It is indeed a great offer, and remember if you have the Priority Pass issued to American Express Platinum customers that one also gives you a free guest, and your guest also gets £15 credit.

It's also possible to get takeaway food in this place, so even if you've had food in the lounge you could then get some food for the plane in there.

I'm not sure if you're travelling alone you could ask them to do £30 of takeaway items, £15 for you and £15 for your 'friend' who's in the shops. Anyone tried that?

Remember if you have a regular priority pass you have to pay £15 per guest so you gain nothing by adding a guest, but it is a great deal if you have the Amex issued one.

mine is the amex one and I was thinking the same thing, I was going to ask, since I can't see that they'd care, but there was a little confusion about how to do it. The waiter called the manager, the manager couldn't figure it out with a digital card, then finally realised he could scan it. At that point I saw the screen and he just types in 1 or whatever number for guests. I can't really imagine it would be an issue, though one does assume that PP is paying less then £15 so they might want the cash in that instance

Any idea on what will happen to the Speedbird/Old Virgin lounge now?

I think it's becoming a privately run lounge? A la Aspire/Escape/No 1 etc.

So, I'm sitting in the new Club Lounge and I am very impressed.

It's bright, spacious and airy. Enjoying the fantastic views to the runway while sipping on a peppermint tea, all very pleasant.

I've never been in such a clean lounge, one lady has been running around with a hand held vacuum, clearing crumbs off chairs! The staff are obviously very proud of the new facility, long may it continue.

Food options appear sufficient, carrot and orange soup (very tasty) jacket potatoes, thai green curry and some spicy bean/beef dish. Plenty of salad too. As I'm having a dry February I can't comment on the alcohol selection :eek:

Definitely worth visiting if only to appreciate the 'newness' of it all.

Was lucky to try out the Club lounge this morning - my flight to Valencia was at 7.35 so didn't get chance to sneak a peak into First.

I found getting to the lounge a bit of a rabbit warren - but once there - I thought it was an absolutely superb space. Wipes the floor with T5, the furniture and variety of spaces was excellent and I loved the layout. There was one other person on the mezzanine. Bliss. If they changed up the catering offering a little it would be even better.

So good to see BA doing something so well. I know First isn't going to have the same wow factor but I look forward to spending a bit of time there in a few weeks - and glad to hear they may be thinking about swapping the furniture round.

On a separate note - i thought the check in area signage was utter tack - they could have spent the same or less money and kept the branding smart and clean rather than having billboards about beer and flip flops. LGW may be more of a bucket and spade airport - but I thought it unnecessarily cheapened the experience.

Spent 8 hours in the First due to fog and cancellations! So had a while to have a good look at the Lounge!

Wonderful space, great views of the runway, but does feel like a big white box with rows of chairs, most of them not having an electrical socket. Make sure if you are in the main pen, that you find a seat beside a divider, these do have electrical and USB points. There is a smaller room to the side, with 8 chairs and 4 tables which does feel a little more cozy, but choose a seat on the left as that is the only side with power.

There is a run of table and chairs in the food and drink area, which all have power points running along the skirting below the banquette seating. Just be careful when you get up as it is mandatory to hit your head on the hanging shade above!

To the back of this area is quite a large business / working area with PC's and desks.

Food choices are very good, full English buffet in the morning, along with cereal, porridge, pastries, juices etc. Lunch is also a buffet if you do not want to order of the menu, with lots of hot options. The BA burger is pretty good, and you can add cheese and bacon. Menu points this out quite strangely, Cheese - contains dairy, and for those that do not know where bacon comes from, it does advise that it contains pork!

Wines are the same as the Club Lounge, but was informed that better ones are in the pipeline!

All in all a very nice space to while away 8 hours. The only criticism I would have is that the large space does feel like a waiting room, just too many rows of single wing backed chairs, with limited table space. It does need to be divided up more to provide a more intimate feeling.

I do think that BA have done a sterling job on these new lounges, but the Club Lounge at present is a better space. My recommendation would be eat in the First, and then wander through to the Club Lounge and then go up and find a quite spot in the Club mezzanine

Just to put in a link to today's Business Traveller article on the new Lounge (somewhat behind the curve, I would suggest):

http://www.businesstraveller.com/air...k-club-lounge/

The link covers both lounges, but the photos are from the Club lounge. One detail I will extract here, since I don't think this has been covered elsewhere yet:

Thanks for your report, and I'm looking forward to experiencing the new facilities early next month.

So have only seen photos thus far, but must agree that the billboards look cheap & tacky. To me, they have all the aura of a fun project dreamt up by a primary school teacher to keep the little ones occupied on the last day of term. The sad reality is more likely that it was designed by a bunch of external hipster marketing/ad agency folk, reacting as they do to a client's brief ("we need something cool & exciting .....") and putting in a hefty invoice to BA in return for their efforts.

That apart, the lounges do sound mostly very good indeed (I say 'mostly' because I get the impression from various reports that there are some reservations as to choice/quality of food on offer .....)

I used the 1st lounge on Saturday morning and the breakfast offering was similar to the LHR T5 1st lounge - both buffet and cooked to order. The only strange observation was no bread/toast available with the buffet. I note the booze choice was similar to T5: Henriot and JW Blue available.

What really surprised me was flying an Aer Lingus ticketed and operated flight. Initially the receptionist said no entry but his colleague said as a BA Gold I was allowed in. Mrs Slotski is silver, not sure if she was allowed access as a guest, but the agent just winked and waved her through.

No, Silvers aren't allowed in on the BA codeshares, only BA Golds (not Emeralds elsewhere in oneworld) and no guests. They bring toast to order in First lounge, and there should be a rack thing in Club near the other bakery items.

Looking good for next month, then! 2 x Gold on an EI codeshare to DUB [in Eeeek]. There are times when I really like BA [a bit].

Chuffed to get in then. Thankfully Mrs Slotski will make Gold in April 😀

Well judging by the state of the club lounge yesterday morning, the honeymoon is over. Most of the vacant tables had dirty cups and plates on them :-(

there red was also a notable queue to get in - two desks plus maybe guest services isn't going to be sufficient, especially if they aren't just straight admissions (as was the case when I got there). By the time I was admitted the queue was into the corridor, mimicking the no. 1 lounge downstairs.

had a glass of fizz - not sure what it was, but not a patch on the glass of veuve cliquot cx served me an hour later in y+....

I know it's all about personal preference but I find this "Evolution" style to be a bit dated already. It's a bit on the bling side and in a year's time is going to look like last year's trends. Qantas and Cathay (even the style prior to current Ilse Crawford design) tend to be able to find a style that is more classic and ages well.