Lounge Review: LHR Etihad First and Business Class Lounge

Index to Genius1 Trip Reports

The entrance to the Etihad lounge is opposite Gate 10 at Heathrow's Terminal 4, one level below that of the gates. Opened in 2009 in the space of the former BA First lounge, the lounge was briefly a third party lounge between 2018 and its pandemic closure in 2020, before Etihad brought the lounge back in-house when they moved back to T4 post-pandemic in 2022. This is one of only three remaining outstation Etihad lounges worldwide, the others both being Chase-managed facilities at JFK and IAD.





For a 13+ year-old facility at the time of this visit at the end of January 2023, the lounge was in pretty good shape thanks in part to a partial refresh of furniture over the years, although the basic design is undeniably dated. The entrance to the lounge is via a spiral staircase or lift, with luggage storage available to the left of the reception desk. I was pleased to find I was only the second person in the lounge that morning to be welcomed by the friendly staff, meaning ample opportunity for a full photo tour.









The lounge opens out from reception to the main seating area, with a spaceship-like family room (or pod) immediately on the right and a variety of armchairs, high-back chairs and a single sofa beyond. Some of the furniture here looks a little cheap and out of place – in particular the high-back chairs and round tables between them. The lounge-facing wall of the curved family room is lined with shelving, on which are various pieces of art together with a few Etihad aircraft models. A second shelving partition creates a quiet seating area (or ‘library’) in the far corner.



















Washrooms can be accessed through sliding doors either side of the TV, with separate male and female prayer rooms along to the right of the washroom corridor, and three showers to the left. Until 2017, a Six Senses Spa occupied part of the shower area, although the three rooms that were once used for massages appear to now be used for storage. The design of the washrooms is quite moody, with ample use of dark-coloured mosaic and black marble wall and floor tiling. Amenities are unbranded. The shower rooms have a slightly lighter colour scheme with sandstone-coloured tiling, although a variant of the mosaic does make an appearance in the basin splashback.









On the other side of the lounge’s central curved dividing wall is a tended bar and – in what was formerly the Business Class dining area – additional armchair seating, including banquette seating. There’s a self-service water station here too with two flavours of infused water. The view from this part of the lounge and that from the previous lounge space is through an internal gate corridor to one of T4’s taxiways beyond – not exactly spectacular, but better than nothing. The lounge’s age shows not only in the design but in the lack of power sockets – the only ones readily accessible are at the bar.











The final section of the lounge features a well-stocked buffet and – in what was formerly the First Class lounge area – dining table seating, including an à la carte menu accessed via QR code. There’s no gate corridor to block the view here, although the gate infrastructure doesn’t make the view much better. When I visited for breakfast, there was an attractive range of pastries, cereal, yogurt, whole and cut fruit, salad, cold meat and cheese and hot dishes.















A sliding glass door in the corner is the entrance to a dedicated lounge and dining area for passengers travelling in the Residence on the A380 and other invited VVIP passengers. There used to be a business centre here too, although this seems to have been removed when the original VVIP room was expanded to cater for Residence passengers when that product was introduced with the A380 in 2014.

Once I’d finished with photos I was offered a drink at my seat by the proactive waiting team, a level of service which continued in the dining area. I found the height of the tables versus the chairs to be a little ill-matched, but this didn’t stop me from enjoying my eggs royale (ordered from the à la carte menu) with a couple of items from the buffet. The lounge was almost too quiet – some classical background music would’ve been welcome to set a more relaxing tone, as would slightly dimmer overhead lighting in places.









I found the Etihad lounge at LHR to be a relaxing experience certainly at the higher end of business class lounges in terms of food offering and service, although it is undeniably a dated space in need of refurbishment to remain competitive with the likes of Qatar Airways just down the concourse.

For more from this trip, see my trip report here: The Etihad Business Class Experience: London to Abu Dhabi on the A350 and 787