CX lounge access snafu (thanks BA)
 

keeping it quick. BA messed up coding an upgrade on a critical flight avios-wise, so it looked like an pure award flight, so in order to get to lowly Silver on BA, I have needed to call BA several times. My BA account is now messed up, shows me as Bronze, with >600 tier points, but says that I have qualified as Silver (Sapphire).

Anticipating premium access problems, I got someone at BA to email me a letter confirming my status.

Here I am at SFO, in the airport, wondering whether the CX lounge is any good, as they won't let me in, and BA USA has closed for the night. Even better CX won't confirm in writing they won't let me in. It looks like until BA manages to sort it out, I am stuck in status limbo.

Main questions here are:
whether there is a better way to ensure access in these situations (e.g. ever any success getting BA to call another airline, in advance, to request exceptions)? and

roughly how long after tier points etc tick over to the next level should I expect it to take for the OneWorld system to update? It's almost enough to drive me back to *A (sigh).

I wouldn't be racing to access the SFO UA J lounge - that is if you are after nice snacks and an interested bar person that looks after customers ...

Why should any lounge give you a letter to say you've been denied entry??

It is not the end of the world? It's only a lounge... With some free drinks and snacks. Will it kill you to mingle with the rest of the traveling public in the airport?

BA will not call an airline for you. Your status must show up somewhere and if you can get a letter from BA stating the fact that you are indeed Silver the that's the way to go.

Remove your FF number from the booking all together.
Then get it readded is best way.

But the only way to be certain is to have and carry the card.

Based on your post it seems clear that CX declining admission to the lounge was completely correct since , as you state, you only currently have OW Ruby status. Once the system updates your status to silver , then you should be fine for future lounge access

If you were trying to access a BA lounge, maybe an agent could do something for you, but I cannot see that CX did anything wrong

This is normal, BA status takes a few days to appear properly.

neither of these would have made a difference. At the time, the OP was only OW Ruby; the OP had earned enough TPs to qualify for Silver(OW Sapphire) however the BA system had not promoted his memebership tier at that time

Until the status promotion occured, the OP was still only OW Ruby and not entitled to lounge access

OP here. The problem was not that the BA system had not promoted me in time, it was that BA messed something up. BA has clearly admitted they messed up. Ironically my status is now Silver in the system (so it took 48 hours to update, which is a shame as 48 hours from original flights would have been weeks of spare time)

Had BA not messed something up, everything would have been fine.

so @nux- I should have been Silver by May 21-25th at the latest, per "few days." I totally get things are not instantaneous, looks like 48 hours...

@Guy Betsy I think BA owes me something, but I want evidence that what I say happened actually happened. Per your other point I DID have a letter saying I was silver on BA, and CX did refuse to accomodate me, why shouldn't they acknowledge that? And to your other point about mingling- mingling at midnight, when everything in airport is shut was no fun. What's the point of status if you don't get lounge access etc.

@Dave Noble- what you say is what I expected, hence why I got the letter from BA, but I would think that clear evidence of status ought to be enough, I don't see why a customer focused business should operate on the basis of "The System" dominating.

Thanks all for your feedback. All very "first world problem" but I will see what BA proposes to do to say sorry (sound of not holding breath)

What Guy said. It's a couple of hours. It's an airport lounge, not the Four Seasons.

You are not missing anything. The SFO CX lounge is one big, loud crowded room with no amenities to speak of.

Why not visit the BA lounge instead, by gate 4? They should admit you even without the card. Or was this for the midnight departure?

I don't see that BA messed up at all. Status becomes active once it is granted. My recollection is that is not instant from the point the miles are credited on BA but when the promotion is processed. 48 hours does not sound like a mess up

I think that BA provided good customer service in providing a letter to confirm that you had met the eligability requirements for silver status. What exactly did the letter say; does the letter state that thet screwed up?

I don't see that you have anything to complain about tbh and anyway, all you missed out on was 1 visit to a lounge. if you had visited the BA lounge rather than the CX one, having that letter with you, you may well have been granted access, but you were visiting another airline's lounge and you were only bronze status at the time

OP here

@Dave Nobel: It took BA 3 weeks, and me making 4 phone calls, to have the flights credited. They have admitted they screwed up. That screw up, and the associated delay, cost me a benefit I was entitled to.

@EAE: I agree, like the BA lounge, closed after the last BA flight leaves.

@Dr. HFH- I know lots of people who regard lounge access as the most important part of frequent flyer programs, so I think your comment is off base.

..."a" benefit you are entitled to?? :rolleyes:
I hate to imagine what kind of passenger you're going to be like onboard ! Like I said, it's not the end of the World... But imagine what you'd do if you were flying say AA in LHR Terminal 3 are trying to get not the CX lounge and they refuse you cos it's full. I wonder if you'd cry bloody murder then!

@Guy Betsy : do enlighten me, what's the politically correct, and short, term for "clearly stated benefit in a loyalty program, which you have qualified for in every way as far as is humanly possible, and made clear, reasonable, polite, efforts to clarify" if it is not "entitled."

I am not sure why the ad hominem attack in the rest of your post. I disagreed with a post by someone, pointing out data from other passengers. I did not say he was impolite, or rude, or whatever, which you pretty much did about me.

If I was flying AA, I would go the AA lounge, which is the lounge I would be <insert your word instead of entitled> to- no?

fwiw I have been given bottles of champagne as I left the plane as a "nice passenger" gimme.

So these people regard lounge access as more important than, say, award tickets and upgrades? And presumably they're not frequent flyers on American and participants in the AAdvantage program, in which Admiral's Club access is not one of the benefits. Interesting.