[bertee]

I have been informed that BAA no longer have pay as you go Lounges in the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow. It seems that you are a captive of BA and need to join their Club or fly Business or First. In the past I used the BAA lounges @ Heathrow for a fee and found them very good value.
I did recently consider joining the Qantas Club,however,they no longer give you F/F points for the joining.After all $700+ should be worth a few points and it costs you 150,000 points to join without a fee.
I thought that a few of the F/Fs here might like to know and lodge your protests. I am a Qantas F/F and feel that the rewards have been dimished greatly since the changes.
BTW
I have been asked by a friend does the Government employees of a certain level or Members of Parliament get Frequent Flier Points if they are members of Qantas F/F or get their membership of Qantas Club complimentary ?
I have heard that they do even though the tax payer pays the airfares.

[chooms]

Originally Posted by bertee

I have been asked by a friend does the Government employees of a certain level or Members of Parliament get Frequent Flier Points if they are members of Qantas F/F or get their membership of Qantas Club complimentary ?
I have heard that they do even though the tax payer pays the airfares.

Short answer - yes.

MP's from all parties - including Greens and Independents - get complimentary Chairmans Lounge (CL) membership and Frequent Flyer points.

With CL membership, their partners also automatically qualify for Partner Gold status.

Yes MP's get FFP's - as do their staff. There was a rule introduced a few years ago that MP's and staff should use points - once they have accumulated a few thanks to taxpayers - to book flights.

Both MP's and staff get around this rule due to awards being very inflexable.

MP's and staff are not permitted to use points while still employed by the Government. So no awards or upgrades for personal travel. Staff not travelling with Minister may upgrade only if flight is more than 3 hours long.

Of course, if MP is a Minister, both staff member and Minister travel J and accrue J points and Status Credits.

MP's travelling to/from Canberra to/from electorate travel J and accrue J points and Status Credits - where J is available obviously.

Staff travelling to and from electorate are only allowed full Y and accrue full Y points and Status Credits.

I have to disclose, I was a staffer to a former Minister and accrued quite a number of points courtesy of the taxpayer and also got WP status through this travel. I am very thankful for it. I have also used some of these points after ceasing employment last year thanks to a little thing called an election and subsequent change of Government. Lol.

Just for info though, I know for a fact that QLD MP's and staff do not accrue FFP's into personal accounts. These points go into a centralised Government account. I think there are millions of points in this account but I am unsure as to whether they would be sold back to QF or what. I know the speaker and his staff member used points on a recent trip to China - J of course!

[MelUser]

However, Commonwealth public servants don't get points but do get Status Credits for government booked flights.

[NM]

Originally Posted by bertee

I have been informed that BAA no longer have pay as you go Lounges in the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow. It seems that you are a captive of BA and need to join their Club or fly Business or First. In the past I used the BAA lounges @ Heathrow for a fee and found them very good value.

BA does not offer a paid club membership like the Qantas Club anymore. The only way into the BA lounges is with status in their (or another OneWorld airline) FF program, to be travelling in a premium cabin, or to join the Qantas Club.

Originally Posted by bertee

I did recently consider joining the Qantas Club,however,they no longer give you F/F points for the joining.After all $700+ should be worth a few points and it costs you 150,000 points to join without a fee.

There are other options for joining the Qantas Club. Firstly, see if your employer corporate scheme you can join through, even if you pay the fee yourself, and even better if you can salary sacrifice it. Or you can join AFF as a Gold Member and then participate in the AFF Corporate Membership for Qantas Club.

Do note that if your travel is for work purposes, you may be able to claim a tax deduction for the membership fee.

[JohnK]

Does anyone if PriorityPass or LoungePass have opened any lounges in Terminal 5? I have looked at the websites and have not seen any pay as you go lounges at Terminal 5....

[serfty]

I recall a recent post on the BA FT Forum that the ONLY lounges in LHR T5 are BA's. I have not the time now to look it up.

[bertee]

Originally Posted by serfty

I recall a recent post on the BA FT Forum that the ONLY lounges in LHR T5 are BA's. I have not the time now to look it up.

I have exhausted all avenues on this and BA have sole rights to any lounges in Terminal 5.
The BAA Lounges(pay as you go) are in the other terminals,but unless you go there first or after checkin,once you are in the security area of Terminal 5,it is a no go.
I have tried to get access to any lounge due to a 9 hour transit stop over and it looks like a Prayer Room is the best I can do in Terminal 5 !!!!!
Or else join the QF Club. BA do not allow entry except for Bus or First or Club members,the points wont do it.

Time to storm the lounges me thinks, and see how they like that !!!!!!
I WOULD JOIN IN ALL SERIOUSNESS EXCEPT FOR THE ACTUAL JOINING FEE ON TOP OF ANNUAL FEE.$750 + for one use as that will all I will need is over the top and I cannot claim Salary Sacrifice or a tax break either
As Groucho Marx once said,"Any Club that will accept me as a member isn't worth joining" !

[opusman]

Originally Posted by bertee

$750 + for one use as that will all I will need is over the top

If you're only ever going to need it the once why are you even bothering to think about it? Just take a book and sit in the terminal like everyone else

[ozscot]

moving a little off topic but I've transited through T5 8 times in the past couple of weeks on a mix of UK domestic and international sectors and found it very good. They do seem to be well over their initial problems, though I didn't temp fate and am traveling with hand luggage only.

I used the arrivals lounge and first lounge at the South end and never had any problems entering with my QF WP card. The first lounge is huge and a bonus to use when you're only on a short hop up to EDI. Food and drink service is excellent and there's a huge selection of newspapers and mags.

The bathrooms are a little odd, being a small self contained room with moulded plastic walls - feels a bit institutional. Mind you the bathrooms in London have been strange this trip - went to a City bar to meet some friends and found a little old guy in the bathrooms with all manner of sprays and cosmetics laid out trying to pump soap or whatever onto your hands for a couple of quid tip - very different to my usual Richmond boozer where the gents are in a shed out the back!

Now sitting in the SFO T3 lounge. 6am flight cancelled. DFW connections missed. 6 hour wait. The joys of travel...

Cheers,
Steve.

[serfty]

Originally Posted by bertee

... Time to storm the lounges me thinks, and see how they like that !!!!!!
I WOULD JOIN IN ALL SERIOUSNESS EXCEPT FOR THE ACTUAL JOINING FEE ON TOP OF ANNUAL FEE.$750 + for one use as that will all I will need is over the top and I cannot claim Salary Sacrifice or a tax break either ..

Just Quietly, QP membership is ~AUD770 for the first year - inclusive of the joining fee.

Year two is much less than that.