T5B Elemis Spa - Massage treatment unavailable
 

Hi

Last week when in T5B, I asked if I could book a massage treatment only to be told by the only therapist working there that her hands were "hurting" and so only the massage chairs were available.

I asked her if she could check for availability in T5A but she told me straight away it was fully booked there.

I reluctantly accepted the massage chair (even if there was availability at T5A it would have meant me walking all the way back).

I appreciate if the therapist's hands were hurting but should I have done anything else in this scenario? Is it complaint worthy? I.e. not because her hands were hurting (as that is not her fault) but more for BA not having any more therapists at T5B that could have assisted?

Thanks

It’s complimentary. The therapist could have called in sick and they could have closed the spa completely. So no, I don’t think it’s worthy of a complaint. At best you should have done it at the time.

Is T5A Spa ever not fully booked? Tried to book 28 days before a FIrst trip but nothing was available.

You’ve not missed much! The so called treatment are superficial.

I used to like the chairs but the last couple of times the foot rests have tended to slide up during operation pushing my legs out of the mechanism. I can rectify this by straightening my legs but this is not really conducive to a massage experience.

The whole spa thing is a marketing gimmick.

I booked treatments via You First for last week. Only basic treatments were available. On arrival, I was told that treatments can no longer be combined with a massage chair. The chairs are still available but only as a stand alone treatment. More galling was that the previously complimentary Biotec treatments are now an extra cost and this was pushed onto us as the "best treatment for our skin types". We were then told it is at just "a small extra cost." Mrs Harry tells me that it is impossible to do a useful treatment in 15 minutes - the High street shops generally take 1 hour to give the treatments time to soak in and work.

So, marketing gimmick, absolutely.

I’ve given up even asking. The last 10 minute neck massage was completely pointless and actually left me with a cramp.

Thanks all!

A little disappointing to read that others have had negative experiences too but oh well!

I got to T5 at ~12pm and was able to book a massage for 1:40pm today, so not it's not fully booked.

Me too. I arrived at T5 on Tuesday morning for my 2pm flight and was able to book a facial. Very nice too.

How far out though? I often had no trouble getting something 3-4 hours out, a decent chance at 2-3 hours and little/no chance at 0-2 hours.

I dropped my son at school then hopped on the tube. Probably arrived between 10 and 10.30ish. Went straight to the spa and asked. Booked for a couple of hours later.

If if they are full in the main spa, you can always ask for the little spa at the B gates......

The kind of availability described above is unusual for the main spa in the South Lounge complex. In recent years, getting an appointment on the day was unthinkable - often due to there only being one therapist at work. Perhaps the "small extra charge" services now being offered mean a change in the commercial arrangement with BA and they need to generate revenue, so having more therapists is a good start.

I admit that's a bummer, but it probably is for the greater good as long as the number of massage chairs remained the same and new treatment chairs were added.

Quick heads up for regular JFK spa users - they are also introducing the paid for extras and sadly, the leg and foot massage will only be available to those shelling out for First. :(