I am a British Airways Gold Card member and I’ve been told that the Anytime Access privilege –
allowing me to use the BA executive lounge even when I am travelling on another airline – is being withdrawn. Could this be the first of many perks to be removed after BA’s merger with Iberia? We were assured that the merger would benefit customers, but I always wondered how less competition could be better for customers. – Kevin Howard
BA, like many other airlines, rewards its most important passengers with a wide range of privileges.
Top-tier travellers with BA have long been entitled to use the lounge even if flying on another carrier. But as the airlines and alliances consolidate, the number of passengers able to use a particular lounge increases.
BA has evidently decided it’s getting to be too much of a squeeze, due to “the increasing number of customers who have access to our lounges through the expansion of our Oneworld alliance”.
The airline says the move “brings us in line with many other major airlines”.
A cynical traveller might suggest that BA also sees business benefits: the change in policy incentivises Gold Card holders to travel on a Oneworld airline and eliminates what could be seen as a subsidy from BA to its rivals.
Email your travel queries to simon.calder@standard.co.uk
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