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With the busy summer season firmly underway British Airways has been reminding staff and agents to enforce lounge access rules to the letter of the law. In a memo posted on the British Airways Speedbird Club site the airline underlines the importance of managing overcrowding in its airport lounges by ensuring that passengers are not allowed to guest more people into the lounge than their status or class of travel allows.
The full memo reads as follows:
Over the peak summer period we know that a lot of our Executive Club members will be travelling with their families and would like to bring them into the lounge. We are only able to accommodate the number of guests the Executive Club member is eligible for, which means some customers will be disappointed and unable to use the lounges.
At Heathrow, those customers who are not able to use the lounge will be given a BA flyer explaining the rationale behind the guest policy, along with the Heathrow Taste booklet and the Mr Adventure booklet. These offer practical suggestions for alternative activities available in the terminal. For example, children can eat free at Plane Food and Huxleys, and there will be a number of child-friendly activities across Heathrow.
Please do not advise customers to approach colleagues at the lounge on the day of departure to ask whether they can bring additional friends and family as guests into the BA Lounge. If a customer does not meet the eligibility requirements set out in the Lounge Eligibility Guide, they will not be allowed to enter. Informing customers to ask on the day can set unrealistic expectations and places additional pressure on our colleagues in the airport.
I don’t get to say this very often but well done British Airways!
As the memo points out, the summer season sees a lot of families traveling on vacation and it’s not at all uncommon for the family to only have one traveler in their group who’s entitled to lounge access and guesting privileges…but that doesn’t stop them from trying to stretch their guest allowance.
British Airways Galleries First Lounge at Heathrow T3
Airport lounges around the world are on a never-ending battle to combat overcrowding (summer is an especially bad time for this) so anything that the airlines can do to help the situation is very welcome in my book.
The full British Airways Lounge access guide can be found by following this link but here are some of the highlights:
British Airways Arrivals Lounge
- First Class passengers + 0 guests
- Club World passengers + 0 guests
- BA Gold Guest List card holders + 1 guest
- BA Gold, American Airlines Executive Platinum, Iberia Plus Infinita and Iberia Plus Platinum card holders + 0 guests
British Airways Concorde Room
- First Class passengers + 1 guest
- BA Concorde Card + 1 guest
British Airways Galleries First Lounges
- First Class passengers + 1 guest
- BA Gold Guest List card holders + 2 guests
- BA Gold & other OneWorld Emerald card holders + 1 guest
British Airways Galleries First Lounge at Heathrow T5
British Airways Galleries Club Lounges
- First Class passengers + 1 guest
- Club World passengers + 0 guests
- Club Europe passengers + 0 guests
- BA Gold Guest List card holders + 2 guest
- BA Gold & other OneWorld Emerald card holders + 1 guest
- BA Silver & other OneWorld Sapphire card holders + 1 guest
British Airways Galleries Club Lounge Heathrow T5 (B Gates)
Note: In most cases passengers will have to be travelling on a oneworld flight on the day of lounge entry – this applies for all lounges.
Other Options
This is a very good example of why lounge clubs like Priority Pass can be useful.
Priority Pass lounges can be found in a lot of the same terminals that you’ll find British Airways flights departing from so, if you don’t have sufficient status or guesting privileges to get all of your family into a lounge, these may be a reasonable option for you to look into.
Examples of Priority Pass Lounges available in terminals served by British Airways:
Heathrow Terminal 5
- Aspire Lounge
- Plaza Premium Lounge (due in late 2016)
Aspire Lounge at Heathrow T5
Heathrow Terminal 3
- No. 1 Lounge
- Swissport Lounge
Gatwick North Terminal
- Aspire Lounge
- No.1 Lounge
- My Lounge
Gatwick South Terminal
- No. 1 Lounge
Los Angeles Tom Bradley International Terminal
Korean Airlines Lounge at LAX Tom Bradley International Terminal
New York Newark
- Art & Lounge
Hong Kong
- 2 x Plaza Premium Lounges
Click through to the Priority Pass homepage and you’ll find a search facility at the top-left of the page which you can use to see what lounges are available at airports you visit most often – there are a lot!
Bottom Line
Male sure you know what your lounge access allowances are before you travel and that should help to avoid putting lounge staff in an awkward position if they have to deny you entry and should also save you the walk of shame as well 🙂
If you know that you’re not going to be able to get lounge access for your whole party then check to see if you can get membership to a lounge program via one of your credit cards – Amex Platinum cards and the Citi Prestige card are just two examples of credit cards that come with Priority Pass membership included.
Failing that you could always purchase Priority Pass membership outright but make sure you select the right membership for your travel patterns and make sure that you’ll be traveling enough to make the most of it.
