British Airways Galleries First Lounge London Heathrow Review

Thanks for the review. My wife actually prefers the GF to CCR because she prefers the buffett option than a la carte... So we eat there and then rest in the CCR if we are flying BA F....

Is UberX in London liviered cars (a la NYC) or any Joe with a Car?

FDW

@lucky if im traveling first class on BA, I can access the Concorde room, but what about my wife who is traveling biz class, also on the same BA flight? I know im going to get grief for separate booking classes. Presume I'll let her have the afternoon tea and extra room on board. Meanwhile on the ground, is a guest allowed or strictly First only in the champagne, er... Concorde room?

Man, that's an early time to leave a hotel for a 10:25 flight! Were you up early anyways and just decided to spend the extra time in the lounge instead of at your hotel? I would have saved the money on the Uber and taken the Piccadilly line and it would only be about 20 minutes longer- $50 savings.

Tri n as a first class passenger you can guest your wife into the CCR.

I can't believe there was such a blatant error on the gf menu!

Is it only me or does the food area of this lounge look like a cafeteria? Really pathetic for supposedly first-class. I've only ever been to the Sky Team lounge, as Delta has decided not all Delta business-class passengers are worthy to use the Virgin lounge. So while I can't comment on the Virgin lounge, I can say I have always been impressed by the Sky Team lounge. When I was there last -- about two weeks ago -- it was fuller than I've seen it in a while but I was able to get a double spa treatment, all the newspapers I wanted, lots of wine, a couple bottles of hard cider to take with me, and decent food. My only complaint is the staff are contract there and can't actually do anything to help you with flight issues.

In T5, if you'd like to have a bit of a stroll on a long day of sitting, eating and drinking, you can take the elevators (rather than the escalator) down a level below the train and use a tunnel to walk to the B and C piers

For me, LHR is one of the best if not the best airport. To be honest it's really surprising to see that a well travelled person like Lucky complains about how confusing the LHR's layout is. Just follow the instructions and you'll know where to go. It's that simple. Lastly I managed to go from one terminal to another under 30 minutes including the security checks.

Great review and pictures, very harsh on Heathrow though, great facilities and Terminal 5 is amazing, great retail outlets. Have you travelled through Seattle (Sea Tac) ?

The Briton in me is sad.... you don't like the English breakfast? 🙁
Who doesn't like bacon, eggs, sausages (my personal favorite), beans, and bread on a plate?

Oh dear! The bottles of champagne remain open: they do not put any special cork to keep the fizz in!

There are not chocolate danishes, and rolls: there are pains au chocolat, and pains aux raisins... ;-))

Thanks again for this lounge review.

I fux with a full English breakfast. I order Heinz beans in tomato sauce by the case from Amazon. If I get home late, drunk, tired, whatever, it's the easiest thing to throw on some toasted crusty bread+pepper+Lea & Perrins and scarf down. The whole can... ^_^

@Legoboyvdlp

"Who doesn’t like bacon, eggs, sausages (my personal favorite), beans, and bread on a plate?"

Mostly the rest of the world who is not British?

Am I just lucky (pun intended!) - every time I have used terminal 5 at LHR I have absolutely flown through. No queue to check in, straight through security, then hundreds of well thought out options to while away the time.

I appreciate LHR as a whole is dodgy criminal, but T5 in isolation has always been a dream.

That should say dysfunctional, not dodgy criminal!

Thanks for reviewing the food options. Each time I'm there, I seem to not make it past the bubbly.

@No Name

I'm not a Brit and the traditional English breakfast if my hangover cure, even if not hungover I enjoy it.

Agreed LHR security can be a nightmare (esp with conformance) but I think the signage is extremely clear, so I don't find it all confusing.

For international flights the lounge is reasonable/OK but domestic flights as a OW Emerald it is fantastic, just annoying when you have to drive at the other end. The non-stoppered champagne is rarely an issue given the rate they go through it at!

I think the breakfast options are pretty comprehensive - a good spread of hot and cold buffet and some a la carte options.

Great review as always Ben, love how many pictures you take. Heathrow is a complete mess and I imagine if they could(which they can't) they would knock it all down and build from scratch and if they did it could be in the top few airports in the World. Having tried a lot of American breakfasts I far prefer English back bacon and a full breakfast, I find American breakfasts to concentrate on the sweet side far too much. Thanks as always, looking forward to more travels!!