BA lounge in Edinburgh if flying Iberia

[Tracy]

I’m currently in EDI airport. Travelling Iberia economy, been refused entry to the BA lounge as BA silver. Was told it was only for gold and above travelling Iberia. Is this correct?

[e14]

Incorrect assuming you are on IB / IB express

Ask them to check the one world eligibility as they have confused it with Vueling

[Tracy]

I did ask, spoke to a manager. They have it written on their sheet gold only and wouldn’t budge. Even showed them the BA page 😂

[e14]

Did they say to go to the Aspire lounge at least

[Tracy]

Nope

[TGLoyalty]

Oneworld Lounge finder says Aspire Lounge for Iberia customers.

Perhaps BA will only allow Gold and above due to capacity but really they should admit all oneworld elites / business travellers.

[NorthernLass]

MAN also says a specific lounge for IB pax – have you actually tried Aspire rather than BA?

[Tracy]

That’s interesting, I was wrong then, oops…..Wish I hadn’t argued with them now 😂
Don’t rate the aspire lounge much so currently sitting in Caffè Nero instead….

[Froggee]

On the Oneworld lounge finder it also says for the BA lounge “Access for eligible customers traveling on any oneworld member airline”. You are clearly eligible.

There is then the unhelpful “exceptions may apply” at the bottom.

I would be most put out if I were in your shoes @Tracy.

I would be asking BA to clarify their policy given the likely embarrassment it caused you. But to have BA status and be kicked back from the BA lounge when flying on a fellow one world airline and indeed one that is part of the same group just seems rude to me. Particularly as I cannot imagine it was busy on a Sunday morning,

[TGLoyalty]

I would deffo complain to BA. You weren’t wrong they should admit all eligible oneworld flyers and like Frogee says as a BA elite you think that would trump say an Iberia elite trying to get in even if they are gold.

[Tracy]

I have contacted BA to ask about the official policy. It would definitely help if it was clearer online…

[Richie]

I understood that if you book through Iberia express with an I2 flight number you may not get status recognition.

[PB2]

https://www.iberiaexpress.com/en/general-info/passenger-information/at-the-airport/vip-services/vip-customers

Status recognition at the lounge shouldn’t be a problem.

Seat selection may be more tedious. From the I2 website: “To reserve your seat, please contact our customer service team or speak to a member of staff at the check-in desk and present them with your card.”

For many years you could only credit avios to IB+ and not earn TP in the BAEC with an I2 flight number – this may have changed since BA reworded the avios/TP collection rules section but I haven’t tested it.

[SamG]

Sounds like a local decision/agreement that has been made (under the “exceptions apply” coverage!)

Bit of a weird one as you’d have thought IAG would prefer not to be paying an external supplier but perhaps there is a capacity concern (also weird, can’t imagine these are J / status heavy flights)

[Tracy]

Update, BA emailed to say sorry for my trouble and dismissed my complaint. I emailed them again and complained again and they have now given us £50pp BA voucher for our trouble. I complained about a few things so no idea which complaint the voucher is for. I asked for clarification if I should have had access to the lounge but that was ignored both times complaining, just generic email saying sorry for issues and here’s a voucher…still don’t know if I should have got into the lounge or not.

[aq.1988]

I was in the BA club lounge in T5 recently, and saw two mice. I put a complaint in, and I don’t think they even read my message, and awarded a £100 e-voucher.

So, I think they mostly don’t bother reading a complaint, and just give out vouchers/avios and hope you go away.

I’d much rather they dealt with the mice problem better, and not have to worry about where they’ve been when I’m eating in the lounge, than have a £100 voucher.

[NorthernLass]

As @TG mentioned previously, it specifically mentions IB under the Aspire lounge, but not the BA lounge, so maybe this is where the confusion arose?

https://www.oneworld.com/airport-lounge-results?location=EDI

I need to check what the situation is at MAN T2 for my IB departures next year. The Escape lounge in T3 seems to be a free for all if you have a BA BP, unless a blue member entering behind a Silver or Gold member is automatically classed as a guest – OH has simply shown his blue BP when going in the lounge with me on economy departures and they’ve just let him through without me claiming him as my guest!