NickB

Just received an email from BA about the MRS-LHR route, which states, in passing, that the "international lounge" in Terminal 1 at LHR has just been "completely renovated".

Is that so, or is this BA anticipating or pure wishful thinking?

GoldCircle

Completely renovated since they last had control of that space?

Kevincm

Oooh.. Lemme guess. They've thrown out those lovely Lufthansa flags at long last?

NickB

. IN a kind of, "hasn't London changed since the Romans left...", then?

layz

It was described as "recently refurbished" in an email I got from BA today regarding the RTM route.

Traveloguy

The GBL is a very decent lounge. It's only the food and drink and rubbish power points which let it down.

vindaloo

I'm a fan of the GBL (I even like the food) but that's not what the e-mails say!

I got the "recently refurbished" line in an e-mail about the HAJ - LHR route. It was a bizarre e-mail all round actually, plugging the flexibility of connecting in London to TATL destinations etc.. Difficult to know why they think that would be of interest to me since I live in London, start all my travel from LHR, have never been to Hanover and have never pretended to either BA or bmi that I live anywhere other than London.

FlyingOnceMore

It depends what an individual want out of a lounge. You can compare lounge offerings till the proverbial cows come home but the GBL has always suited me just fine as, given it it's a lounge that essentially services non C/F long haul passengers. I'm not looking for somewhere with all the bells and whistles. Drink, quick snack, a 30 minute sit down in a comfortable chair in a comfortable environment. and I'm off to the gate. A BA F standard lounge would be a complete waste in T1 and makes no business sense whatsoever.

Powerpoints? Yes, they are a joke. When they do fix them they last about a week before breaking again.

NickB

Agreed. it is really the food that I find most disappointing. It is a bit cack that almost a whole IATA season after the takeover there still appears to have been no significant improvement on that front. At least in *A days, you could feed yourself at the *A lounge. While never a gastronomic experience, there was nonetheless a modicum of passable hot food there. Now, the difference between T5 and T1 is glaring.

My email was in French, so it looks like "recently refurbished" was given a more emphatic translation ("Ce salon vient, par ailleurs, de bénéficier d'une complète rénovation." = "This lounge has, incidentally, benefited from a complete renovation"). Given that the main topic of the email was about the transfer of the Marseille route from LGW to LHR, perhaps this has something to do with the tendency to exaggeration Marseille people are tarred with.

jbfield

When you can get one of the semi-private rest areas and your gate is close by then it's good in my book, but when the only seats are surrounded by kids running and screaming around you, coupled with the lack of food (and possibly a long walk to the gate) then it's not so good.

The main thing going for it, I think, is the way it's divided into different areas, which can mean a feeling of personal space, unlike a lot of the big, open plan lounges (ICN comes to mind).

Seeing as most of my travel was on weekends, I usually had the lounge to myself.

clubman

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Hope they haven't got rid of the beds...

DELLAS

Love the GBL lounge. One of my Favs at LHR. Nice areas to chill and food is not bad at all.

jms_uk

They were still there on Friday

wyvern

The GBL is definitely now among the quietest lounges I've been in. It's unreal having a whole bay of the lounge to yourself! I last flew through in August and the food offering was distinctly disappointing. I miss the upstairs. I guess it can't have long to go now.

layz

Miss the upstairs? The GBL is upstairs!

Are you thinking of the London Room (UK & Ireland)?