I arrived at the airport around 5:35 for my 8:05pm departure, and found just one person in the Club Check In. As the person in front was taking a bit of time, the agent at the empty First desk beckoned us to her. It took a little while to check in our group of 6, but she was quite friendly. I was surprised to see that our kosher meal request was printed on the ticket She asked us if we knew where the lounge was. We replied yes, as we fly BA about once a year from ORD. As we are Jewish, she checked with the lounge to see that they had our kosher meals. We went to fast track security and were through in 5 minutes. The BA ORD lounge is looked down upon by many here at FT. I'm not a big traveller an rarely fly international business class so I'm more easily impressed.
Club World Check-in
Priority security sign
Lounge review
The BA lounge is right by the BA gate. We were greeted by the lounge attendant who checked our tickets. A dining room attendant then confirmed our kosher meals with us and asked when we wanted to eat. We decided to eat a half hour after arrival to give us tine to settle in. The lounge has been remodeled since our last visit in September. It is much brighter and bigger. FTers always complained about both of those. The lounge was redecorated in light colors with comfy blue couches. The food stations were also redone. Where there used to be a small TV room in back, they added on mire space in to a bigger and larger area. There were also a fee computers added as well as a printer. The lounge has free wifi throughout. The lounge didn't have many outlets though which was very annoying. It took me a little while to find a seat next to a power outlet.
BA Terraces Entrance
Food/drink station
Food/drink station
Lounge bar
We entered the dining room which was packed. The six of us were crowded around 2 tiny tables.
View of dining station
Dining room food station
For the purposes of this review, I took down the non-kosher menu:
Picture of menu
Pre flight supper
Soup - corn and green chile
Salad
Mixed greens
Caesar
Vegetable lo mein
Grilled sesame chicken
Poached salmon
Caesar and balsamic dressing
Entrees
BBQ spiced chicken
Cod cake
Korean cucumber salad
Vegetable Lorna
Starch and vegetables
Roasted vegetable medley
Dessert and cheese
Lemon ricotta cheesecake bars
Chocolate chip cookies
Seasonal fruit (it was just grapes)
Our kosher meals came. They were presented on the regular airline tray in the standard airplane dishes. That was their first mistake. The next mistake is that the food was bad pretty bad. Our "business class steak entree" was teeny. It wouldn't even pass for an appetizer in Y class. The food was mediocre, not really edible.
Our kosher "meal"
There were 2 waiters and a waitress who did pretty well. I hung around the lounge a bit more after the meal. Her is a partial list of alcohol in the lounge:
Jim Beam
Campari
Johnnie Red
Glenlivet
Jack Daniels
Bacardi
Smirnoff
Baileys
There was also sparkling/still water, Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Diet Sprite, tea, espresso, and coffee.
For anyone who is interested, a pic of the entrance to the BA F lounge, across the hall.
TV monitor at the gate
Fast track boarding sign
The Boeing 777 that would operate flight 296