Forrest Bump

I can't help but just sympathize with the OP.
May have something to do with the fact at 16yo I didn't even know the existence of airport lounges, let alone flying the world on such nonchalance tiptoe style, mileage runs, and the likes.
You do have good point Ahmed777, I perfectly see your right to enjoy the lounge benefits, minus the booze. Now just let the dust settle (this thread on first page won't help you) and play the 'customer' card, writing a nice letter to EK.
Even big corporation like EK with consistent process can have gray areas yet to address, due the small volume some issue generally draws.
A young customer with a shiny flying future in the sky could be worth a further attention.

Ahmed777

Thanks for your advice!

I will try writing to EK in the near future. I hope that I am able to inspire some change.

NYTA

So you're telling me that if someone is subject to age discrimination by an airline and I suggest that this would be similar to racial discrimination by that airline, that I need to have that discussion on OMNI/PR instead of on the forum about that particular airline that is doing the discriminating?

DYKWIA

Yes, not letting someone into an airport lounge for being too young is just like racial discrimination.

Great analogy, we'll done. ^

shakil

I think a lot of you are being harsh on Ahmed's 'whining'. This is FT and a lot of the posts are complaining about one thing or the other.

subject2load

Post-of-the-Thread Award.

Please mods .......?? Please !

eightblack

Actually, both Zol and I were just getting used to the pace of things and agreed that the thread should stay open for at least 3 more months

Wan1dap

But your analogy had nothing to do with EK, so how can it be relevant here?Apart from the fact that you compared this trivial complaint by a kid to a fundamental human injustice! "My champagne was a bit warm, just like the time the Americans bombed Hiroshima" etc.

Ahmed777

Excuse you.

I have a right to complain just as much as the next person. Although age is important in this complaint, I should not be discriminated or threatened because of it, no?

Dave Noble

Absolutely; I am sure that if EK decided to start banning people over an arbitrary age from accessing the lounges, there would be an outcry from some about it and how it is unfair that they are no longer permitted access

Your complaint is a reasonable one imo and this thread better than those around on fora of people trying to abuse the guest facilities by posting requests for someone to take them into a lounge as a guest

pomkiwi

Of course you have a right to complain (and have exercised that right). I'm not sure that EKs rule on ages for unaccompanied access to lounges amounts to discrimination even if it could be more clearly stated. I completely fail to see that you have been threatened because of your age (or in any ther way to be honest).

This is something that you have written / complained about in the past and EK have been consistent in the application of this rule in DXB in your case. It seems certain that they are not about to change their approach on this one. It clearly bothers you (and I have some sympathy with the issue if not with the exagerated language).

I believe that much of your travel is between SA and the UK. Have you checked if either BA or SAA has the same lounge policy? If they don't maybe you should give them a try until you reach 18 (or at least until the EK lounge supervisors have forgotten you).

subject2load

The complaint - in itself - is reasonable.

I think what so many people here have found less reasonable is Ahmed's general attitude ("I demand a shower" ), along with his repeated refusal to accept EK's enforcement of access restrictions, due to policy as advised to him personally by lounge staff (and as stated on the official EK website)

As to your view that the thread is "better than those around on fora of people trying to abuse guest facilities ........ "
Hmm. Well at least we don't see Ahmed trying to do anything similarly inappropriate/undesirable, do we....?
Oh, hang on a minute ......apart maybe from :

- risking the jobs of EK personnel by means of hard cash ("it was a half-bribe, half-tip" Ahmed tells us flippantly)
- telling lies ("pretending that my parents were inside")
- looking for new ways to circumvent the rule ("maybe it would be a good idea to go down to the gate and find a random to take in")

ft101 - your post (6.25am) is very, very funny, and requires me to promptly revise my previous decision re Post-of-the-Thread Award .....!!
(I have a hunch, just a hunch, that even Ahmed himself will find some amusement in it .....)

DYKWIA

Wan1dap

But you haven't been discriminated against or threatened, have you? It seems you simply don't agree with the airline's rules and have tried several unethical/bullying ways to get around them. Unacceptable behaviour from a person of any age. And it's a continuing theme in your posts. If you were as mature as you appear to think you are, you would heed the messages being given to you and take personal accountability for adjusting your behaviour.

eightblack

Folks, this is getting close to the line now (eg thread closure). The OP has the same right as anyone else on FT to express an opinion. What we need to be mindful of is the subsequent discussion is getting personal. Remember, focus on the topic not the individual.

If we were all sitting around having a coffee, how would the conversation continue? As a series of personal attacks or as a lively debate?