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British Airways Gold Guest List members can now take five guests into airport lounges

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British Airways has announced that Gold Guest List members (see this article for how you get to become Gold Guest List) can permanently bring five guests into a lounge.

This has been trialled over recent school holiday periods and clearly went well.  It will not be a total free for all though:

Gold Guest List British Airways lounge guests

all guests must be travelling on the same flight, but not necessarily the same booking

at busy periods you may be told to use Galleries Club instead of Galleries First

it does not allow Concorde Room access

it only applies at British Airways lounges

it only applies when flying on BA and not a partner airline

the full party can use the First Wing in Terminal 5 but at all other departure points, including Heathrow T3 and Gatwick, additional guests must use the standard security line

It remains to be seen how much with leads to increased overcrowding.  During school holidays this benefit was generally used to bring in children, but with it opened up to a ‘year round’ benefit we may find more business travellers bringing in a group of colleagues.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (201)

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

  • Will says:
    27 Mar27 March 08:32

    I suspect your average GGL travels solo most of the time so if you averaged out their number go lounge guests then it’s orobsbly fewer than 1.

  • Sussex Bantam says:
    27 Mar27 March 08:48

    OT – I have taken out a new ARCC card to keep my MR points alive when cancelling my platinum. I did this by “applying for a new card” from within my platinum on-line account.

    The ARCC arrived today and I just activated it however it would not let me link to my existing on-line account and I had to set up a new one. The card is now activated but the MR points show as zero. Does that mean I have a new MR account ? Do I need to do anything to link the ARCC MR account to the platinum MR account ?

    • guesswho2000 says:
      27 Mar27 March 08:58

      Yes, contact Amex and talk to their CS, they’ll link the MR accounts. Presently you have two separate accounts, and the MR in your existing one won’t be protected when you canx whatever has earned them.

    • Optimus Prime says:
      27 Mar27 March 08:59

      Give them a call because sometimes this happens – they did the same to me once when applying for the Platinum Companion Credit Card for my Amex Platinum charge card. I ended up with two different MR accounts.

      • JPa says:
        27 Mar27 March 09:46

        Before joining them, you might want to check if the signup bonus appears for that card.

    • Liam says:
      27 Mar27 March 09:42

      This happened to me recently. I rang up this past Sunday, the day after my new Platinum arrived, and was told that it was basically too early to add the card to my online account, and that I should ring back on Thursday or Friday this week, by which time the system would allow them to link the account. Apparently the system used to allow them to link the cards/accounts immediately but doesn’t any more. I created a new online profile so that I could view my PIN, which hadn’t arrived in the post. Doing this will apparently not be a problem for when it comes to link things.

      • Louie says:
        27 Mar27 March 10:50

        I’ve previously had the same issue and found just leaving things a few days enabled the card to be added to the same online account (by me, not by Customer Service).

        • Liam says:
          27 Mar27 March 11:10

          Well, it said on Sunday that I had been able to activate it but only today did I get an email from Amex saying as much. I may try adding it myself to my main account again today and hope that having set it up with a different online account won’t mess things up.

  • Craig says:
    27 Mar27 March 08:53

    OT: Data point please, cash withdrawals in the UK using Curve and Virgin. Is this going through as a cash advance or purchase?

  • fivebobbill says:
    27 Mar27 March 08:54

    Amex Platinum Travel Insurance please, I can’t find an answer in the search facility.
    Think I read somewhere that in order for the Amex Plat insurance to be valid, your travel must be paid for with “any” Amex card, not just Platinum?
    Could someone just clarify for me, would that include Lloyds Avios Amex or other non Membership Rewards cards?
    Have just put a fairly extensive trip on my Lloyds and am now worried I may have made an error.

    • Rob says:
      27 Mar27 March 08:58

      Mistake, I think – but download the policy from the website and look at the definition of ‘the Card’.

      Not a massive issue though as you are covered for big stuff irrespective. You only can’t claim for stuff like flight delays.

      • fivebobbill says:
        27 Mar27 March 09:22

        Thanks Rob, but tink I’ve had it…
        ““Card Account” means your consumer and small business cards issued by American Express in the UK, excluding corporate cards and any American Express Cards issued by bank
        partners.”
        So you’re right in that I’m covered for accidents nonetheless, however having read the Key Facts, it rules out cover for Cancellation, Cutting Short, Personal Belongings, Travel Docs and Money.
        Think I’ll have to take out a secondary single trip policy for this one 🙁

        • TGLoyalty says:
          27 Mar27 March 10:52

          yep unfortunately must be a personal amex issued by amex themselves.

          does anyone know what happens if you purchased using an amex issued card which is cancelled and then sign up for platinum before you travel? Covered or not?

        • Rob says:
          27 Mar27 March 12:37

          Depends if you’re concerned about any of the things above. Personal belongings and money claims always have huge lists of exclusions anyway which won’t pay if you in the slightest way at fault.

  • MD says:
    27 Mar27 March 09:01

    Wildy OT, sorry.

    I need home contents (not building) insurance, which seems to generate very little in the way of avios/other reward opportunities. I’ve only ever seen mention of Alan Boswell and Tesco insurance offering incentives on here, neither of which seem to be running at present. I would be most grateful if anyone has any tips on decent contents insurance offers. Many thanks.

  • PAL says:
    27 Mar27 March 09:06

    Interesting “Wheely” offer in Amex offers. Spend more than £25 get £25 back. X3

    • Luthar says:
      27 Mar27 March 10:36

      It’s a very interesting offer. I’ve got the offer on 4 cards and used it 12 times!

  • Titus Adduxas says:
    27 Mar27 March 09:10

    Off Topic but I just returned from Santiago on a flight that was delayed by over 9 hours resulting in missing our last flight to Newcastle. BA put us up in the Sofitel and provided meals which was very nice but…..

    they have sent an apology and a ‘goodwill gesture’ of £200 or 20,000 Avios.

    It seems though that under the compensation scheme they should be paying 600€ for this delay.

    Can I assume that if we accepted their offer we wouldn’t be able to make the claim or would this be on top off the compensation should we get it?

    • Rob says:
      27 Mar27 March 09:14

      The EU is on top.

      • Titus Adduxas says:
        27 Mar27 March 09:19

        Wow – that would cover all of the cost of the taxes on the flights (241 deal).

        Should we accept their offer and then make a claim or vice virca, it seems too good to be true.

        • krys_k says:
          27 Mar27 March 09:23

          Nice lounge in Santiago that is pretty huge. So hopefully the 9 hour delay wasn’t too bad.

        • LewisB says:
          27 Mar27 March 09:46

          You can do both. This is a good tactic by BA though, it must stop people from claiming under EU241.

        • LewisB says:
          27 Mar27 March 09:48

          *Not because they can’t claim, but because they feel they can’t having accepted the goodwill gesture or perhaps genuinely feel compensated.

        • SimonW says:
          27 Mar27 March 10:57

          On that basis, BA have moved my 7am flight MCO-JFK on AA by 6 hours…. so we would be wasting a day waiting for the flight…… I asked and they have moved us to a MIA-JFK morning flight instead. I assume I have no claim, even though the original flight is now arriving 6 hours later than I booked??

        • Rob says:
          27 Mar27 March 12:37

          Take it.

        • Lady London says:
          27 Mar27 March 12:54

          *or even EU261

        • Darren says:
          27 Mar27 March 14:15

          Accept and get your claim in quick.

        • Rhys says:
          27 Mar27 March 18:58

          Simon – Since your delay is over 4 hours (the minimum for most long haul flights) you may be entitled to compensation. Depends on why the delay/cancellation happened.

    • ChrisC says:
      27 Mar27 March 15:06

      EU261 compensation depends on the reason for the delay which you don’t mention so don’t start spending the €600 yet!

      Duty of Care (hotels etc) comes under a different part of the regulation and kicks in no matter the cause of the delay

  • Kraken says:
    27 Mar27 March 09:15

    OT, does Priority Pass card still work if I cancelled my Amex Platinum 2 or 3 month ago?
    Many thanks

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