LHR lounges
 

(I hate that you can't search using terms of three or fewer characters, as that eliminates using BA, LHR, and T3.)

I'll be flying on a OW RTW in August 2008, including legs HKG-LHR on BA and LHR-LAX on AA. I had been on LGW-DFW instead, but switched to LHR-LAX since it is a longer flight and I'm in F.

However, BA has a First lounge in LGW and not in LHR T3, right? And since we're departing on AA, which uses T3, we can't visit the BA First lounges in the other LHR terminals, I assume?

Last time I flew out of LHR it was on BA to HKG, and the First lounge was terrific. Order-off-the-menu meal service, and a massage at the MB spa. It would be very nice to get that again. Is it worth switching back to LGW-DFW?

Indeed; since departing from T3 , you cannot use the BA lounges

Are you connecting in London or actually stopping. If connecting, it would seem madness to me to put a LHR-LGW connection in just for the sake of lounge access; if you really want lounge access in that instance, just switch to BA LHR-LAX and have a nice easy connection T1-T1

If you are stopping in London, then I would switch to the LGW departure

As far as searching for small words, google will do it ; put the seach criteria in plus site:flyertalk.com

Dave

That's what I figured. A shame.

We have an overnight, and were thinking of staying at an airport Hilton rather than gamble on an upgrade (as HH Diamond) on the Hilton Paddington (it is easy to get to, and nice if you get an upgrade and lounge access, but unpleasant otherwise). I don't want to switch from AA to BA since I'm flying on a DONE and using AA VIPs to upgrade to F (my partner is on a OW F award).

So we're giving up the BA First lounge but getting an extra hour in the AA 777 Flagship Suites and getting the AA Flagship Lounge in LAX instead of just the Admiral's Club in DFW. We also need to connect from LAX-SAN on a Saab (and the smaller regular 340B instead of the nicer 340B+) instead of DFW-SAN on an MD80 which at least has first class.

So I'm not sure which way is best. Quite a trade-off either way.

I do that quite often, but it is still hard to find the write posts. It would help if there was a good way to restrict the search results to a specific forum. I suppose including the string "FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Global Airline Alliances > oneworld" would do this.

Flying LHR-LAX from T3 use the CX F lounge (head to Gate Lounge A) - much more peaceful than any BA lounge at LHR, and decent. Service is always with a smile, and the food offering is fine too - the dimsum are a good snack and they make noodles on request (menu on the buffet). It's not the Wing, but it's the best in T3 for OW, and in some respects better than the BA lounges in other terminals.

So no massage nor order-off-the-menu table service, but still much better than the AA FL! Thanks for the tip.

Photos of that very lounge linked below.

Thanks for the link to the photos.

From the pictures, the LGW BA First lounge doesn't look noticeably nicer than the CX LHR lounge.

I've visited the Cathay lounge in the morning and had the place to myself, and they have about a half dozen PC's. The BA F lounge at LGW will see a lot more passengers in the morning, and only has 2 or 3 PC's (sometimes all in use), though you may still find a quiet corner for yourself as it is a little bigger than the Cathay lounge. BA has a menu for ordering things like soup or bacon baguettes. CX had some dim sum out on my last visit, as well as some cold items in their refrigerator.

They're both nice lounges. You really can't go wrong with either. Fly from whatever is more convenient for you.

OP is traveling in August 2008, and T5 should be open by then right?

Not sure when the move is happening, but won't BA/QF have a lounge in T3 when their flights move there?

Almost. T5 does indeed open in 2008 and eventually 90% of BA flights will operate from T5 -- a huge improvement over the existing LHR terminals. All of the JSA flights by BA will move to T3 (circa Sept 2008); so all the Australia and Spain service by BA will be from T3 and not T5. I think QF and BA will still be in T4 in August 2008. The major refurbishment of T3 isn't until 2009 so don't expect too many improvements in the short term. In the OP's timeframe the CX lounge is almost certain to be the best. It is quite a nice lounge and the food is as good as the BA F lounge in terms of quality, just not as much variety as the kitchen consists of a single chef.

But the OP clearly knows what he is doing and has deliberately chosen inferior services (avoiding the fine CX service HKG-LHR and the better BA service LHR-US; sadly AA F service has slipped badly in the past year and I can no longer recommend it, as it is generally inferior to the new BA J+ service on most routes -- and if you recall my past posts, I was an avid champion of AA and often chose to fly AA F over BA F in the past, so I do this with regret). AA has made one change too many in cutting back on its premium services -- and it shows. I guess those new J seats -- a complete disaster -- are costing too much money, and the rest of the service has had to give.

The tickets haven't been issued yet, so I could switch HKG-LHR from BA to CX. Since I'm on a DONE and my partner is on a OW F (Z) award, if there was any way to upgrade the CX flight, especially if someone was willing to trade that for an AA VIP, I'd be delighted.

We're flying AA instead of BA LHR-LAX because that way we can both be in F, since I can use a VIP. On previous trips where I was on a DONE and my partner was on a D (U) award, we avoided AA for all international flights, even going so far as to change in Canada to be able to fly BA and get miles. On those trips, we were both in J and so wanted the carriers with the nicest J. On this trip, we want to be in F as much as possible.

Thanks for the information about the CX lounge food.

All of us would be delighted to do that -- but CX doesn't upgrade using AAdvantage. You can upgrade for Asiamiles but in practice need CX DM status to have much chance for the upgrade to clear.

Be aware that OW awards prohibit routing and airline changes -- only date changes are allowed. So you cannot switch from BA to CX on HKG-LHR on that OW award (even if award inventory is available). You would have to refund the award and issue a new award (hardly practical). I think the die is cast and your routing is locked in, given your constraints. Presuming you are in SAN, both of you could have flown BA J (to any of a dozen cities) and found it as good or better than AA F in terms of comfort. If you happened to choose one of the BA J+ routes (maybe they are all upgraded by your flight date), it would be superior to current AA F in terms of quality of food, wine and bed. Ironic isn't it that some J is superior to some F? You mention wanting to maximize the F experience, and my critique is that it is closer to being minimized than maximized (even QF is superior to BA on HKG-LHR so it really is the worst choice on that route, as is your LHR-USA leg).

Hence my hint at a VIP trade. :)

But the ticket hasn't been issued yet, it is still on hold. I have a few more days before I have to issue, so it's still possible to make changes.

My partner and I did fly BA NNCW this past summer -- YVR-LHR and LHR-HKG. Both were very nice (aside from the broken IFE), with excellent food, and true lie-flat seats. I'd snagged the upstairs exit row which was quite private so I really liked that. But AA F in the Flagship Suites is very nice as well -- lots of space, a swivel chair, etc. I agree the food is not as good as on BA, though.

As for HKG-LHR, would your advice be to take CX as first choice, then QF, then BA?

The MPC/AM member has to swap you into his/her redemption group, and after everything is over – which can take months if waitlisted, swap you back out. A DM can more easily get an award redemption for himself/herself, but not as easy for others in the redemption list. I got through such an exercise with a redemption for my father several months ago.

It should also be noted that at least in the past, AM can be used for business-to-first upgrade on AA I fare, something that I believe could not be done using AAdvantage miles. So a few AM members, especially for MPC DM members, will value their AM miles quite a bit.

That would be my order of choice. CX 74A (new product) is far superior in every way - even though some regular CX fliers think the service is not as it used to be.

CX F upgrade is worth quite a bit more than 1 VIP; probably 3 or 4 to 1 is the right ratio. Remember that the cost of earning that CX upgrade is quite a bit (higher) than the AA vip.

The AA FS was a superb product, but it is now getting old (introduced over 7 years ago) and showing its age. About 50% of the seats that I've personally used have had a breakage that impacted flight comfort; this is up from about 5% the previous year. AA was supposed to refurbish the F cabin when the new J seats were installed, but I've been on some 777s where that wasn't done. I guess they are short on seats and using them on the Pacific 777s first. In any case the falling apart of the hardware has been combined with a deterioration of the soft product; basically F service on AA is identical to J service on 763s (and only slightly better than J on 777s). AA has chosen to improve J and degrade F; probably a wise market decision, but doesn't do much for the F experience.

The pecking order out of HKG is CX, QF, BA, JL, AY. But for LHR-HKG BA is much more competitive after T5 opens (presuming that HKG operates out of T5 and not T3) due to the better pre-departure facilities.

I don't have enough F experience, other than the use of an eVIP here and there, to make a sound comment, but still agree with most of the above. It's a pity you weren't around at the time to participate in this thread; it would have added some some lively points to the exchange.

I'd be happy to trade several VIPs for a CX (or BA, since that's who we're now booked on) upgrade.

It's been a year or so since I've been in F on a 777 (too much I-class flying), so I wasn't aware of this. If this applies in general (that is, if it's not just you being very unlucky) then it really is horrible news, both for us AA flyers and for AA.

What service cutbacks were made? I thought AA announced improvements for both F and J food and service.

I don't see any Z availability now on CX. I'm on a DONE, but my partner is on a OW award, so needs Z.

Does this ranking apply to both F and J, or just J?

I'm sure that stats such as % of seats out of service on 777s is a trade secret. But I cannot remember an AA 777 flight in the past year that didn't have at least one seat taped off. And it seemed to me that at least one plane had the new J seats (so they refurbished J without refurbishing F, even a clearly beat-up F cabin). Converting those coffins to suites is clearly taking priority, even at the expense of missing a cabin cycle. I can live with the dirty carpets and the leather upholstery is generally in good shape, but not much fun when the seat goes into manual mode. I perceive a big change from 2006. As for the service improvements, all the changes in food/wine are unambiguously to reduce cost; in some cases to wines costing half as much, so a big drop. For a while AA had better food and sometimes better wine than BA, but no longer; now BA is ahead again by quite a large margin. For example, AA used to serve the same champagne in J (and F) as BA served in F; but that was 2 years ago, now the AA F champagne is at the BA J quality.

The ranking out of HKG is the same for both F and J in my opinion (rather unusually so, most routes differ in this). With CX having a big lead, QF/BA close together (more a matter of taste, I'd pick QF), and AY quite far behind now (for a while AY was surprisingly good but has also slipped).