tuff

On arrival at JFK today we headed to the north lounge at LHR and eventually found somewhere to sit. When we left the lounge one of the agents was standing at the door, refusing to let any more passengers into the lounge. I've never seen that before. So much for the idea that people aren't flying again!

GumshoeW12

I don’t think anyone has said recently that people aren’t flying again.

More likely BA’s problem is that not enough business travellers on expensive flexible fares are flying yet.

Premium leisure is all well and good, but they’re not buying full fare J and Y tickets. Hence fares are up across the board.

PUCCI GALORE

Do you think that the presence of American has anything to do with this? If they are allowed to use the Lounge when flying J or belonging to the Admirals Clus - that would fill it up quite a bit I would think. I was trying to think of what had changed in particular since before Covid - I for one have never heard or seen of this.

scubadu

Who in the world says that? Some airports (my home airport for one) are reporting handling more passengers at this point than prior to Covid.

Regards

mikeyfly

Do you mean on arrival at LHR?

seanp7

I think they meant that, yeah or 'on arrival from JFK'.

I've done 3 TATL F trips (1 BA, 2 LH) lately and they've been also been full. Award Availability is scarce. The CCR was busy on my 14 June trip too, the busiest I've seen it.

...That, and the reduced tier point thresholds perhaps? I'm going to gain Silver (and therefore lounge access) after just 4 flights; I wasn't planning on going for it either.

tuff

Oops! Obviously tired from an overnight flight! We arrived from JFK at LHR and went to the lounge....

Confus

Admirals Club doesn’t give lounge access at T5, but yes J will. AA check-in staff do direct customers to the much quieter B lounge, but those travelling HBO (and inexperienced BA flyers) may just go straight to the first lounge they see. I think the main issue (across both BA and AA) is that today’s customers are predominantly leisure not business, and spend more time in the lounges because they turn up so early for their flights. So it’s not more people entering the lounges but those who do stay longer.

13901

Galleries North had to be closed to passengers from time to time way back in the early 2010s. I know because I the duty to tell people to go somewhere else once. Outside disruption times and the few occasions in which I was the “bouncer” by the CCR door next to security, it was the one task where I got the most amount of abuse in the least amount of time. Got called a f@&#$ng bureaucrat, a c*%t, a nobody and that I’ll never amount to anything. Plus more. Not bad for a weekday morning.

Prospero

Actually, this is incorrect. Admiral Club members flying on AA operated flights out of LHR T3 and T5 have access to all BA Galleries Club lounges. This arrangement also includes the BA lounge at EDI when AA flies out of Edinburgh.

dajdavies

Is the B gates lounge ever busy? - I probably only use it a couple times a year but it never seems get very full

Used the AA Flagship lounge in Dallas the other week and it was dead quiet - probably less than 20 passengers in it

Shingi

How dreadful for you. On my last day as a police officer before my retirement I was itching for a member of the public to be rude to me as that would have prompted a 30 years worth torrent of invective pouring forth out of my mouth which would have been the nicest leaving present of all. For all those times I was spat at, kicked, slapped, grabbed and called every name under the sun whilst having to stand there and take it. Alas I never got my chance (just as well I suppose.) If I’d heard them say that to you I would have given them what for!

TTmex

I agree with the poster who mentioned time people spend in lounges. Delta went as far recently to say "we are not a WeWork' and are restricting the time non connecting passengers can spend in lounges. It's not uncommon for leisure travelers to rock up 4 to 6 hours before flights. It's no wonder lounges then get overcrowded. Mexico City lounges have been packed recently and a lot of them asking for tickets and checking flight departure times and restricting to 2 hours unless you're connecting. It's not a universal thing, but definitely seeing it more often. It's probably not a bad thing either in most cases. I agree sometimes getting to the airport early is inevitable due to some travel options being easier than others, but should an airline really be expected to host you 6 hours before a flight if you're not directly connecting from somewhere else?

Bohinjska Bistrica

The problem is no doubt being exacerbated by people reading stories of chaos at airports and long lines at security, so will be turning up earlier than they otherwise would just in case.

It doesn't even have to be airport specific. People will read it in the press and assume it'll be a mess.

AirbusA350

There is a new digital tool for monitoring lounge capacity that was launched recently also for staff. I suspect we'll be seeing more of this as things go forward, which in fact would be good for the customer as they'd likely be redirected to a lounge that has more capacity and hence a better experience