British Airways opens a ‘Concorde Room Lite’ at Heathrow Terminal 3 – but not for Gold Guest List

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• Julian says:

  12 Jun12 June 10:49

  Being a BA Gold status, flying to Helsinki i had no trouble getting into the American Airlines First class lounge.
  They did not mention any of the other lounges I could use.
  Having said that I did the other lounges on a lounge crawl.
  Love the Cathy First Lounge.
  The service in the American Airlines First lounge was very good and attentive.
  Before I had a chance to get up from the table in the Al a carte dining area, they kept drinks topped up and asked would you like anything else to eat from the menu.
  Also of course the sweets on the way out.

• Kevin says:

  12 Jun12 June 11:05

  As with everything BA these days, this is all about the money. A lick of paint and some provisions sent over from T5 each day is a lot cheaper than £100 a touch for F passengers entering the Cathay Pacific Lounge pre-flight. This wee room will pay for itself in a few weeks.

  Of course I understand that businesses need to make money and part of that is reducing outgoings but I really wish Mr Doyle would look at the bigger picture. They could very easily allow these 16 guests (plus the small number of Premier guests) to relax in the Concorde room and personally drive them to the steps of the aircraft at boarding time. Something like this yields far greater benefit in the long run for a relatively small cost. Indeed adding an extra £200-£300 to these F fares will not affect sales as they are not price sensitive customers and BA has no First Class competition on these routes. Gulf air I think do Bahrain but no F cabin, although someone can correct me if I’m wrong.

• sayling says:

  12 Jun12 June 11:09

  Did you find out if another blogger had Premier status, Rob?

  And are those ‘legal’ reasons still binding?

• Russell G says:

  12 Jun12 June 11:59

  Wait, who’s to say that BA are targeting BA pax with this lounge? What if this is actually the opposite of what you are suggesting, BA targeting other OneWorld pax and charging the other airlines £100+ a pop? Given the number of OW F pax compared to BA F pax at T3 that can access this lounge, this reasoning seems a lot more plausible than targeting BA pax right? Also goes a long way to explaining why GGL are excluded.

  • Rob says:

    12 Jun12 June 12:18

    Very possible, yes.

• jjoohhnn says:

  12 Jun12 June 13:10

  I would expect the GGL exclusion is due to the limited space and the AACK inclusion is due to contracts.

  • Rob says:

    12 Jun12 June 13:30

    The lounge has 12 tables. There are 16 BA F pax MAX per day, in reality probably 6-8, of which half will either avoid the lounges entirely or go to Cathay. This lounge will be 90% occupied by Concierge Key members on Economy tickets to Spain. I’m not sure there is a lot of value there.

    • Hilda M says:

      12 Jun12 June 17:35

      Except IB are back in T5 ?

• Stu says:

  12 Jun12 June 13:34

  I personally think BA needs to get a grip on it’s Heathrow lounges – went in the Galleries North last week mid-afternoon and it was completely rammed – not a hint of the exclusivity you’d like in a lounge.

  I managed to spy a couple of boarding passes during the entrance process, one gold, one silver, both flying economy. We are both only blue but flying business paid for with our own cash.

  There should be separate loyalty and business lounges … folks flying business pay heaps more than folks flying economy so should get a better experience in the lounge, in my opinion.

  I expect I’ll be flamed but that’s my opinion.

  • Stu N says:

    12 Jun12 June 14:15

    Not necessarily true. A lot of the people in economy with status will be on flights booked at short notice. It’s not unusual to pay £500+ return for a short haul flight in Y if you book a few days before travel.

    Likewise, not hard to get J for <£250 return booked a few months ahead which most people travelling on their own dollar will be doing.

  • Russell G says:

    12 Jun12 June 14:43

    That silver and that gold have more than likely both spent a lot more with BA than you with blue and one business tkt. If BA had a choice to separate passengers based on worth to them, they would definitely put you in the less exclusive lounge. I doubt this is what you are requesting though right? 😉

  • JDB says:

    12 Jun12 June 14:55

    @Stu – you are right in the sense that all notion of exclusivity has disappeared and it’s not helped by people here who assist those asking how to get six people into a lounge with an old bus ticket and a cancelled credit card. Both parties then complain endlessly on other threads about not being able to get in to lounges or them being overcrowded.

    It has become rather more exclusive, less crowded and chic as well as a better food experience to be on the main concourse with a Fortnums tuck box.

  • Alex G says:

    12 Jun12 June 15:48

    @Stu completely agree.

    It also annoys me when I’ve paid for a business class ticket that people flying in economy get to board at the same time.

    Too many people now have BA status, due in part to giving double tier points to people booking BA holidays.

  • The Original Nick says:

    12 Jun12 June 15:49

    Why on earth they don’t send passengers to the B concourse lounge to free space up I don’t know.

• chris jones says:

  12 Jun12 June 13:44

  Its First dinning, not a CCR

• Katy says:

  12 Jun12 June 13:47

  As a GGL how many guests can I bring into the T3 non BA One World lounges?

  • James C says:

    12 Jun12 June 14:21

    Just 1. You only get the standard OW Emerald benefits outside of BA operated/ the joint JFK lounges.

  • Rob says:

    12 Jun12 June 14:53

    1 I think? 5 into the BA lounges IIRC.

    • Gagravarr says:

      12 Jun12 June 17:38

      5 on the same flight as you into BA lounges except CCR, 2 into a BA lounge if on a different flight except CCR, 1 into CCR, 1 into non-BA lounges

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