You have heard of “gate lice“. Well now there is a new type of airport nuisance group, and boomy has coined a name for them:
Lounge Hitchhikers
Recently I’ve witnessed a group of people standing outside QF domestic lounge asking complete strangers to guest them. … Interested to hear what others think about this issue, is it ok to stand outside lounges and ask to be guested and should people agree to guest random strangers?
Other travelers posting in the thread seem to prefer the term “door lice”, but personally I prefer Lounge Hitchhikers.
As to how this form of person should be dealt with – opinions vary.
Would be a bit of fun to say sure, follow me. Get up to the dragon and say to him/her. This person is annoying your guests at the entrance ~Daver6
Qantas doesn’t respect my loyalty or my status. I would guest a total stranger into the lounge. ~JohnK
I’ve guested strangers into the Perth pub twice. … 1st time was a large family. … 2nd time was a troop of dancers (cabaret show) … so I (+ 2 associates I was with) proudly strolled into the QF pub with our gorgeous fillies on our arms … but then we went our separate ways. Oh such a brief encounter. ~nonpoop
Have you experienced this? Would you/did you let the Lounge Hitchhiker accompany you into the lounge as your guest?
And perhaps even more importantly, have you heard any other terms used to describe people who ask to be guested in? Or could you suggest a better term.
If this is a thing then we’re going to need a Twitter hashtag people, so please chime in with your suggestion/vote in the comments section below.
Read the thread in its entirety: Lounge Hitchhikers
Why not “Lounge Lice”
Never experienced it, it certainly sounds tacky. I’ll admit to posting in lounge threads on FT and have sat near a lounge hoping to spot a FT Tag, but I’d never go this far.
That said, I’m not going to let it bother me if I do see it.
Yes, if she’s hot.
There is a discovery channel show called hacking the system and they showcased this as a method to get access about 10 days ago. Probably caused a recent spike
Guilty as charged – repeate offender…
This makes so much sense why Delta changed the Sky Club rules. It was for our own good. Now people won’t both asking to be guested in to the Sky Club. Thanks Delta.
@Patrick – I like the alliterative effect.
Given how nice they are, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few outside the Centurion lounges since Platinums can guest in two adults. And they ask to see only the members card, ID and boarding pass so they have no idea who the other two guests are.
That being said, I don’t think I’d do it. You’re kind of responsible for the behavior of your guests so taking responsibility for total stranger seems like a bad idea.
I very often see random business-attired single travelers”negotiating” (arguing) entrance to various United clubs. I really think they have no legitimate source of entry, and it is a ruse to get one of us in line to guest them in out of pity or a desire to speed up the line.
I wish people wouldn’t guest all these people in. It makes the clubs jam packed. More and more I find myself leaving the clubs earlier than necessary because it is becoming more unpleasant inside the club than it is in the terminal. The main advantage the clubs now have for me is a cleaner bathroom. Big deal.
@blanca – That’s an interesting observation, and I’ll bet you are correct in your guess as to the ruse. Do you often see people guest these negotiators in?
Gawker Media’s Lifehacker site reblogged a post from “The Credit Card Fly” promoting this method of lounge access: http://lifehacker.com/how-to-get-into-luxury-airport-lounges-for-free-1569936509
The Credit Card Fly post has zero comments but Lifehacker received a ton of comments and presumably quite a few views.
Skyclub restrooms stink weather its busy or not. United lounges in houston IAH are always busy and I can never find a good seat. I havent seen any Lounge Lice but I would see what they could offer me in exchange.