Begin rant:

Just tried to get access to the lounge at LHR. Didn't relise that you can only take one single guest in there with you, even if all the guests are family. Anyone else think that Ł25 is a little excessive for a 4 year old? Seriously, what could a 4 year old eat or drink over 1/2 hour that could possibly cost 25 quid? I thought she was joking at first. Then laughed and walked out... I know, rules are rules and all that, but if the conversation went somthing like:

I'm sorry sir, only one guest can be admitted with Delta club membership

Instead of like this, I wouldn't have been so mad:

How many are you!

3 (3 of us standing there, 3 boarding cards... How many do you think)

Only one guest!

Sorry?

Only one guest can be admitted with you!

Even family members?

Only one guest!

But they are family members!

I don't know what to tell you. The child will be Ł25!

Yeeeaaahhh... I don't think so....

When you check the DL Sky Club policy for access to partner lounges, the Skyteam branded lounge at LHR is not mentioned.
http://www.delta.com/traveling_check...ions/index.jsp
at the very bottom it mentioned KL and AF operated lounges and that you can take your spouse and kids. The ST website mentions however just one guest for the LHR lounge.

So while I understand that charging 25 quid for a kid is ridiculous (though it's not just food/drinks they consume, but space & possible inconvenience to others that the fee compensates), writing to Delta for clarification of its Sky Club policy seems advisable.

The website is very clear on this - http://www.skyteam.com/en/Why-SkyTeam/SkyTeam-Lounges/

"In addition, SkyTeam Elite Plus members are allowed to invite a guest, who is also traveling on a flight operated by a SkyTeam member airline, to join them in the lounge. The guest does not necessarily need to travel on the same flight as the SkyTeam Elite Plus member."

Same situation on Star Alliance - http://www.staralliance.com/en/benef...silver-status/

"Airport Lounge Access - available worldwide for you and a friend1 when you travel with any Star Alliance member airline, regardless of your class of travel."

As is oneworld - http://www.oneworld.com/ffp/lounge-access/

Why do you expect them to make an exception in your case? If not, why not in every case? And if they make the exception in every case, why have the policy at all?

So where should they put the threshold? If you arrive with 10 family members, they should all accept you because you are all from the family

And as for it costing 25 quid, the cost of operating the lounge - the rent, fitout, staff, cleaning, food, beverages, utilities, etc - doesn't just come from a magic money fountain. Airline lounges are operated as separate revenue and profit centres (whether it's run by an airline or a third party) with management who are responsible for how profitable it is. If you want a 2nd traveling companion to get in with you, your options are:

1. Buy them a business class ticket, where the ticketing carrier will pay the lounge operator the 25 quid fee out of the ticket price you paid.

2. Fly them around often enough that they reach an elite level where they too get lounge access, where either the ticketing carrier or the airline they are elite with (I think the former) will pay the lounge operator the 25 quid fee out of the ticket price you paid. Even if the airline itself operates the lounge and not a partner airline or 3rd party, the lounge will be a separate P&L within the airline, and the cost of the lounge access will be a revenue for the lounge and a cost for the flight division.

3. Have a Amex Platinum/Diners Club/Priority Pass/some other card based access system, where the card issuer will pay the lounge operator the 25 quid fee for accessing the lounge.

4. Pay the 25 quid lounge access fee directly to the lounge operator if that's allowed.

5. Smile, walk up to the lounge agent, hope they don't know the rules /don't care about breaking rules/got out of bed on the right side this morning and like the way you look/realise just how special and unique your situation is and let you in.

If none of the above work, accept it, head off to spend the 25 quid somewhere else in the terminal, or see if you can send your wife and child in while you wander the terminal, but don't waste time getting upset someone didn't break the rules for you!

If they started breaking the rules for every status based economy passenger with a 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th etc) traveling companion who is a child/dear friend/important business colleague/parent/grandparent, there would be no point for the rule in the first place, and there would be even more threads on FT about how dare airlines let lounges get so dirty/overcrowded/impossible to find a seat in/noisy/the food runs out so quickly...

I see this is turning into empathy and cherritable reading thread... The OP is DL PM and claims to have a DL Sky Club membership which entitles him to bring in DL operated lounges two guests or spouse and kids. He can even do that in KL and AF run lounges - something that FBE+ members cannot do. Hence his prior belief for the LHR lounge is that he can enter with his whole family. The OP's major complain was not primarily the rule of one guest, but rather the way how it was communicated to him.

The rule is clear on Delta's website, the London lounge is not a SkyClub, and it says on the relevant page "Family and guest access to partner lounges varies depending on the rules of the partner operating the lounge. In some partner locations, the purchase of a single visit pass for guests may be possible." http://www.delta.com/traveling_check...dex.jsp#guests

I think the OP's major complaint was that they didn't bend the rules for him, I'm not sure how else they could have communicated it to him and made him happy.

It might help to reread OP's post as it contains the answer to your question - the staff could just have simply been polite!

I know, rules are rules and all that, but if the conversation went somthing like:

I'm sorry sir, only one guest can be admitted with Delta club membership

Instead of like this, I wouldn't have been so mad:

How many are you!
...

Don't worry, I read that, basically the OP wanted them to ask the second question they asked first and he wouldn't have been so upset. The OP has admitted it's a rant, and I'm giving the counterpoint.

The lounge agent probably saw them walk up and thought "here's the 94th group of economy travellers who are trying slip in an extra guest today". I've known people who have worked as lounge agents and they are constantly getting people asking them to bend the rules and then getting upset when the agent doesn't because they're not allowed to.

What kind of counterpoint is it? The lounge agent couldn't deal with what you claim to be is a typical situation, behaves in an impolite and unprofessional manner, and the fault solely lies with the OP for not knowing all the rules of entry to the ST lounge at LHR.

If someone was to ask you to let them do something which you're not allowed to let them do 94 times in one day, your patience would be stretched thin unless you are some sort of an angel. Having 94 different people ask the same thing in one day isn't any different if you are on the receiving end, because by #50 you'd begin to think "Does anyone even bother to find out about the lounge access rules?" Most days you can deal with it, but your boss has told you they hope to not hear of any more guest being let in who aren't allowed and that day #s 81-93 were particularly obnoxious when informed that they aren't allowed lounge access, so when #94 rocks up you may not be inclined to act like it's the first time it's ever happened.

I don't think the OP is completely out of reason. I don't know îf rules have changed lately, but some years ago, when my kids where younger, several ST lounges told me that kids under 12 years old do not count as guest and they admitted them in addition to my wife. But as I said, no recent experience on this.

There is a rule on public spaces and how much people it can accomodate usually there is a calculation on estimation if you add another variable like kids and family it might break public health regulations on number of people allowed and the lounge manger would have to deny entry for guests. As i remember a friend of mine was denied entry but was given a 20 euro voucher i forgot where and given this explaination.

I don't see what the OP objects to about the way he was informed of the one guest policy. The dragon looked at the group attempting to enter and immediately pointed out the issue politely and offered him the paid access alternative. It's shorter than the version of the conversation he would have preferred but if I were waiting in line to enter the lounge behind him, I would early that shorter is better. The dragon did what was right according to the rules and did it politely. If the admission fee kept one kid out of that lounge, it is a good thing.