I had quite a long layover at Heathrow Airport, so my first order of business was to check out the British Airways Arrivals Lounge, which I had never visited before.
Arrivals lounges can be useful for early arrivals, and that’s probably true at Heathrow more than just about anywhere else, given the number of people who land and head straight to the office. So, how is British Airways’ facility? Let’s take a look.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge LHR Review
In this review I’ll look at the access requirements, hours, location, and amenities of the lounge, including the full breakfast, showers, and spa. This is by far the largest arrivals lounge I’ve ever been to, that’s for sure.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge Access Requirements
The Galleries Arrivals Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5 is open to those passengers arriving in British Airways first or business class, as well as British Airways Gold Card Holders arriving off a long haul flight in any cabin.
Other elite members, including oneworld Emerald members through other programs, don’t have access to this facility.
Note that American Airlines has an arrivals lounge at Terminal 3 (where all American flights arrive, and where select British Airways flights arrive). That has similar access requirements, and is also open to American first and business class passengers.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge Hours
The T5 arrivals lounge is open daily from 5AM until 2PM, and offers a full breakfast until 12:30PM.
Of course British Airways has long haul arrivals after 2PM, though the purpose of these lounges is to give passengers a place to shower and freshen up before heading into the city, either to their hotel or their office. There’s less of a need for that in the afternoons and evenings.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge Location
The arrivals lounge is located landside, after clearing customs and immigration in Terminal 5. Once you pass through immigration just turn left, and you’ll see elevators in a glass enclosure right there.
Heathrow Terminal 5 arrivals area
Heathrow Terminal 5 arrivals area
Take those up a floor, exit the elevator, and you’ll see the entrance to the Galleries Arrivals Lounge.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge Heathrow exterior
British Airways Arrivals Lounge Seating
The arrivals lounge is quite large, though I’d say at least half of it is made up of showers, so the lounge is bigger than it looks. When you enter the lounge and go right, there’s a good amount of seating that looks a lot like British Airways’ departure lounges.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge seating
British Airways Arrivals Lounge seating
British Airways Arrivals Lounge seating
Then right near the entrance are some communal dining tables and high-top seating, as this is near the breakfast buffet.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge seating
British Airways Arrivals Lounge seating
Also in this area is the door to the Concorde Breakfast Room, where British Airways first class passengers can enjoy an a la carte breakfast.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge seating
British Airways Arrivals Lounge seating
Then inside and to the left are more seats along a wall, near the Elemis Spa.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge seating
On the very left of the lounge is a business center with some workstations, computers, and printers.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge business center
British Airways Arrivals Lounge Breakfast
The lounge serves a more substantial breakfast than you’ll find in most arrivals lounges, which makes sense since many people choose to get as much sleep as possible on some of the short transatlantic flights that British Airways operates.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge breakfast buffet
They had a full English Breakfast — I’ll let the pictures mostly speak for themselves.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge breakfast buffet
British Airways Arrivals Lounge breakfast buffet
British Airways Arrivals Lounge breakfast buffet
British Airways Arrivals Lounge breakfast buffet
British Airways Arrivals Lounge breakfast buffet
British Airways Arrivals Lounge breakfast
British Airways Arrivals Lounge snacks
There were also coffee, juice, and water stations.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge coffee station
British Airways Arrivals Lounge coffee station
British Airways Arrivals Lounge juice
British Airways Arrivals Lounge water
British Airways Arrivals Lounge Showers
The arrivals lounge has nearly 100 showers, which must be the most showers offered in any arrivals lounge. The desk for the showers is located inside the lounge and to the right.
There was a shower immediately available for me, and I wasn’t even given a key. I was just told to go to room “Green 18.”
British Airways Arrivals Lounge shower desk
The shower complex is massive.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge shower rooms
British Airways Arrivals Lounge shower rooms
British Airways Arrivals Lounge shower rooms
Along the exterior of this area were some daybeds and tables with chairs, which felt like a bizarre afterthought. They almost seemed to be lawn furniture, and with the bright lighting that doesn’t exactly seem like an ideal place to catch some shut-eye.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge relaxation area
British Airways Arrivals Lounge seating
The shower room as such was functional but not luxurious, very similar to the showers in the departure lounges. The shower room had a sink, toilet, and walk-in shower.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge shower suite
British Airways Arrivals Lounge shower suite
British Airways Arrivals Lounge shower suite
British Airways Arrivals Lounge shower suite
Toiletries were from Elemis.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge Elemis toiletries
At around 8AM it was announced that there was no running water in the lounge. That kind of seems like a big problem for an arrivals lounge! I’m not sure if they got that fixed, because I left shortly thereafter.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge Elemis Spa
The arrivals lounge has an Elemis Spa, just as British Airways’ departure lounge does.
However, I find the spa in the departure lounge to be a bit of a joke:
- As a first class passenger you can pre-reserve treatments, but even if you call a few days in advance they’re often already booked out
- Business class passengers can get treatments on a first come first served basis, but I’ve never found there to be an appointment available within hours
Of course I wanted to be thorough with this review, so I checked out the Elemis Spa so I could see when the next appointment was. I was expecting to be told 1:45PM, or something.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge Elemis Spa
For anyone curious, the treatment menu read as follows:
As you can see, there are six choices for complimentary treatments:
- Muscle-ease power back massage
- Sleep soothe neck & shoulder massage
- Deep relax scalp massage
- Hand & arm massage
- Intelligent chair massage
- Eye massage treatment
I asked about the back massage at around 6:40AM, and was gobsmacked when the front desk employee told me that the next available treatment was at 7:40AM. I almost felt like I had to clarify that she was talking about 7:40AM on the same day, and not the next day.
So I booked that without thinking twice, and decided it was also time to buy a lottery ticket.
The spa as such was quite nice. I had to fill out some paperwork, and then was brought to a room for a 15 minute massage.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge Elemis Spa
The treatment was excellent, and the therapist was lovely.
British Airways Arrivals Lounge Elemis Spa
Galleries Arrivals Lounge Bottom Line
The BA Arrivals Lounge Heathrow is surprisingly excellent — it has a full breakfast spread, nearly 100 shower rooms, and spa treatments.
Is it the most elegantly appointed lounge in the world? No. But I would say it’s the best arrivals lounge I’ve been to, and is tough to beat whether you’re looking for a shower or breakfast. As a point of comparison, here are reviews of the Aer Lingus Arrivals Lounge Dublin and Air France Arrivals Lounge Paris.
If you’ve visited the BA Arrivals Lounge, what was your experience like?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.