DorsetKnob

Recently I lost my Gold status for 1st time in about 10 years. I now have to slum it in the standard lounges. Or at least that's what I thought.

I've been through LGW & T5 since losing the status & I'm frankly asking myself what is the difference? The last time I went through the normal lounges, all those years back, there was a clear difference between the two. The food offerings were mediocre to poor. Now I thought there was no difference. The normal BA business lounges seem identical to 1st. As far as I could tell the same food offerings, same facilities. Only difference now seems to be 1st Wing at T5 & basically no difference at all at LGW.

I have to say I have been very pleasantly surprised.

DXB2745

There is the case at LHR there is very discernible difference.

However at LGW there is a notable difference - much smaller intimate space, friendlier staff, still do ordering via QR code with food fresh from the kitchen delivered to table as well as the market table.

so3003

Literally no difference at outstations with just one lounge - but IMHO in locations with multiple lounges it does make a nice step up, even if the only major difference is less crowding. Then there's the other carrier lounges - Cathay First T3 and The Pier HKG, Finnair Platinum in HEL, Qantas First in SYD / MEL etc.

DeathSlam

You need to be GGL at Heathrow for the CCR.
The difference between any of the T5 and T3 gold lounges and their silver counterparts seems minimal to me.
As so3003 points out, there are places in the world where it does make a difference to lounges, but they aren't Heathrow or anywhere else in the UK. Many people have called Silver the sweet spot of BAEC for this reason.

JapesUK

I’d disagree with this, gently disagree for T5 and strongly disagree for T3. In T5 the First lounge has never been rammed full in my experience whereas the galleries have always been at varying degrees of unpleasant on every lounge safari I have done. I get that the difference in F&B is close to zero but a little bit of extra space goes a long way.

In T3 Cathay first is generally a delight and has only once been less than stellar when I intersected the hong kong departure. even the much maligned AA first has its moments, especially the table service pancakes for breakfast.

GM1985

I’m a first time Gold (qualified in September) after 6 years of Silver, so sharing my perspective on these comments. I’d agree with the sentiment expressed by JapesUK that Galleries First is a calmer environment than Galleries Club. But equally agree with DeathSlam that Silver is the sweet spot of BAEC.

The extra bells and whistles of Gold are nice (a quieter, calmer lounge, use of First Wing, etc). But I can’t say I’ve been blown away by them such that they are head-and-shoulders above Silver. Silver gets you free seat selection, priority boarding and check-in, and lounge access. Gold gets a nicer lounge (in some places), a fancier check-in and security experience (in some
places), onboard a little quicker (sometimes, when priority groups are called separately), and a few extra Avios.

I was a little concerned that by achieving Gold this year, I might be putting myself on an ever-faster status treadmill. But I doubt that will be the case. It’s not a status worth striving for in its own right. I’ll likely requalify this year naturally, but will be happy to bounce between Silver and Gold as it happens. Unlike Silver, when I have occasionally done an extra flight or two to maintain status.

scottishpoet

Is the cathy first lounge in T3 significantly better than their business lounge in T3? Not having access to their first lounge, I am quite happy in their business lounge

JapesUK

I’m also very happy in the business lounge but the first lounge is definitely a step up even from the business one… I’ll go hunt down the previous recent trip report for it. BRB

crazy8534

I have quite frequently, out of preference, when travelling LH with my whole family and not in F, used the T5B lounge instead of GF and I would agree in so far as the difference between the 2 in that situation is not easily discernible.

dnajockey

I posted about this recently - agree completely. Although I'm silver, until a short time ago my wife was gold so on many of my trips it was the first wing/lounge - now back to Galleries/B and although overcrowded on occasion the food and drinks are much the same, aside from one or two flagship booze offerings showing up in GF occasionally.

I'm fine with this but if I was gold, not so much!!

Dee4life2000

In my very recent experience the only 2 benefits I see of the GF lounge is direct access through the First Wing and Champagne at the wine bar instead of prosecco!!

JSM8

At LHR First Wing is a huge difference in my mind. The difference in food between First Lounge and Galleries has narrowed recently, but the Galleries North and South can become zoos, whereas the First Lounge is calmer and roomier.

Genius1

Terraces?! That takes me back. Only two of those left in the network now (ORD until May, and SEA).

Never Stansted

Completely agree. I’ve also made Gold for the first time this year (thanks to this forum for help getting there!) but am in a very similar boat to you in that going forward sometimes I’ll make it, others I won’t, and I’m pretty relaxed about that so far.

The FW is great, genuinely friendly security staff is a rare thing and shows it is possible, and landside to lounge in about 90 seconds is brilliant. GF is a bit of a mixed bag. I think the biggest difference is that the layout is slightly more spacious throughout - I went through today and the lounge tracker said 5/5 full but it still felt fine. I don’t like the buffet area at all (to be honest I think GC South’s is probably more pleasant, and T5B’s definitely so).

I don’t do a lot of long haul but I travel CE regularly so appreciate access to row 1, though as Silver I was rarely any further back than 2/3.

The CX F lounge was nice but controversially I think I might prefer the CX J lounge. Just feels more spacious to me and has some lovely quiet corners, together with a manned bar. Seemed weird to have to ask for champagne in CX F given it was otherwise self-pour.

So I’m happy so far, if I ended up at 1300/1400 TPs one year I’d probably work to get over the line with POUGs etc, though doubt I’d be doing TP runs if I was further short of it.

Confus

T3 CX F lounge is no longer a benefit of Gold, I voluntarily downgrade myself to the business one now for more space and faster bar/dinner service (or more recently following its refresh tend just to use the BA F one instead).

But the FW in T5 is a huge benefit, it means I can comfortably arrive at the terminal 65 mins before a flight and know I’ll make it through in enough time to have a quick drink and some food before boarding. To me this alone is worth the push for higher tier, though the nicer lounge is also a bonus - it’s always possible to find a seat and is enough calmer than the Club ones for this to be a benefit. Club/Silver check-in queues are too variable and I’d have to arrive earlier.

Biggest benefit of Gold though is TS, which nearly always works out in my favour if I’m in economy (which I usually am on domestics, CE only on longer shorthauls).