platinum - thrown out of galleries first at heathrow, waiting for explanation

[futurism]

hi all, first post etc.

onto the topic at hand

currently sitting in the business lounge at heathrow
have been platinum for a few years

I was as usual let into the first lounge by showing my card and boarding pass (I am not flying in first, but the lounge is available to platinums).

After sitting for a while, I got asked for my card again.
I showed it.
Got asked for my boarding pass, showed it

'you are not travelling in first, you cant be in here, please leave'
I explained I have been in here before and reception let me in. They told me its by invitation only and I am not invited.
Went back to reception, they looked at my card and the book they have and said sorry, go to the business lounge.
Much to the amusement of the other people around who had formed a line behind me by now.

I then rang qantas in Australia +61 13 13 13 and got straight through.
They first told me they dont know what the galleries lounge is, I explained its the qantas lounge at Heathrow you share with BA.
They asked me if its BA managed, to which I of course answered yes.
They then told me theres nothing they can do, entry is up to BA's discression.
I asked for a note to be put on my account as I am sure that its not right.

So I went to guest services in the business lounge, only the BA guy was there and told me theres nothing he can do, but the qantas rep is due in soon and he will send him to find me.

It doesnt really bother me if the rules have changed, but I know they havent, and I know I was thrown out because they dont like the look of me, which is wrong.
For the record I do not drink alcohol ever, am in my 30's and have a full head of long hair which is tied back neatly, wearing regular jeans (not ripped or anything, no holes) and a plain black t-shirt with no writing on it at all (e.g. standard musician uniform!)

 

[simongr]

Under the oneworld rule you are allowed access to the First class lounge if you are Emerald and travelling on oneworld in any class.

There are capacity constraints that can be applied but I would find that unlikely.

Personally I would go to oneworld - Home whilst in the lounge and print the lounge access rules and take that back to the front desk.

The actual page is:

oneworld - oneworld Tier Status

 

[Dave Noble]

Personally I would go to oneworld - Home whilst in the lounge and print the lounge access rules and take that back to the front desk.

If they have decided not to let him in because they do not want to let him specifically in, then there is nothing that can realistically be done.

Perhaps the Qantas representative may be able to have some sway over it if the person is travelling on Qantas but sounds like they have decided to decline him from the lounge rather than decline access to OW Emeralds

Especially if not drinking, might be easier just to try n relax n get over it than fret over it, though I agree , as long as travelling on an OW airline status allows access through the door normally

 

[Leumas]

Which terminal are you at? You (or the staff) wouldn't have mistaken the F lounge as the Concorde Room, would it?

Access is detailed here.

oneworld - Lounge Access

Fly - The Qantas Club - The Qantas Club News

Fly - The Qantas Club - Lounge Access (this link doesn't explicitly states Gallaries First though)

 

[Dave Noble]

Which terminal are you at? You (or the staff) wouldn't have mistaken the F lounge as the Concorde Room, would it?

There is no Concorde Room at terminal 3 ( which would seem to be the terminal based on the description of being shared with QF)

 

[anat0l]

Realistically, QF are right - there is nothing they can do because it is up to BA.

That, however, doesn't excuse for BA's conduct in how the lounge agent did not recognise the rules of the alliance for lounge access. I'd be getting a copy of the alliance rules for lounge access and showing it to BA. Any other complaints or what not should be directed to BA and not QF.

Unless they were limiting based on capacity constraints, you were fully entitled to use the lounge. (Note we are talking about the Galleries F lounge here and not the Concorde Room, where the latter the attendants would be correct: you must be flying BA First to access it).

 

[YQY]

hi all, first post etc.

I was as usual let into the first lounge by showing my card and boarding pass (I am not flying in first, but the lounge is available to platinums).

Welcome to AFF, which airline were you flying on? Was it a Oneworld Carrier?

 

[markis10]

I wonder if there are capacity constraints on the lounge for those not meeting the perceived minimum (unpublished?) dress standard?

 

[MelUser]

I would like to know:

- what the class of travel is - ie Business, Premium Economy or Economy?

- what airline?

Perhaps British Airways are tightening up (whether or not in breach of the One World Agreement)?

My views as to who should be allowed into which lounge particularly if travelling 2 (or even 3) classes below the passengers indicated in the lounge description are irrelevant!

In fact, Qantas are running an ad campaign at the moment about how the one world lounges allow access to passengers regardless of travel class based on their status (presumably to differentiate themselves from other alliances).

 

[cmon0005]

That seems pretty poor in my opinion on BA's behalf.. Yeah I would have definately printed out the OW rules and gone back in to show them.

As suggested Email/Call BA and make a complaint about it, try and use names if you have them. Make sure you get a reply too and post it here.
I am very interested to see how this goes!

 

[burmans]

I'd personally be complaining to Qantas too, while I have some sympathy for the let it ride suggestion, the "we have no control" argument really gives me the ****s.

The fact is as a QF Plat you have a relationship with Qantas where they promise you certain things. You don't have that relationship with BA, it's Quantas who do (the Oneworld alliance legally is an agreement between airlines to provide services to their customers, not an agreement with the customers themselves).

Imagine Qantas claiming they had no responsibility for their obligations for a codeshare flight (i.e. you may have booked with us but it's not our responsibility to get you there) just because it is operated by BA.

While absolutely it's BA actually providing the service, it's Qantas who have made representations about this service being available via the website, documentation etc not BA. And as they are the ones who actually have any agreement with BA they are the ones who should be chasing this up to enforce it, not only on behalf of this one customer but any others caught out by this.

 

[samh004]

Welcome to AFF, which airline were you flying on? Was it a Oneworld Carrier?

I had to wonder that too as it wasn’t explicitly stated if the OP was flying OW. Either way, from the looks of things they’re still flying so an answer wont be forthcoming for a while.

 

[Smackbum]

It's a class system, pure and simple. If you don't like elitism and discrimination (mixed in with a healthy dose of misplaced superiority) then don't use airline lounges - particularly the BA Heathrow ones.

But I would be going in very very hard at Qantas and would give the tabloids and their TV cousins a call because this is the sort of story they love.

 

[NYCguy]

It's a class system, pure and simple. If you don't like elitism and discrimination (mixed in with a healthy dose of misplaced superiority) then don't use airline lounges - particularly the BA Heathrow ones.

But I would be going in very very hard at Qantas and would give the tabloids and their TV cousins a call because this is the sort of story they love.

Pardon my cynicism (it's ridiculously early here), but there is no way tabloid newspapers or tabloid TV will be interested in the story of a platinum frequent flyer ejected from a first-class lounge! If the OP was a single mum booted out of her home at a caravan park because the neighbors didn't like her dog, the story would be gold. As it stands, they simply won't care, because it's just not a story their lowest-common-denominator demographic can even vaguely relate to, and hence not a ratings winner.

As for "elitism", one must wonder how the OP presented and whether this met the standards, published or unpublished, that the Dragons expect of passengers in the lounge. Whatever the case, I don't think that BA or QF will really care, because the OP is merely a drop in the platinum ocean.

 

[anat0l]

I'd personally be complaining to Qantas too, while I have some sympathy for the let it ride suggestion, the "we have no control" argument really gives me the ****s.

The fact is as a QF Plat you have a relationship with Qantas where they promise you certain things. You don't have that relationship with BA, it's Quantas who do (the Oneworld alliance legally is an agreement between airlines to provide services to their customers, not an agreement with the customers themselves).

Imagine Qantas claiming they had no responsibility for their obligations for a codeshare flight (i.e. you may have booked with us but it's not our responsibility to get you there) just because it is operated by BA.

While absolutely it's BA actually providing the service, it's Qantas who have made representations about this service being available via the website, documentation etc not BA. And as they are the ones who actually have any agreement with BA they are the ones who should be chasing this up to enforce it, not only on behalf of this one customer but any others caught out by this.

Ah, no.

The full brunt of criticism and complaints should be levelled at BA.

QF have done little if not nothing wrong. Their website accurately represents what are the correct guidelines for access to the lounges. The agreements were made some time ago and both airlines, "on paper" and at a high level, are aware of the implications of it. It was the incompetence of a BA lounge staff member (or multiple, as it would seem) that resulted in the incorrect action. The core fault lies with BA, not QF. The only reasonable exceptions would be (a) capacity control, or (b) change in policy which excludes QF WPs from accessing the BA T5 GF. The former may be understandable and QF would have no control over this anyway. The latter is in direct contravention of the rules of the alliance, but again is not QF's fault because they have correctly said their members are entitled (as opposed to incorrectly saying that their members are entitled, in which case QF would have a problem).

Raising the complaint through QF will not work well anyway; it is inefficient because it relies on a secondary process between someone at QF and someone at BA to raise the issue. A more efficient method would be to raise the complaint with BA directly. It is probably worth raising the issue with QF if only for tracking purposes (i.e. if there was a pattern of many QF WPs being rejected from BA F lounges then it may be a serious problem), although BA should have a process / register of complaints that would be able to pick up similar patterns. Of course, if BA truly know what they are doing then complaints of this type (lounge access for oneworld Emeralds) should never be raised in the first place!

Now if in raising the issue with BA they tell the OP where to go (again, incorrect thing to say to a oneworld Emerald), then I might consider getting QF involved but it will still be an inefficient process. At this point I would also start questioning the competence of BA much more seriously more than why QF aren't doing their job throttling BA into honouring their terms of the alliance.

 

[drewbles]

I wonder if there are capacity constraints on the lounge for those not meeting the perceived minimum (unpublished?) dress standard?

The OP did state that the person who ejected them said "You're not flying first class. please leave".

Whether that was the real reason or not, remains to be seen. Either way, it's poor form on BA's behalf. A simple "I'm very sorry sir but we're very busy today and in order to accommodate BA's elites, we would kindly ask that you use our business lounge facilities instead" would have been far more diplomatic. That said, it's BA

And welcome to AFF futurism

 

[MatF]

Mrs MatF and I will be travelling through LHR a couple of times at the end of the year (flying QF, either Y or Y+), and we fully intend making use of the F lounges. I'll be decidedly unhappy if this happens to us.

Might print out the oneworld Emerald entitlements page and take it with us!!

 

[drron]

There certainly are enough stories over the years of BAs interpretation of OW lounge policies for suspecting they do have a problem.Possibly anyone affected should be advising their FF program of their treatment and asking that BA elites get reciprocal treatment.That may make BA listen.
Unfortunately the class system is alive and well in many parts of the UK.

 

[Siegfried]

I just did a quick cruise through the BA site, and I couldn't find anything about OW Emerald member having access to BA lounges. There were statements to the effect that BA Gold status is OW Emerald equivalent, and that Gold members get access to BA and partner first lounges, but no specific statement that it is bilateral.

There is a more explicit statement on the OW site in respect of Emerald members having access to BA 1st lounges, but I think its interesting that there is nothing on the BA site (unless of course I just didn't find it).

 

[nlagalle]

There is a more explicit statement on the OW site in respect of Emerald members having access to BA 1st lounges, but I think its interesting that there is nothing on the BA site (unless of course I just didn't find it).

this is from the One world website:

Galleries First and Galleries Club Lounge

Location details: Terminal 3, located at Zone F
Opening hours: Daily 0500 until last departure
Notes: Access to First Class Lounge is restricted to Emerald members or those travelling in First Class