central system for status
 

OW needs to have a hot line where 1 airline can call up and verify another airlines elites.
there is no reason a BA agent should not be able to tell if a QF member is lounge eligible.

Next you'll be wanting them to agree on RTW pricing. And publish the prices. And understand the rules. And interline bags. And give reciprocal mileage credit.

Picky, picky, picky.

In my experience, this is a BA ONLY phenomenon. Even when my BP shows my status, they still ask for my card (I've also had a BA BP that according to the lounge agent showed status, but no FF acount to accompany it???). QF and CX never have a problem or even ask me to verify...

For one, it's because BA's system works so that the FF# and the Status can be entered independently. So essentially, you could have a FF# with no status on a BP that states you are oneworld emerald. Asking for the card would be the only way to truly verify status. I don't know about the other programs and whether they are the same, but I expect not.

Many threads on the BA forum about this BA issue. BA's OLCI system allows you to change your FF program after you check in; you could also change your status to anything you like. There is no way for the BA system to verify it and a current valid membership card is the only credential to to admit you into BA lounges.

I am not sure if the above statement true. Several good friends of mine who work at BA that this is simply not the case. Although you maybe able to put something on the boarding pass in the information panel (thus in theory fake your status that way), you cannot fake your actual status. Remember that lounge dragons almost always swipe your boarding cards these days and it makes a call to the system and brings up your status there. If you can, have a look at the screen the lounge dragon is looking at after they have swiped your boarding pass.

Remember, when you put your FF number in, it simply puts a call to the foreign carrier's database requesting tier information, and then inserts that data into the booking. This process is done by the database rather than the agent.

BA lounge dragons are simply wary needlessly. A simple swipe of the boarding pass is all one needs to check.

Where information can be often wrong is when you go up a tier, but the system has not yet updated as it has not polled the foreign database. The simple way to fix this is to ask the agent to delete your FF details and then reinsert them into the system. Almost always does this trick unless old info is still lying in a cache somewhere.

They can tell. The QF member hands over their membership card and on it is a coloured logo indicating status level. Why is anything else needed?

Dave

Your good friends are incorrect; unless the system has changed, airport staff adding an FF number can specify the status level; I have seen it done myself where an OW Sapphire member has been entered as an OW Emerald member and the details Emerald/xxxxxx appears on the BP rather than Sapphire/xxxxxx.

Dave

Let's not confused your actual status with the information panel which shows up on your Boarding Pass. Remember the Information panel on your BP can have absolutely anything. Your status however (for example which would appear on a flight manifest) comes elsewhere. It is for that reason that the lounge dragon after swiping your BP would see the correct information.

Quite often I dont have my status level appearing on my BP. Often it just says the terminal number instead in the information panel, even though when I look at the Lounge Dragon PC, I will see my status appear on the screen when the booking is picked up.

I have seen it 1st hand where an AA Gold member has had their FF number entered by the airport ticket staff with an Emerald status level QF membership. The lounge just swiped the Boarding pass and the person was let in without a second glance

Dave

Actually Dave is correct in what he said. The information that appears on the BC regarding your OW level isn't always correct or complete. Often the way they are entered do not identify the individual as a OW emerald or sapphire card holder but simply shows that they belong to OW member carrier FFP. Also, the systems do not automatically link to other airline databases to verify membership status. The only information that BA staff have direct access to is that of BA cardholders. If a check needs to be done to confirm lounge access, then it must be by presentation of a valid OW card or by calling OW help line.....obviously having the card saves time and gets you into the lounge quicker. Also if you present a card with an expiry date that has past we are required to confirm that you have retained the required level to qualify for lounge access.

Also the swipe that is done as you enter the lounge is done simply to indicate that you are in the lounge and also to record the number of members from each programme that use the lounge for accounting purposes.

Thanks for clearing that up Speedbird.

What the hell are you complaining about, is it really so hard to carry that little piece of plastic around...?

How does it work when you earn status during your trip ?

I'll be leaving on a DONE4 soon, and will gain BA silver status during the main part of the trip. Will I have the silver benefits if I have silver status, but not the card yet ? (This will be mainly for international lounge access in australia for dometic flights, and lounge access for my cheap LHR-AMS ticket home).

Currently BA haven't even send me my blue card yet, so I might not even have anything to prove my EC membership...

The best way to deal with this problem is to call up the reservations of the airline which ticketed your fare and ask them to remove your frequent flyer details. Leave the booking perhaps and hour or so just to make sure everything has actually be removed and updated (particularly if the booking traverses several airlines). Also use tools like checkmytrip.com to ensure all FF details are out. Finally call the airline your about to travel on, or the airline who ticketed your booking and ask them to put your details back on.

Re-entering the details seems to make a fresh call to your home airlines database to get your tier level and inserts it into the booking.

At least for AA, the status is not updated until the EQM/EQP are posted. My partner completed the qualifying miles on 12/31 (a cathay flight). The miles were not credited to his account until yesterday. In the interim, we flew domestic AA JFK-LAX (1/7/06). AA would not grant him a free domestic upgrade as the miles from CX had not yet posted. He offered to fax in the CX boarding pass, but was told that doing so would not expedite the change in status. He ended up using his sticker account.
His status changed to EXP the same day CX miles got posted to the AA account. Unfortunately, AA refused to refund his stickers as they considered him a PLT when we took that LA flight. :td:

I think if you read my thread, you will realise that I am assuming your status has updated on your home carrier already. How could another system know your status if your home system had not already updated?

:rolleyes:

One final comment.

Seems Spottie has something interesting to say on the whole central status system thing...

Suggest reading the following post from Spotwelder which is near the bottom of the page:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...6&page=9&pp=15

But dont read it without reading SpeedbirdLHR's post (#134) which correctly contradicts some of Spottie's comments since it is v easy to have incorrect status levels on BPs and trivial for staff to specify the colour of an alliance card when entering the number

Dave

Not sure if I agree with 'correctly' on this one Dave. Whilst you are one of the people with the most knowledge on this board, I am still to be convinced. I know several staff at various OW carriers and from the few conversations I have had, don't believe this to be the case. Still, happy to be convinced otherwise.

Remember that over the past years/months there is likely to be better integration between systems, so whilst maybe in the past this was an issue, not sure it still is one.

You don't have to agree but I have seen it done down here several times in Oz on a BA flight at the airport service desk

Dave