LAX - TBIT oneworld Lounge Access (Combined thread)
 

Hello FT!

I've been a long-time lurker, but an experience this past week at the LAX oneworld Lounge has moved me from a long-time lurker to a first-time poster.

I'm a BAEC Gold and was flying AA LAX - ORD out of T4, and had about ~4 hours to go before my flight. While talking to one of the AAngels in the T4 AC, she mentioned that I could access the oneworld Lounge in TBIT as, per http://www.oneworld.com/ffp/lounge-access:

I was skeptical, as in most airports that I've seen, you can only access the terminal from where your flight is departing. But she said that as of 5/1/14, ticketed passengers with a boarding pass who have a same-day flight departing LAX can pass through TBIT security, in order to increase business at the shops and restaurants.

After passing through TBIT security without issue, I walked up to a smiling young man and young lady manning the oneworld Lounge's front desk. I gave them my boarding pass and BAEC Gold card, excited to experience the lounge after a very long day. At that hour, the lounge was completely empty, as the evening rush wouldn't begin for 4-5 hours.

The smiling young man suddenly stopped smiling and handed my boarding pass and FF card back at me and said I couldn't enter, as I didn't have a flight departing from that terminal. As the oneworld lounge access page was still in my phone's browser, I showed them the policy, but young man told me that the website was wrong.

Not wanting to fight the issue, I told them I understood that they were bound by policy, and asked if there was a supervisor or manager on-duty who might make "an exception as a one-time courtesy", but was told they were the only two people on-duty and no one higher than them would be in all day (it was a Friday mid-day, not a weekend or other off-hours time). The young lady told the young man the choice whether to make an exception was "up to" him, but he denied the request and chimed in saying that I "shouldn't even be in this terminal".

Is there some official policy somewhere that says you must be departing from TBIT in order to access the lounge?

If not, who can you appeal to in these types of policy-interpretation situations? For example, AA operates their own lounges with AA Premium Services personnel, with supervisors, managers, etc. The oneworld Lounge in TBIT is operated by Qantas, but who do lounge personnel report up to - in other words, who would be the next-level higher in situations where the interpretation of a policy is at issue? Perhaps the Qantas LAX station manager?

I really do like this lounge, so if some of you fine FT-folk can help bring clarity to this issue, I would truly be grateful.

As I read the policy they were wrong to refuse entry. Please write to both QANTAS as operators of the lounge, and oneworld, asking them to point out the precise exception that was relied upon to deny access, and let us know what you find out.

Commiserations, by the way. What an unpleasant and unnecessary experience

Given the TBIT lounge renovations are not yet complete (with the 2nd stage of Business and First yet to open) there do appear to be some additional restrictions in place -- it is often packed in the evening peaks and have seen reports of Emeralds turned away, and certainly no additional guests allowed.

That said if you were there 4+hrs before the peak and not likely to stay that long, it does seem to be a poor decision.

I could understand that - and if they would have stated it was due to capacity restrictions, that would have made more sense.

As an additional data point, a colleague (also a BAEC Gold) with an AA flight out of T4 attempted to access the lounge off-peak on a different day and was also denied for the same reasons.

My concern is that they're interpreting the access policy to be "no flight out of TBIT, no lounge, no exceptions" - regardless of lounge capacity restrictions.

F lounge opening update?
 

Any update on when the first class one world lounge will open?

Thanks

When I spoke to one of the CX staff three weeks ago, they were saying middle of December. Keeping my fingers crossed as I have a CX and BA flight.

Last word I have come across is 'around new year's day' - but that was four weeks ago:

http://airwaysnews.com/blog/2014/11/...lounge-at-lax/

Any recent data points on this situation? I have an upcoming int'l AA flight coming up and I'm EXP... I'd hate to argue with them if they don't allow me access.

Thanks!

The new F lounge is now open, and they let me in yesterday with no problem. I'm a CX Diamond (OW Emerald) and I was flying PEY.

I didn't even know the F lounge was open yet so I tried to go into the J lounge. I handed the gatekeeper my CX-printed F lounge invitation and he turned me away and pointed me to the F lounge instead (separate entrance, down the hall to the right).

No problems getting in, tons and tons of empty chairs, good food and service. I do sort of miss having a buffet bar to go pick at, but the kitchen put out fresh food fast.

More about it here: (same forum, different thread)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...l#post24014391

Also, see here from the Australian Frequent Flyer Website: (and following posts)

New LAX Qantas/oneworld lounge at TBIT | Australian Frequent Flyer

I have a question:
I have LAX -SFO-NRT, AA F then JAL F.
I don't have any status, would i be able to access oneworld F lounge in LAX?

And about this feature:
"Signature Sofitel service offered to customers travelling in First, including dedicated check-in, fast-track immigration and dedicated boarding"
Anyone experienced this? Do they mean fast-track for security?

No it is for arrival immigration.

F lounge at LAX is in TBIT whereas your LAX-SFO flight is likely to depart from T4. This means clearing security twice (once in TBIT and again in T4).

I don't think it's "fast-track 'immigration' " but LAX TBIT has different security lanes for F / J and Y pax.

You would have to check in at T4. You'd have PRIORITY ACCESS and Flagship lounge access at T4.

Sofitel service would be based on flights out of Tom Bradley.

If I'm traveling solely in First class for a domestic flight on AA do I have access to the TBIT lounge?

You might be able to take the shuttle from TBIT to T4. Emphasis on might.

Most likely not.

Another data point: I was flying out of TBIT to LIH yesterday on AA at 09:15. I was denied access to the Oneworld lounge as BAEC Gold on the basis that I did not have an international flight. The agent cited this as a rule at that lounge. AA seems to operate several domestics out of TBIT so this is a bit of a nuisance until there is an air-side link.

They were wrong to deny you access in this case. They can deny an AA Emerald because they aren't entitled to lounge access on US domestic flights but as a oneworld Emerald, you're definitely entitled to use the lounge.

I've used numerous lounges on US domestic flights on the basis of my CX Emerald and have NEVER been denied lounge access.

I have had no trouble at AA lounges but the agent claimed that they had their own rules. She was able to convince a BAEC agent that she was right, or at least to wear her down. The BAEC agent did apologise to me. Had I been bothered I could have gone back to T4 and had I known they would be balky I could have stayed there, as we checking in there. Either the AA agent didn't expect trouble or he didn't notice the Emerald but he didn't say anything.

Oneworld's own press release on the new LAX lounge states that:

"The new Business Lounge is available to passengers booked in First or Business Class on oneworld airlines departing from the terminal, or customers holding Emerald or Sapphire status in any oneworld member airline's frequent flyer programme booked in any cabin on a oneworld member airline flight from the terminal."

So they can deny you entry if your OW flight leaves from a different terminal but not if you're on a domestic OW flight departing from that terminal....


url]https://www.oneworld.com/news-information/oneworldnews/-/asset_publisher/QtTQ7EuCzxhd/content/new-los-angeles-lounge/maximized[/url]

Thanks, I suppose one could try waving that in front of them.

If I were you, as a BA Gold who was refused entry to the lounge for no apparent reason I'd write a letter with a request for clarification to British Airways' Head of North America and Asia Pacific Customer Service and Operations Steve Clark, who is quoted in Oneworld's press release as saying that "This new lounge facility reflects British Airways' commitment to delivering customer service excellence both in the air and on the ground." ;)

Denied LAX TBIT lounge access, who to complain to?
 

I was denied access today to the oneworld lounge at LAX TBIT. I was flying on an AA domestic itinerary, but I have oneworld sapphire with airberlin gold, which should grant me access.

I have been granted access in the past (as recently as last Friday) , but I usually fly in the evenings when the dragons are trying to keep the lines down. I took the name of the dragon down, he eventually showed me some email that said all domestic itineraries have no access, but this seems contrary to oneworld rules.

Question is, who do I complain to? AA (operating carrier), AB (ffp), QF (lounge op) or oneworld? Anyone had this happen to them before? Maybe I'm in the wrong here?

Apparently theres a thread on this already... so pls merge. Though id still appreciate advice on where to direct complaints.

I want to add that I had a similar experience trying to get in this afternoon (which I posted in another thread that hopefully gets merged). Rude agent this afternoon who I'd swear whispered my race... (maybe others who are the same race as me are doing the same thing? Dunno but really wish I had a recording...). He also kept claiming he was the manager (really? The manager has to stand as a front line agent? Dont make me laugh...)...anyway, left a real bad taste in my mouth... please post if you hear back from any complaints you file...

Your experience sounds worse than mine. I have written a letter to BA and will certainly post any response I may get.

Actually, I can see this becoming more of an issue and a dedicated thread to being denied access in contravention of *O rules would be a useful reference.

Did the email have specifics on it? As in oneworld airline membership, departure terminal, etc.?

I do note from the other thread the following post:

No, it said something to the effect of: all passengers on domestic itineraries are to be denied access regardless of class of service or tier status.

It looked like an internal qf email. I tried to take a picture (stupid me, shouldnt have asked) but he took the paper away. He only begrudgingly produced the email after I showed him the oneworld website he kept referring to had no domestic flight exception of any sort...

<email was asked to be removed. 'Policy' was not meant to be distributed, nor were emails.>

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-aa-merge.html

This thread preceded that one - in fact it's more a *O issue than AAdvantage ...

Thanks for posting that. That was the e-mail I was shown.

Reading carefully, it seems to make sense why I was treated that way: it specifically highlights mornings as a problem time (so I guess they aren't really watching for it in the evenings as carefully), and the text about calling airport police probably gave the lounge staff a license to treat me very poorly.

Further research reveals this gem:
*****

The **** mentioned in the e-mail is the VP airport operations at LAX. I'll be writing an e-mail to him as well as ****, and I guess cc the airberlin people in the e-mail as well, why not...

Oh good news(?) maybe? In less than a few hours, I got a response back from **** indicating:

"My apologies for any disservice. We have completed a full review of access policies with our lounge team. "

Guess I'll make an effort to try again and report back...

As a reminder, please refrain from using the names or emails of airline employees in posts.

Gardyloo
Oneworld moderator

This is a serious breach of oneworld rules and a massive reduction in the benefits of the program. I am BA GOLD (aka Oneworld Emerald), why was I denied entry into both oneworld FIRST & BUSINESS TBIT lounges?? I was on a domestic American Airlines ticket which is a oneworld airline! This really needs to be raised and we need to be compensated if access is denied due to incompetent staff.
Qantas should not be allowed to make up their own rules when it suits them! I wrote to BA and the email I received back stated I SHOULD have had access. This is a joke, does anyone have a direct contact, this needs to be fixed ASAP!

When did this happen? I was told that this was fixed yesterday but maybe not....

I too was told that staff had received revised (hopefully correct!) instructions. Yesterday (oct 30)

If this issue happened prior to that, you were caught by their mistake....

To answer OP's question, the complaint is always to the operating carrier of the flight which gives rise to the lounge access.

Your contract is with AA. AA has contracts which are facilitated by OW. OW is simply a marketing alliance.

If QF were to wrongfully deny an AA passenger access, the passenger complains to AA and AA takes it up with the carrier or other operator of the lounge in question.

Not only is this the legal solution, but it makes common sense.

Hi no2chem,

This happened last Tuesday so it might have been before the staff were notified. Just to clarify I was on an AA domestic ticket scheduled out of T4, but with a BA GOLD (oneworld Emerald). I'm right in thinking I should have had access per oneworld rules. I really hope this has changed and staff have been notified. I don't want to walk over there again and be denied on a long layover.