blawson

I am flying EDI --> LAX in F and I am lowly blue on an Amex 2F1 Redemption. Coming back from PHX.

Even although I am flying down to London the previous day it says under the domestic part of the booking

After Check In
British Airways Terraces Lounge - After Security in the Departures Lounge. (Lounge access is subject to capacity restrictions.)


After the flight to LAX

Concorde Room - The Concorde Room is located within the 'South Lounges' area. Customers travelling in First are able to access the Lounge by using a dedicated entrance, located on the right after going through Security South

Coming back from PHX in Club World

British Airways Executive Lounge - Terminal 4 - Departures Level directly across from Gate B22. (Lounge access is subject to capacity restrictions.)


Before my flight back to EDI

Galleries Club - The Galleries Club Lounges are located in both the North and South areas of Terminal 5A. You can choose to visit the Lounge which is closest to your Departure Gate. Please follow the signs for 'North Lounge' or 'South Lounge' after going through Security

HIDDY

Obviously to some it is rocket science which makes one wonder if it is a lack of training or any training at all.
A lot of the problems happen in the regions where the staff are not BA but Aviance. The most worrying part of the OP is to see that it also happens at LHR T5 as well where one would expect the staff to be 100% clued up.

edi-traveller

Part of the training they have at EDI is a piece of paper stuck behind the counter with the fare codes that are eligible for entry:

J C D Y and I

When they see you are booked on a business or FIRST redemption (Z or U) or worse the Domestic portion has ticketed in X - then to them it is not an eligible fare code therefore the trouble starts.

My argument on the other thread I started was to simply make the Z or U fare codes print Business UK on the BP and the problem goes away - it is a simple solution ...............

And if someone books a Business or FIRST redemption make sure it tickets in Z or U NOT X - then again problem solved.

trickster

Hello, lowly Blue here.

Booked to fly MAN-LHR-CPT in F on an Amex 2for1 in August.

In MMB I get the following:

British Airways Terraces Lounge
Location:After Security in the Departures Lounge, turn left and use the lift/staircase to access lounge. (Lounge access is subject to capacity restrictions.)

Catch up on work before you travel, enjoy a snack or simply unwind in a relaxing area away from the busy airport environment.

The MAN-LHR flight is ticketed in booking class X.

maroon cat

This is just what I came on here tonight to ask about.

Flew Edinburgh - Heathrow - Prague return, out last Wednesday and back Monday night (well the final leg of the journey was Tuesday morning as we missed the last shuttle north but that made no difference to the issue - lovely night at the Ibis ) It was a 2 for 1 redemption booking in Club Europe and as with other posters the itinerary part of MMB showed lounge access for all 4 sectors

Had no problems at Edinburgh going outbound, the boarding cards scanned fine and obviously no problem at Heathrow or Prague. The problem was only at Heathrow on our return.

When the dragon scanned our boarding cards she said "no access" so I dug out the print out of my itinerary and showed her that but she was not even interested in looking at it and argued with me that that referred to our outbound flight to Prague (despite me trying to show her the flight it was talking about)

She did phone someone to check the status of my original ticket (ie the Monday night one which we missed) but that was no access either so this had nothing to do with the flight move.

Interestingly I spoke to one of the guys I work with and he had the exact same situation in the same circumstances a few weeks ago - apart from when he showed his MMB printout they let him in.

Is there any point in contacting BA about this, firstly to see if they feel generous enough to give me some freebe miles to make up for the embarrassment of being turned away etc, and secondly and to be honest more to the point for when I fly in the future so I know 110% I can argue my �rights�

edi-traveller

Yes contact them - the more people that complain the more likely they are to sort it out.

I have PMd the BA Exec Club lurker with links to this and my other thread.

I will spell it out again - if you book with money say EDI-LHR-VIE in Business the domestics book into as Business UK Bucket.

It should be the same with F and J redemptions - book them into Z or U and make those Business UK............

FFS why is it so difficult?

zchapk9

Just to add my experience as a lowly blue to this thread.

Booked GLA-LHR-SFO in F redemption with a long stopover in London.

Booked the ticket by phone and the agent specifically told me that the domestic portion was in a bucket that would allow lounge access. Flew the sector last month, BP said nothing about lounge access, but I checked at the ticket desk and they confirmed I could have access. Up at the lounge the BP scanned fine and was I welcomed in. So at least there they seem to know the rules, or at least be relaxed enough not to care too much either way.

Aerotec

A friend, who is blue, recently flew NRT-LHR-GLA.

After transferring across to T5 he tried to get in to the CCR but was politely directed to Galleries First. So there are staff out there who know the rules...

rdmsmith

Whereas I booked for my brother via BA.com and his domestic sectors were in X class, which doesn't appear to allow access and he was reliant on the lounge staff knowing the rules for connecting flights in a premium cabin.

So as edi-traveller points out, surely the domestic connections should have been booked into Z or U.

Am I correct in thinking that X would sell out before Z/U so it would never be a case of X being the only one left? Of course, there's also V class for Golds though.. where's that in the hierarchy?

HIDDY

Well I'm booked in to X for the LHR-MAN so I can see trouble ahead if they are indeed just going by the fare bucket codes.
The annoying part is they just look at you as if you're some sort of conman,very unsettling before/after a long flight..

maroon cat

Any suggestions about the best person to contact, being a lowly Blue I fear that if I just send in something to the Exec Club it will be ignored..

rdmsmith

I spoke to Customer Relations (twice) and they didn't know the rules but maybe if enough people call they might actually get the story right.

redshift27

You could always try writing to Simon Talling-Smith (though I am not sure whether he is head of BA Product Management or just Inflight Services), at British Airways plc Waterside PO Box 365 Harmondsworth, and I would send a printed out copy of this thread highlighting the confusion that clearly exists in lounge agents' minds and customer services about the subject.

I confess to a vested interest as I have a redemption MAN-LHR-YVR out in F and return YYC-LHR-MAN in J coming up in August. I am Blue. All the lounges show up correctly in the Manage My Booking itinerary, so one would think that if one BA computer system can get it right, it should not be too difficult for others to do so. I am booked into X on the domestic segments.

My one past experience was a happy one, no problems whatsoever at MAN, flying MAN-LHR-JFK in J in November. I did not return LHR-MAN on BA that time, so did not try to get into the T1 BA lounge.

It seems David Noyes was Director of Customer Services, but I am not sure whether that vacancy has been filled yet after his departure a month ago.

rdmsmith

..and it's 3rd time lucky, Customer Relations just called me to say my brother should indeed have had lounge access and they're going to contact the lounge staff at both GLA and LHR to reiterate the rules. The message they had if it ever happened again is politely stand your ground and ask for the rules to be checked (as G-BOAC noted right at the beginning of this thread).

matthewuk

It would be good if they could the simplify the rules!

I know we have the 'same day connection in Business class' rule, but what does that really mean?

What if I leave the US on a Friday, arrive on a Saturday for a domestic connection that morning? Is that same day?

What if I get the last shuttle down from Edinburgh to LGW and take a flight that leaves 2 hours later but just after midnight? (Not sure that exists but maybe one day and maybe it does happen somewhere on the oneworld network)

Surely we need to simplify it all!!