Shuttle-Bored

NB: From March 27 2008 BA is moving to Terminal 5 and the lounge/check-in advice will change. See the ‘What Terminal Is My BA Flight From?’ section below for some links and information.

There are currently four types of lounge on the BA network; the Concorde Rooms, First lounges, Club Lounges/Terraces, and Arrivals Lounges (and I guess you could say a fifth type too – outstation lounges operated by a 3rd Party and not BA). With the launch of T5, BA has embarked on rolling out a new lounge concept, known as “Galleries” across the network - over the next three years the Terraces/Executive Club lounges will be refurbished with the new Galleries Lounge concept.BA has an excellent table that shows exactly the entrance criteria for all of their lounges, based on either your status or class of travel. It can be accessed at the following url:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...e/public/en_gb

There are currently three Concorde Rooms on the network, two at LHR (T4/T5) and one at JFK. They are only open to people in ticketed First on BA or QF, people who are BA Premiers, Qantas Chairman’s Lounge members or the lucky holders of special ‘Concorde Room’ cards (which cannot be earned and were issued after Concorde’s retirement to its best customers and are issued now to the most frequent Club Europe customers). Guests are only permitted to BA Premiers, and Qantas Chairman’s Lounge and anyone travelling in BA First can also bring an extra guest (regardless of the status/travel class of either person) who is travelling with them.

The First lounges are open to people travelling First, and oneworld Emerald members. oneworld Emeralds are allowed one guest.

The Club lounges (sometimes referred to as Terraces) are open to people travelling First, Club World, or Club Europe and to all oneworld Emerald and Sapphire passengers, and Qantas Club members. AA Admirals Club members are NOT granted access (unless they fulfil one of the other class of travel and/or status criteria). oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members are allowed one guest (subject to capacity). Full fare "Business UK" Domestic travellers are also invited into the Terraces lounges located at UK airports with a BA Mainline service.

At Heathrow T4 there are two sets of lounges. One (by Gate 1 – “The Gate 1 Lounge”, it is no longer strictly speaking branded as a Terraces) offers a multi-level ‘business class’ style-lounge complex. The other, by Gate 10, contains the Concorde Room and Spa (the former Terraces lounge at T4 Gate 10 has now closed, and the First lounge will close from June 5th). If you only have Terraces access and are seeking a Spa treatment, you’re probably best to call at Gate 10 to book your spa treatment first, then head over to the Gate 1 Lounge..
Terminal 5 Lounges
There are six lounges within British Airways' new exclusive Terminal 5: The Concorde Room, Galleries First, three Galleries Club Lounges and an Arrivals Lounge. Collectively the lounges, known as ‘Galleries’, can host up to 2,500 people, which is 25 per cent more than the Terminal 1 and Terminal 4 lounges.

The departures lounges are split into three distinct areas. In T5A (the main/biggest terminal building), there are lounges at the North and South ends of the terminal. There will also be a lounge in T5B shortly. BA suggests that passengers traveling on domestic services should use the North lounge (Galleries Club) as the lounge sits directly above the domestic gates.

At the South end of the terminal, you’ll find the Galleries South complex, containing The Concorde Room, Galleries First and Galleries Club. There is an unmarked door into the Concorde Room immediately after South security – there should be a BA staffer sitting outside. Other passengers need to go through the shops, down the escalators, past more shops and then go up the escalators (taking you back to about 50m from where you started!) to reach the First and Club lounges.

Outside HeathrowSome airports have separate First and Terraces lounges, even outside the UK – e.g. Boston. At others, all eligible passengers use the Terraces lounge.

BA Golds and Premiers are also allowed to use BA operated Club/Terraces lounges regardless of the airline they are flying on - this is known as "Open Doors". Guests are not permitted (except for Premiers – who can also use the First lounge as well if they wish).

Qantas Club is a club run by Qantas (not surprisingly!) which was designed to offer lounge access to Qantas fliers in Australia. However, the scheme also allows members to use any BA-operated Terraces lounge in the world when flying on BA. Qantas Club is the ONLY way that you buy your way into BA lounges. Membership is good value if your flying pattern means you never earn enough tier points to reach Silver – it costs about £100 per year (plus a c. £150 joining fee at today’s exchange rate). See the Qantas Club website to apply. Note that it will not get you into lounges at airports where BA shares a third-party lounge, e.g. Paris CDG.

Nearly all BA lounges have WiFi provided by BT OpenZone.and as of March 2008 this is now being rolled out as a free service within BA lounges globally (which is a great change as it used to be paid access only). As the list will probably get longer, we won't include it here. However here is a link to the AskBA? article that should have the correct info:
AskBA? Answer 2802

Outside the lounges at LHR, there is T-Mobile WiFi access for those of you who subscribe to their service.

BA has a comprehensive list of worldwide lounges on their website.
They also have a list of all the "Terraces" styled lounges. If you follow this link and then click "Locations".

BA also use contract lounges in many locations. These are of variable quality! For some collective hints/tips notes, see the BA Wiki:

http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php...eads_Index_(BA)

Another useful website for information on airport lounges throughout the world is: http://www.loungeguide.net

Arrivals Lounges
Arrivals lounges are open to people travelling in First or Club World, BA Premiers, BA Golds (on longhaul only), Qantas Chairman’s Lounge and Qantas Platinum members (again from longhaul only from BA/QF ‘joint’ flights), but NOT any other oneworld Emeralds. Premiers and Chairman’s Lounge are permitted one guest.

There are BA operated arrivals lounge facilities at LHR T4, T5 ,LGW and JNB.

At LHR the arrivals lounges are located landside. At T4, turn right after leaving the baggage hall and clearing customs. At T5 follow the signs but you will find the Arrivals lounge on the Arrivals floor (one below Departures), a simple right turn after you exit the Arrivals hall.

At LGW the arrivals lounge is located on the ground floor of the Sofitel hotel and is operated by the hotel for several airlines. It has multiple shower units and a continental breakfast offering – not quite as good as the BA lounges at LHR, but very welcome nonetheless.

Note it is not possible to re-enter the baggage hall after you have cleared customs so you cannot use the Arrivals lounges before collecting your bags.

The lounges should be open at 5am for the first arrivals of the day and close at 2pm.

The arrivals lounge facilities are available to any BA passengers who have travelled in First or Club World, BA Gold cardholders who have arrived at LON on a BA/QF long-haul flight (however, no guests are permitted), and Qantas passengers have travelled in First or Business on Qantas from Australia. The arrivals lounges are not included on the oneworld lounge network and therefore access to the lounges is not available solely by virtue of oneworld status. Detailed access guidance for QF frequent flyers is available here:
http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/7010/qfffsyf4.jpg

One exception to the rule, is that passengers who have travelled in Club Europe on the early arrival from DME can use the T5 arrivals lounge.

Facilities include shower suites, valet service, Elemis Travel Spa (at LHR only and availability of appointments is generally better than in Departures), hot breakfast, luggage store, quiet area, and business facilities.

The hot breakfast is usually cleared away at approximately midday. If you are arriving at LHR at 1pm, it is unlikely that you would have sufficient time to clear immigration, collect bags and use the lounges.

If you are connecting to another flight at LHR, if time permits you can clear immigration and use the arrivals lounge. However, if you have a connection of 2-3 hours it is generally recommended that you go to the Flight Connections Centre and take advantage of the facilities in the departure lounges to avoid missing your connection.

Also, currently the only arrivals lounge for BA passengers outside LON is at JNB which is a third party lounge. There are no arrivals lounges for BA passengers at any other outstations (e.g., JFK).

Other Notes

At LHR T4 and T5 and JFK T7, there are Elemis Travel Spas. They offer various free treatments such as massages, facials, etc. They are open to people travelling First, Club World and BA Premiers and Golds (on longhaul). Other oneworld Emeralds, and people travelling in other travel classes are not entitled to a treatment. The Spa is first come, first served. Flying F does not enable you to jump the queue! Do note that tipping spa staff (or lounge staff, or any other BA staff!) is NOT expected.

When flying with a oneworld partner that uses a non-oneworld lounge in a particular airport, BA Gold and Silver members may not always gain entry to that lounge.

It is also worth noting that, strictly speaking, the BA rules say 'Guests must be travelling on the same carrier as Executive Club member' in order to access any BA lounge.

BA’s own lounge access policy also contains the following useful scenario (thanks to Fraser):

'7. Lounge access for connecting passengers

Passengers travelling inbound or outbound in First, Club World or Club Europe on a British Airways flight have access to the applicable British Airways departure lounge prior to their onward flight, regardless of class of travel - so long as travel is on a BA or oneworld flight.

British Airways lounge access also applies when travelling inbound in First Class or Business Class on a oneworld carrier.

For example: Travel Chicago to London Heathrow on AA in First Class arriving LHR T3, departing on BA ex LHR T5 to Stuttgart in Euro Traveller. Passenger is entitled to use the BA First lounge upon production of their AA boarding stub and onward BA boarding card'

In BA’s Own Words!

With thanks to Fraser again for scanning these official BA rules:

1) British Airways non Executive Club and Executive Club Blue Members
2a) British Airways Executive Club Silver members
2b) British Airways Executive Club Gold members
2c) British Airways Executive Club Premier members
3) oneworld tier members (excluding Qantas Frequent Flyer members)
4) Qantas Frequent Flyer members
5) British Airways codeshare passengers
6) Concorde Room Pass
7) Lounge access for connecting passengers

I’m on one of the T1 flights – what lounges do I use?

At T1 now, ALL BA passengers check-in and clear at Zone R (at the far end of the terminal towards T2, the opposite end from the HEX lifts). Once through security you must then walk ALL the way back (left) from there to the Domestic end of T1 where BA (and AY) are using the Gate 5 area for the remaining international flights. If you have lounge access rights, you will be able to use what used to be the old Domestic lounge.

Note the lounge is only accessible through this international departures route – so no more Open Doors for BA Golds on BD/EI flights out of the ‘real’ Domestic part of T1 Inside, however, both floors are in operation for eligible passengers. There is no separate First/Gold section.

Exceptions

Gatwick (LGW) – AA Admirals Club members are admitted when travelling on AA only from the North terminal.

Geneva (GVA) - Open Doors for Golds on CHARTER flights doesn't apply during the ski season due to lack of space. You're OK if you're on a non-oneworld scheduled flight. Again, this seems to be a bit contradictory to BA's rules.

Hanover (HAJ) - Only oneworld Emeralds and Sapphires are allowed access; NOT Club Europe passengers with no status (although this route has recently been dropped from both LHR and LGW, this information is preserved in case it returns on a seasonal basis).

Lisbon (LIS) - oneworld Emeralds and Sapphires are allowed access; Club Europe passengers with no status will require an invitation (usually given at check-in).

London City Airport (LCY) – this has no lounge at all, for any airlines! However, with a generous check-in closing time it is not necessary to arrive too early.

Miami (MIA) – They are just odd here. AA members seem not to be welcome here, in contravention of the oneworld rules.

Munich (MUC) – Same as HAJ above.

Nice (NCE) – It used to be the case that only oneworld Emeralds and Sapphires are allowed access; NOT Club Europe passengers with no status. However, this seems to have been relaxed of late so it’s worth asking…

Paris (CDG) - only admits BA J/F and BA Silver/Golds, not other oneworld elites. This is due to it being an Air France contract lounge.

Tel Aviv (TLV) and Cairo (CAI) - The BA (contract) lounges at TLV and CAI are open to Silvers/Golds/oneworld Emeralds & Sapphire but you must ask for an invitation at check-in if you're not flying in a premium cabin. Showing your card at the lounge reception is likely to prove unsuccessful.

We’re sure there are more to add in – if there are, please let us know!