mjh0

Flew back in to the UK yesterday on a Sleeper Service (ORD-LHR), given I was transferring up to MAN but having enough connecting time, I chose to skip the on-board offer and divert via landside to go and get proper brekkie in the Arrivals lounge.

Now I've not been in there for quite some time, probably a year, given that I'm often landing in T5 after Arrivals is done for the day. Maybe things have been slowly sliding for some time, but what a sorry sight I was greeted with.

I found that they won't cook eggs to order anymore (i.e. fried, poached): When I asked a member of lounge staff if I could order eggs, I just got a charmless "No. Just that." and quite literally pointed at the buffet which wasn't at it's best either.

The once attractive collection of breakfast pastries had been reduced to a handful of tired-looking croissants.

Haven't got a clue if these are genuine service cut-backs or a "can't be bothered" attitude by the catering staff on the day, but boy was I left feeling let down. After some lovely service onboard the 296, enough that I would actually want to send a /welldone, this seemed so disappointing.

What's even worse is when I tried to complain to a human at Heathrow, I was fobbed-off with a "Contact us" card.

madmexusa

The remodeled AA Arrivals lounge in T3 is much cozier ... was there recently and did get eggs to order (with an avocado mash on toast) ... I believe you would have access but you have to get yourself to T3. My last visit to the BA arrivals lounge was pretty similar to your experience ... Cheers,

NWIFlyer

What time did you reach the arrivals lounge? The ORD flight arrives at 10.45am nominally, so maybe 11am at the earliest? It’s certainly one of the latest flights to arrive, at least compared to east coast USA and Asia which will provide most of the eligible passengers for the day.

The breakfast things are almost completely cleared away by midday, possibly because by that stage there’s really very few people left in the lounge and no more arrivals to add to the numbers (I think the last west coast USA arrival is on the cusp of shutting completely).

So whilst it sounds a little early to stop re-stocking, it’s not out of the realms of possibility that you just got whatever was left. As with most things BA, it’s the consistent inconsistency.

mjh0

We were pretty much close to time arriving, so I would guess I was there by about 1115. The "blurb" says "Full Breakfast available until 1230", though we know that's not worth much.

I also remember in the past having arrived relatively late morning (e.g. off BA282 or 284) it was still possible to order things from the kitchen and have a choice of pastries beyond 3 tired-looking croissants.

I guess my question is whether there has been an official change - that it's now no longer possible to get things like eggs to order, and the pastry selection has been reduced? Paging corporate-wage-slave ?

absoluy

I'm not sure if it counts as "official"... but they don't do made to order eggs any longer (they did away with it months ago). I'm not much of a breakfast pastry person, but I did notice the display doesn't look as "impressive" as it did over the past few years (less variety, smaller quantities, not particularly fresh looking).

The AA arrivals lounge far surpasses the BA lounge on all counts aside from the Elemis spa (which, along with T5B, you can usually get a same day appointment at).

AA has a better breakfast spread, with legitimately good made to order options that go far beyond what BA used to do, attentive staff in the dining section AND they have a bloody mary and mimosa station (with actual champagne). For the later arrivals AA put out some decent lunch options (salads, sandwiches, a few hot dishes) vs. the pretty mediocre soup and sandwiches from BA.

UKtravelbear

No access to the AA arrivals lounge when flying BA unless you arrive into T3.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...als-lounge.jsp

rfrost

I think it’s been about a year since they stopped cooking eggs to order—I remember being told initially that there was a problem with the equipment in the kitchen, but that then morphed into “we don’t do that anymore.” I’m not a pastry eater, so can’t comment on the selection, but agree that the buffet looked rather woeful the last time I visited.
i take one of the morning flights to LHR when I can, and have for the last few months been booking AA because of the possibility of pilot strikes, so have not been there in some time. Which I do not consider a loss.

thejohn

The breakfast buffet was very poor yesterday morning at around 8am arriving off the 116 JFK-LHR. I haven't used the "normal" arrivals lounge for over a year and I was disappointed. That will teach me flying F and the Concorde Room Arrivals and expect a poached egg in the arrivals lounge. I have no such worries for my next trip as it thankfully arrives back at LHR after the lounge has closed for the day and I won't waste any time getting home.
John

tuonopepper

I generally find the Gold lounge in T5A is fine in the morning, usually manage to get a shower without too much wait and the breakfast buffet/menu has always been fine.....never even contemplated going outside, never thought of it tbh but doesn't sound like I've been missing anything :-)

clubman

That's great, but not really relevant unless you're connecting, in which case there isn't really much point in using the arrivals lounge (pressing service is pretty much the only thing I can think of...)

mjh0

Ah well. Complaint sent. More to the point asking the question "Why?" - there's a chef, there's cooking equipment, there's staff to serve the food, so "Why?", other than a burning desire to cut things.

Not sure it will make any difference, I never think these things do, but sent nonetheless.

NickB

The OP was connecting, hence the relevance of tuonopepper's post.

mjh0

Sadly, after a quieter travel year and not getting a grace year because I wasn't caught in IT shenanigans, I got busted back down to Silver. Hence the decision to go via Arrivals to get breakfast.

By the time I'd have gone back airside via Flight Connections, GC Breakfast would have been down to the last dregs, and starting the switch to the lunchtime offer anyway.

Even if I still had T5A F lounge access I suspect it would have been hit-and-miss if I'd caught the breakfast offer in there too.

KARFA

Even when connecting from a long haul I usually use the arrivals lounge as there is typically no wait for a shower, then head back airside. I don’t think I am unusual in doing that.

crazyanglaisy

Agreed. And the new apple juice is a pale imitation of the version they used to serve in the jugs.