Arrivals Lounge in T5 for Emeralds?

[Febs]

Hi all,

Just wondering what the access policy is for LHR T5 arrivals for Emeralds (QF WP in this case) travelling Y?

The OW site talks about access to pre-flight lounges, but not arrivals lounges. The BA website doesn't mention OW Emerald access.

Also, does it really close at 2pm? Surely there'd be a number of flights arriving into T5 after 2pm?

Thanks

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[samh004]

Indeed it does appear to close at 2. I assume if any BA flight landed after 2, they wouldn't expect you'd want to go to the arrivals lounge as it's the middle of the day, as oppose to arriving early in the morning and needing to be woken up.

 

[jamesatfish]

It's anecdotal rather than policy-based, but the last time I was there (June) the bloke in front of me was trying to use the BA T5 Arrivals lounge as an AA Platinum (OW Sapphire) member who had just flown BA Y from Boston. He was denied access and they told him that he needed to be OW Emerald to enter.

Edit: The BA website states that access to the arrivals lounges is for F & J pax as well as BA Gold members (their equivalent of OWE).

Conversely, the Ts & Cs on the OneWorld website specifically state that Arrivals lounges are not included as a OneWorld benefit.

 

[serfty]

It definitely closes at 2pm - it's more of a shower and breakfast lounge after all.

I'm not sure about access after 29th October, until then I believe it may be for the Kangaroo route fliers only.

From November, the AA T3 arrivals lounge will be the go.

 

[Dave Noble]

Edit: The BA website states that access to the arrivals lounges is for F & J pax as well as BA Gold members (their equivalent of OWE).

Conversely, the Ts & Cs on the OneWorld website specifically state that Arrivals lounges are not included as a OneWorld benefit.

There is no converse/contradictory there

BA admittance policies for their own members is that access is permitted for Gold Card Holders
The OW admittance policy is that there is no access based on OW status

An AA member with Executive Platinum status would not be granted access by virtue of status and would need to have arrived on BA in either Club World or 1st class; I don't know why the agent would have suggested otherwise

In most cases a Qantas Platinum member arriving in economy is not permitted access to the Arrivals lounge though I think there may still be an exception if arriving on a Qantas long haul flight until the move to T3 ... ( whether a visit to the lounge is worth the hasse of the trip to T5 is another consideration. last time I arrived there it seemed not worth it and headed off from T4)

Dave

 

[jamesatfish]

There is no converse/contradictory there

Sorry - I meant contradictory to my observation, not to the stated policy.

An AA member with Executive Platinum status would not be granted access by virtue of status and would need to have arrived on BA in either Club World or 1st class; I don't know why the agent would have suggested otherwise

Again this was only an anecdotal experience - but I do remember the BA staff member making this statement several times as the bloke was quite an arrogant big-noter and was making a fuss at being denied access.

 

[Danger]

QFF WPs can access the BA Arrivals Lounge when arriving on a BA or QF flight from Asia, regardless of the class of travel. Call BA in the UK and ask them the specific question. Of course, they'll have to go off and ask their supervisor and it might take a few minutes but they should come back with the above answer. And when they do make sure you take down the name of the person you spoke to and the time of the call.

 

[Febs]

Thanks guys. Ended up being a moot point anyway as we arrived at 2:30pm. The access list on the door doesn't list OWE's or OWS's, and as the OneWorld rules don't mention arrivals lounges either, I wouldn't have been surprised if we were turned away (if we'd arrived before 2pm).

Interestingly, we had a BA lounge dragon @ DXB tell us that dad couldn't come into the lounge with me, as their access policy for OneWorld Sapphires/Emeralds didn't include guests. I said I'm pretty sure I'm allowed one guest (and later confirmed it on the OW site), so she told us to go in, and she'd check with her supervisor and get back to us. Of course she never did.

Gotta love the consistency.

Cheers,
- Febs.