First/Business Class Lounges

[tspark]

I posted this in the Middle East forum -

I noticed a comment in the Qatar Salary thread that employees are not allowed to use the lounges even though they may have a first or business ticket. Is that common at other airlines (ME or otherwise) ?

is this peculiar to the ME airlines or has it always been the practice with most airlines ?

[vctenderness]

British Airways duty staff travel allows First priority entry into J lounges. I think the most senior staff can use F Lounge.

Personal travel F priority allows entry into J lounge but J priority doesn’t.

[tspark]

Thanks for your reply vctenderness. I assume J or F priority personal ticket is at a preferential rate or for senior staff ?

[I'm Off!]

Personal travel at BA does not allow any lounge access, whatever the priority of the ticket.

[EDDT]

Personal travel at LH does not allow any lounge access, whatever the priority of the ticket.

[Globally Challenged]

Oneworld lounges do not allow you to be identified as crew in their lounge.

I don’t work for a oneworld airline but use them to position so am gold but have to remove my stripes and ID when positioning home directly from duty.

[Avenger]

Star Alliance staff travel does not allow lounge access when traveling first or business, it's better to get a lounge card scheme and save the bother of being turned away. You also know for sure you can have a bolt hole if the flight is overbooked

[No longer ATC]

Originally Posted by vctenderness

British Airways duty staff travel allows First priority entry into J lounges. I think the most senior staff can use F Lounge.

Personal travel F priority allows entry into J lounge but J priority doesn’t.

Nope, duty travel gets you lounge entry, personal staff travel does not..even using an F ticket. That perk was withdrawn with the opening of T5.

[StudentInDebt]

Left a few years ago but thought the post-T5 restriction on using BA lounges on personal staff travel was on F/J17 and greater (which covers non-management pilots) and if you are F/J16 (senior management, all animals etc) then lounge access is permitted, might be my fading memory though .

If one is a BA silver card or better holder then you are permitted to use BA lounges on staff travel regardless (lots of hotline commuters) or if you are accompanying a card holder as their guest.

edit: maybe SM grades and higher get Silver/Gold cards automatically so that’s how they get around the lounge restrictions

[parabellum]

I believe it is correct to say that lounge access for staff is normally not permitted on staff travel in most airlines.

[Emma Royds]

On the other side of the water from Qatar and like most other airlines, we get lounge access for duty travel but not for personal travel. One exception in some cases is when some employees can use the lounge for their annual confirmed ticket.

The rules may have changed now but I have had lounge access in the distant past when using a standby ticket on BA, with me presenting my frequent flyer card. Not sure what the rules are now but I suspect not all airlines would be quite so generous now.

[vctenderness]

Originally Posted by No longer ATC

Nope, duty travel gets you lounge entry, personal staff travel does not..even using an F ticket. That perk was withdrawn with the opening of T5.

I need to qualify my remarks about F priority personal travel.

I am pretty certain that high up the food chain lounge access is granted for F priority. So Board members and very senior members of the executive team will get it.

I bet when Willie goes on his annual pilgrimage to Benidorm he downs a couple in the lounge!

[unitedabx]

Over in Hong Kong crew are never given access to company lounges whether on duty or personal travel.

[MCDU2]

Captains in my airline have lounge access regardless of ticket.

[BluSdUp]

LOCO here.
Dont need tqt to travel, just register with dispatch.
What is a Lounge??

[Nightstop]

Me and Mrs Nightstop used the Concorde lounges in both LHR and JFK way back in 2002. We were on Go Fly Staff Travel confirmed at £500 each single fare. Worth every penny/cent.

[ni si ni no]

National Airline of Vietnam didn't allow Lounge when upgraded to Business class

[seventhreedriver]

Originally Posted by ni si ni no

National Airline of Vietnam didn't allow Lounge when upgraded to Business class

It did not out of SGN/HAN, but we had lounge access in FRA on the positioning back to VN.