BWBriscoe

Morning all…

Flying back to LHR from LIS on BA503 tonight in Club (I’m gold).

What lounge facilities are there?

thanks
Ben

mmogdan

There’s a contract lounge after security but before passport control. It’s ok but not worth arriving early for.

Make sure you leave enough time to clear passport control. Many people, including friends, have been caught by surprise when lines suddenly appear. The Lisbon ground staff also have a habit of closing the gate exactly on-time (ie 20 minutes before departure).

BWBriscoe

Just did some Googling and apparently there’s an ANA lounge that BA passengers can use? Is this not the case?

corporate-wage-slave

Yes it's the ANA lounge (nothing to do with the airline) directly above the FNAC store in the main retail rotunda area. Details in the main Europe lounge thread. The fact that Groundforce closes the gates early is for real, I would assume 30 minutes at the gate. The lounge is under 10 minutes from these gates but the Schengen exit is a variable that can take seconds (they use e-gates there for UK citizens, they stamp as you leave the area) or 15 minutes. This seems to be getting easier as the summer peak recedes.

mario

ANA stands for "Aeroportos e Navegaçăo Aérea", not "All Nippon Airways" sadly.

The Lisbon lounge is an overcrowded dump with stale food and low quality drinks. I skip the lounge altogether and find a table in the not so bad food court or at Pastelaria Versailles. The later has excellent cod fish fritters and reasonable Portuguese wine.

mikeyfly

Little snippet here from the lounge thread -

FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - BA Lounge Database | Europe

ermis177

Indeed. I have only visited an ANA lounge once in 2014 i think. It makes BA/LH/KLM lounges look like school canteens.

Oxon Flyer

Well, having visited said lounge recently, I don't recognise this. Given you now skip the lounge altogether, how long ago does your experience refer to ?

Similarly, I'm not quite sure of giving current lounge advice that's based on 1 visit, 8 years ago.

ermis177

I am talking about the ANA lounge in Tokyo apologies for the confusion.

Regarding my 1 experience 8 years ago...Come on, seriously? We have people here that have not flew for 20 years and keep telling us about their amazing experiences with BA. I have not seen you mentioning it before to them. Double standards?

LCY8737

I'm passing through LIS pretty frequently and have to agree with mario on this. The ANA lounge is mostly overcrowded with average food. There is a nice sagres to be had, but that's about it. The TAP lounge is somewhat better, but also not amazing.

Interesting point about the timing to leave the lounge: LIS is a bus destination, so priority boarding tends to be punished by prolonged standing on a bus. Equally they do like to close their gates on time, so it is a fine balance to be struck.

BWBriscoe

Currently in the ANA lounge. It is overcrowded and the very beige food (nothing more than sandwiches) is stale.

So disappointing that BA have given up on outstation lounges.

Just out of interest, why is LIS a bus destination? Why can’t they use a jetway stand?!

corporate-wage-slave

LIS does charge slightly less money for bus stands, and they do contribute to an on-time departure. But the reality is that this is a city centre airport and there is a lot of pressure on available stands even though it feels a large airport. There is a lot of local arguments as to whether to move to a bigger site further out. TAP often use buses as well.

This was a location without a lounge (a) during COVID and (b) previously when a contract lounge went bust and ANA would not reaccommodate other airlines. The ANA lounge is not much different to the average for contract lounges in Europe / North America. Better than some, not as good as others. There is usually a bigger range of food options than stale sandwiches - snack food, biscuits, fruit, croissants in the morning - so you were unlucky if that was all there was.

DoctorCopper

Last Friday afternoon the e-gates for use by UK passport holders were all closed. Staff were directing passengers to the very long manual queue for passport control.

Quite often the BA 499, the early morning departure, uses an air-bridge.

Doc Copper

IAN-UK

They're arguments that have simmered, occasionally boiled over, for quarter of a century. Firm decisions have been made…..then abandoned. The first choice was Ota PAF base, close to Alenquer/Carregado, north of Lisbon, only to be ditched for another base, but this one south of the Tagus, at Montijo. That plan was abandoned, largely because of environmental issues, but it's swinging back into favour, maybe as a stop-gap Luton-like alternative for low-cost carriers. The focus is now a green-field site, also south of the river, at Alchochete. But don't hold your breath: a new contender site near Santarem, 100km north of Lisbon, has been floated ……

As for remote stands at the current aurport, BA seems to be somewhat better than TAP. TAP decisions on remote stands are largely driven by considerations to cope with Schengen/non-Schengen services.

LCY8737

The whole thing has a vague smilarity with a new runway at a certain London airport.

I personally don't mind the Portuguese being unable to make up their mind. The current airport location is amazing. If on the late BA flight (so outside rush hour) you can easily get to a hotel in central Lisbon in 10 mins.