Genius1

Pictorial Lounge Review: EDI British Airways Lounge

Index to Genius1 Trip Reports

Last month I visited Scotland’s capital for the first time since the Millennium year, and the airport for the first time in over 6 years. When BA merged with bmi in 2012, they quickly turned their attention to the larger space at EDI occupied by the bmi Diamond Club lounge. Just a year later, BA opened one of their latest concept lounges in the ex-bmi space, over double the size of the previous lounge and offering an outside view (albeit of a car park rather than the apron). This lounge follows the concept known as Galleries Evolution internally within BA designed by Glasgow-based interior designer Graven, but carries the British Airways Lounge branding in common with all new lounge openings and refurbishments since 2012.

The lounge is arranged in a rough Y shape, with the reception at the base of the stem. The lounge benefits from having very welcoming reception staff, and friendly waiting staff too who did a good job of keeping the lounge clean and tidy, although sadly less than 4 years after opening a few maintenance issues (eg. marked walls) are beginning to show. BA should realise that no matter how visually appealing their lounges are (or not, in the case of some of the older lounges), regular maintenance is just as important as good cleaning in keeping the space looking its best.

Just beyond the impressive reception area to the right is a magazine and newspaper rack offering the usual limited array of literature, whilst to the left is a luggage storage area and small row of armchairs.





Just beyond this is the entrance to the washrooms, which are a little spartan although feature modern Silestone countertops and the usual Elemis amenities. They are certainly an upgrade over the terrible T5 lounge plastic washrooms.



Opposite the washroom entrance is the main dining area, broken into two sections; a coffee station area, and a combined buffet and bar. The former of these two areas features both high and low level seating, and feature lighting above.









The latter area features only low level tables, including comfortable bench seating along the wall behind both dining sections, tables for two in the central lounge area and a long communal white table near the washroom entrance.







Food options when I visited in the evening included the usual domestic lounge selection of soup, bread rolls, sandwiches, cheese, nuts, crisps and biscuits. I couldn’t see any of the whole fresh fruit that is usually to be found in these lounges.











Behind the dining area adjacent to the windows is the main lounge seating area, featuring multiple groups of armchairs. Another section of seating, including a couple of wing-back chairs, is to be found in the right hand portion of the Y.









The left hand part of the Y contains more seating, another newspaper and magazine stand, a couple of small meeting rooms (a great touch) and the Study. Power and USB sockets are in plentiful supply throughout the lounge, and the wifi was reasonably fast.









I was very impressed with what BA had done with the space available to them. The lounge design, now rolling out across the network, is very much to my taste; understated but sophisticated. Whilst EDI is not the most visually stunning of spaces with which to work, the scope of application of this concept at different airports is huge as can be seen from the variety of new lounges popping up across the network. The lounge joins a growing list of airports now showcasing this design; GLA, LGW, AMS, DXB, CPT, SIN, IAD and most recently BOS. Soon to come are refurbishments at JFK, SFO and other US lounges.

headingwest

Lovely photos Genius1 ^

I've only been there once but I enjoyed my visit, it's a great lounge.

IAMORGAN

Thanks for this Genius1. Always appreciate the detail / focus of your reports.

tomparskate

Great Report! EDI is my home lounge and I do like it a lot! Staff are good and attentive and I've never found it too busy.

My only complaint is sometimes there isn't someone at the desk to check credentials but for a smaller lounge like this they probably have to do other tasks too

FlightDetective

It's such a nice lounge, I reviewed it recently on my blog. Really very comfortable and agreed - lovely staff too!

cysyuen

It's such a nice lounge. I wish BA revamp their lounges in LHR T5. Probably T5B to begin with.

Virazuno

Agree with this.

Some feel that the concept is starting to look dated already, but personally I feel it works well. Functional, yet still smart. As long as they're kept nice and clean of course!

corporate-wage-slave

Another FTer for whom this is their home lounge (or one of them at least!). A good report, it's particularly useful for future visitors to see what EDI has. The former BMI lounge was divided into two sections (with a business and a Gold lounge) and it's now difficult to work out the join. Here is a brief video of how it used to look, for those still in mourning.



The list of USA lounges for refurbishments that BA management have shared is Chicago, Houston, Miami, San Francisco (as you mentioned) and Seattle. Some of these are quite small, MIA will be the intriguing one. It's a $110m investment in all, with $65m for JFK, so given that SEA and ORD are quite small, and therefore won't take much budget, I'm wondering where that leaves SFO and MIA in terms of scale.

malkie

Great photos. I was there two weeks ago, and was more or less alone for the last flight to LHR on a Friday.

Very spacious and clean. Staff were great too.

Only downside was a limited food selection (for the capacity of the lounge).

rockflyertalk

Great photos. Were these taken on a smartphone?! (I'm merely intrigued!) EDI is a great lounge and it's very positive to see more lounges being completely rebuilt or renovated to give customer consistency.

I'm also intrigued by the comments from CWS re: MIA. I was there 2 days ago and this is a joint venture lounge I believe, between AA, IB and BA, correct me if I'm wrong! So will BA simply contribute to a group renovation of this lounge or create a completely new BA only lounge in line with all the previous concepts now launched (EDI, LGW, IAD etc)? Based on the figure quoted I'm guessing there isn't a budget for much if this figure remains.

MIA certainly needs modernising, although JFK is a must before all. I hope a few million goes to sorting out that awful slope in the fast track premium security lane in T7!!

Back on track, I'm looking forward to an EDI trip again now I've seen these photos! Thanks

StuckinITH

I guess that explains why there's food but no sign that there are any passengers around.

HIDDY

Yes it's all eerily quiet and tidy. If it wasn't for the sandwiches on display and the chap with the high viz vest lurking in the background I'd be thinking you'd broken in to take these pictures.

N1120A

It wouldn't kill them to put some eggs out in the morning and have the champagne be self-pour

madfish

AA are already investing in their own lounges at MIA.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...ge-updates.jsp

They also state that the Premium Lounge at MIA is a joint lounge with BA/IB.

BA5E

THanks for all the great pictures, have been there on a few occasions and find the staff extremely friendly and plenty of space to move around. Food options good when we were there, in time for sandwiches, and always a nice glass of bubbles to wash them down with. ^