Does anyone have any experience of problems claiming Emerald status (Lounge access in particular) when reaching Emerald in the middle of an xONEx? (Tried a search, but without much success.)

As a current (BA) Sapphire, I'll hit Emerald when I reach BKK on my AONE5. Revised timing for my trip means that I won't now have a gap at home at that point, so won't receive my shiny new card. (As many people know, that takes several weeks to arrive.)

BA can, I believe, fax me some kind of confirmation of Gold/Emerald status, but has anyone found lounge dragons refusing to accept these faxes? I'm quite happy to stand my ground and/or demand to see duty managers, etc. but was wondering if these faxes are sufficiently common that most lounge staff accept them as being quite normal.

PS: I already have Gold luggage tags from the past, so am ready to swank in check-in queues and the like as soon as I re-qualify. Using these whilst not qualified would, of course, never enter my mind.

Of course, you would have access to most OW lounges with your current BA status, just not First Class lounges in the network. If there's a First Class lounge somewhere, there's a Business Class lounge as well, so it's not like you'd be too bad off (except in the US, I guess).

As far as desk agents believing me when I had virtual proof of enrollment, I found most to be understanding given my (politely) explained situation. Some wanted a card, others just a number, but in the end they were all able to look up my FF account and verify what I told them. YMMV

I first hit AA EXP (OW Emerald) several years ago in the middle of an AONE3. Was changing planes at HKG and sought access to the F lounge at the Wing. Although I had a printout from AA computer on departure (from LHR) and showed it to the front desk, I was not permitted into the F side. OTOH, the J side of The Wing is still pretty nice.

What kind of lounge access are you looking for that an F class ticket (AONE5) will not get you, regardless of status?

Same question, why did your F class ticket (AONE3) not get you into the F lounge?

Even if you have AONEX tickets, when you fly business class because of F service not povided(most of shorthaul flights), you can not enter F lounge without status.

Exactly. I shall be doing JFK-UVF-JFK on this trip & AA only offers Business class on that route. Further, the AA lounge rules for transcontinental state that you need to be in F or Z inventory (or to be OW Emerald) for access to the Flagship Lounge. (This seems to leave you out if you're Sapphire in First with an A ticket.)

Yeah, it would. You'd be stuck in the Admiral's Club.

Ironically, my experience says BA wants the physical card more than anyone I've tried (everyone except RJ and MA.)

(Of course, UVF is NOT a transcon. A J ticket JFK-UVF gets you no lounge access at all, with AA's new-speak definition of "international".)

I flew LHR-HKG-BKK. The vast majority of CX service between HKG and BKK has no F, which was my situation that day.

But doesn't a OW Sapphire on this route at least get AC access? Of course, Flagship Lounge access (that the newly-acquired Emerald status would provide) would be preferable....

Not if the OW Sapphire status is with AA. StrandedinSC is an AA EXP and therefore cannot have access to AC or FL by tier status (and in this case, also not by COS).

I reached BA Gold also 'en route'. Never a problem in any of the lounges (AA, QF etc). Your emerald status is stated on your boarding pass.

You should not have any problem. The problem is normally for an OW-EM from another programme trying to get into BA F lounge.

Yes, a non-AA Sapphire/Emerald would get the matching lounge access on JFK-UVF (THey would also on JFK-BOS...)

But, an AA Sapphire/Emerald, or even, for that matter, a full fare J ticket do not provide lounge access on a route like JFK-UVF.

You can't get there without a passport, but to AA's rules, UVF is a domestic destination. The disctinction, hwoever, only matters to those without a non-AA Emerald/Sapphire card.

I made OW Emerald on LAN one day before a flight with BA. I took the printout with me which wasn't enough. But they were nice enough to phone someone in Heathrow (not sure who it actually was), read my number to him/her and had them verify that I was an Emerald member.

+1^
Door dragon at LHR T5 Galleries rang the Admirals Club (in T3?) to verify our status when we were there last year