the wife and kids agreeing to fly two classes below you:

PUCCI GALORE

I thought the same. I’d love to have been party to that agreement. My husband, without any agreement from me refused a First Class upgrade. He had status and I was staff even though paying the J fare. He was having none of it. Either it was both or none - so he said No Thank You.

To return to this particular instance - no your 3 children and your wife are not accompanying the OP in any Lounge. Had he bought 2 wonderful deals in F the maybe on extra child might have been allowed and even that is uncertain given the Lounge contraints at this time. One wonders why he took the one F seat in the first place and did not buy it for his wife. Had my husband done that with or without agreement my hairbrush, he and I would have had a very serious discussion on the subject. Actually - that might have merited the rolling pin.

wrp96

Perhaps, just perhaps, the saying in the OP's house is Happy Spouse, Happy House (instead of Happy Wife, Happy Life) or the OP is 7 ft tall so could use the extra space, and/or wife never sleeps on planes and doesn't drink so the extra first class amenities wouldn't do her any good. Either way, the chances of getting that many extra guests in the lounge is slim.

Vinotraveller

There would be no harm in the OP entering his details on the travel meetup thread..........................

However, I don't see this ending well for the OP, and he'd be better to give the First seat to his wife in my opinion. Small caveat to that is if it is health or physique related in which case fair enough.