Splotly

I’ve not previously tried using Emerald and a “same day” BA flight to get lounge access on the first leg of a trip (that’s not OneWorld) but reading the BA website it looks possible, but I’m just not sure how best to do it / who to ask at the airport etc. So any pointers appreciated….

Specifics are: first leg is later today MLE-DXB land in DXB 9:30pm (Emirates in business class but was a paid upgrade so doesn’t come with lounge access for crying out loud.). Then 1:30am flight in First on BA home. I’m a GGL so Emerald.

The BA flights from the Maldives normally leave in the morning, so don’t think any BA staff will be in the airport. And I don’t think the flight runs this time or year anyway (did during covid but that’s stopped now I think). So not sure who to ask? When we fly back direct with BA the check in staff normally have to give you a specific card to enter the lounge here in Maldives even with a BA First/Business boarding pass, so I need to get hold of one of those somehow I think by explaining to someone who’s not part of OneWorld that I might be allowed access… plus the flights are separate tickets so that probably scrambles my chances further.

I’m thinking my chances of this working out are not so good… so probably seats in Costa Coffee instead!

Also, separately - anyone know the best way to transfer Dubai T3 (inbound on Emirates) to Dubai T1 (outbound on BA). They’re separate tickets.

jerry a. laska

I’m not sure what you read but BA and Oneworld rules do not provide lounge access before your flight from MLE on a non-oneworld airline.

Splotly

Ah… Costa it is then!

Thought I’d read that if you have a same-day (or before 6am) flight with a OneWorld then you can access lounges using that. But didn’t read all the condition etc. Sorry to confuse people. Maybe better to delete the thread in case anyone else reads what I wrote and assumes it’s possible? (But not sure I have permissions to delete it.)

jerry a. laska

Oneworld lounge access by status requires a person to be flying on a oneworld member airline.
The 6am language refers to the airport the oneworld flight is departing from.

Splotly

Those look like the words I read. So it’s the fact the leg goes from a different airport that’s stopping me - seems fair enough to me

1Aturnleft

Anecdotally there is just one airside lounge at Male - The Leela Lounge which is a third party affair. Its not a Priority Pass lounge either. From memory it costs about USD40 per person to access. I used it once on a QR J ticket and didn't think it was worth the money had I been paying. This year when taking a similar trip to yours, I just headed down from the duty free / food court level to the departure level and hung out at the gate - far quieter than the upstairs area.

As for the DXB transfer its a paid transfer unfortunately. You'll need to clear immigration at T3, collect chrcked bags then head over to T1 and check in with BA.

Dubai RTA operates a vehicle from Airport Terminal 3 Metro Station 2 to Airport Terminal 1 Metro Station 2 every 5 minutes. Tickets cost AED 4 - AED 6 and the journey takes 1 min.

I'd recommend looking at purchasing a meet and greet service with someone like Marhaba. They're generally very good, will fast track you through the necessary check points and may even have a transit package that makes the experience a bit more seamless. I've only ever booked separate arrival and departure services with them as we broke the journey in DXB when we travelled.

orbitmic

The "same day or before 6am" language is really about people who want to access lounge based on cabin of travel and have a journey with multiple OW flights, some of which are in a lower cabin. So basically, you have no status, you are flying LHR-JFK in J on AA but before that you are flying GVA-LHR in Y (be it on the same or a different ticket) on BA, the OW rules mean that you can enjoy lounge at GVA too (whilst you couldn't based on that GVA-LHR flight in Y alone).

For anyone with status like the OP, that part of the rule is almost* entirely irrelevant (except when flying with airlines which give different lounge access based on status and class of travel, such as BA F at LHR or JFK, or QR J or F). In no case does status allow lounge access for a non-OW flight (though because of the rule, if you are flying, say, X-Y-X on LX and then X-LHR on BA on the same day, you could technically enter the BA lounge in X before your LX flight, but only by misleadingly showing your BA -- rather than LX -- BP to get in and implicitly pretending you are just here very early for your flight. And still, that doesn't work everywhere as often it will be different terminals and in some places like GVA, BA lounges have a tendency to only accept pax a couple of hours before their flight anyway because of over-crowding!

Splotly

1Aturnleft thanks for the info on the transfer - didn’t realise it was going to involve a train and stuff, and might well have got caught out wondering what to look for if you hadn’t pointed me at the metro/station signs. Appreciated.

TheChangingMan

1Aturnleft 's suggestion of Marhaba seconded. Makes life much easier.

1Aturnleft

You walk to the metro station at T3, take a road vehicle from there which drops you at the metro station at T1 .... no trains involved. you can purchase tickets for the transfer at the metro station.

Splotly

Thinking I’m going to wait and break this news to the missus as we’re heading there… there just seems no need for any premature shouting at me!

London Dude

As others already said, not a chance. There was a time, up until about 10-15 years ago, when gold card holders were entitled to use the BA lounges even when flying on a non-oneworld airline, but that now-discontinued perk was only available strictly with BA-branded lounges and without guests, so it wouldn't have worked at airports like MLE.

golfmad

It was 2011 and it was referred to as the 'Open Doors' policy. There's 68 pages of it discussed here if you're interested in nostalgia.

new lounge rules for gold? [End of Open Doors for Golds]

SKT-DK

The sole lounge in MLE truly is not worth much - soft drinks (as alcohol is forbidden anywhere bar resorts) and some pretty uninteresting snacks last time we were there pre-covid.

ModestPointsCollector

Yeh my main memory of the lounge was how busy it was, and how few appetising food items there were. There was a big tray of sandwiches that I grabbed a few of, which were alright from memory. They had a great selection of instant noodle cups if that's your thing!

This was around a year ago.