Football Fan

Indeed a much better experience, but only available if actually flying in F (or Business Plus). Chelsea lounge is open to a lot more people.

EuropeanPete

Chelsea Lounge is open to a lot more people, but BA/ AA customers in the lounge probably make 100x the profit of Miami's FFD between all F, CK and GGL passengers.

ryanbriar

Exactly - get those right (plus lighting) and most people aren’t thinking too much about the windowless room aspect. Failing on all fronts when things worked fine at the old lounges exacerbates the issues.

My experience there a few weeks ago was top notch as well (other than the manager basically kicking me out just before boarding saying I had been there and taken advantage long enough…), but volume was light compared to JFK FFD / now Chelsea. The agents said they had two AA F flights (EZE / GRU) and a BA flight. The staff would likely be slammed if there were 1-2 more flights as there were two servers covering the room. AA’s MO seems to be to run lean staffing model.

BlooJoo

I've been alone in FFD JFK (also Sodexo) where there were 4-5 staff members milling about doing nothing. So I don't know what happened here.

Flythe96flag

Are passengers arrriving in BA First connecting to a domestic flight on AA granted access to the Chelsea lounge?

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, that's standard oneworld rules.

orbitmic

"Could" indeed, but it's now been nearly two weeks and things seem to have only gone from bad to worse on that front, not better, which raises questions about the willingness to actually sort out problems.

I think it is also why people need to keep complaining each and every time. Let's not give AA and BA the impression that "we'll get used to it".

wfiring12

On the 178 this morning with arrival and check-in super helpful. Escorted to front of the security line despite plenty of time and no BA status, found that to be unexpected surprise. Staff were suggesting either Chelsea or Soho with our F tickets, while not apologizing for Chelsea but hinting Soho was "very nice." Essentially just using the sit-down dining as a reason to choose Chelsea. Overall, my benchmark in LH and LX F experiences in Europe but I did find this experience thus far to be solid. Staff attentive and quite proud of the new facilities.

BlooJoo

Yes, but Chelsea is not a oneworld lounge, it is a BA/AA F lounge (akin to CCR/FFD.) Soho is the 1W F/EMD lounge.
That said, access should be granted based on CCR/FFD historical precedent.

crazyarmadillo

As far as I've been told by BA GGL agent amongst others at the old CCR and also a couple AA agents at T8, said it is or was definitely to be a Oneworld lounge.

Edit to add
But then again, as it's going to be mainly , 99%, AA or BA customers , I dont suppose it really matters too much

BlooJoo

Chelsea is not a 1W lounge. In the pix of the entry signs on the AA forum, you can see Soho has the OWE symbol, Greenwich has the OWS symbol. It's just like CCR/Galleries F/Galleries.

jjLDNY

It'll matter when the other airlines move over. But either way the intention is still AA/BA.

BlooJoo

Wait, I thought Soho was the Emerald lounge? I see in your images that Greenwich is Emerald & Sapphire, but they seem to be missing Soho, which is Emerald only and OW First Class, no?

EDIT: They have it correctly here: https://www.britishairways.com/en-us...n/new-york-jfk although they don't mention GGL.

jjLDNY

Soho is the emerald lounge. Greenwhich shows both because you can access it with Sapphire and Emerald. Soho just has the Emerald logo.

GGL access is only mentioned right now on a GGL page on ba.com that requires you to login - presumably to avoid confusion of people seeing 'Gold' and thinking it applies to them.

Work2Travel333

Currently in the Chelsea lounge flying AA domestic to Miami. Guidance for the desk agents remains unclear / conflicting, as they showed me an email saying that GGL access to Chelsea was on Flagship routes only. I know that is the CK requirement, but unclear guidance remains for the agents. I pulled up the BA website that references GGL access for passengers on BA and AA and that was sufficient. Agents were very friendly, and I certainly don't fault them.

Just missed the cutoff for breakfast (11am), so I chose the fish and chips from the lunch menu, which was tasty. Only 2 other pax in the lounge and plenty of staff floating around.

Today was my first visit, and I'd read previous comments about the bright lighting, but they seemed to have been dimmed today that some of the pictures I'd seen previously.