My flight arrived at London Heathrow shortly after 7AM, while my connecting flight to Toronto was at 12:05PM. That left me plenty of time between flights, which was perfect, since I had a lot of work to catch up on between two longhaul flights without Wi-Fi. This was my first time using Terminal 2 at…
Continue reading: Review: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge London Heathrow Airport
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Looks a better lounge and spread than the Singapore lounge. (Which is still very nice) but the Air Canada Lounge looks amazing.
I used this lounge 2 years ago, shortly after it opened. Yes it is very nice. I was there in the late afternoon (for a 6pm flight to Toronto) and I also used the shower (yes the walk from check in is quite a workout), followed by a perfectly poured draft beer courtesy of the proper English barman. A good food spread as well and great views out the windows. Has anyone been to the Maple Leaf Lounge at CDG in Paris? I'm going to try it out this summer and I'd like to hear some opinions so I can decide if I will arrive early or not.
The United lounge (can't believe I am saying that) is really nice, with a really big tended bar, good deciding and good food options.
The Lufthansa lounge is a dump and packed with all the short haul business traffic.
Have not been to the Singapore lounge but I believe it is a much smaller lounge than the others.
The bulit-in iphone Health app tells you how many steps you take. Health Data->Fitness-Steps-Show All Data even breaks the steps down minute by minute.
Man you're not kidding about that walk! I did it last year when i didn't even have to and was frustrated when I had to turn back and walk it all over again. The United Club is excellent though, and easily my favorite UC I've been to
"Upon landing I followed the signage for Terminal 2 connections, where I had to walk a good 15-20 minutes before I arrived at a point where I could start the process of connecting within the terminal. Surely there has to be a better way."
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There are some airline transit desks on the B concourse, but they've never been used (you may have seen them taking the escalator up to B). That points towards a connections facility having been built to handle T2B to T2B connections, but not opened.
It's nice to see that you had a good experience... This is easily my favourite AC lounge. Your comments around the terminal are a little confusing. "That isn’t to say that it’s functionally designed"..."but rather that it’s functional". An unfortunate missed opportunity, I suppose... To spend all that money and time for a mediocre design!
@ MarkP -- Typo on my part as I was going back to make edits, and then missed that. Fixed now... sorry about that.
@michalis beat me to the comment I was going to make - the United Club is pretty darn nice, I'd venture to say it's the nicest in the UA system.
With a 5 hour layover, I would (and did!) take the opportunity to lounge-hop. All of the lounges at T2 in LHR were pretty nice, IMHO. The two best (and they should be) were the UA Global First lounge and the SQ First side of their lounge, but even on a business ticket LHR has turned into a great connecting option for *A flyers.
@ Lucky You need to try the LHR United Club next time that you are in London. It is the best US carrier operated lounge domestically or internationally
I always find it to be bizarre that you have to go through security when connecting. Surely the whole point is that once you are air-side, you are "pre-searched" and further searches are redundant. But this has happened to me at Zurich and Dublin as well.
Re LHR T2, when I checked in for ANZ, t was afvised that the Singapore lounge has the best food and the United lounge has the best drinks.
Great reports!!! Next time you go to South Africa, you should go on a Safari to Madikwe Game Reserve. I had an opportunity to stay there exactly to the day one year after Michelle Obama stayed there. The Reserve and hotel is amazing and makes for a great trip report.
Hi Lucky,
As you know by now, I am not a fan of Air Canada; however, I was impressed by the personalized service you noticed. I hope you pass on your favourable review tot he powers that be @ AC.
Lucky, this is a great lounge - however, it gets appallingly busy later in the day when the great bulk of AC's transatlantic departures fire up. I have been there many times when there's no place to sit and it's really loud. AC has probably dozens of widebody departures in the afternoon and the place gets pretty nasty, unfortunately.
There's actually 2 more lounges that you missed off: the excellent Plaza Premium lounge in the A area and also a small Plaza Premium arrivals lounge landside (with good showers, sleeping rooms, and a 3 course menu). Both are the best use of Priority Pass I have found so far.
I also agree with comments that the United lounge is excellent. They'll usually make you any cocktail you want and occasionally have sponsored champagne tasting events. Can't wait to be there on Saturday 😀
P.s. at the United lounge ask for a "Rudolph" cocktail. One of the bartenders created it for the first Xmas after they opened....sweet, creamy, and strong. If your bartender doesn't know it, the recipe is in the "black book" they keep behind the bar 😉
So does every *A gold gets access to this lounge as expected, or only with Air Canada premium levels? Seems really really nice as a 'general' Star Alliance Lounge!
It seems AC just hasn't sorted the experience out outside of their lounge.
FYI re: the SQ Lounge next to the AC lounge. If you are an SQ First passenger, they will shuttle you through the airport on a buggy. So no waiting 🙂
Also, if your trip begins at T2, Star Gold Track and security form land to airside is AMAZING, and the LH Senator lounge (nice but nothing special, often busy) is right after security with a 30sec walk to your gate for LH-Group flights. I'd take over T5 and BA any day of the week!
"I wish I had one of those things which shows you how many steps you take or how many miles you walk"
They have plenty of apps for that these days...
To answer your question: no, but perhaps I will now after seeing the review. The Maple Leaf reviewed here blows away the two that I have visited in YYZ itself. Regardless, I avoid transiting through the major European airports, since they are a total mess.
Lucky,
I believe there used to be a consolidated Star Alliance Lounge in LHR. You used it during your trip on Air New Zealand a couple of years back. ( https://onemileatatime.com/four-continents-and-37000-miles-in-two-weeks-star-alliance-lounge-london-air-new-zealand-business-premier-london-to-los-angeles/) I don't know if that lounge was in Terminal 2 (Although it seems likely, since as you've said Terminal 2 is the Star Alliance Terminal.) but it's probably what you were thinking of. Anyways, it seems it has closed. ( https://loungereview.com/lounges/star-alliance-business-class-lounge-lhr/)
@Weymar, Lucky
There was indeed a central *A lounge, if I recall it was in T1, which is thankfully in the process of being demolished.
With four *A lounges, each with its own distinct design and food options, it's like a being in one huge a lounge paradise (with all but the LH lounge in a short walking distance from one another).
Even the UA lounge is amazing! nothing like any US domestic lounge, featuring a huge bar which (at-least within *A) can only compete with bar as the Swiss Zurich (A gates) lounge (but unlike the Swiss bar, the UA one is non-smoking).
Just used the UA lounge last week transiting to Vienna and to pile on, it is the nicest UA lounge I've seen. So much so I'd make a point to visit it next time going through LHR.
@Lucky So it looks like the AC/UA lounges are pretty much tied for the best lounge at LHR. I swore I heard the Senator Lounge at LHR had the best food but apparently am mistaken and yes it does make sense the LH lounges are busy non-stop. What time of day are the AC/UA lounges the busiest?
Would you say the LHR AC lounge is a lot better than the YYZ International AC lounge?
We just visited the Air Canada lounge at Heathrow Terminal 2B this past weekend (although we were flying Singapore Airlines to Singapore )...I really liked the lounge design and food and drink choices. The front desk ladies were very polite and sweet. The bartender from Romania was nice.
However, there was one lounge attendant (a younger Ukrainian or Russian women) who was very rude after we took pictures of the lounge and food areas (just like in this review) and asked "for what purpose we were taking pictures" and this is forbidden and not allowed" and on and on in a very rude manner and accusatory tone. I was quite surprised by this as I travel the world and take pictures of lounges just for memory sake (and have never come across such a rude lounge attendant). Even if pictures of the lounge are not allowed (if so why?), there is a much better and effective way of communicating this. I wonder if Air Canada knows of this attendant.
The photos labeled "Escalator for Terminal 2 connections Heathrow"...
Those escalators look familiar. Before going down them, are you in the Flight Connections Center? If so, that makes me believe that the T2 FCC is actually the old Terminal 1 Flight Connections Center. I remember it being very long, except I was going in the opposite direction (up).
Is that correct? I am a bit of an airport nerd...
Has anyone tried the Arrivals Lounge [STAR ALLIANCE] Terminal 2 Heathrow . The facility is just after leaving the Terminal 2 baggage reclaim/customs area. Wondering what the showers and breakfast are like? Thanks for the info.