Heathrow T3 American Airlines Arrivals Lounge - Access
 

Pre-covid the AA arrivals lounge at LHR Terminal 3 was open to passengers arriving in business or first class on CX. After several confusing interactions with CX staff I now believe that CX passengers will only be accepted if they are OW Emerald.

Does anyone out there have any recent experience? Thanks

Access has been cut. CX is no longer paying for arrival lounge access at LHR

Thanks for that. It's a shame, it was always nice to refresh after an early morning arrival.

This is so disappointing. I fly CX251 a lot and generally go straight into meetings. This refresher was essential for the sake of my colleagues. It will now involve starting the day later and having to pay the previous night in the hotel so I can check-in around 8am and have a shower. I have written to CX, I know it won't change but if nobody brings up these cuts, I fear they will become more common.

Well done - important to give the feedback. Given on some days CX has 3 early am arrivals in to LHR T3.... and they know business travelers will go straight to work.

Which CX flight arrives at 3 AM local time?

3 flights arriving in early morning (CX251, CX237, CX255), not 3am?

LHR has a curfew on landings prior to 5am and it is seldom allowed to be broken .
Often on CX we have slowed so as not to arrive 'early'.
Even when arriving at 5am often the 'arrivals' is not open due to poor and lazy staffing. i have had to wait sometimes for 20 minutes and then often few of the gates are working or desks manned.

I have a CX First flight into LHR in a few weeks; just checking the access has not been reinstated, has it?
This article from September 2023 claims access for CX First passenger but I'm not sure how reliable this is.
It's a shame as such an early arrival would need the AA arrival lounge access - any recent experience would be appreciated ;)

It seems not - however it is I feel worth checking with Cathay.
This was clearly a cost saving measure which now that the airline is well on the way to recovery may perhaps change going forward
The lounge though does not open until 6.30 am - the first Cathay flight arrives normally promptly at 5am - CX251- with CX 237 not far behind

Qantas too https://www.executivetraveller.com/n...-lounge-access

Well, it could also be AA tightening up access.

Thank you!

This has still not been reinstated from my experience a few weeks ago.

I just arrived on CX251 F and waited 40min for this lounge to open, only to be denied entry.

They made it pretty clear they are only accepting passengers from AA and BA. Also said Cathay access has been cut since long time ago.

The lounge looks totally empty. I’ve been using it several times this year when flying AA, and it always seems pretty empty even during rush hours in the morning. Don’t know why Cathay would cut it.

It’s a shame that I really needed a shower today since I still have 3 more hours of train ride ahead of me…

Happened about the same time for Qantas too https://www.executivetraveller.com/n...-lounge-access - so it's argurable whether is this CX (and QF) not willing to pay for the lounge or AA not willing to offer it.

And Plaza Premium hasn't re-opened theirs in T3 https://www.plazapremiumlounge.com/e...port?stype=All . They could make it worthwhile if they still have the space, there must be a lot of non-BA demand along with expense accounts that might cover it.