Afternoon from the BA Flounge at JFK

1st visit here and it sure ain't no Clubhouse, wonder what the galleries side must be like...

No food of any significance, although apparently there is some sort of 'pre-flight dining' happening in an hour, be interesting to see what that's all about.

And in further related news, I'm guessing that VS have decided not to comp me another year of AU based on my 36TPs - I'm still showing as gold, but there is an ominous message on my activity log that my FC number has been changed and a new card is coming. So I'm going to drown my sorrows with Mr Laurent and Mr Perrier. If I had a flag, it would be at half mast today

Have a good flight. Is it still snowing ? !

Shame about the gold.

Not snowing right now, but have had my share of it this week. Upstate and long island worse than the city. Very pretty once you get out of town, provided you're not in a hurry to get anywhere!

I'm guessing that VS have decided not to comp me another year of AU based on my 36TPs - I'm still showing as gold, but there is an ominous message on my activity log that my FC number has been changed and a new card is coming. (

See it as a liberation

DL

All it means is that I'll now be switching to BA and hanging on to my gold status there. Surprisingly easy to do despite the changes they are making. I'll miss the CH, but on the flip side, I do quite like a program (BAEC) where I'm actually able to easily use my miles in the school hols.

I'll just have to keep my 700k VS miles alive through the occasional bit of shopping...

Shame about the AU RC ,I'm sure the disappointment won't last long though,is it the Concorde room your in ? I thought it was meant to be quite good

Shame about the VS AU status. Have a great flight!

Shame about the AU RC ,I'm sure the disappointment won't last long though,is it the Concorde room your in ? I thought it was meant to be quite good

Ah what the hell Blacky, I can comfort myself on the fact that I've saved close to 3k ths year on RFS family trips on Avios, that's got to trump even the delights of the CH.

And no, not in the CR, in fact I didn't even see that signposted. This is just the 'first' lounge, which is really a waiting room for golds that are NOT flying first...

EDIT: well having just done the pre-flight dining,that was interesting - looks as though it's restricted to business pax only, they check your BP... so anyone in the cheap seats is restricted to the lighter snacks. Food was ok, maybe a bit garlic-heavy given I'm on a full flight

Other interesting thing was that the galleries side was actually really nice, better I'd say than the pseudo first section. Bigger, airier, beer on tap, lots more choice of food/drink. OK, it's sparkling wine rather than champers, and the wines are subtly cheaper, but personally I actually think I prefer that side for future visits...

RC

The Galleries side is much nicer in many ways, when it's lighter you get natural sun etc etc. Galleries First is a dungeon, no more. That said, the drink is much better, you can hang for a drink or two on that side then swing back to Galleries for the food.

The dine-before-you-fly product is not related to status, it's a cabin-driven service. Makes a lot of sense in my view, though it does get tiresome for the staff, I am sure, to have to police this.

The CCR at JFK is the best BA lounge I have been in and the one that has food and drink clearly superior to VS clubhouses in my opinion. It's not at the main lounge complex, but over on the left of the premium security line, so quite the other side of the terminal. It's a veritable haven, the quality of the meals is very high and the bar top notch. The crowds are way thinner than any other BA lounge, never really more than 30 or so people in there the few times i have been since it's F only, it's just a true pleasure.

Yes, lesson learned for next time. Actually, I wasn't that bowled over by the wines on the GF side either. A decent malbec/cabernet, and a bottle of chilled Fino was a nice touch, other than that, a bit 'meh'. Despite the implication of my 1st post, I'm not really a fan of champagne after a hard working week, will save that for my holidays when I'm more in the mood!

Incidentally, I did see the CCR as I was boarding, agree it looks nicer, sadly not much option of using it, not even as though I could get an op-up to 1st on my LCY flight... And no, I'm not going to get anywhere near the 5000TPs needed for a card to get in there!