[Confirmed Fixed - Maybe Not!] No LHR T5 Galleries access for QP before BA/QF flights

[Mal]

How would QF mgt know that BA were allowing QP access to the T5 lounges - they aren't QP members and don't have lounge access...

Nice counter argument, but someone has been asleep if they didn't realise that the bills kept coming in and that t5 redefined qp access. B.A. have obviously decided to enforce a rule that they didn't realise themselves existed. Will be interesting how qf respond... will show the value they place on qp, and as well their future plans.

As has been said many times. The benefits a kindred loses is a degradation of the entire scheme. Let them get away with it, and a benefit you cherish may be next.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

 

[Flying mermaid]

As has been said many times. The benefits a kindred loses is a degradation of the entire scheme. Let them get away with it, and a benefit you cherish nay be next.

John Donne said it first "no man is an Island entire of itself ..... Therefore do not send to ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee".

 

[Sprucegoose]

Re: [Confirmed] No QP lounge access BA LHR T5 before BA flights - No "galleries" righ

This is ridiculous, all but a handful of BA flights, such as LHR-BCN, at LHR depart from T5. 'Galleries' is simply the renaming of the lounges from Terraces once they are refurbished with the new concept. i.e. kill the beach umbrellas and deck chairs and replace with artwork. One would expect all BA lounges to eventually be Galleries.

Pommies with beach umbrellas??


Get off the grass!

 

[Sprucegoose]

There has been no official public confirmation or denial but a few posts have suggested that BA stopped access 9th/10th Oct. QF have admitted via email and telephone calls to individuals ( myself included) that access to T5 has been denied.
One QP member so far has posted here that they were allowed access after this date.

Princess,

Is that QP and not WP?

 

[dk4]

Sounds like the old union catch-cry "together we stand, divided we fall". What pure irony.

Anyway, Qantas management should have been aware, and wary, that BA likes to play silly buggers with names, to break the spirit of lounge agreements with partner airlines. After all when is a first class lounge (i.e. the lounge that passengers travelling in first class use) not a first class lounge (i.e. the lounge that oneworld emerald members have access to)?

Well, when BA calls it a ”Concorde Room”.

 

[ajw373]

You are of course entitled to your view. I merely request courtesy and notification.....

Notification of what? Nothing has changed as far as Qantas is concerned. Reading the posts it seems even Qantas is surprised as they seem to have been under the impression access should have been denied for some time.

 

[antycbr]

It's exactly this kind of nonsense from QF that means after 8 years of paid membership and 3,300 QF lifetime SC that made me switch to Virgin this year and let my QC membership lapse on Monday next week.

I'm not certain that they'll be any better, but at least they aren't constantly withdrawing published benefits (access to priority checkin, now reinstated in a rare QF backdown) and adding #, ^, ~, * to almost every clause of the terms and conditions.

It's bad enough to sit outside the QC DRW and watch person after person walk into the locked sliding door (sorry our QC is only open for Qantas flights despite us advertising we allow access to JQ passengers!) let alone arguing with BA staff. I feel for people who have to stand at the lounge counters after arriving off a long haul flight and being rejected.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Was at the T5 Galleries Lounge 3 days ago. I'm a QP, had no problems accessing the Galleries Lounge, even got a smile and a 'Welcome' (both very rare things at BA!!).

Was on a Y ticket to CDG, but they were happy to see me once I flashed the card, and even gave me an upgrade to J as I left the lounge!

Oh and they do have Champagne

The OP states he has been admitted recently.
Others have suggested BA stopped access from 10th Oct

 

[ajw373]

Others have suggested BA stopped access from 10th Oct

You said it, BA stopped access, so why all the agro from many towards Qantas?

 

[simongr]

There is still the question of why QF agreed to not let QP members have access to T5 when it was built given that QP members had access to T4 lounges and all the other BA lounges previously.

 

[serfty]

You said it, BA stopped access, so why all the agro from many towards Qantas?

Maybe this "hearsay" post:

Originally Posted by davidMEL
I tried to enter the T5 lounge using my Qantas Club card on 9th October and was told it was the last day BA would allow it. When I asked why, the guy on the desk said that "Qantas doesn't want to pay for it anymore". He then went onto explain that "Qantas now only wants to pay for lounge access for its passengers flying on its own planes out of T3." ....

I have no doubt that Qantas were indeed paying for QP based access to T5 lounges (in spite of them being "Galleries").

Maybe BA put the prices up or a Qantas bean counter came up with this "great idea" ...

 

[Mal]

You said it, BA stopped access, so why all the agro from many towards Qantas?

The blame should be shared between QF and BA.
BA - for not allowing access.
QF - for being asleep.

I understand they are reacting and dealing with the issue. I just hope that it is a positive outcome...

I have Life QP, I have life PS, within a year or two I will have life SG, so my concerns aren't really about my access long term... but rather the whole "degradation of benefits".

 

[ajw373]

It's exactly this kind of nonsense from QF that means after 8 years of paid membership and 3,300 QF lifetime SC that made me switch to Virgin this year and let my QC membership lapse on Monday next week.

I'm not certain that they'll be any better, but at least they aren't constantly withdrawing published benefits (access to priority checkin, now reinstated in a rare QF backdown) and adding #, ^, ~, * to almost every clause of the terms and conditions.

You clearly haven't look at the Virgin Australia lounge access table in that case. I already count 4 T&C's that have symbols refering to conditions not too disimilar to Qantas ones. Here is the list:

* Access to the Virgin Australia lounge is only available when travelling a domestic sector with Virgin Australia and is subject to the Virgin Australia lounge Terms and Conditions.

# Access to the Virgin Club House is only available for Velocity Platinum and Gold members
^ When travelling in Coral Economy Class Velocity Platinum and Gold members must access the Etihad Airways Al Reem Lounge in terminal one until further notice.
^^You must be travelling on a trans-Tasman journey with either Pacific Blue or Air New Zealand, domestic Air New Zealand, or domestic Virgin Australia flight on the day to be eligible for lounge entry.

Taken from this page:

V Australia Lounge Access | V Australia

And of course with a paid Lounge membership, similar to Qantas club the only partner airline lounges you can use is AirNZ and only then on transpacific routes.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Notification of what? Nothing has changed as far as Qantas is concerned. Reading the posts it seems even Qantas is surprised as they seem to have been under the impression access should have been denied for some time.

you seem to be quite aggressive towards me? I have put you on my ignore list - maybe you should do the same to me and then we won't irritate each other

 

[ajw373]

you seem to be quite aggressive towards me? I have put you on my ignore list - maybe you should do the same to me and then we won't irritate each other

Not being agressive at all, just stating the facts which is nothing has changed as far as Qantas is concerned, so why would you expect them to notify you of a change when there has been no change?

 

[medhead]

Not being agressive at all, just stating the facts which is nothing has changed as far as Qantas is concerned, so why would you expect them to notify you of a change when there has been no change?

I'm not sure it is correct to say nothing has changed as far as qantas is concerned. It is impossible to know the real story but someone has raised the fact that BA staff have the impression that a charge to access galleries has been raised with qantas and rejected. So qantas should be aware of that and having the discussion I would expect the range of lounge offerings from BA would have been covered including that the names of all lounges are changing. Any decent manager should have been sufficiently aware of their responsibilities to realise this would impact customers and may require notification.

 

[Danger]

A colleague working for a government office contacted the government travel provider for clarification. A rep from the provider contacted QF and this was the response:

Terminal 3
Qantas has a lounge agreement to use the British Airways Lounge in Terminal 3 as this is the terminal where all Qantas Flights depart from.
Access to this lounge is for all eligible Qantas Club members as well as Gold and Platinum Frequent Flyers and Chairmans Lounge Members.
The standard Lounge Access policy conditions apply – ‘must be travelling on QF/BA operated flights’. One guest allowed (except CL members who are allowed 2).
As this is a British Airways Lounge, not a Qantas Lounge, the child policy is different. The child age for this lounge is up to 12yrs. (whereas for Qantas owned Lounges it’s up to 18yrs).

Partner Agreement with BA
A partner Agreement is also in place with British Airways which means Qantas Club members are entitled to use the BA Lounges however the agreement is only for the ‘Terrace Lounges’ and ‘Executive Club Lounges’. The lounges which are in Terminal 5 are not these types of lounges – they are ‘Galleries Lounge’ therefore Qantas Club members are not entitled to these lounges.
To find the location of the British Airways Terrace and Executive Club Lounges, please follow this link www.britishairways.com/travel/ecbenftloungelist/public/en_au
To access a partner lounge, the customer needs to present their Qantas Club membership card or Platinum / Gold Frequent Flyer card plus boarding pass and must be travelling onwards that day on a flight marketed and operated by BA. One guest is also allowed access as long as they are travelling with the member.

Terminal 5
As Qantas does not depart from Terminal 5 there is no agreement for Qantas Club members to use the BA lounges located in this terminal.
The partner agreement is also not applicable based on the above therefore access to the British Airways Lounges located in T5 would only be for oneworld members (Sapphire and Emeralds which is equivalent to Qantas Gold and Platinum Frequent Flyer) and the standard oneworld Lounge Access policy applies – must be travelling on a oneworld marketed and operated airline. One guest allowed also travelling on a oneworld operated and marketed flight.​

Complete and utter rubbish, as far as I'm concerned. According to the document with the link provided above, Qantas codeshares on nine BA flights ex-LHR and every one departs from T5. Yet they are not entitled to lounge access.

 

[joshat]

I wrote to Qantas on Tuesday and said they have acted in a way that is misleading and deceptive and I would like a refund on my Qantas Club membership as a result of this change.

They called me the next day and said that they would refund my membership. I can only take this to mean they acknowledge they have acted misleadingly and deceptively.

I encourage you all do to the same - this is pathetic.

 

[Princess Fiona]

A colleague working for a government office contacted the government travel provider for clarification. A rep from the provider contacted QF and this was the response:

Partner Agreement with BA
A partner Agreement is also in place with British Airways which means Qantas Club members are entitled to use the BA Lounges however the agreement is only for the ‘Terrace Lounges’ and ‘Executive Club Lounges’. The lounges which are in Terminal 5 are not these types of lounges – they are ‘Galleries Lounge’ therefore Qantas Club members are not entitled to these lounges.

Terminal 5
As Qantas does not depart from Terminal 5 there is no agreement for Qantas Club members to use the BA lounges located in this terminal.


Complete and utter rubbish, as far as I'm concerned. According to the document with the link provided above, Qantas codeshares on nine BA flights ex-LHR and every one departs from T5. Yet they are not entitled to lounge access.

Totally agree, QF has multiple codeshares from T5 in fact if I book SYD-LHR-GLA on the one PNR ( as I have done often) the LHR-GLA flight has a QF flight no. This is the case for the majority of connections from LHR.
I still cannot understand why QF are trying to peddle the "it was all a big mistake " in regards to the T5 Lounge access which QP members were supposedly never meant to have.
They are totally taking the p!ss with this excuse. I am incredulous that BA were supposedly erroneously allowing access to QP members for 3 1/2 years

 

[MEL_Traveller]

have I missed the official company rep's reply on this matter?

I really am not sure what the value of the company rep has been so far... going back through the airline's input what has it actually been? sure they have 'clarified' a couple of issues, bunt only where the wording was ambiguous anyway and the answer matched what the common sense interpretation would have been anyway (for example that domestic upgrades were remaining the same but you could now wait list).

compare with the virgin rep, or the BA rep over on another forum, or the hotel reps, they actually investigate matters and respond. in cases where the member agrees, the company rep investigates personal cases as well and resolves them.

While my qantas club membership is on hold, I too assumed that the galleries lounge at T5 would be accessible when I revert back to that status next year. under the new 'stronger qantas' with flights being undertaken by BA ex London in future to many points in Asia, will my club membership allow me access at T5 for those flights? what about all the code shares (7 or 8 of them to Europe?). potentially long transit times and now no lounges.

the distinction based on name is pedantic. it says access to executive club lounges or terraces. the gallery lounge is essentially the same thing, just a different name. it's not like it is a separate and distinct product. the lounge access chart on the BA site groups executive/terrace/gallery all as the one product. ( as for executive club lounges I can only find three... Lagos, Rome and Houston)

I notice too that the hong kong lounge is still referred to as, well... 'the hong kong lounge', on ba's site. it is neither an executive, terraces or galleries lounge. does that mean no access for qp members with onwards connections ex hong kong under the new arrangements?