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Me and Player 2 have Platinum.
On our way back from Paris with Eurostar, we were traveling with our 5 year old. So far it has *not* been a problem to access Eurostar lounges as a family of three neither in Paris nor in London.
This time they said my kid cannot get in as guests are not allowed. I argued he is not a guest, and for a myriad of other reasons, a 5 year old cannot have a Platinum card. After a short argument, I gave up, thinking maybe the lounge was full.
Player 2, who is not very much into this game unfortunately, insisted as she felt offended. Her maternal feelings kicked in and she wanted to talk to a supervisor. At the end, we got in — lounge was empty. But she still felt offended for some reason.
I rang Amex, they said the access policy is determined by Eurostar, suggesting they don’t have any bargaining power, which I found odd.Long story short, she sent a strongly worded complaint to the C-suite of Eurostar. They responded in a few days. This is what they said, verbatim.
[begin: quote]
Thank you for your e-mail to Gwendoline Cazenave our Chief Executive, on whose behalf I am responding.I am sorry to hear about your experience during your recent trip to London.
We pride ourselves on our customer service and I would like to apologise that my colleagues at the station did not live up to our usual standards. I have passed on your comments to the relevant team and they will address the matter and make sure a similar incident does not happen again.
I have been assured by the management team that the staff on duty in Paris have misunderstood the access policy. We believe the confusion probably arises from the fact that the American Express partnership normally only allows for card holders to have access (and no guests) and the staff took this literally.
Reading your email, I understand that this has not been an issue in the past, this is because staff are briefed to use their discretion when it comes to children or minors having access and we will ensure that a reminder will be sent to the staff to prevent a repeat from happening.
Thankfully, this sort of incident is very rare and we hope it does not put you off travelling with us in future. We appreciate all feedback, good or bad, and we will try our very best to provide excellent service next time we can welcome you within the lounge.
Kind regards,
[name redacted]
Chief Executive’s Office
[end: quote]It is still left rather vague whether kids count as guests or not. But, I’d call it a win. Wife still wants a bit more formal apology.. Oh well…
I thought it is worth noting.
In theory kids are not allowed. You may get away with it – I’ve been OK at weekends in Paris but was turned away at London last year on a weekday.
To put this in context, if you have Carte Blanche, you can’t bring kids through Fast Track with you either. This is how strict they are. I DID get my kids through last year but it required a fight, and probably only because I was in Standard Premier, the normal queue was about an hour long and I didn’t have an hour before our train departed.
That was my understanding, too @Rob. I’ve always got away with it.
But, look what they said:
“I have been assured by the management team that the staff on duty in Paris have misunderstood the access policy.”What is there to misunderstand? No guests means, no kids, no in-laws etc.
but Eurostar now says, it is a misunderstanding that no kids are allowed.That surprised me, to say the least.
I’ll say though, how difficult is it to say, for example ‘no kids over 15 is allowed’.
I’ll say though, how difficult is it to say, for example ‘no kids over 15 is allowed’.
This. Either they are just greedy and want to force people to pay for business premier, but don’t want to state that publicly. Or incredibly shortsighted that they couldn’t imagine people having kids.
Same with banks that bundle lounge cards – why not include a few visits for kids?We got turned away on a couple of Sundays back (28 may) from London lounge. 2 platinum cards, 2 kids 4 & 8. To be fair the lounge was busy, I popped in quickly.
In theory kids are not allowed. You may get away with it – I’ve been OK at weekends in Paris but was turned away at London last year on a weekday.
To put this in context, if you have Carte Blanche, you can’t bring kids through Fast Track with you either. This is how strict they are. I DID get my kids through last year but it required a fight, and probably only because I was in Standard Premier, the normal queue was about an hour long and I didn’t have an hour before our train departed.
That’s not entirely true, Rob:
You must show your valid Membership Card and/or a valid ticket in order to gain access to a Eurostar lounge or to use the Business Premier ticket gates. Carte Blanche members may bring one guest through the Business Premier ticket gates during the week (Monday to Friday) and up to four guests at weekends (Saturdays and Sundays).
Saga continues. After several back-and-forth emails with my wife, CEO’s PA told her that the CEO herself called the Paris lounge and clarified the situation.
What is clarified, what changes it’d bring, we don’t know.
I checked this thread in the afternoon as we are travelling to Paris today. I’m now sitting in the lounge with the kids and we haven’t had any issue to enter. Both me and my husband have a platinum card and we entered we both our kids (8y). No question asked even if the lounge is full! Maybe I’ve just been lucky.
Accessed the St Pancras lounge on Monday and Paris on return today with Amex Platinum, along with my 12yo. On both occasions was told under 16s were always fine and no issue to join me in the lounge. Only one child with me so no idea if there’s a limit on non-adult guests…
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