EASY QUESTION REGARDING LOUNGE ACCESS
 

Hi,
Fly out of HKG tomorrow morning on Northwest (urghh), however have a BA Gold Card. Can I go in the Business Class section of The Wing or Pier.

Thanks

Unfortunately no. You can only get access to the CX lounge when flying a OneWorld airline. However, you can access the BA lounge regardless of which airline you fly.

The Pier is close to the NW lounge but as bagold says. I am afraid I don't think they would let you in unless you are not flying a oneworld carrier.

The idiots at the BA lounge will try to claim that you cannot use it!!!

First they will say its because you are not flying BA or another OneWorld carrier;

Then they will claim that you can only use Executive club lounges and that their crap lounge is a 1st class lounge;

If you complain some more, they will whip out a chart that says nothing about lounge access for Golds......

Now I am serious, grab the book out of the idiots hand and turn the page, there will be a CRS printout, and highlighted (I highlighted it) a third down the page will be the actual BA regs that say more or less, "Gold EC members and a guest can use the lounge, REGARDLESS, of what airline or class of service they are flying".

At that point they will say that they will make "an exception" and let you in. As I was flying Air China and literally just wanted a Coke, I noted their names, asked for the BA station manager and refused to go in. They seemed perplexed by this, but did not understand that I was more pissed by their attitude than anything else.


The Wing is truly awesome while the BA/Qantas lounge is garbage.

hehe, they made me an exception once.
since then i got my diamond card with MPO and went to the wing instead.

there is no need to compare the service of BA against CX, this will only make yourself unhappy. look at the bright side, the HK staff, and some of the FA on HKG-LHR route (incidentally asian FA, nothing racial here, just due to the competitive labor market i believe), are already the best within the whole BA network!

There's no need to call anyone an idiot. Being nice to staff will give you better service in the long run no matter who's right or wrong. Don't you agree? Merry Christmas to all!

I have one more. I'll qualify as Diamond at end of January 2002, and will probably start using AAdantage for my CX flights (too many miles to give up, I guess). Would I have any problem accessing CX lounges on a CX flight if I'm using my AA card (but flashing the CX card at lounge entrance)?

no problem at all.

u can put your miles into any oneworld program, and flash another ow card.

i had been flashing BA card and putting miles into CX or AA, and also flashing CX card with miles into AA.

u just have to indicate clearly which program u want your mile to be credited. then lounge is 'flashing' (and for them to record the #)

with diamond, you can access the business class Wing whatever airline you fly

This is probably a lot more hassle than it's worth, but you could buy a refundable ticket on an OW carrier that day, go into the lounge, and then refund the ticket later.

It's not quite that easy. I did just that to get into the F side of The Wing. You not only need the ticket, you need a boarding pass AND the printed lounge invitation for that day, otherwise it's no entry. They specifically asked for AND lifted the lounge invite and wanted to see the boarding pass. I didn't have time before my flight to go to Cathay customer service and surrender the ticket. After the fact their telephone support was unwilling to refund the ticket. Still, the HKG-TPE fare in F was something like $260. Others may think I'm foolish but I think it's worth it and would pay that again for access!!

boarding pass is a must.
if u can show the elite card, u don't really need the invitation pass

if you are really that eager to enter the Wing, you can also buy a BA A-class ticket to TPE/MNL, which are usually sold at a discount compared to F class tickets

(below has been edited for mistake)
btw, just received a "new rule" from MPO:
now it seems they allow Diamond/Gold members to the lounge, if you are connecting into mainland China from a long-haul CX flight to whatever airline you fly from HKG into the mainland

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 12-20-2001).]

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 12-20-2001).]

this is not exactly true, i think...

- silver MPOs still have lounge access when CX is the next outbound carrier...

- lounge access for gold/diamond MPOs applies only when you flying from LONGHAUL destinations, connecting same day to china...say if you flying CX TPE-HKG and then HKG-China, you still can't get into The Wing / The Pier...of course, if you're diamond you can get into J section of The Wing / The Pier anytime...but i think what they means if F access for diamond's...

[This message has been edited by tedhl (edited 12-20-2001).]

When did this change take place? I flew HKG-NRT on 14DEC in Y and my silver card generated a pass to the lounge.

The Pier is so great, to me at least, that now I hope my onward flight from HKG is from Gate 40 and up. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

i think the only recent change to lounge policy is the one for diamond/gold MPOs to access The Wing / The Pier while transitting from a long-haul CX flight to a same-day, any airline flight to China...

otherwise, nothing regarding lounge policy has changed...

I will have 10 CX flights in the coming seven days and plan to use the silver card for all. I'll see what they would say ....