It’s an exciting day for premium lounges, as it’s not just the Lufthansa First Class Terminal reopening today.
In this post:
BA Concorde Rooms are now open
British Airways Concorde Rooms are reopening as of today (September 1, 2021). This includes the lounges at London Heathrow Terminal 5 and New York JFK Terminal 7.
British Airways closed the Concorde Rooms in March 2020, around the start of the pandemic, given the complete lack of demand at the time. The airline has taken a phased approach to reopening lounges, and I guess demand is slowly starting to recover to the point that it makes sense to open the Concorde Rooms again.
Concorde Rooms are open to first class passengers as well as British Airways’ Gold Guest List members. However, the lounges aren’t open to oneworld Emerald members, as this isn’t considered a oneworld lounge for those purposes (Emerald members, including BA Gold Card Holders, are directed to use the Galleries First Lounge).
Around the start of the pandemic, British Airways closed its Concorde Rooms, which are the carrier’s first class lounges. For the past several months, first class passengers have been directed to a special terrace in the Galleries First Lounge. So while they did have an exclusive space, it wasn’t as large or nice as the Concorde Room (not that the Concorde Room is as nice as other first class lounges).
British Airways will continue to offer table service in the Concorde Room, just as was offered pre-pandemic.
Concorde Rooms get sleep pods, new cocktails
To coincide with the opening of both Concorde Rooms, there are a couple of positive improvements to the lounges.
In May 2021, British Airways introduced sleep pods in lounges, and these will now be available in the Concorde Rooms at both LHR and JFK as well. Specifically, guests can use the new “Forty Winks EnergyPods,” offering pre-flight shuteye.
Concorde Room guests can book these with a dedicated host, and can then request a time to be woken up. At the conclusion of the nap, guests can select a hot beverage of their choice, and will also be offered water and a hot towel.
In addition to that, British Airways will be introducing a new lounge cocktail menu, created by Mr. Lyan (Ryan Chetiyawardana), described as “a figurehead in the global cocktail scene.” The new menu will contain seven cocktails, including two designed exclusively for British Airways.
The two special cocktails are named the Barton and Lawford, after Lynne Barton (the first female British Airways pilot) and Bill Lawford (British Airways’ first ever pilot in 1919). These will also be available in the Galleries Club and Galleries First lounges.
Bottom line
British Airways has reopened its Concorde Rooms in London and New York as of today, which is a great improvement for British Airways first class passengers. Concorde Room guests can expect a couple of new features, including new sleep pods, as well as a new cocktail list.
Anyone plan on visiting a British Airways Concorde Room soon?
Am I the only person who thinks the sleep pods are a little useless?
Evening departures from JFK - generally I don't snooze before boarding. Nothing worse than being half awake walking to the gate. Same applies to LHR departures
LHR arrivals - perhaps they're more useful here for those connecting off a long haul F flight where they still get Concorde Room access. But still....
No, I also think they are incredibly useless! Especially since they have replaced the cabanas! I am extremely disappointed as the cabanas were one of the best perks offered in the BA Concorde Lounge at LHR Terminal 5.
I fly 2 long flights with a long layover between and will never use the pods. No more private showers, or getting out of your clothes for a few hours. In essence, it's just another flat bed in between flights. Horrible idea!
I’m wondering when the IAD BA lounge and Concorde dining room will reopen.
Can CKs get into the Concorde room? Both times in transit since the pandemic we were allowed onto that terrace with CK status, not in first.
Now they just need to modernize their showers. The Concord in LHR has shower rooms from the 1970s, or at least look like it. For me that's reason enough to skip it for one of the other premium lounges in LHR
I flew LHR-SFO in BA 1st 8/31 (yesterday). BA's in flight food from Do&Co is a huge improvement.
Now that AA has moved its non-JFK operations back to T3, does an AA F pax connecting to a BA cabin at T5 get CCR access? For a brief period AA F pax had access following the CK announcement last year.
The premium lounges at BA's Terminal 7 are anything but, even after the refresh. The spaces are dated, not well lit, and don't feel particularly inviting. Here's hoping when BA moves to T8 in 2022 it will have a much improved ground experience there. There was always only so much that could be done to T7.
Terminal 8 Flagship is already showing age. Wasn’t particularly exciting pre-covid and is totally mediocre now. It’s NYC, so don’t expect to get back to underwhelming pre-covid service anytime soon. Rest of JFK outside Terminal 8 is a dump. Honestly, MIA flagship space is about the same as JFK and it is largely for leisure travelers vs NYC’s claim to be a leading financial capital. So sad to see NYC keep falling behind. Galleries First...
Terminal 8 Flagship is already showing age. Wasn’t particularly exciting pre-covid and is totally mediocre now. It’s NYC, so don’t expect to get back to underwhelming pre-covid service anytime soon. Rest of JFK outside Terminal 8 is a dump. Honestly, MIA flagship space is about the same as JFK and it is largely for leisure travelers vs NYC’s claim to be a leading financial capital. So sad to see NYC keep falling behind. Galleries First at Heathrow at least has table service and respectable (British) food. LAX probably has best lounge options in US (when all are open). If given a choice, just avoid NYC
Mr. Lyan is definitely a figurehead in the craft cocktail scene. His former bar Dandelyan was ranked as the world's best bar in its heyday. Move over, Meehan.
Sadly GGL members don't necessarily get access. You need 5k tier points per year to get the Concorde Room card. GGL renews at 3k tier points.