Swiss Denied *G Lounge Access in LAX
 

Hello Everyone,

When I checked in (V-class) for LX 41 at LAX on Sunday, Aug. 19, a senior agent refused to provide invitations for me and a guest (my wife) for the new Star Alliance lounge in the Tom Bradley Terminal at LAX. He said, "Since the new lounge was opened, it is Swiss policy to allow *Gold members to use the lounge, but no guests."

How strange, methinks! At least, the Star Alliance web site says something quite different....

However, the whole check-in process was very odd: The Business Class check-in agent was quite new, and had problems finding my reservation, problems dealing with the fact that I had used OLCI for the 1st segment, and problems printing the BP. She summoned a senior agent (or perhaps a supervisor?) to help. That agent looked at the booking, then let me know that he was upset with me because I had scored 30J/K (exit row) using OLCI. "We usuallly block those", he said, "but you were so fast that you beat us to it." He then issued the BPs. He also issued connectiong BPs for the ZRH-STR leg in the second-worst seats in the aircraft (7A/B in an RJ, no window, next to the engine exhaust--only the back row is worse), although the aircraft was half-empty. After that, he sent us to the wrong island for TSA baggage screening. And he also refused us lounge access with the argument above. Unfortunately, he was wearing no nametag, and I didn't think it intelligent to demand his name. (After all, seats can be reassigned...)

Given everything else, I wonder whether denying lounge access to guests is really Swiss policy -- or perhaps the invention of an irritated check-in agent?

Any ideas? I would be really interested in your comments. This was my first experience with Swiss, and I think it may be my last. I have had much better experience with UA and LH...

BTW, after clearing security I just went up to the new *G lounge with my wife, showed my BP and Gold card, and was allowed access. :rolleyes:

Why would you need an invitation voucher at a *A lounge? I only get those sometimes when local contract lounges are used.

SmilingBoy.

Summary of your post: You flew the first time with Swiss, had a bad encounter with a Gate/Checkin dragon and then you decide never to fly again with Swiss. Wow.

If I read correctly the lounge let you in without problems and probably the flight was okay as well. Otherwise you would have continued your rant.

If I would avoid any airline where I have been treated rude or bad or not as expected I would have to drive or walk to my destinations. This should not be an excuse for bad treatment to paying customer, but don't exaggerate. Swiss has it faults as every other airline, but I still thinks it's one of the better.

Just my 0.02$
W

Ditto.......I travel every 6 months LAX-ZRH and the LX agents here are great. I suspect you must have done something to piss them off because they always seem to make the effort with me.....and I'm just a regular "blue" M&M. I have seen many pax get very arrogant, demand this and that....... let's just say it's "not the best way to get someone to do a favor for you". As said above, you still got in and I'm sure you had a good flight.

Train Lover

... same here! Had only good experience with LAX ground staff. They used to hand out lounge vouchers for the KE lounge. I guess they still have some on stock and are used to hand out these vouchers.
You had the best seats on the transatlantic!! Come on - what's about good and bad seats on a one hour connecting flight? At least you could sit together and if you're not 6'5'' don't complain about seats!

The title of the thread is obviously wrong, as you were allowed to enter the lounge. Unfriendly check-in agent would be better.

You really had two out of four of those best seats. Normally those seats can only be assigned in advance by SEN/HON. Therefore you were really lucky to get them in the little time frame between transfer of the flight to check-in and blocking of those seats by the local check-in agents.:)

Hi Everybody,

OK, I take your point(s). I did indeed get the best seats on the long flight, and I am very happy about that. I was certainly mad at the ground staff, and honestly, I am really not arrogant. I don't know what I did to upset the man, other than to be the first at OLCI. And I have never had such a chain of events happen before. However, you're right in saying that one bad experience should not cause me to give up on Swiss forever. I wrote the original post while still pretty mad...probably better to sleep on it an extra night next time!

Thanks for your comments! :)

Hi David,

although I have the reputation to be mostly pro-LX-minded (but this is a matter of principle, as every Swiss has to be:cool:), I understand your disappointment.

-Bringing a guest into the lounge is an official feature for all *-Golds, especially when it is a *-Lounge. Period.

-Row 7 is indeed the worst one on the RJ100, and LX is aware about this. There is (or was - at least with Crossair many years ago...) even a remark about this in the check-in-system, as for rows with non-reclining seats. So I wonder why they assign this row to a *G. But even as a *G-member of LX's own FFP I got this row already assigned - and even better - the last row of an MD80 two weeks ago (OK, always managed to change).

The first impression always leaves a mark. And I guess that the negative points could be a reason for a little customer-feedback... (and for a few miles into your account?).

wow, what a comment. no comment from side, i'll just point it out.

if there is really a remark in the system, you would have to assume this agent put you in that row intentionally. that would be quite a shocker, especially if your only "insult" was really beating the system unknowingly. that to me is the true point of argument. everything else: vouchers (you actually don't need them), the wrong TSA island and the "rude behavior" at check in is nothing really out of the ordinary. can happen anywhere, any airline if you get somebody not perfectly professional having a bad day.

This agent or the agent the day before probably got mad, when they saw that you grabbed those nice seats, before they were able to block them. Therefore they gave you those ugly seats on the Avro :mad:

I'm just wondering, if they could have canceled your nice seats during their seat blocking operation, just after you did OLCI? Probably yes, but I guess they were afraid of endless discussions :)

hi all,

looking at seatguru, 30J/K are not exit rows, but one back from exit, on the 343 and 330....are the seat maps on seatguru accurate, or am i missing something?

Don't worry, it's probably a copy/paste thing, because Swiss has it also wrong on their website: http://www.swiss.com/web/DE/about_sw...rbus_a340.aspx

When I flew last time with their A343, I checked out the seat maps on expertflyer before making my bookings and it clearly showed 29 AB/JK as not existing and 30 AB/JK as blocked/premium only. Therefore, I was no more in doubt to what I had to reserve and the SEN hotline gave me the confirmation of my observation and it was a nice trip. :)

However, I have no idea concerning the A330.

Hi Lennart,

Thanks for the comment. I really didn't act aggressive in any way--my personality is really more like Clark Kent than Superman! And you're right: all of those things could be normal. I've often had things go wrong. It's just having all of them happening at once that got me upset!

Hi Roschi,

Thanks for the post. As others have said, I did actually get into the lounge, as things are supposed to be. :) It was the fact that a senior agent tried to convince me that it was not allowed that got me the most upset. I got the impression that each airline pays a per-guest fee to whoever operates the lounge for Star Alliance, because the lounge attendants very carefully write down the name and flight number of every guest -- and my suspicion was that this guy just wanted to save Swiss some money! :mad: But as the other posters have said, it is probably unfair to let a first impression weigh so heavily...