BA business class flight tickets query

Back in November we were returning home from a Rome to Barcelona cruise. As we were flying business class we were able to use BA's business class lounges. We were looking forward to a large glass of wine at Heathrow's Terminal 5 lounge as we'd had an horrendous time at the hands of BA both on the ground at Barcelona and by the cabin crew on the flight (disability discrimination.....).

However when we got to BA's business lounge we were refused entry because our flight tickets had an 'I' code on them. We were told even though we travelled business class there and back we should have never been allowed into any of their business class lounges.

As I still had the pdf's of some of the previous flight details that SS had arranged for us, I checked, and with the exception of this one, they all had the code 'J'.

I queried this with SS as they booked the flights and they said as far as they were concerned it was a BA fault so I should contact them.

I did and was told that there are several codes used by BA to indicate various purchase levels of business class tickets. 'J' code means full-fare business class purchase, 'D' code is lightly discounted and 'I' is heavily discounted. Our November cruise flight tickets were 'I' code, so whilst we travelled business class on the aircraft, we were not entitled to use the business class lounges because the flight tickets had been purchased at a severely reduced rate. It's basically a cut-down version of business class.

Just before Christmas I emailed back SS and explained that BA had said. They're going to look into this but as yet I haven't heard anything from them.

I'm curious to find out if this ever happen to anyone else who has had their flights arranged by SS.

Given that we paid in full to fly business class tickets for our forthcoming May cruise I'm curious to see what code SS give us this time...

Marie

You should have been allowed into the lounge irrespective of the price bucket your Business Class flight was in. I is heavilly discounted, but you were wrongly refused entry.

Jeff

Try telling that to BA...

I was only answering your question. Lounge access is an advertised benefit for passengers holding a Business Class ticket.

I was only answering your question. Lounge access is an advertised benefit for passengers holding a Business Class ticket.

I appreciate that you were only answering my question. However BA doesn't agree with your answer.

I appreciate that you were only answering my question. However BA doesn't agree with your answer.

This happens. I've reread your note.. It sounds like you were wanting to use the arrivals lounge at Heathrow, not the departure lounge at Rome. It appears that it isn't anything to do with the price, rather it is only a benefit of Club World ie long haul.

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/lounges/arrivals-lounges

It sounds like there was simply a misunderstanding about the reason. BA wouldn't be able to cope with the volume of business travellers using lounges at both end of their European trips.

Jeff

This happens. I've reread your note.. It sounds like you were wanting to use the arrivals lounge at Heathrow, not the departure lounge at Rome. It appears that it isn't anything to do with the price, rather it is only a benefit of Club World ie long haul.

 

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/lounges/arrivals-lounges

 

It sounds like there was simply a misunderstanding about the reason. BA wouldn't be able to cope with the volume of business travellers using lounges at both end of their European trips.

 

Jeff

We were about to take a domestic flight home to Newcastle. Previously, on the 'J' coded tickets there has never been any problem with accessing the business lounges, even on the domestic flights.

My query though is the actual I coding (we didn't even know there were any coding system). We were under the impression that we had full business class tickets (ie use of the lounges).

As SS were buying the tickets on our behalf we weren't made aware that what we were getting wasn't full business class - hope that makes sense...

Marie

Hi Marie, the simple answer is that the fare bucket ie price paid is irrelevant to benefits except on BA staff travel. It is that simple.

Jeff

The list may be of interest ...

https://insideflyer.com/forums/wiki/booking-classes-ba/

Jeff

Hi Marie, the simple answer is that the fare bucket ie price paid is irrelevant to benefits except on BA staff travel. It is that simple.

 

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

All this coding is new to me - like I said we weren't even aware there was such a thing. When we get our business flight tickets from SS, will we be allowed to use the lounges on the domestic and short haul parts of the flight.

Marie

With respect to your next trip, the best thing you can do is use the BA contact details and ask them and if it is positive keep a copy for your trip.

Jeff

With respect to your next trip, the best thing you can do is use the BA contact details and ask them and if it is positive keep a copy for your trip.

 

Jeff

Sounds good to me. Thanks

Good luck.

Another reason to avoid BA Business Class in the first place. It's one of the worst Business Class products out there.

Slighty different issue.... When I booked our flights (through SS) I explained repeatedly I wanted to take 1 extra suitcase. I was told, I could just do it using my booking reference and add myself without any problem. Today when I tried to do so, I was greeted with the message "excess baggage cannot be booked on this flight." Yikes!!!

Again, all down to misinformation but fortunately it shouldnt be a drama to sort. The flight transfers in JFK forward to a AA flight from a BA one. My concern was that not only was I going to miss the cheaper price from booking online, but I'd have to pay £65 to BA and then $100 to AA in JFK

BA have said its a once only fee in Heathrow so its just a £5 increase for not booking online. I was worried the wife would have to leave behind half her clothes! lol

BA has turned Business Class into coach so it would not surprise me if they are denying lounge access to discount fares which is what I is. Just another reason to totally avoid BA. The hard product as well as service is dismal. I am sure SS is using them because they do offer good deals on discounted Bus Cls fares and are usually the cheapest.

I have flow in an I bucket ticketed by Qantas several times.

The ticket was listed on the schedule as economy. I queried my ta who said that it was a "special deep discount" business fare and it was a corporate name game that made no difference to me as a passenger.

With both LAN and QF , for me as a passenger , the ticket functioned like a normal J fare.

BA has turned Business Class into coach so it would not surprise me if they are denying lounge access to discount fares which is what I is. Just another reason to totally avoid BA. The hard product as well as service is dismal. I am sure SS is using them because they do offer good deals on discounted Bus Cls fares and are usually the cheapest.

We avoid BA & AA like the plague. You cannot compare international service to Singapore, Emirates, Qatar, Etihad or Qantas...No comparison. BA Biz is just an upgraded coach and their First is not much better. AA and Qantas are ending their code share because of the poor service that AA delivers and the Oneworld partnerships.

BA has turned Business Class into coach so it would not surprise me if they are denying lounge access to discount fares which is what I is. Just another reason to totally avoid BA. The hard product as well as service is dismal. I am sure SS is using them because they do offer good deals on discounted Bus Cls fares and are usually the cheapest.

We live in Arizona and do not have many choices for flying to Europe. BA is not our favorite but the easiest. They do not have the cheapest prices .We just paid another $550 to choose our seats on top of the ridiculous fare.

In Sept we were allowed in the terminal 3 lounge not terminal 5.Terminal 3 was like a cattle call.

Sadly I cannot offer any defence of BA. The reality is that it is basically an enormous pension liability that is running an airline as a side business. With enormous fixed costs that they cannt reduce before anyone buys a ticket, savings can only be made to variable costs ie those things we see "enhanced".

The service now sometimes reminds me of Aeroflot in it's worst days when shortages and service shortcomings are now the norm with little in the way of service recovery or signs of improvement. Many of us are loyal because we feel at home the moment we get on a BA flight coming home and the maintenance is still second too none which gives me a feeling of greater security. Also sadly the service is often as much in the passengers' hands as it is BA staff and all of us I'm sure have seen some pretty gruesome episodes of poor customer behaviour.

We personally owe a lot to the airline because without their miles programme we would not have been able to travel first class dozens of times without giving it a second thought. All our European travel for the last twenty years or so has been Club and we owe them a lot.

At the moment we are going through some strikes from their mixed fleet crew which means that on those routes First Class is receving Club food and their is less crew. This will go on for some time until the crew give up and go back to work normally as BA management aren't under any pressure to give in.

Anyway ...... the answer to the OPs question is a simple one. Marie should email BA asking them to confirm that she is entitled to lounge access and keep a copy of the question and reply. The number of times I have confirmed promises in writing in my pocket .....

Have a great day all.

Jeff

I sympathise with the OP.

In my opinion BA are going down the pan – rapidly.

They have messed me about no end in the past and this time I have my TA to sort my flights out to San Juan and NOT use BA.

Some time ago I self-booked BA flights to JFK and self-booked internal flights in the US. I know …. My fault …. I should have let the TA do it.

Within days of booking and paying for the flights, BA cancelled not the flight the flight – but the route! I could fly there but they rerouted me home from a different airport, for the journey home.

I took advice and complained and they caved in. The reroute stayed but they kept the booked departure airport. In the next two months they changed my flights four times!

I booked to fly to Antigua and three days before we went they cancelled the domestic flight and put me on another. On the way home from Barbados we couldn’t get a seat in the BC lounge as someone at the door was taking backhanders to allow people in and it was packed.

Again – my fault but three years later they scrubbed all our Avios points (77,000 each) as we hadn’t used them in the prescribed time. I did point out that they had cancelled the route that I normally used but ….

For the general public it looks as if most domestic routes to Gatwick have been cancelled (catch a bus from Heathrow!) and if you fo fly into Heathrow T5 then more than likely you will have to transfer to T3 and go through the whole security rigmarole again – which is handy if your flight is late in as has happened before.

As stated, this time I have my TA to sort my flights out and NOT use BA. My local airport is Newcastle so I am looking at Aer Lingus or Delta via Dublin - both of which are far cheaper!

Here are the rules,

http://www.britishairways.com/en-us/executive-club/tiers-and-benefits/lounge-access

The staff a the front desk as often called lounge dragons.

Here are the rules,

 

http://www.britishairways.com/en-us/executive-club/tiers-and-benefits/lounge-access

 

"Lounge access is available to:

 

Silver and Gold Executive Club Members on a flight operated by British Airways or one of our oneworld partners

Emerald and Sapphire level Members of any oneworld airline frequent flyer programme on a flight operated by British Airways or one of our oneworld partners

British Airways customers flying in business or first class"

 

The staff a the front desk as often called lounge dragons.

Hi,

That page is pertinent to departure lounge access. The OP I believe is asking about arrivals lounge access whilst in transit to a domestic flight which is at the bottom of that page with seperate and different rules and access appears not to be allowed for short haul Club arrivals. .

I believe, but do not know for sure, that if the whole ticket is on one PNR then although the domestic hasn't a Club cabin, they may be permitted to use the lounge as a departures lounge, hence the suggestion to check to be sure. I think it is a grey area, as I can't remember ever seeing a rule. A printed confirmation from BA CS would be helpful in this siuation.

Jeff

Some time ago we flew MAN LGW ANU and BA checkmin staff told us we had full access to the lounge at Manchester even though it was a domestic cattle class flight to LHR. We didn't even ask! When we flew back in to LGW they again gave us access to the departure lounge prior to the domestic flight.

Some time ago we flew MAN LGW ANU and BA checkmin staff told us we had full access to the lounge at Manchester even though it was a domestic cattle class flight to LHR. We didn't even ask! When we flew back in to LGW they again gave us access to the departure lounge prior to the domestic flight.

I believe that was exactly as it should be, but for some reason the OP was refused, but on the spurious excuse that it was the price paid for the ticket and not the class. It may of course simply be a misunderstanding. I cannot find specific rules covering it - but they will be there - and with so much of this type of job being handled by contractors it is probably less stressful to have your confirmation email from BA in your pocket. Or ask for a supervisor at the desk before being turned awa.

Jeff