Review: No1 Lounge London Heathrow Terminal 3

interesting review, i always find the No1 lounges food selection quite disappointing, even the made to order items are usually inedible (experience at No1 in BHX, MAN and LGW) but not been to the LHR one. Also £40 for a entry pass? Wow....thats some serious LHR prices, its usually £20 everywhere else!

Useless lounge. Have to pay more for everything decent once you get in.

Priority pass lounges in third world countries are much better in terms of facilities you can use.

As I have a connecting flight to SIN from Jakarta on this exact same flight, if I miss it I'd ideally not like to stay over night in Jakarta but continue to SIN and not miss my over night stay there!

@Drew - So true. I was put off using the lounge because of the price. Buying online Birmingham and Edinburgh are £24 including fast track immigration (and often you can get online offers). I have used both and consider them good value. Heathrow is £36 if booked online and really puts my off especially as fast track is not included. You pay 50% more and get less for your money!

Why do you always say "for a contract lounge" in all the contract lounge reviews - the fact is that the contract lounges are actually in the specialized business of building lounges and are thus often very good, as opposed to being just one small part of an airline operation (for airline specific lounges).

Stop this stupid bias.

What 'work' did you both have to do in the lounge?

Spend hours picking out and cropping photos?

@ Dan -- This might come as a surprise to you, but writing 8-10 blog posts a day takes time.

@ B -- Because I've found that contract lounges are on average lower quality than lounges operated directly by airlines. And as someone who has reviewed more airline lounges than just about anyone else in the world, I feel I'm qualified to speak on that...

Fantastic, detailed review, as usual!! I really appreciate the dedication that goes into this blog day in and day out. Thanks, Ben.

Why people keep visiting this blog if they don't like what's in it???
Dude, writing bad things takes energy..

I was there last week and they had the made to order menu was free for the premium section and some of the items were quite good (lobster mac and cheese for instance).

Nice review!

@B

Never been in a good contract lounge but have been in almost all airline lounges that are far superior. This is outside the USA of COURSE. A foreign contract lounge is almost always better than an AA lounge.

@B because those lounges' target is to make a profit, not as the extension of an airline whose target would be to make the customer as happy as possible.

Can you amend your review. At all No 1 lounges guests each have one free meal from the menu. Any further dishes you want have to be purchased. Your review states that the food on the menu must be purchased.

did you arrive 3 hours after scheduled time and if so, are you eligible for delayed flight compensation?

@Sam

I'd like to know too

I'm catching the same schedule flight arriving 1 hour before a connecting flight to SIN which is the last flight out of Jakarta until the morning and not really looking forward to an overnight stay.

Might have to book a refundable hotel in SIN just to make sure otherwise I'll miss it.

How does that go with Airlines?

If the Garuda Flight is one hour late to Jakarta I miss the connecting flight, four hours (?!) won't be good!

@ Sam -- We arrived about 3.5 hours after our scheduled arrival time. For longhaul flights EU261 only kicks in after a four hour delay, if I'm not mistaken?

Thank you for this information. I'm flying through LHR next summer and this will be a great option for my 4 hour layover.

So the boarding was completed in 11 minutes and the door closed? That is very good for 200+ people.

The fact that Garuda became a five-star airline despite contracting lounges in outstations (they only have their own lounge in CGK and DPS) is amazing. It just shows their great effort even in contract lounges, partitioning an area for first class passengers. In AMS, they're contracting the KLM Crown Lounge, even though it's their flagship long-haul route. I'm curious to know if Crown Lounge also has a separate first class area for Garuda, since KLM only has business class service.

I noticed VS is listed as one of the airlines where premium passengers are granted access. Any idea why and why any VS passenger would choose this lounge over their Clubhouse in T3?

Very nice review.

I was not at all impressed by the service personnel and their lack of couth/respect for paying guests . I was practically kicked out of the front doors when the clock struck 6 am the morning of my checkout. When I put my bags on a chair to tie my shoelace - as the front desk service rep processed my checkout - I was given a proper tongue lashing by a rather vicious woman. Completely unprovoked and uncalled for. Further, I was then denied my free breakfast. WiFi was horrendous and they limit the sites you may visit - we are all adults here, come on.

All in all, I would either stay at another pay-to-enter lounge or sleep in Terminal 3 on a row of uncomfortable chairs than return to No.1.