botham

Twice, recently we have been refused access to a European lounge when travelling in Y, despite being GCH. The agent wouldn’t accept the paper boarding pass mentioning gold status. They even charged a guest free on Priority Pass having refused the gold card access. I was okay when I entered shortly afterwards as I had downloaded my BP, showing gold.

golfmad

It would be useful if you provided more details. Which lounges? Operated by whom?

LondonAussie

Were you not able to show your card to gain access?

Across a few lounges in Europe I've been told the Emerald status printed on my boarding pass is not enough to gain entry and have been asked to show my FF card (in my case Qantas, and the agent was happy with the digital card in the Qantas app).

I questioned it the first few times, as it really did not make much sense to me, but now I find it easier just to show them what they want to see and then forget about it and enjoy the lounge.

scottishpoet

Which airport? Which lounge in that airport?

jerry a. laska

MUC possibly. See:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/34476037-post45.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/34473179-post1.html

As it's not a BA operated lounge I would expect to have to show my Gold card to obtain access when flying in economy.

golfmad

Nice work detective.

CKBA

It can be annoying - particularly now that plastic GCs are a thing of a the post (I think my last one 'expired' at the end of 2020).
Not the hijack the thread, but Mrs CKBA, whom I guest into the Flounge, often has difficulty reentering the lounge after a tour of the shops (before a DYKWIA moment), even with a Group 1 BP - which presumably has to be GC's or First anyway? Clearly BPs are not 'proof' of access.

botham

Palma and Munich. Sorry can’t recall operators. I was interviewed by the BBC news for the Travel watch future, at Munich and was flustered.

I have never received a plastic GC.

jerry a. laska

BA like a number of OW airlines provides a card in the app. Providing the boarding pass and then showing the card on the app is usually sufficient.
The Oneworld provisions on access based upon status state:

Door5L

But surely a guest is exactly that - someone who ordinarily shouldn’t be in the lounge so I do see why agents would challenge someone unaccompanied who then says “I know someone or I am with someone in the lounge…..”

danmushman

You can still request a physical Gold Card and Luggage tags in your BAEC account - got mine last month.

DelTroon

Very helpful information - thank you.

NWIFlyer

Given BA allows everyone travelling on a PNR that includes a status holder to board in the earlier group, and prints this group on the BP, this is no indication of the entitlement to lounge access. There might be 10 or more people on the booking, 9 of them with no status, but only the status holder plus a guest would be entitled to lounge access.

ECR

As a Oneworld Emerald (with Qantas) more often than not I get initially turned away from the First Lounge at Heathrow T5. The agent just glances at my android mobile boarding pass decide I'm not eligible and tell me to "go upstairs" (to the Galleries Lounge). They don't ask if I'm a Gold/Emerald card holder, ask to see the card, or bother to scan the boarding pass. If they scan the pass the Oneworld Emerald status shows to them on their system.

For some reason the android mobile boarding pass doesn't have the Oneworld status printed on it when I use my Qantas frequent flyer number in the booking. As far as I can recall it used to show status and the change to remove it happened around 4/5 years ago when they introduced group numbers. (Oddly both the airport printed or print at home boarding pass has Emerald printed on it - so it only seems to be an issue with the mobile boarding pass).

They do eventually let me enter the lounge if I stand my ground once they can be persuaded to (sometimes quite reluctantly) scan the boarding pass as it shows I'm Oneworld Emerald. Unfortunately it does make entering the lounge sometimes quite a stressful experience.

If I had a physical frequent flyer card I suppose the easy solution would be to hand it over along with my mobile boarding pass, but as both are the card and boarding pass are digital I can't display them both on my phone at the same time.

LondonAussie

I have the exact same issue with mobile boarding pass, it doesn't show my status and you have to switch apps to show the Qantas card.

I've found that when HBO and using mobile boarding pass, if I pre-emptively say "Hi, I'm really sorry, there seems to be a glitch with my BA app not displaying my status. I'm oneworld Emerald with Qantas and in the past I've needed to get a printed boarding pass to confirm it. Would you mind printing one off for me please?" That seems to do the trick as it forces them to load up your details on screen and then they can see it. They have a printer underneath the desk.