My flight from New York to London City was departing at 6:45PM, and I arrived at Terminal 7 at around 1PM, plenty early (I was connecting off an American flight, and wanted to make sure I didn’t misconnect).
Continue reading: Review: British Airways First Lounge New York JFK
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
You rather imply that the "First" loung is inferior to the Business Class lounge.
I've not been to JFK recently but at Heathrow that is definitely not the case. The First lounge is much superior to the Business lounge at T5 e.g. hot food, champagne and less crowded.
And that surely must be the case because OW Sapphire can also use the Business lounge as well as Business Class pax, whilst you need to be OW Emerald to use the First lounge. In both cases the "real" First lounge is the separate Concorde room.
Why do OW Sapphire pax get pre-flight dining but OW Emerald pax do not?
Was there last month, OWE in PE, so no access to dining. They had a staff member with a Gin & Tonic cart making drinks. I had one with a slice of orange in it, can't remember the brand of gin, but it was delicious. Food was limited but I don't like to eat a big meal prior to an overnight flight. We ate earlier at the AA Flagship lounge in T8 which has a very nice buffet.
@Tom: OW Sapphire do not get pre-flight dining unless FLYING in business class. Same as OW Emerald. OWE can use First class lounge, though.
Hmm, the lack of food is an unacceptable omission. I wonder how this works for ANA First Class passengers? Does this mean that ANA's business class passengers have access to more/better food in the BA business lounge?
JFK is a very different setup than Heathrow. Lucky is not implying the business class area is superior, but that more of the shared facilities are there. The first class lounge is nowhere near as large as the business class area, and prior to the renovation was definitely inferior to to its small size and dark, crappy furniture. The food selection is similar in both, with better wines and cheeses in first class.
Only those flying in business class can use pre-flight dining, which isn’t offered at Heathrow in that class anyway since there are more substantial buffets.
Those actually flying in First would use the Concord room anyway which includes superior pre-flight dining.
Thanks for the review Lucky can’t wait to try this lounge - looks vastly better than the old one (and about time!).
If you were to remove all branding and put someone in the British Airways and JetBlue terminals and asked someone to guess which was a low-cost carrier and which airline flew the Concorde I'm pretty sure everyone would get it wrong.
In fact, I'm pretty sure if you were to put someone in the neighboring Alaska Lounge and then this 'First Class' lounge and guess which was the appropriate lounge for a premium cabin international ticket they'd get it wrong too (at least until they saw the booze/food selection, natch.)
Alpha
JetBlue doesn't have lounges so I'm not sure what comparison you are making.
Disappointing that the First Lounge in JFK has JW Red, while they spring for JW Blue in LHR (both T3 and T5).
Wait, so if we were flying in ANA First class, would we be allowed in the pre-flight dining area in Business lounge or can we go to the Concorde also? I thought Concorde was restricted to British Airways F only, not their partners.
@Tom - I said terminal, not lounge. (at JFK BA owns T7, JetBlue owns T5. The comparison is that T5, which is home to a low-cost carrier is significantly nicer than T7, which is home to British Airways.)
So ANA First Class passengers don't have access to the Concord room OR the pre-flight dining.... At least their onboard meals are good...
Isn't T7 going to be demolished and annexed by JetBlue very soon? Didn't BA know the decision before renovating the terminal? Or they were aware their investment would only last for less than 5 years...
@Zich that was my understanding. I guess BA was fighting to for redevelopment rights but lost to JetBlue. Either way, they had to do something because the terminal was in bad shape, but the real question is why they let it get that bad in the first place.
T5 Galleries First doesn’t serve JW Blue, do they? As I recall it is limited to the Concorde Room. T3 Galleries First does have JW Blue sitting out as free pour, but that’s because BA no separate “true F lounge” in T3.
You made the point about access to concorde lounge for first and not owe ... Qatar do the same but I still think there is a difference. At least BA has a first lounge that allows owe in. QR refuses. Hate that bustling business lounge at doha.
@Zich - I do not know what you or others are referring to. BA owns Terminal 7 period. Redevelopment had to do with the extra unused adjacent space between T5 & T7.
Checking, so correction in the meantime. I was told B6 might renovate T6/7? Hmmm odd, but ok.
@Jordan, the latest plan from October seems to imply JetBlue taking over and replacing T7, but I have no idea how final those plans are. https://csengineermag.com/13-billion-plan-to-transform-jfk-airport/ Has some details.
@brewerSEA. I was in Lhr T5 galleries first last week and they had JW blue. Self service too
The floors and seating remind me of a dated elementary school
Another reason not to fly BA and pay their phony tax on award tickets.
I've been to the old BA lounge at JFK and was not super impressed. Wasn't bad but just average. The staff there was very good and left a lasting impression though.
Oooh, crackers served with tongs. How luxurious. Pfffft.
Terminal 7 still needs to be torn down. lounge an all. This has always been a terrible first-class lounge and still is. BA still haven't fixed the ceiling leaks, which necessitates garbage cans in the middle of the lounge. It remains crowded and absurdly noisy, with staff clattering through with carts like they're in a prison cafeteria. AA Flagship is no prize, but still better for CX. I have complained to ANA for years that this is a terrible experience for its first-class passengers but to no avail -- probably because ANA itself doesn't offer a great first lounge experience even at Narita.
All we need now is a revocation of BA-AA antitrust immunity and a little Brexit mayhem to put BA in its place.
The naming of lounges is confusing for some people obviously - but it's a historical accident. When Concorde was flying the First class lounge was the First class lounge, as the Concorde Rooms were only for those flying on Concorde. It has always seemed a bit strange to me that they didn't adjust the branding when T5 opened at LHR, as it is clearly very confusing for some passengers - they could have called them the Gold and Silver lounges, leaving the Concorde Room for BA first class only.
Anyway, this looks like a huge improvement to the JFK First lounge - it was far too small before.