Animgif

What is the arrivals lounge situation at LHR. I'm debating taking CX or BA in J from HKG-LHR. I've read all the threads about the comparison in service onboard. I'm currently leaning towards CX, but just wanted to find out if there is an arrivals lounge and what amenities it offers as I have a 4 hour layover before I continue on to a BA flight.

SanDiego1K

CX uses the AA arrivals lounge at LHR. Both airlines arrive in Terminal 3. It is a smaller facility than the BA Arrivals Lounge, but has adequate showers, breakfast, and one computer terminal. The BA Arrivals Lounge is quite large, with a more extensive breakfast, more computer terminals, and the possibility of getting a 15 minute massage.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

I think the BA HKG-LHR flight arrives in T1.
The T1 arrivals lounge is arrived at by taking the lift to departures , walking past T1 and it is at the end of the corridor.

Regards

TBS

SanDiego1K

I see I worded my post poorly - not the first time for that! I was attempting to say that CX and AA arrive into the same terminal, thus the reason for CX using the AA Arrivals Lounge.

Animgif

Thanks for the information.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

Ah!! I see ( on second reading ) what you were saying about AA/CX using T3.

Regards

TBS

Leumas

Is your BA flight leaving from LHR? Why not just transfer straight to your departing terminal rather than going landside than back to airside? You can use the BA departure lounge at the appropraite terminal, it's everything a BA arrival lounge will have.

Nothing against CX, but with the luggage blackhole called LHR, I'll have slightly more faith with a BA-BA transfer than a CX-BA transfer.

The BA J seat is better for sleeping anyway.

Animgif

Yes, my BA flight is leaving from LHR. I guess I could stay airside. I'm guessing, however, i can't get massages in the departure lounge, however. But, I can have a nice shower, which is what I really want anyways.

christep

On the contrary - there is at least as big a massage facility in Departures as in Arrivals.

Animgif

Well...then it seems the only decision is CX vs. BA on the HKG-LHR flight...is the better bed worth giving up a bit of service.

christep

If it's overnight and sleep is important then go with BA. Persoanlly I prefer the daytime flights to LHR and then I would take CX with full AVOD and CX service.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

The OP does not state where his BA connecting flight will go to from LHR. If it is within Europe then although he will get lounge access , he will not be able to get a Massage as the Spa tratements are for long haul pax only. ( ie F/Club World/BA Gold on a LH).

Regards

TBS

christep

Ah. Good point. I'd forgotten that since I'm almost always on long-haul.

number_6

Actually the AA Arrivals lounge has exactly the same number of computer terminals as the BA lounge at T4 (I counted), and they are much faster. Also very few pax use the AA lounge, so typically there are more showers free. I find the shower to be of better quality (higher water pressure and no steaming up the mirrors) than the BA Arrivals lounge. The big advantage of the BA Arrivals lounge is their excellent cooked English breakfast (served until noon), which allows skipping the on-board breakfast in exchange for sleep (but BA makes such a ruckus in J that sleeping is impossible, and they start serving breakfast 2 hours before landing! so sleeping through breakfast only works if you are in F on BA; CX is much quieter by comparison). Plus the MB spa massage/facial is nice, but sometimes hard to get an appointment. Overall I think the AA Arrivals lounge is actually better than BA (rather interestingly AA has improved since the arrangement with CX started, wonder if this improvement was part of the contract, or they are just viewing the lounge as generating more revenue so willing to spend a bit more operating it).

Finally, for whatever reason CX has a much better on-time arrival record at LHR (the morning BA arrivals are often over an hour late). I disagree that there is any advantage in luggage handling at LHR when flying BA or a BA to BA connection. It is random (and I have a large enough sample size to be able to say that with some authority). BA is offering "buy J and fly F one way" on HKG-LHR, so BA doesn't think it can compete with CX except by doing free F upgrades for full J fares (I don't think CX offers this).