Customer to benefit from more relaxing atmosphere, extra charging points, and new interactive welcome

Lounges to be refreshed as part of £6.5bn investment for customers
Thursday January 16, 2020 – British Airways has today announced it is refreshing its First and Club lounges at Chicago O’Hare Airport, as well as revealing more details on its lounge improvements at Edinburgh and Berlin, all part of the airline’s £6.5bn investment plan for customers.

Due to be completed in Spring 2020, customers travelling through Chicago in the First or Club lounges will receive a personal and more interactive welcome in new look reception areas. The lounge will have a lighter and more relaxing atmosphere for customers with new décor, flooring and furnishings. There will be more charging ports, built into new marble tables, as well as specially crafted chairs to help customers to relax. In terms of dining, there will be redesigned serving stations which will continue to offer customers a wide range of local and international cuisines.

British Airways is also refreshing its lounge in Edinburgh. As in Chicago, customers will enjoy a fresh, brighter look, with new furniture and carpeting, as well as a more interactive welcome experience. There will also be enhanced levels of comfort with bespoke armchairs while reconfigured working and dining areas will give customers more room to work or eat.

The Edinburgh lounge serves customers travelling in Club Europe on one of the up-to-20 flights to London each day, from which all carbon emissions are offset by the airline as part of its commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The lounge is also open to those connecting on to a Club World or First flight, or those with Silver or higher Executive Club status. Changes will be complete by the end of Spring 2020.

Finally, by early Spring customers using the airline’s lounge in Berlin will see new furnishings, carpet and décor, with up to 10 daily flights between the two capital cities.

Carolina Martinoli, British Airways’ Director of Brand and Customer Experience, said: “Lounges are incredibly important to our customers travelling in our Club and First cabins, or to those with Executive Club status, and they are rightly a focus of our £6.5bn customer investment. We’ve recently refurbished nine lounges across the network, and we’re looking forward to refurbishing more in 2020.”

As part of its 2020 lounge upgrade activity the airline will also be refreshing a number of its lounges at Heathrow Terminal 5 as well as redesigning and relaunching the Elemis Spa at JFK. More details on this will follow in due course.

Other investments (please see details in notes to editors for lounge activity) across the airline include the installation of the best quality Wi-Fi and power in every aircraft seat, fitting 128 long-haul aircraft with new interiors and taking delivery of 72 new aircraft. Last year the airline introduced its Club Suite, a new business class seat with direct aisle access.