shefgab

Hello Everyone!

I just got back from a trip to Svalbard (amazing place) in Northern Norway. I flew SK (Scandinavian Airlines) out of the new Terminal 2 at LHR. As a Star Alliance Gold customer (equivalent to BA Silver/OW Sapphire), I could use the United or Air Canada lounges in the new terminal. In the next few weeks, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines will also open their new lounges. I always thought that the lounges BA operates at LHR were pretty good. It seems, however, after my visit that the BA lounges have some very stiff new competition.

On first contact, both had reception desks, not those odd little pod things. Good start.

Obviously, with both lounges being very new, the furniture was clean and new. No stained armchairs. The Air Canada lounge also had a few comfy recliner chairs. The F&B in both lounges was great – none of this “suitable for the time of day” rubbish. Both lounges also featured fully tended bars. The United one was much bigger (with two dedicated bar tenders), but both served up pretty tasty cocktails.

I used a shower in the United lounge too. Wooo, now this really was a world apart from the dreadful shower area in T5 South. Despite this being the equivalent to the Galleries Club, as soon as I walked into the shower area, I was greeted with a smile, shown into a shower suite, and informed that if I had any ironing to do, to put it in the little two-way locker. And guess what? The shower/drains didn’t gurgle, or make me feel like I was in a pre-fab youth hostel. It was a 5* hotel experience.

One aspect that didn’t rate quite as well as BA was the reading materials department….both lounges offered very little of interest to a UK customer (ok, so the lounges are by foreign airlines, but we are still in London!).

The Air Canada Lounge – small, but airy. Waitrose Essential Sparkling water provided!






The United Lounge – big, busy, but still places to hide away. Super bar, and a choice of a few champagnes and other sparkling wines








I’m not sure what SQ and LH have planned for their new lounges. Hopefully (wishful thinking) BA will monitor these LHR lounge developments and make some improvements to their offering. Whilst I love the convenience of having a self-service drinks option (that BA does very well), I love the idea of a proper manned bar serving cocktails. Please BA, introduce this!!

On a more positive note for BA, your inflight offering is still streets ahead of most of the competition (SK to Svalbard included). The height of their inflight catering indulgences in economy is a cup of either tea or coffee.

Oh yes, and the new T2 is also pretty nice. Fast track was actually fast!




(And here’s a few bonus Svalbard photos. I’m just sorting and uploading my photos, so I thought I’d share a few)

windowontheAside

Any lounge that serves M&Ms (or indeed any other sweeties) is fine by me. Why doesn't BA?

corporate-wage-slave

LGW has served Fox's Mints since the Ice Age at least. And boiled sweets are available in CCR T7.

windowontheAside

Boiled sweets? Hmm. Mind you the BA lounge in EWR does M&Ms now I think about it.

I would love to see some form of chocolate at LHR.

layz

Just a reminder that the UA lounge is Priority Pass accessible and T2 is connected to T1 airside and you can go back and forward between the two without clearing security each time. This means if you're flying BA from T1 you can visit this lounge if you really want to. Just remember it's quite a walk back if your flight is leaving from one of the gates near the BA lounge.

Skipcool3

And of course you can't pay to enter a BA lounge....

layz

Is that a pro or con? Depending on your situation it could be either.

Also forgot to mention there's another Priority Pass lounge now in T2. The Plaza Premium lounge is in the main terminal, whereas UA is in the B satellite.

It's also supposed to be very nice. In general the standard of Priority Pass lounges is going up.

shefgab

I forgot to mention that whislt the LH lounge isn't open, the designated SK lounge is the Plaza Premium lounge (Priority Pass) as it's in the A pier. It's quite clean and flashy, but I wasn't overly impressed with it. Windowless, the bar staff couldn't actually speak English, and when I asked for some water, I was told that there was none left (!) and I could have some boiling water from the tea machine

h15t0r1an

Because we'd eat them!

Dan72

I have heard good things about the UA lounge, I hope it lasts.

Does the UA lounge also have self serve alcohol too? If not I expect that this will help ration consumption. I don't drink a lot, but this could annoy if there is a wait for bar service.

I spent some time in Ny-Ålesund, north of Longyearbyen. Amazing in the Summer, but I wouldn't survive a winter.

shefgab

I think there is just beer in the fridges, along with soft drinks. Anything harder is from the bar.

Dan72

Thanks. I noticed that the No1 lounge at EDI, has moved to bar service. I'm sure it helps reduce consumption. I wonder if it's a new trend. Perhaps this is one of the new lounge changes people have been speculating about at the GF lounge.

Agree that the SK lounge at OSL is not up to much, but still think OSL airport is much better than T5. Interested to know how it compares to LHR T2, my guess is that OSL is still better?

Wembleygal

I have promised to do a review of the United Global First Lounge in T2 next month … which does have self-serve drinks.

Grande Annee

I think some of the Galleries lounges at T5 are very much in need of a refurb. The only lounge I've been in recently was the Club South Lounge.....it is starting to look quite shabby.

shefgab

Why was this moved to trip reports? It's not a trip report, it's a comment on the quality of BA lounges at the home base, compared to new competition.