Dilemma [ Boss or Colleague? (Can guest just 1)]

[Cappuccino99]

Apologies if I've posted this in the wrong place.

I've worked hard and spent a lot of money travelling to attain gold status with Qantas. Part of my satisfaction of attaining gold is to enjoy the lounge experience. I usually travel solo.

Next week I have to go on a business trip from MEL to HBA with my boss and another colleague. Neither of them have status. I can only take 1 guest into the lounge.

Do I forgo my lounge experience to stay with them; go to the lounge alone and leave them together; or just guest one of them in on departure and the other on return?

 

[novice1]

I was in this situation admittedly some years ago outside Sin lounge with my wife and two of her friends. Saw the person in front of me turned away. Walked boldly to lady in charge and said I am sorry but I have a problem I have three extra ladies with me for lounge access. Can you help. You know what she let us all in.
Novice1

 

[Bokchoi]

I’ve found myself in this situation a few times. Normally stand somewhere near the entrance to the lounge, very politely introduce myself to single travellers and ask if they would mind having my colleague along as their guest. Have never had to ask twice

 

[Fynsie]

This is how I handled this situation recently (Although I'm the boss, so no one to suck up to)

I did a call out on Facebook to see if any friends had a spare lounge pass (being friends with a group off frequent flyers helped) that got me a pass for CBR, I also posted my flight details in the lounge meetups page here on AFF, because every so often things do line up nicely.

At MEL I asked politely if I could just show each colleague separately the lounge (I was a little curious to see it myself as it was my first visit to MEL since they lounge upgrade), and the lounge angel took a quick look inside and told me to simply take both my colleagues in at the same time. I have found that if you speak nicely to the lounge angels they will sometimes use their discretion.

Of course I was quite prepared to sit down in the main terminal with my colleagues on each leg of the trip since I do feel that it's the right thing to do if lounge access can't be obtained for all.

Lounge angel charm can work.

QF15 last May. I have Gold entry and was in J anyway. Sister and her friend on same flight but Econ. I playfully asked if we could pretend one of the girls had my J boarding pass, and that I was in econ with the other and coming in on QP membershio with one guest. She laughed at my “cute” cunning plan and let us all in.

 

[Mr H]

Unless you work in an organisation with a culture of frequent flyer membership, never ever pull out a frequent flyer card in front of colleagues. Also remember, if you end up in the lounge on your own, you will appear to be MIA to your colleagues. That may not be a good look. There is real potential to do yourself and your team significant harm for the gain of a cup of coffee.

 

[Pleb Status]

I have been in a similar situation on a number of occasions domestically and never had any dilemma (or even a second thought)...

No domestic lounge is that 'special' that I could not handle an hour or so out with the unwashed (and work colleagues).

As an aside, if a subordinate tried what the OP was possibly proposing on me, I would write them off as 'not a team player' and their advancement opportunities would therefore be very limited....

 

[thommo50]

Apologies if I've posted this in the wrong place.

I've worked hard and spent a lot of money travelling to attain gold status with Qantas. Part of my satisfaction of attaining gold is to enjoy the lounge experience. I usually travel solo.

Next week I have to go on a business trip from MEL to HBA with my boss and another colleague. Neither of them have status. I can only take 1 guest into the lounge.

Do I forgo my lounge experience to stay with them; go to the lounge alone and leave them together; or just guest one of them in on departure and the other on return?

Work harder get platinum or one status

 

[Mr H]

Work harder get platinum or one status

Even then you'd want to know your co-workers and your company ethos quite well. I would not smile at a team member who flashed airline status on a work trip even if it did get me into a lounge.

 

[tennisparadies]

not sure if this is still possible but some years ago the rule for some lounges (for example First Class LH Lounge in Germany) was that you were allowed to bring one guest like a coworker or a friend plus your lifepartner like wife or defacto person. So you can say that one is your coworker and one is your lifepartner. If its three guys then i guess same sex marriage is allowed in Australia right If you don't mind looking gay. Sorry if i am politically incorrect here...English is only my second language They did not ask for our marriage certificate let's put it that way

 

[carambola]

Unless you work in an organisation with a culture of frequent flyer membership, never ever pull out a frequent flyer card in front of colleagues.

I agree that it's important to know the company culture. At my current workplace, it's quite normal to have open discussions about FF status because many people FIFO for client projects. Status isn't seen as a sign of personal wealth but as something earned through long periods of FIFO work - and everyone knows that it comes at a personal cost. The benefit of open conversations is that colleagues can pre-arrange guesting arrangements with less regular flyers, and company retreats are a hoot because it's a logistical puzzle to get everyone in. I do make sure I'm discreet about status around other family and friends, though.

 

[Cappuccino99]

OK, so here's what happened. We all travelled together to the airport and in conversation about travel in general my boss said he had gold status. I said "great! so do I" - I was going to take your advice and not mention it but since he started the convo, I continued - "so we'll have no problems getting all 3 of us into the lounge". Then he said "oh but my gold status is with Virgin! ".
So we didn't go to the lounge, just had breakfast at one of the cafes.

This would have been OK except for the fact that my boss and colleague were flirting so much with each other and ignoring me with their little 'in-jokes'. I felt so uncomfortable that I said I needed to go for a walk to the shops. They were happy to be together without me. Now we are in Tassie for a week together, it's going to get very awkward if they continue this behaviour.

Not quite the outcome of the dilemma I was expecting!

 

[VPS]

Good luck then - I hate that situation

 

[33kft]

As an aside, if a subordinate tried what the OP was possibly proposing on me, I would write them off as 'not a team player' and their advancement opportunities would therefore be very limited....

I sincerely hope that you're either joking or at least self-aware enough to understand how insanely pedantic this is. If you are that self-aware, you'd also understand where the failing lies, and it's not with your "subordinate".

Thankfully, in my world, we wouldn't give a damn whether someone was in the lounge or even what time they turned up to the airport, as long as they are pleasant individuals who put in the appropriate effort during work activities, which don't extend to forced social interactions at the airport prior to a flight....

 

[prayzu]

I would pay for the second guest. Puts me in good stead with my colleagues and gives them a nice lounge experience.

 

[daft009]

Didn't think of that outcome LoL

 

[Archipelago]

OK, so here's what happened.

<snip>

This would have been OK except for the fact that my boss and colleague were flirting so much with each other and ignoring me with their little 'in-jokes'. I felt so uncomfortable that I said I needed to go for a walk to the shops. They were happy to be together without me. Now we are in Tassie for a week together, it's going to get very awkward if they continue this behaviour.

Not quite the outcome of the dilemma I was expecting!

I feel for you @Cappuccino99 !
Just had a month up here where the boss and a colleague got together.

AWKWARDDDD (in the usual high pitched voice required for that statement)

 

[serfty]

AWKWARDDDD

 

[SeatBackForward]

OK, so here's what happened. We all travelled together to the airport and in conversation about travel in general my boss said he had gold status. I said "great! so do I" - I was going to take your advice and not mention it but since he started the convo, I continued - "so we'll have no problems getting all 3 of us into the lounge". Then he said "oh but my gold status is with Virgin! ".
So we didn't go to the lounge, just had breakfast at one of the cafes.

This would have been OK except for the fact that my boss and colleague were flirting so much with each other and ignoring me with their little 'in-jokes'. I felt so uncomfortable that I said I needed to go for a walk to the shops. They were happy to be together without me. Now we are in Tassie for a week together, it's going to get very awkward if they continue this behaviour.

Not quite the outcome of the dilemma I was expecting!

Thanks for the update...it is a delicate situation - remain professional I suppose, workplace flitations can often end up being uncomfortable for everyone involved.

 

[MickC32]

If someone told me they had gold status....but with Virgin, my response would probably be "sorry about that!"

 

[bPeteb]

Unless you work in an organisation with a culture of frequent flyer membership, never ever pull out a frequent flyer card in front of colleagues. Also remember, if you end up in the lounge on your own, you will appear to be MIA to your colleagues. That may not be a good look. There is real potential to do yourself and your team significant harm for the gain of a cup of coffee.

As an aside, if a subordinate tried what the OP was possibly proposing on me, I would write them off as 'not a team player' and their advancement opportunities would therefore be very limited....

Before last year my work travel was very limited and my multiple years of SG were majority self-funded. I enjoy guesting colleagues into lounges and no-one has ever said no. There's been more than one occasion where I could only guest in one person and it has never been a drama. It was usually my boss in any case and they would often jump us in a cab so we could have a wine/gin/beer or two before we flew home.

I had 12 months of LOTS of work travel (Dom Y only) that got me WP. I will retain it this year with two work flights BNE-MEL and the rest self-funded travel. No-one envied the fortnightly trips and the FF status was seen as a well deserved reward.

Subordinates? What an old fashioned hierarchical word. I don't have subordinates. They're all colleagues, whether they're on the same band as me, bands below, or bands above.

I hope that week doesn't end up too awkward Cap99!

 

[Daver6]

OK, so here's what happened. We all travelled together to the airport and in conversation about travel in general my boss said he had gold status. I said "great! so do I" - I was going to take your advice and not mention it but since he started the convo, I continued - "so we'll have no problems getting all 3 of us into the lounge". Then he said "oh but my gold status is with Virgin! ".
So we didn't go to the lounge, just had breakfast at one of the cafes.

This would have been OK except for the fact that my boss and colleague were flirting so much with each other and ignoring me with their little 'in-jokes'. I felt so uncomfortable that I said I needed to go for a walk to the shops. They were happy to be together without me. Now we are in Tassie for a week together, it's going to get very awkward if they continue this behaviour.

Not quite the outcome of the dilemma I was expecting!

This post is exactly why there needs to be a face palm emoji response.