Iamnotlost

I am another one who likes the BA First lounge in T3 even though I'm not a fan of T3 in general. However, I am a fan of HEL so I'll endure. I had very slow service in the CX lounge a few weeks ago although the food was nice when it came.
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I do like the BA smoked salmon and scrambled egg of a morning. Inexplicably, last week there only seemed to be pink champagne. So I ended up with OJ which I'm sure was better for me.

secretplantofightinflation

Both SIN and HKG QF lounges beat anything BA has to offer

Hopefully LHR will be no different

corporate-wage-slave

Well in a sense I don't blame you, there are two lounges there, alongside each other, but if you don't look leftwards at a particular stage you will walk straight into the main Galleries Club lounge. And beans on toast is a staple at that lounge on the self-serve buffet, you have to order toast in the First lounge (it comes on a rack, and you'll be given a choice of 3 bread types, plain, wholewheat, sourdough). Normally the agent will point out your eligibility for the First lounge around the side unless it looks like you know what you are doing. My unofficial estimate is that about a quarter of First eligible passengers end up in the wrong place (I did it once, briefly!). Happily there is this forum to keep people aware of the lounge options at T3, and a full guide in the forum's Dashboard.

Genius1

The lounges are nowhere near Gate 5.

Entering the BA lounge complex, the Galleries First lounge is on the left, and the Galleries Club lounge is straight ahead. If the first thing you saw when you entered the lounge (after the boarding pass check) was a champagne bar straight ahead, you were in the First lounge. If the first thing you saw was a corridor with seats on either side leading up to a customer service desk, you were in the Club lounge.

As others have mentioned, you also have the option of the CX First and Business Class lounges, and the AA Admirals Club and International First Class lounge.

corporate-wage-slave

True, but if you are going from Security and are following a route to gate 5 then you must go past the lounges. If you were en route to gate 23 you may miss them. Hence BA staff do often say "follow the signs to gate 9" usually, but gate 5 would also work.

Genius1

Not completely. At the junction where you would turn left to Gates 1-11, you need to turn right for the BA and AA lounges.

What the check-in agents should be using for directions are the lounge letters - BA is H. These are signed throughout the departure lounge.

GadgetGal

Clotted cream, surely?

FoxtrotOscar

I rather like the T3 BA F lounge, but the swing factor for me is the crispiness of the potato rosti at breakfast.

Catch it on a bad day, when it's slightly soggy, head off to CX pronto.

TravellerFrequently

I like sitting in the dining area in T3 GF when eating. The high tables in the general area are not that comfortable to eat and many other areas the seats are too low.

The drink selection is usually quite good and food fine.

DFB_london

good job BA have some punters left!

BA T3 F lounge was clearly designed by committee so great it still works for some, just not all.

it does seem unfair that JAL have great NRT and HND F lounges and poor JAL pax get the BA T3 thing instead!

Sopwith

Looks like this is what happened. The desk dragon didn't say anything, so we just wandered in.

One thing I've noticed about BA is that in an attempt to look more exotic than they actually are they use non-descriptive names like Galleries Club, World Traveller, Club World, etc, so unless you're in the know it's not apparent what they mean. Not helpful.

South London Bon Viveur

I prefer T3 GF to T5 GF and think it's perfectly decent, but if the OP ended up in GC then I can see that this may have come as a bit of a let down.

corporate-wage-slave

You aren't the First, as it were, and you won't be the last, it is easily done. And yes the lounge agent really should have said something but the computer would have said yes and that was perhaps as far as s/he got. There is quite a gap between Galleries Club and Galleries First, not least the number of lounge users, the atmosphere is quite different and the First lounge feels much more relaxed. At least you know for next time, and presumably next time you can check out up to four different airlines' lounges in T3. Next time I suggest you perhaps start with Cathay or Qantas (though none of us has seen that yet) but end up in BA for digestif/coffee.

Mind you, some people like beans on toast, with or without Marmite, and actually that's quite tricky to do in First!

TheJayHatch

Out to NRT via HEL this morning. Despite my well published love of the CX lounge, I feel I should try the GF lounge as I've only ever done GC. I may yet eat my words.

subject2load

Don't know about eating your words - but I'd say there is nothing special to be eaten in BA's GF lounge, when compared to the notably superior CX.

For me, it's something of an oddity that an airline allows itself to be outshone - in its home city - by foreign carriers ; and I expressed this very point to BA when they sent me a SMS questionnaire about their T3 lounge.

Very, very hard to imagine that, say, CX would be happy to see their top tier HKG lounges widely perceived as inferior to those offered by other carriers within its home base .... or likewise EK at DXB.

And of course we will soon have the option of a QF lounge at T3 too.