Oneworld Lounge Access - need to make sure I'm using the best/correct lounges!

[hayden]

Next week I’m about to take off and finish my DONE4, however this will be the first lot of travel since attaining WP status a few weeks ago. I’ve just been doing some reading/research to make sure I’ve got the lounge access thing right, and want to make sure I’m making use of the best lounges I can.
As oneworld emerald I’m assuming there should be no issues guesting my girlfriend into the lounges (she is only flying in economy and is PS, yes I know I’m an a**hole for flying business.. but hey)
I've listed below the city of departure along with the departure terminal and airline.


Sydney - Qantas flight - Qantas First Lounge
San Fran – AA Domestic flight from terminal 3 – AA admirals club only option here
New York (JFK) – BA flight from terminal 7– BA first lounge
Heathrow – BA flight from terminal 5 (5 hour stopover, so needs to be good!) - Galleries first lounge
Rome – BA flight from terminal 3– BA executive club lounge
Paris CDG – BA flight from terminal 2a – Cathay first lounge
Heathrow – Qantas terminal 3 – Qantas lounge here I’m guessing
Singapore – JAL flight from terminal 1 - Qantas first class lounge.
Tokyo Narita – JAL flight from terminal 2 - Qantas lounge

Any feedback or suggestions would be fantastic. I’ve never used an F lounge before, so looking forward to checking them out....
Hayden

 

[NM]

Tokyo Narita – JAL flight from terminal 2 - Qantas lounge

JAL First Class Lounge is much nicer than the Qantas lounge at NRT.

 

[moa999]

London T3 -
I suspect BA Galleries is going to be the preferred choice (for both Rome and Aus)
Appears new Cathay lounge opens late July (inc noodle bar), so this may change the choice
http://downloads.cathaypacific.com/cx/press/cxw/pdf/CXW171.pdf
Also new (couple of months) AA lounge looks nice
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4020799&id=41753457067


Narita - As noted by NM, JAL First much better. Must do beer pouring machine and the curry. Some great massage chairs as well

 

[hayden]

JAL First Class Lounge is much nicer than the Qantas lounge at NRT.

Oops, missed that one. Quite a few posts on here suggest that it's pretty good and worth visiting.

On another note, do any of the above lounges require convincing that I'm allowed access due to me being emerald? I see some more posts with people saying sometimes it's worth carrying a print out from the website to show that I am infact allowed in!

 

[hayden]

London T3 - Appears new Cathay lounge opens late July (inc noodle bar), so this may change the choice
http://downloads.cathaypacific.com/cx/press/cxw/pdf/CXW171.pdf

Narita - As noted, JAL First much better. Must do beer pouring machine and the curry. Some great massage chairs as well

I've seen that mentioned a few times and pretty keen to try it out (I've also seen it mentioned a few times that people take their glass before the beer pouring machine has finished doing its job)

 

[Dave Noble]

At Heathrow T3, the BA lounge is pretty decent

 

[samh004]

At Heathrow T3, the BA lounge is pretty decent

I'm here now and am impressed. Dunno what my champagne was, but it was enjoyable.

 

[notzac]

Also new (couple of months) AA lounge looks nice
Admirals Club - American Airlines Admirals Club's Photos - London Heathrow Admirals Club Lounge | Facebook

WOW. That looks fantastic ... very "non-Admirals Club" in appearance!

 

[Qld4101]

Hi newbie here and hoping someone can help me out with possibly a strange question.

As a QF Gold can I access any OW lounge when travelling or only the lounge of the carrier I am flying. eg Onan AA ticket and flight but would prefer to use teh BA lounge?

Thanks for any assistance.

 

[hayden]

WOW. That looks fantastic ... very "non-Admirals Club" in appearance!

Wow, I've been to a few in the states before and thought they were terrible... that looks nothing like them at all.

Looks like I might need to pop my head into both the BA and AA lounges when I'm at heathrow... maybe even the Cathay lounge if it's open when I get there

 

[notzac]

Hi newbie here and hoping someone can help me out with possibly a strange question.

As a QF Gold can I access any OW lounge when travelling or only the lounge of the carrier I am flying. eg Onan AA ticket and flight but would prefer to use teh BA lounge?

Thanks for any assistance.

Hi Qld4101, welcome to AFF!

As for your question .. if you're flying on a oneworld marketed and operated flight, as a QF SG, you're able to use any OW J lounge that you can physically get to (subject to capacity restrictions). It doesn't always pan out -- plus there may be access limitations for some contract lounges -- but most of the time you should be fine.

 

[ajw373]

Wow, I've been to a few in the states before and thought they were terrible... that looks nothing like them at all.

Looks like I might need to pop my head into both the BA and AA lounges when I'm at heathrow... maybe even the Cathay lounge if it's open when I get there

Don't bother with the AA lounge. Whilst it looks nice it has a very poor selection of food and drinks. The CX first lounge is ok though, but the clear choice is the BA first lounge (there is no Qantas lounge). When you enter on the left you will find an area with wine and snacks, to the right an area with finger food. You can also order a meal from a menu. Certainly the best OneWorld lounge at T3 and IMO as it is quieter much better than the main lounge in T5.

Speaking of T5 one thing I profusely dislike is most long haul flights leave from the B peir, however the only first class lounge in T5 is in the main terminal. So you need to make sure you leave extra time to travel on the train to 5B. Made worse of course by the fact they don't make boarding announcements in the lounges.

 

[Dave Noble]

Speaking of T5 one thing I profusely dislike is most long haul flights leave from the B peir, however the only first class lounge in T5 is in the main terminal. So you need to make sure you leave extra time to travel on the train to 5B. Made worse of course by the fact they don't make boarding announcements in the lounges.

Since it is not that easy to get back from the B pier it makes more sense to have the lounge in the main concourse; even more so when pier C opens

As far as no announcements go, that is a plus in my opinion. Comparing that with the constant barrage of announcements in Qantas Club lounges , I much prefer just to check screen for boarding time

Dave

 

[ajw373]

Since it is not that easy to get back from the B pier it makes more sense to have the lounge in the main concourse; even more so when pier C opens

As far as no announcements go, that is a plus in my opinion. Comparing that with the constant barrage of announcements in Qantas Club lounges , I much prefer just to check screen for boarding time

Dave

Well they do have lounges in T5B and plan to have one in T5C, so using your argument you could do away with the lounges in the satellite terminals and have just the lounges in the main terminal.

My issue though is BA knows full well 2-3 hours before hand where the flights are going to leave from, but the BAA won't announce gates until an hour before hand so as to keep passengers shopping in the main terminal. In fact they do this at all LHR terminals and has driven me nuts the past 3.5 years that I have been a regular (2-3 times a month) user of LHR.

When it comes to announcements whilst of course silence is good, checking the screens is a poor cousin, especial again as the placement of said screens in the lounge is cough meaning one must regularly get up in most places in the lounge to check. The best options would be to have an area where they aren't annoucened and one where they are. Bit like the so called mobile phone/quiet zones.

 

[Dave Noble]

There are not that many passengers with Concorde Room access and having 2 ( 3 when C opens ) is overkill imo; even a 1st lounge in B would seem OTT. As mentioned, they do not announce gates until close to departure so the need for Concorde Rooms at the satellites seems minimal to me

My issue though is BA knows full well 2-3 hours before hand where the flights are going to leave from, but the BAA won't announce gates until an hour before hand so as to keep passengers shopping in the main terminal. In fact they do this at all LHR terminals and has driven me nuts the past 3.5 years that I have been a regular (2-3 times a month) user of LHR.

They do not inform people since the final lounges are not open until around that time . They don't want passengers just hanging in the corridors; there is no point informing of the gate number until the gate area opens.

When it comes to announcements whilst of course silence is good, checking the screens is a poor cousin, especial again as the placement of said screens in the lounge is cough meaning one must regularly get up in most places in the lounge to check. The best options would be to have an area where they aren't annoucened and one where they are. Bit like the so called mobile phone/quiet zones.

Checking the screens is something that needs to be done once or twice. No need to regularly go and see that the 10:00 flight is still scheduled for 10:00 ; just need to check at 09:15 or so that it is still on time as start heading off to the gate. I find it a lot nicer than having lots of announcements

Dave

 

[ajw373]

There are not that many passengers with Concorde Room access and having 2 ( 3 when C opens ) is overkill imo; even a 1st lounge in B would seem OTT. As mentioned, they do not announce gates until close to departure so the need for Concorde Rooms at the satellites seems minimal to me

Who was talking about concorde rooms? We were talking the first class lounge, which is different from Concorde.

They do not inform people since the final lounges are not open until around that time . They don't want passengers just hanging in the corridors; there is no point informing of the gate number until the gate area opens.

cough. Saw a doco on the BBC about a year ago and the BAA admitted it was a policy to keep passengers in the shopping area. They also said they provide a limited number of seats so as to encourage people to walk around (the shops) thus making more money for their retailers.

They know full well where the gates are so there is no reason why they couldn't announce them earlier and allow people to sit and wait nearer to the gate.

Checking the screens is something that needs to be done once or twice. No need to regularly go and see that the 10:00 flight is still scheduled for 10:00 ; just need to check at 09:15 or so that it is still on time as start heading off to the gate. I find it a lot nicer than having lots of announcements

Dave

Of course that gets back to the first problem. If you don't know what gate you are leaving from then you cannot work out (easily) what time to leave the lounge, more so if the flight leaves from the B pier where you need to add a good 10 minutes to your journey time. However if the actual gate was shown when it was actually known (which is about 3 hours before flight time rather than 1) then you could work out what pier to go to straight away without having to fluff around waiting in the main terminal for the flight to show up on the boards.

 

[simongr]

I don't follow your logic. Why not stay in the main lounge until 1 hour before expected departure time, check the gate and if at a pier head off to the pier at T-45 mins? No issues about gates or checking regularly and max time in the main lounge.

 

[ajw373]

I don't follow your logic. Why not stay in the main lounge until 1 hour before expected departure time, check the gate and if at a pier head off to the pier at T-45 mins? No issues about gates or checking regularly and max time in the main lounge.

What and change lounges? Don't think so.

 

[simongr]

I wasn't suggesting changing lounges just stay in the main one until time to board.

Although if I have a long transit or have arrived early I often change lounges to stop getting bored... Each to their own.

 

[Leumas]

I find having the gate number printed on your BP can sometimes introduce a false sense of security anyway. If it's printed, people won't check the screens and if something changes, it'll just cause delay. Also, if you do check the screens and it's different from your BP, it can cause any level of confusion...

QF don't print the gate number on their domestic flights now. I find this a much simplier process.

In terms of when to leave the lounge, I like to board early, so I just check the boarding time and gate to see if there's any delay and leave earlier than advertised and go for a walk. If it's an airport that I'm unfamiliar with, I'll go extra early to have a nosey.