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British Airways lounge in San Francisco to close next week for refurbishment

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British Airways has announced that its lounge in San Francisco will close on 2nd January ahead of some construction work.

It isn’t entirely clear what is happening or when the lounge will reopen.  ba.com talks of “working to bring you a brand new British Airways lounge in San Francisco”.

A few years ago there were plans, eventually shelved on cost grounds, to add a new floor to the lounge.  It isn’t clear if this is back on the agenda or if we will simply see some new furniture.  The latter would do nothing to solve the chronic overcrowding seen when A380 departures are scheduled.

BA will be sending passengers to the China Airlines Dynasty Lounge during the closure.  This is situated in International Terminal A on the second floor.

You don’t need to go there, however.  Cathay Pacific and JAL have their own lounges in San Francisco – albeit JAL is only open for three hours per day – and you are welcome to use those by virtue of their oneworld alliance membership.  Many regular BA San Francisco passengers were already choosing to use the Cathay Pacific lounge due to BA overcrowding.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (60)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Nick says:
    28 Dec28 December 10:41

    BA’s problem with the SFO lounge is restrictive union-led labour agreements there that demand minimum hours for staff, so it’s not been worth expanding just for their own flights unless they can convince other airlines to use their lounge at other times of day. Which itself doesn’t happen unless there’s capex to make it better… which BA doesn’t want to approve on spec. Hopefully this means they’ve finally got an answer to this conundrum!

    As for VS and TLV, it actually makes a lot of sense – there’s huge connecting flows between Israel and the US as well as the point-to-point customers, which they’ll be hoping to be tapping into.

  • Jtz says:
    28 Dec28 December 11:56

    The plat upgrade link I have has no mention of the extra points. Is that normal or do I have the wrong link?
    Thanks

    • Jtz says:
      28 Dec28 December 12:03

      Edit: managed to find it…have signed up, do I need to wait for homepage to show plat or can I start using my gold as plat straight away?

      Thanks

  • Barry cutters says:
    28 Dec28 December 11:57

    With ‘virgin focussing on North America’ this would make sense no? Surely With all the virgin/delta traffic in to LHR this would make a good connection for American nationals to visit Israel.
    A bit like why ba often used the best aircraft in that route . – it’s aimed at the American market.

    Could be wrong but just a thought

  • David says:
    28 Dec28 December 12:28

    OT: Re. hotel status via Amex Platinum (e.g. Hilton Gold) – is the start date for the status based on the card start date or date of status request on the Amex website? I’m considering whether to upgrade PRG (charge) card today or wait until Jan. I understand that status gained in Jan 2019 may then apply through until end March 2021 – is that correct? Thanks.

    • Jtz says:
      28 Dec28 December 12:32

      It’s when you link from Amex, I’ve just upgraded so I can have the plat card by Jan and upgraded statuses then.

    • Rob says:
      28 Dec28 December 14:21

      Depends … it might work, you might also only get a year. Sometimes if you do the upgrade after July you get the rest of the current year and then the whole next year. In your case, nothing to lose by waiting until January.

  • Andrew says:
    28 Dec28 December 12:37

    I recently upgRaded my free BA card to the BAPP after spending £10k. The 2-4-1 voucher has now posted but it is only showing a one year expiry. Is this a common problem? Thanks in advance!

    • meta says:
      28 Dec28 December 14:11

      My data point is old (March 2017), but I called both BA and Amex and they sorted it out. It took about a month or so for it to be processed and a few phone calls. However, some reported here that they haven’t had any luck.

    • Rob mc says:
      28 Dec28 December 14:33

      Yes. You should have upgraded before spending the 10k for the two year expiry

  • DaveL says:
    28 Dec28 December 14:03

    OT – RE: Lloyds Avios duo pack and getting a 2nd upgrade voucher… I’m a couple of grand off £14k spend on this…am tempted to take it over the £14k mark to see if I’ll get a 2nd upg voucher, as I believe a number of folks did recently… Has anyone pushed it over the £14k mark in the past few weeks and, if so, did you get an extra voucher? Thanks in advance for any data…

    • TGLoyalty says:
      28 Dec28 December 14:58

      I thought the ‘extra’ voucher was an admin mistake rather than after hitting £14k spend

      • Alan says:
        29 Dec29 December 17:09

        Yep – my understanding is random IT glitch rather than anything to do with spend.

    • Brian W says:
      29 Dec29 December 02:28

      Duo cards are 1 x 241 voucher per card anniversary. I’ve had these cards (the £50 premium ones) for 10+ years and have tried before to get two vouchers within 12
      months……no success. Better channeling your spend elsewhere after getting your voucher. Ps, the Lloyds ‘Rewards’ cards give an upgrade voucher after £7k spend, the Duo cards you refer to earn a 241 voucher after £10k for premium and £15k for standard
      (I think?).

  • Tom says:
    28 Dec28 December 15:29

    Nick

    I once got to the BA SFO lounge very early. They let me in but it was being used by Korean Airlines. So there is at least one other airline using it other than OW airlines.

    Cathay is the best though and I have never had a problem getting in (BA Gold)

  • Will says:
    28 Dec28 December 15:54

    Rob you’d be lucky to get into the CX longe on BA metal. BA check in staff now encourage people not to visit it. I have tried three times in the last three months and on arrival at the CX lounge, despite it being empty, we were turned away on the basis that QF x 2 (day depenedent) and CX later in the evening use the lounge.

    The 380 is currently operating a reduced scheduled into SFO for the winter months in any event. My last two flights have been on the 77W. At least BA have picked a quieter time of year to close the lounge. I guess the big question is how long it will be closed for.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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