Bits: no families in T5 First Wing?, new Virgin route to Oz, 30% off Millennium Hotels

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• TravellerFrequently says:

  5 Mar5 March 05:07

  Re F Wing – Separate conversations in the CCR in recent days with manager and supervisor have confirmed that security access etc will be in line with Gold card entitlements.

• Vistaro says:

  5 Mar5 March 06:37

  I thought Gold members irrespective of class flown could take a guest in the First lounge as long as the guest was also flying BA? I think GGL’s can take more guests.

  • gumshoe says:

    5 Mar5 March 07:24

    Yes, but Rob’s point was he won’t be allowed to use the F wing when travelling with his whole family as he’ll only be allowed one guest.

    They’ll have to use normal Fast Track and take the existing route down & up to the lounge via the shops.

    Meanwhile for those entitled to CCR access the new wing does appear to be a downgrade in the experience. True, you’ll get a dedicated security channel but you’ll have to walk past/through shops and the F lounge to get there, compared to the shop-free direct access you have now.

    Is this another cost saving by BA, if they no longer have to pay HAL for the ‘million pound door’ and the privilege of CCR users not having to walk through duty free?

    • Gavin says:

      5 Mar5 March 08:41

      You wouldn’t have to walk through the shops, just out of the Galleries First lounge and straight into the Concorde Room?

      • David says:

        5 Mar5 March 09:48

        My understanding is that there will now be some shops post security to walk past to get into the Gallery First.

        • gumshoe says:

          5 Mar5 March 11:05

          Indeed. Which I suspect will come as a nasty shock to some of the CCR regulars.

    • Alex W says:

      5 Mar5 March 12:26

      Where does it say that millionaires door will no longer be used?

      • Rob says:

        5 Mar5 March 12:44

        Just speculation.

• simon says:

  5 Mar5 March 06:47

  GGL will be able to take 2 through , plus with the gifted Gold Card and assuming its given to partner then possibly a family or group of 5 could go through and enter the lounge , only lounge where this does not work is the Concorde Lounge where only one guest is allowed.

  I assume Gold Card Holder with one Silver and one non status guest would have have to use the standard Fast Track .

• Jame67 says:

  5 Mar5 March 07:20

  OT Bit for a lazy Sunday: I would appreciate some feedback from readers concerning their thoughts on the best non-flight use of avios? Thanks.

  • Anna says:

    5 Mar5 March 08:15

    You can sometimes get avios “sales” on hotel rooms through BA.com which are reasonable value. It’s not worth paying the full avios price for hotels IMO, but I got 2 nights in a very nice new Caribbean hotel recently for 54,000 avios instead of 90,000 which I was pleased with.

    • Genghis says:

      5 Mar5 March 08:53

      What was the cash rate?

      • Peter K says:

        5 Mar5 March 10:10

        Remember to compare against the cash rate on hotels.com etc as sometimes there is a corresponding cash special offer as well, but not on BA.com

  • the real harry1 says:

    5 Mar5 March 09:30

    hard to beat Eurotunnel 3x

    • the real harry1 says:

      5 Mar5 March 09:31

      sorry that’s Tesco not Avios

  • Brian says:

    5 Mar5 March 09:53

    Given that you are generally getting about 0.6p per Avios for hotel bookings (at least I think that’s what Rob said when he did an article on the subject), I think they are best used for flights. Going by your previous comments, you don’t want to use them for long-haul, so why not use them for RFS trips within Europe? You can certainly get good value out of Avios that way.

    • Jame67 says:

      5 Mar5 March 10:55

      Thanks Brian and others. Yes, I recalled the article but was just wondering if there was any new ideas or options. My problem is that it is difficult to squeeze value out my zone 7 CW redemptions now (even with a Lloyds or amex voucher exINV to avoid APD on outward leg) whilst miles-earning revenue fares exEDI remain typically £1200-1500pp. In the past I considered this worthwhile for the flexibility but with award availability virtually drying up at T-355 on popular routes these days the flexibility has become more apparent than real. My fallback position was to use them on CX or MH for regional flights in Asia but I’m not sold on that either as revenue fares can be great value there too, and I’m quite in love with Air Asia in any case. It’s looking like my options are to spend on RFS and do another European tour next year, hotels, or just run thr risk of another devaluation and save them for a rainy day.

      • Lady London says:

        5 Mar5 March 15:47

        Avios can be used to save a lot of money hopping round within South America that’s one thing I’d love to do. Perhaps pairing with an Iberia sale J fare from Madrid sandwiched by a couple of RFS’s. I’ve also used them well on shortish hops within USA, Canada or between USA and Canada at times when cash fares were ridiculous.

        If you’re hopping within Australia, NZ, or doing Oz to NZ, you can get stunning value using Avios especially in the right aircraft in J, where cash fares are huge eg Transtasman. I think you can even get to a Pacific Island or two from Oz or NZ with clever routing not too bad taxes and Avios. Possibly you could get a less than 24 hr stop within the area included.

        One of thess great uses would be LAN between Oz and NZ in J. Ditto the odd short hop within the Middle East in F or J as covered by Rob. Within Japan a lot of distance can be covered on domestic flights on JAL in J using Avios with negligible taxes. Lovely service and experience I’d go back in a heartbeat.

        I suggest you either do short haul RFS or focus on J or F on short sectors on the nicer airlines to fly. Oh, and someone is now doing SFO to Asia about 16hrs great aircraft in J all one hop. Can’t remember which airline, but it might be CX to Hong Kong or JL to Tokyo, it’s bookable on Avios. You’d defo stump up the Avios for J on that wouldn’t you rather than Y.

        So there’s lots of value out there. Sadly less of it on BA though and there’s constant worry about what is BA going to cut next.

        • Lady London says:

          5 Mar5 March 15:48

          Haha realised you said non-flight 🙂

        • Jame67 says:

          5 Mar5 March 19:48

          It’s fine, it will be a very useful comment for some readers and it reminded me I have not been in South America for about 15 years so that’s worth a thought, thanks.

        • Ronster says:

          5 Mar5 March 20:42

          Good evening Lady London.

          What great tips.

          I am considering using my Avis Iberia promotion stash, on an 16 hour CX F direct ticket from JFK to HKG.

          However a 14 hour JAL F direct ticket from JFK to NRT is also on the cards.

          Decisions, decisions, decisions…

          Ronster

  • Rob says:

    5 Mar5 March 10:26

    Hotels gets you a bit more than the 0.5p flat rate you get everywhere else – but loss of benefits etc may offset that.

    • Jame67 says:

      5 Mar5 March 11:01

      On hotels I think best aporoach might be to focus on trying some independent boutique properties so that loss of benefits would be less troublesome.

      • Liz says:

        5 Mar5 March 12:20

        I used some to reduce the cost of our 28 day car hire which was very expensive – was Avios rich and cash poor – saved £300 on a £1200 car hire – got 0.57p value which I was ok with.

        • Jame67 says:

          5 Mar5 March 12:37

          That was my first thought Liz, until I found that our useful locations were unavailable. Btw, did you ever find a way to exploit your caravan purchase?

        • Liz says:

          5 Mar5 March 12:47

          We pick it up on 14/3 ! I took out a Tesco current account before the rush and the applications were suspended. Can only maximise 1812 cc pts using the debit card for the balance £14500 – will be paying that next week I did pay a very large deposit last year on my IHG card for free to put me over the 75k qualifying limit for Spire for this year so that helped. Just hate the idea of such a big spend for not much reward – will need to get over it or else pay the £290 cc fee 🙁

        • Jame67 says:

          5 Mar5 March 13:01

          Considering you got the initial IHG payment through, the cc points were a bonus. We had the same issue on a new car last November, they wanted 5% fee and wouldn’t budge despite my lecture on new fee cap. Happy touring.

        • Liz says:

          5 Mar5 March 13:08

          Keep off the roads around Perth, Dundee, Carnoustie and Pitlochry that week – it’s our first time ever towing and we haven’t got a scooby – but we have been planning it for 2.5 years! Hopefully when we get the swing of it we hope to travel all over the UK and Europe – that is the grand master plan anyway! But will still keep collecting miles for the USA and Oz.

        • Tracy says:

          5 Mar5 March 13:25

          Hoping for some advice here, my inlaws are buying a new motor home in June, cost £40k, they have cash to pay for it but have asked me if they should put it on credit cards to get hotel points/air miles then pay off with cash. The only card they have at present is one BAPP card and they have earned the bonus miles and companion voucher already. Thoughts?

        • Liz says:

          5 Mar5 March 13:47

          Hi Tracey, we have found going to the caravan and motor home shows and to local showrooms around our area in Scotland that they don’t take Amex – they would need to ask at whatever dealership they are buying from what cards they take and what fees they charge. We couldn’t get ours to budge from the 2% fee on a Visa credit card. We took out the Tesco current account to pay using a debit card – gives you 1 Clubcard pt for every £8 spend. That’s all I could come up with.

      • Tracy says:

        5 Mar5 March 14:05

        Thanks Liz, I’ll get them to ask if they take Amex. If not, was thinking the Hilton cards at least, one each. Two free nights and some extra Hilton points, they might get a long weekend….

        • Liz says:

          5 Mar5 March 14:07

          Think you will find there will be hefty fees – I was allowed to pay a large deposit free of cc fees but thereafter it would be 2% – need to see what deal you can get.

• Mike says:

  5 Mar5 March 07:31

  Keep the families in the regular line, will be quicker via the new wing.

  Hopefully they will be strict on this policy.

• GaryC says:

  5 Mar5 March 07:33

  The headline “Are families and groups banned from the new First Wing?” is somewhat sensationalist. I’m not sure why anyone would expect a single gold card holder to be able to essentially guest 3 other lower/non status holders through.

  • Von Schmallhausen says:

    5 Mar5 March 08:30

    Does a baby count as a guest? Or do they need to be over 2?

    • Rob says:

      5 Mar5 March 10:22

      Over 2

  • Trvlr says:

    5 Mar5 March 08:37

    +1

  • Rob says:

    5 Mar5 March 10:25

    Because that’s how it works now. 1 Gold can check in unlimited people in the F check in area.

    • Henk says:

      5 Mar5 March 11:07

      which is what you can still do. But it is a bit like a Gold, a Bronze and two kids – even though you can check in at the first class check in, you will still have to go through normal security, as for fast track you can only take one guest as well.

  • Prince Polo says:

    5 Mar5 March 16:02

    Should also run an article “BREAKING NEWS: FAMILIES BANNED FROM BA LOUNGES” as the same rules (one guest only) apply to lounge access…

• Tina says:

  5 Mar5 March 08:30

  A family of 4 could access the new F lounge providing both parents are Gold.

  Maybe an armed escort will accompany families with a single Gold member to the J lounge ! 😉

• D says:

  5 Mar5 March 08:35

  O/T I’m BA gold, soon travelling LHR-Tokyo with my parents (they don’t have BA status) in Club. What are my chances of getting all three of us into the First lounge at LHR? Anyone managed to take in two guests?

  • Mike says:

    5 Mar5 March 09:29

    Pretty unlikely. It’s only possible to have two guests as a GGL member.

    • Barry cutters says:

      5 Mar5 March 09:45

      Pretty easy . Have your mum take your boarding card . To get access with her ‘guest’ then 10 mins you appear with the boarding card on your app. – confidently saying , oh iv been in already as you pass through

      • D says:

        5 Mar5 March 09:52

        Thank you! Will give it a go 🙂

        • Matt says:

          5 Mar5 March 11:39

          I suspect that that would be looked on VERY dimly by BA if they catch you!

  • Andrew says:

    5 Mar5 March 15:00

    FWIW my advice is to be honest. As a BAEC silver member, I took my family (my wife, 3-year old and baby – all with no status – although the baby doesn’t count) into the Club lounge.

    We all just walked up and I said “I do t suppose I could be really cheeky and bring in one extra small person, could I?” – the response was a smile and “Yeah, we’ll sort you out” and in I went. I guess if the lounge was heaving they’d be stricter but it worked for me. They might also be stricter with the Galleries First too, of course!

    • D says:

      5 Mar5 March 21:47

      Thanks

      • Zoe says:

        5 Mar5 March 22:11

        We had 3 of us booked into Club World and my 21 year old daughter (who decided much later to come) booked in Economy. At Newark we had various ideas of how to smuggle her into the BA lounge but I didn’t have the bottle. I left the lounge to pop and see her and told the agent I was just popping to see my daughter and would be back shortly. She asked why she wasn’t in the lounge and when I explained she told me to fetch her, as we came back in she gave her the dinner voucher. We were very happy.

        • Alan says:

          5 Mar5 March 22:36

          That’s fantastic customer service (and a nice reward for you being honest with them too :D)

  • GaryC says:

    5 Mar5 March 15:05

    It’s worth asking the lounge agent politely, you may be lucky, but be prepared to have them say no. I’ve had varying success – got an extra person into the CCR as a guest when I was subject to delay, had an extra guest in the first lounge at O’Hare once. But likewise have been turned down as well.

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