I just had a very stressful experience checking in, but the good news is that access to the galleries F lounge through the F wing was not a problem.
I am traveling LHR-DOH-LAX (sure it's a$$ backwards, but that's my itinerary). When I went to check in, they told me that there is a new rule that passengers cannot fly from the UK to the US, and they needed to obtain special permission from Doha. I am a US citizen, so this should not have been an issue, but it took them an hour to get the go ahead.
Once I finally had my BP in hand, I walked over to the F wing with my BA Gold card and had no issue using the F wing as I normally would and am now enjoying a much needed double G&T.
BTW, I noticed, when they tagged my bag, that they did not use a Priority tag. I asked and was told they don't do that at LHR. Anyone ever hear that before?