Tips on how to convince a lounge dragon...
 

How do I convince a lounge dragon to let me in the J lounge in DXB when I have Gold status on yours and your partner airline and am goddamn flying J, but am sixteen. :confused:

I was denied F lounge access with an F BP and Gold status too.

"Hi" I say walking in happily.
"Sir, the bathrooms are located down the lift, to the left" she says matter-of-factly.
"Thanks, but I intend on using the ones in the lounge" I say presenting my BP, which also says Gold on it.
"I need to speak with my supervisor," she says. Then scurries off into the office and returns with her supervisor.
"Sorry, I see your status and class of travel, but I cannot allow you into the lounge"
"Why!? You do realize I just got off a 15-hour flight from SFO?"
"Yes, I do understand your situation. If you want, I can escort you to the UM lougne where you can sleep"
"I don't want sleep. I want a shower and food." I say, clearly rather upset.
"Unfortunately that is not allowed in Dubai. I have to ask you to kindly leave the lounge, and my colleague will escort you to the UM lounge where you can relax."

I got 1,000 miles for her rudeness. I would have preferred the shower.

I've tried it all, from putting on my best DYKWIA (yes, at 16 :D), to trying to sweet-talk the nice agent, to pretending that my parents were inside. It never works. Ever.

Okay, I lie, it worked once. That lady was so sweet. And the $50 bill thrust in her hands when I walked in was well spent.

I am friggin-16. I will not do anything to your lounge, I swear.

I refuse to give up on this. I demand a shower and some VOSS, as well as boarding without the ridiculous queues downstairs.

Anything...?

Its really interesting how you're always denied lounge access. My friends son, who just turned 17 has been a gold since he was 12, and at 14 started flying by himself in both J and F. He's always been admitted to the DXB lounge and outstations no questions asked. He just flew recently as a 17 year old, alone, in F as a gold, and was again admitted into the lounge no problem. He does look like he's 25 though if that makes any difference.

I am rather small... Hmmm...

I was denied last weekend, and the lead-dragon gave me a talk. Quite a nice lady. Perhaps next time I should record the encounter for people to see.

I once had a 6-hour transit and no shame, so I tried all three lounges and was denied at each and every one. I depart from A 80% of the time, so have become familiar with the supervisor...

You may have to get a Flyertalker to adopt you for the duration of your layover!

Either that, or email the supervisor in advance to have the Voss waiting for you at reception and have them arrange for you to use the hotel/Timeless Spa showers instead...! As for boarding...that might be slightly more difficult...!

That is actually a brilliant idea!

I see the girl so often (and have named her Elixir for some very strangle reason) that it wouldn't hurt to get her email address down so that she can prepare something for me... Hmmm... This could work.

Anyone in DXB on December 3, December 11, December 25 or January 12 and is willing to adopt a wonderful mileage running 16-year old? :D

I do sympathise, but the fact is that your Skywards status or travel class is not the issue here. You are asking the lounge supervisors to break the rule relating to age & alcohol : "Due to local licensing laws, lounge access may not be available to unaccompanied minors and young passengers"


I'm not saying the rules are right or wrong ; but they are what they are, and they have been clearly stated.

Given what Emirates202 relates re his/her friend's son, it seems that your appearance might unfortunately go against you....? And for the lounge staff to say "I have to ask you to kindly leave the lounge" I wonder were you perhaps a little over-insistent in demanding access when the staff are acting within their rights to deny it ....?

They are not that clearly stated since they do not state which are the locations where local licensing laws prohibit lounge access to those of age 16

If it applied to EK's hub , I would have expected it to have been more explicit

It may well be that this is the case in Dubai, but even so , it sounds like the lounge agent could have been clearer at explaining it

to the OP, when contacting EK about the incident did the representative mention an age restriction?

Perhaps the fact that you are referring to the supervisor variously as 'dragon' and 'girl' might make your task more difficult - especially if any of that viewpoint was obvious to her?

The OP has written about their frustration about this, and other limitations of being an unaccompanied young person on EK, on several occasions. I think that the EK staff have been clear about the restrictions in DXB and consistent in applying them.

Yes, they said that it was 18. They did not offer an explanation why. If it were to do with alcohol, I am Muslim and do not drink. :confused:

I am always very nice to all airport staff. The word "dragon" is used here quite a lot to describe the lounge staff. I certainly don't have a liking to the woman, but I feel that I am quite polite in the way I handle myself. The only time I was frustrated was at the F lounge employees, who were quite rude to me.

Elixir, I'm sure, is a wonderful lady. I just don't like the fact that she stands between me and the sanctuary of the lounge.

But they are not clearly stated. Have you ever seen a sign that states this? Or anything on the website that is easily found?

Why does appearance matter? Surely, at least in my view, everyone should be treated the same way. I don't feel that I was overly insistent on getting access. Maybe I was. I had just got off a 15-hour in Y. You know the feeling.

That shower was necessary... I know the UM lounge too well :mad::mad::mad:

Too consistent... It's why I have to fly South African Airways once in a while... ;)

That you may not drink does not impact on what the licensing restrictions may be.

If EK has confirmed that in Dubai the minimum age is 18 , then I don't see what more there is to be done ( other than find someone prepared to chaperone you )

I agree with you that appearance should not matter however checking ID of people entering the lounge is not a standard process. If you looked older, you may not be questioned and so not prohibited

There is totally a "wanted" picture of Ahmed in the supervisor's office.

Your persistence across all various lounges at least demonstrates that EK is actually quite consistent in terms of enforcing the policy at DXB.

One idea (long shot) - have you tried to have your parent contact EK and explicitly authorize (demand!) you to be admitted into the lounge?

Keep up your studies. Life is going to be tough if you're ever "off the payroll".

I think you will just have to accept that it's not your friend Elixir who stands between you and the lounge, but simply the rules governing access.

And the rule in question is indeed remarkably easy to find. I myself was aware of it already - but just by way of a test, I tapped three simple words into google, viz :

lounge access emirates

Instantly, the note about licensing laws & age restrictions came up, even as part of the text on the search results page - ie before even getting to the EK website itself.

So .... not that much of a mystery really.

If the webpage actually stated that min age for lounge access is 18, I would agree, however the webpage simply says that in some locations access may mot be available - that is not something that is really much use

Can you join Priority Pass and use one of their lounges? Do they even have a lounge there? At IST, for example the Priority Pass lounge is quieter and much less crowded than the TK lounge (also easier to get a shower), although the TK lounge has better food.

Oh come on Dave, when the words 'licensing laws, unaccompanied minors and young passengers' appear in the same sentence, it doesn't need a rocket scientist or the wisdom of Einstein to work out that an age of 16 is likely to involve restrictions.

Given the vague way the tewrm is worded, no it isn't obvious that there would be restrictions in Dubai

Dubai is EK's main hub and would expect that EK should publish clearly the rules for its main port.

All it shows is an inability of a company to provide clear information on its website

As far as it goes for the specific customer, he has now been informed by EK of the age requirement in Dubai which should cover the matter for future travels

Dragon is not derogatory when referring to lounges. Dragons traditionally guard gold. Isn't that what a lounge is? In fact dragon is complementary in this sence.

(Maybe I have watched too much Harry Potter)

The levels of condescending on this forum know no bounds - some of the posters should be ashamed of themselves on here in addressing a young FT-er who has raised a valid point in the manner they have.

Moving on, it is probably also worth pointing out that the legal age of drinking in the UAE is 21yrs so EK's stated reason for non-admittance until he is 18yrs old is B/S.

Actually, the problem is consistency. My son also 16, gold and flying in J gets easy access everywhere but Dubai. So I don't quite get if its a system wide rule or station dependant. About half the time he gets in in DXB too. One time they said "no" he went and got someone at the gate to escort him in and then the guy proceeded to enjoy the free flow alcohol for a couple of hours.

Twice they have given him permission to take a quick shower, eat and vacate the lounge within an hour. The agent kept his passport both times they allowed this.

Ask inbound FA if there is anyone in Y with same destination.

I think those are different points.

As the OP said, the lounge staff did not state why the min age was 18. [We can theorize that it's generally seen as the legal adult age]

On EK aircraft, the drinking age is indeed 21. I've seen it enforced a handful of times (though not consistently).

Off topic but how are you still a sky surfer? I thought that once you turn 16 it automatically turns to regular skywards membership? Or maybe my friend said 17? His son is definitely a regular member at 17 now though.

"The Skywards Skysurfers Website, in conjunction with the Skywards frequent flyer programme, is operated for persons aged between two and 16 years of age by Emirates (a decree corporation established in Dubai, United Arab Emirates) on behalf of itself(the Operator)."

Just noticed this! Quickly fired off an email to EK about it and awaiting the response. I hope that the transition is quick and easy, as I currently have 2 Y-J upgrades booked on miles DXB-LGW and LGW-DXB for December.

Also, does anyone know if, in the transition, your Tier miles are affected or zeroed? I would hope not.

With regards to the lounges worldwide, I am allowed into LHR about 90 percent of the time, and I am allowed into the DUR lounge always, since I am EK Gold, SA Gold and have Investec Private Banking, which all grant me access there.

I was told by Elixir that they are trying to be more consistent with lounge access in outstations, and that I shouldn't get used to them bending the rules so often.

Maybe it would be a good idea to go down to the gate and find a random to take in. That could work.

Also the idea about leaving my passport with them was quite good, but Elixir has made it clear that she isnt breaching the rules for anyone, which I respect.

Let's hope I depart from B or C next time, as I don't know their supervisors! :D (yet)

You definitely have money to throw :rolleyes:. Besides, that borders on being a 'bribe' and not a tip - she could have lost her job had someone seen it....

Regardless of the OP's age I'm going to have to pick up on this use of 'dragon'. It's not on, and if that's the attitude you take with you then you will be denied access. Being nice to people generally gets better results.

I've been to a <lot> of airport lounges in the past 20 years, and met my share of unhappy or inflexible staff, but Emirates lounge agents are consistently friendly and helpful. So - please, no derogatory language. Harry Potter references do not justify it.

The use of term "dragon" as a term for a lounge agent has been being used by numerous people on the fora and seems quite unreasonable to pick on this person using the term; searching around and will find lots of posts referring to agents as such

Yes, I do know the feeling - as lots of us normal people do - yet I do not feel the need to insist on lounge access if it's not allowed? Or open various threads about it in FT.
If you need a shower that bad, use the public access showers, the water is perfectly fine there, I tried.

^

^^

A quick look indicates this gives you Priority Pass Lounge Access.

Why not use this in DXB?

Priority pass is age restricted . You have to be at least 18 AFAIK. Children can be guested in by an adult though.

I just had enough time to kill, did a check run on the OP's other posts. With the instincts which I use for my job :p I truly believe that the OP writes some good screenplays. He/she ran into one two many ''odd'' situations, its ring a bell, atleast to me. Am I the only one ?

Blame it on the nature of my work.. Ha ha..!

I've been on FT for 13 years so I do know this. And I disagree with you on this point: just because a word is used a lot doesn't mean it's right, particularly when it's referring to people doing their job. Any study of rap lyrics will reveal that :p

It was a half-bribe half-tip. :D

I am of Arab ethnicity. What do you expect...

I did not mean the term in a derogatory manner. I was merely using a common name for the agents that is used throughout the fora, as Dave stated.

I apologise if I have offended anyone.

^

I had no idea that my bank provided me with this! I know I get access to Preier Lounges within SA, but had no idea it reached internationally.

What lounge is it? Is it the EK lounge or another?

Surely if one travels as much as one does, then it is just natural to run into odd situations on some flights?

Why would I post about the ordinary?

Again, I apologise if I have offended anybody with the use of the term "dragon."

It is commonly used and is not meant, in any way, to be derogatory.


My reason for the initial post was to highlight what I found to be a rather annoying part of flying EK. It was mainly to vent, as well as to hear others opinions into the matter, as well as advice on how to continue.

I thank those who have provided constructive ideas that could possibly help, like emailing them in advance or leaving my passport with them.

I would not like to use the shower in the terminal for many reasons:
- It is generally not the cleanest of showers. I know that there is an attendant, but there is a lingering smell I found when I used it previously.
- They do not provide amenities.
- They do not provide a towel.
- There is no hairdryer (I need this).
- There is nowhere to shave and brush teeth with privacy.

Ahmed, I would give up while you're (just) ahead. You obviously live a pretty privileged life, but your constant whining about inconsequential issues rubs me up the wrong way, and I don't believe I'm alone. The reference to the bribe (which you appear to pass off as normal for a person of your extraction) is particularly concerning, especially coming from a teenager. As is the condescending tone you adopt in reference to EK staff. Take some time to consider your behaviours: some adjustment might see some of these issues you raise, fade away.

I know this post will seem judgmental : it is intended that way.

What he said!

I can empathize with OP and it's really frustrating. Many years ago I was regularly (almost every month) flying KLM between LAX and AMS in J. The dragons at the old Northwest lounge would not let me enter because at the time I under 21.

After a few complaints, the KLM station manager eventually got involved and it became my regular routine to be escorted to the lounge with a KLM employee that would "supervise me."

I like the idea of having FTers adopt him when in DXB.

Well said! I agree 100%

I feel pretty sure you are indeed NOT alone Wan1dap, and from a quick scan of various comments on this thread (and similar, past threads), I get the distinct impression that your comments encapsulate the thoughts of many others here.

Language from the OP such as "I refuse to give up on this" and "I demand a shower" reflect a perspective on life that says ...... because I am privileged and already enjoy the trappings that come from my healthy bank account even at 16, then the rules which apply to everyone else should obviously not apply to me


Such an attitude is never a pleasant trait to see in a person of ANY age - let alone a teenager. It's interesting that the OP seems unwilling to simply respect the policy, and its consistent application by any number of EK staff across the various DXB lounges. The incident where he appears to have circumvented these access rules by means of a bribe is especially concerning - not least the fact that, when challenged by others, the practice is then justified by the OP as being normal/acceptable behaviour, with all the implications that this has for later adult life.

But, more than anything, it is - as Wan1dap says - this pattern of constant whining that has become tiresome, along with a general attitude that the world and its citizens must always bend to my sense of priorities & requirements, rather than the other way round.