corporate-wage-slave

Temporary BA Lounge at LGW North - No. 1 Traveller Lounge: Photos, reviews, questions

BA's lounge pavilion complex in LGW closed on Monday 4 January 2016 after many years of service. The new temporary lounge is the No. 1 Lounge in the same area and is due to open for business on Tuesday 5 January 2016. This post has the key facts for ease of access, the rest of the thread is for reviews, comments, questions.

Background
The No. 1 lounge is providing BA with a temporary home in LGW North after the closure of the lounge pavilion complex, pending building works. The No. 1 lounge provision is expected to remain open until BA moves its operations from North terminal to the South Terminal around November 2016 (date not yet confirmed). In the South terminal there will be a new BA lounge opened, in the area currently occupied by No. 1 lounge South (and the Frankie and Benny's Restaurant).

Location
The lounge is on the departure level of LGW North Airside, at the back of the main shopping area and below the previous BA lounges.

Opening hours
04:00 hrs to 22:00 hrs.

Access rights and constraints
British Airways usual rules, so entry for Club Europe and Club World travellers; entry for cardholder plus 1 guest for BA Silver and above, 2 guests if GGL or above
oneworld status passengers plus guests
No. 1 own admission (available online), including various frequent user card options. £25 per person booked in advance, £30 on the day.
Priority Pass

BA Guest Services (read this bit!)
There is a BA guest services desk right next to the No. 1 registration desk, in front of the lifts previously used to access the BA lounge. With the move to No. 1 the guest services desk no longer has the ability to page someone in the lounge about their flight, and there are no announcements made in the No. 1 lounge of any description (including the airport's own announcements), just background music in certain areas. So keep an eye on your flight on the Information Screens or using the status feature of the BA App, and feel free to wander out to talk to the desk. If BA needs to contact an individual passenger then they will look on the booking and try to contact via any mobile telephone number that is shown there, but this isn't always visible. Furthermore if there is service delayed involving a lot of passengers then it isn't going to be easy to do this. So best be pro-active in this area and keep your telephone switched on. I highlight this since for regular visitors used to occasional PAs in the previous BA lounges, they may be blissfully unaware of any changes to their flights.

Facilities
BA Customer Service Desk (next to the new No. 1 reception desk, in front of the lifts.
Adult only area (over 12 years old) - Library area, "please refain from using mobile phones".
Bar - alcohol isn't on free flow
Food buffet
Soft drinks on free flow pumps (including still and sparkling water)
Wide variety of seating options
Pantry eating area
Main lounge
Apple PCs
Wifi
Large screen TVs
Office / meeting room
Work desks with power
Newspapers (Times, Telegraph, Independent, I, Mail) and magazines
Toilets in the lounge complex
However there are no longer shower facilities.

Food

All day hot options - free - order at the bar
Beans on toast: A pot of baked beans served with a buttered white lid plus a side of grated cheddar cheese. Gluten free available on request.
Fish finger sandwich (I didn't make this up): Classic fish fingers in a lightly buttered soft white roll, with your choice of tomato or tartare sauce.

Before 11 hrs:
Order menu (free)
Bacon Roll: cured bacon served in a lightly buttered soft white roll, with your choice of tomato or brown sauce.
Poached egg pot: Soft poached egg with spinach purée, Hollandaise sauce and a potato rösti.

Buffet items:
Breakfast cereal (wide selection)
Croissants and pains au chocolat
Fruit salad (several options)
Yoghurt (plain and flavoured)
Porridge
Fresh fruit

After 11 hrs:
Order menu (free)
Winter beef stew: Slow cooked steak in a rich beef stock with seasonal root vegetables, Italian tomatoes and thyme, topped with a horseradish and herb dumpling.
Black eyed bean and sweet potato chilli: A warming dish of chilli on a bed of rice, served with charred peppers, tortilla chps and crème fraîche.
Asian Noodle Broth: A flavoursome vegetable stock with spring onion, bok choi, chilli and ginger. Served with your choice of chicken or tofu.
Cheese board: A selection of handpicked British cheeses. served with artisan biscuits and chutney. Gluten free on request.

Buffet menu:
Vegetable soup of the day with bread rolls
Seasonal salads (several options)
Homemade cakes and tray bakes (several options)
Fresh fruit.

Note: the usual No. 1 procedure is that one order menu item is free per person, the next item is £4 each. I am not sure that's being enforced however.

Drink
On self serve: coke, diet coke, Fanta, Schweppes lemonade, still and sparkling water
On bar order (but free of charge): wine, beer and spirits served for you and brought to your table if ordered elsewhere.
Paid menu:
Bucks Fizz - £6 per glass; Champagne and Kir Royale (sic) £8 per glass, Prosecco £6 per glass, £20 per bottle. Champagnes per bottle: Castelnau Brut Reservé NV £32 (half bottle £20); Veuve Cliquot Yellow label NV £48; Veuve Rosé £72, Moët et Chandon NV £48.

Links:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ov-2016-a.html
http://www.no1traveller.com/gatwick-...nges-north.htm

corporate-wage-slave

I was in the No. 1 lounge on its opening day as a BA lounge. I was transferring from SNN to EDI, and I had a relatively long visit - this wasn't an issue in terms of admission. The airport signs had been changed overnight:



On entering the corridor that usually leads to No. 1 Traveller and the lifts to the former BA Lounge Pavilion, there are now two sets of desk. The first one was staffed by No. 1 staff members, and they handed out me this ticket:



The other was a very well staffed British Airways Customer Service Desk, 4 staff members. They are clearly there to assist with bookings and flight changes. I didn't see any of them enter the lounge or make announcements, there again it was a quiet period and with no delays showing.

I think walked toward the lounge entrance, where my ticket was taken off me, and I was introduced to the lounge services. I was told that there were several areas, all inter-connected. They suggested that the Library area may be suitable for me, since they were directed families to the main lounge area. Children under 12 are not allowed into this area and it was fairly quiet, about 30% of seats taken.



The main lounge area wasn't very full either. It was perhaps a more varied mix of lounge users compared to the BA lounges, younger in some respects, but once in the lounge it wasn't really clear who was BA and who was not. The Flight Information Displays now show all flights, not just BA and VY.



In the centre is the bar, which staffed by No. 1, so no alcohol is available on self serve. There were 2 bar staff here at all times.





Just down from there are the two buffet areas, one for salads shown below, one for cakes and biscuits. This was replenished frequently.



From the buffets is a dining area, which didn't have so many people in it, and later on in the afternoon they roped most of it off.



I ordered the chilli, it came very quickly (about 5 minutes, but I wasn't timing). When you order you get a pub style numbered marker to indicate where it should be delivered. This was very tasty and no complaints about this at all:



The lounge got a bit busier late afternoon, but by the evening there were really only a handful of users. It never really got very busy. The layout spread users into different areas so it wasn't possible to see a sea of faces as used to be the case in the Club lounge. Staffing levels were high, and the place was kept tidy and smart throughout. No complaints about the toilets from my one visit.

So, some early conclusions - it's certainly not a bad lounge. It did the job and had a reasonable food and drink arrangement. The wifi worked and it didn't get noisy or overcrowded. I would on balance have preferred the BA lounges since the No. 1 style isn't - for me - as comfortable as the BA standard. This may be caused more from familiarisation in my case. The downsides, I guess, is no First provision, no champagne, somewhat bothersome approach to getting drinks. The upside is the range of seating arrangements, the food options, good staffing and service levels, the views onto the apron, slightly easier to get to, the child-free area.

But BA didn't actually have a lot of choice about the LGW movements, and so certainly as a temporary arrangement I think it isn't a bad outcome.

corporate-wage-slave

Greetings from the No. 1 Traveller Lounge, Gatwick North.

[What a lot of comments already!]



More information shortly, I'll put factual stuff into post 1 to begin with, but by all means fire off the questions. I've see the other questions upthread I think I have answers.

Let me get the first "issue" on to the table: champagne now has to be paid for, £8 a glass! I think I'll end this post here since I foresee difficulties. To be fair, it's the only thing that has to be paid for, and the food offering knocks the former LGW food offering off the page.

GentleGiant

Thanks!

Was champagne a free offering before?

headingwest

Well that's it now, dead and buried!

walmon1977

Food

All day hot options - free - order at the bar
Beans on toast
Fish finger sandwich (I didn't make this up).
[B]

I don't think I've ever had a finger sandwich or wanted to have one in a lounge before. Last time I had one was a long time ago in my student days...

Adstring

Although champagne is not free, Last time I was in the No.1 lounge they had Hendricks behind the bar......that's not bad in my book.

Fish Finger sandwich is delicious btw. Although a bit on the small side.

V10

Beans on toast? Seriously?

Still, I suppose it'll provide an excuse for all the hot air from the assembled cardholders and premium travellers for once.

Dicksbits

The key issue for me is: Can you guest a fellow one world flight traveller in as GCH?? i.e. your travelling companion? I'd like to see a definitive answer on that pls.

XCstud

i'm flying out tomorrow morning and can ask about it.

GentleGiant

first post has been updated with this info

corporate-wage-slave

I have posted some photos supra. Just to answer some of the questions and suggestions so far, by all means revert if anything is not clear.

I specifically asked about this, and yes, guests are welcome with BA cardholders, there are several in here (including a celeb. plus guest). They do no expect to turn anyone away including guests. It was the case that very occasionally LGW (like T5) had to decline guests on the Friday of schoolholidays, I suspect that will continue, but it isn't the party line today, which is guests are welcome.

There is now of course the My Lounge lounge, which is rarely busy. Yes, Priority Pass is at the end of the pecking order, they expect those declined there will be able to use My Lounge, but they don't think it will happen routinely. I don't see a problem with some sort of lounge access though doubtless there may be peak periods. From today's experience so far, there is plenty of space, less than a quarter full, as you would expect in mid January, mid week. Even factoring the usual morning peaks, I don't think there will be a problem most of the time, except on half a dozen school holiday peak days.

My experience today is not only were the staff charming and helpful, but there are a lot of them (probably deliberately, given it is day 1). So the desk top I'm work off has been wiped down twice in the hour I've been here.

These comments are correct, champagne has to be paid for, the only thing they are charging for. It does sound a bit bad for the BDA (etc) real First passengers. There doesn't appear to be any additional arrangements for them.

This is a very good point. It is a temporary arrangement.

There are in fact two of them here today!

Well it also goodbye (temporarily) to Highland Spring, there is a pump for water and though it is no doubt filtered, plus available as sparkling, I do detect Eau de Crawley...

BA Humbug

I'm liable to be tarred and feathered for this, but:

If I have PP and SCH+, can I bring in two guests (subject to capacity?) Should I enter with one guest as a PP, exit without my first guest, then re-enter as a SCH+ with my second guest?

corporate-wage-slave

I've checked at the desk. No problem, and no need to leave the lounge. You would have to pay the guesting fee that PP charges (they may overlook that I suspect, if you are nice). Moreover you can simply pay £30 per guest, again subject to space, or £25 if booked in advance.

BA Humbug

Thanks for the speedy response, that is amazing news ^^

but as an aside, Canadian Amex plat holders get one free guest per PP visit