reubee

Tried to access the BA lounge at Terminal 5 using my Qantas Club card but got refused, the door nazi had a laminated card which said Qantas Club didn't get you access.

Checking the Qantas website, my interpretation is I should've been allowed in ...

... what have I misinterpreted. The fact that the BA staff had a laminated card they could stuff in my face suggests I wasn't the first person to try.

Dave Noble

Unless things have changed, my understanding is that you can use the BA Business class lounges when departing on BA

Assuming that your flight was departing from T5, I don't know why you would be refused access from the business lounge

bugayev

Which lounge was it (as in Terraces, Exec, Concorde Room, Galleries First)

number_6

Lots of reasons, my guess is OP was flying QF codeshare on BA -- hence no access to BA Terraces and EC lounges using QP card, as not flying BA Given the laminated card, it sounds like policy and not an error. Gotta love the BA/JF relationship, it gives Joint Service a new meaning.

Globaliser

If that's how the phrase "marketed and operated by" is interpreted in that case, I agree with your take on the meaning of "service".

If that's the reason, I wonder if there is any sound commercial reason behind the policy?

amaroo

For an uninitiated traveller, lounge access can be harder to work out than a rubix cube

number_6

Sure, the reason is simple: revenue. Most BA flights leaving T5 are not part of the JSA with QF (in fact I suspect all of them are in that category), so if sold as QF codeshare then QF gets 100% of the revenue, while sold as BA then BA gets the money. Thus BA wanting to provide incentive for pax to buy the BA code and not the QF codeshare for these flights. QF either doesn't care, or had worse lawyers than BA when the QP card agreement was penned.

Globaliser

I'm not sure I'm following this. If QF sells a non-JSA flight operated by BA, it takes 100% of the ticket price from the passenger and it's the contracting airline in relation to the passenger. But QF must pay BA for carrying the passenger; BA won't be doing it for free!

BA-Flyer

This has been mentioned before on the BA board. Previous feedback was that access should have been granted. However, a laminated card does indeed suggest a change in policy.

The Qantas website states that you can access British Airways Terraces & Executive Club lounges. When Terminal 5 opened, BA introduced a new style of lounge, known as Galleries. Terraces lounges are being phased out, so perhaps Qantas Club access is going out with them?

Globaliser

A friend whose lounge access is purely by Qantas Club has had no difficulty in getting access to T5 Galleries lounges, so I don't think that this can be it.

thadocta

As with all things in this game, if you don't like the answer you get, ask someone else. There are two lounges in T5A and another one in T5B (none in T5C though) - if a problem at one of the T5A lounges, try the other one (don't try T5B though until it is confirmed your flight is leaving from T5B or T5C).

Dave

number_6

QF takes a cut (often >50%!) and BA would prefer to get that money, hence doing its best to make life difficult for codeshare pax, to encourage them to buy BA next time. Quite interesting how the codeshare relationship varies from airline to airline, some are friendly (even to the point of having superior service for the codeshare!) while others are hostile, and BA seems to be mostly in the latter. Quite strange given the close relationship between BA and QF, even close to controlling equity ownership in the past. Maybe the CEO of BA doesn't like the CEO of QF for some strange reason

number_6

I'd agree with this, except if it is a laminated card then it is strictly enforced policy and chances drop to close to zero ... a real devaluation of the value of QP if this policy is correct and sticks. At least status based lounge access is not affected (yet).

serfty

What flight number were you on?

If it was a BA flight number on BA metalthen something is wrong somewhere and I would be complaining to the Qantas Club management.

Globaliser

I can see the argument. But I'm not convinced, though, that BA would necessarily be getting more money if the pax was booking direct. Especially on the short-haul feeders, there are often some stonking bargains to be had!

It would nevertheless be good to hear back from the OP about exactly what was going on. And possibly to find out just what is on this laminated card.It wouldn't be any problem with the current BA CEO, who's hardly got his feet under his desk yet.

The BA/QF relationship has been very odd over the years. Given QF's current problems, I've often wondered what the world would look like if the merger had gone ahead. It could have been a dream team for me. But there were lots of QF issues too, not least a hostile public who see QF as untouchably Australian (a view being played on by the engineers and the pilots in turn).