A couple of days ago, British Airways formally unveiled its brand new global lounge design concept, coinciding with the oneworld carrier’s new lounge opening in Miami (MIA). The airline has done a surprisingly good job with this, and we can expect more lounges to be rolled out with this design over the coming years.
While details remain limited, perhaps the most exciting aspect of this is a project that’s expected to start next year.
In this post:
British Airways’ hub lounges undergoing major renovation
Back in February 2025, British Airways announced plans to make a big investment in its lounges at London Heathrow (LHR). While details remain really limited, here’s what the airline announced at the time:
The airline’s lounges across London Heathrow Terminal 3 and 5 will be undergoing significant transformational changes commencing in 2026, as part of its global lounge redevelopment programme, with more detail to follow later this year.
“Transformational changes” is quite the promise, so it sounds like we can expect more than just some new upholstery on the lounge sofas (and goodness, hopefully those lounge bathrooms get some love). Rumor has it that we might not just see the lounge aesthetics changed, but we could even see changes to which spaces belong to which facilities, meaning there could be expansions or reductions in the sizes of the various lounges.
British Airways was actually going to commence a major London Heathrow lounge overhaul program back in 2020, but the pandemic caused that to be put on hold. I suppose in some ways it’s good that British Airways waited, because the carrier’s new lounge design aesthetic is actually very nice, so this will be something to look forward to.
Renovating eight lounges is a huge undertaking
British Airways has a huge lounge footprint at London Heathrow, given that it operates out of two terminals, and has lounges with multiple sets of entry requirements.
At London Heathrow Terminal 5, you have the Concorde Room (primarily for British Airways first class passengers), the Galleries First Lounge (primarily for oneworld Emerald members), and three Galleries Club Lounges (for business class passengers and oneworld Sapphire members), with a north lounge, a south lounge, and one in 5B. There’s also the Arrivals Lounge. Then in Terminal 3, you have the Galleries First Lounge and Galleries Club Lounge.
To state the obvious, renovations are a double edged sword — these projects can take a long time, and lead to reduced lounge capacity while the work takes place. But that’s also the only way to actually improve the lounge situation.
There are lots of rumors that British Airways may switch around how lounges are organized. So it’ll be interesting to see if we see a bit more consolidation of lounge concepts.
And since British Airways is talking about “transformational change,” I’m curious if we could actually finally see the Concorde Room elevated, to being more competitive with the first class ground experiences offered by Air France, Lufthansa, and SWISS. Admittedly British Airways has a much larger first class footprint, but still, it would be nice to see some more differentiation there.
Bottom line
We know that British Airways is planning major lounge changes at London Heathrow as of 2026. Now that we’ve seen the new lounge design concept the airline is going for, I’m even more excited about this.
As of now, there are a lot more questions than answers, though we should learn more in the coming months. One thing is for sure — with eight different lounges and four different sets of entry requirements, things will be a bit messy while the work takes place. However, hopefully it’s worth it when we see the finished product.
What are you expecting from British Airways’ London Heathrow updates?
I presume they will somehow use the old pampering area next to the showers as a buffer whilst things get sorted. I do wonder about two exits from First Wing, one to CCR and one to First.
BA's First Class footprint has been reduced when most of their planes wen from 14 to 8 First seats. They should offer car service for A380 First Class passengers to Pier C where A380 flights depart. This is one amenity Air France, SWISS & Lufthansa offer BA lacks.
The galleries first toilets are disgusting. Stank and smut - like poor public restrooms.
Concord's bogs aren't much better but at least are cleaner
Yeah the bathroom situation at T5 need a rethink. A couple times I've left the lounge to use the loo, the line was quite long.
For Oneworld Emeralds, one of the potential risks associated with these changes is that BA reorganises the lounges in such a way that the First Wing at LHR T5 leads passengers into the Concorde Room and not the Galleries First Lounge and so becomes restricted to First Class/BA Gold Guest List passengers only (+ guests(s)).
First Wing would be underutilized if that were to happen. I doubt they'd do it l. (Don't forget AA CKs have Concorde Room access.)
Totally agree Lee. Heathrow has just invested millions in strengthening the floor for the new Xray machines. They want payback for that so BA putting very few passengers through it is very little payback. BA pay Heathrow a premium for the First Wing.
It is possible they could rearrange so there is a CCR where the First lounge is currently. But don’t think they will restrict First Wing.
BA's lounges at Heathrow are institutional and unpleasant. This is welcome news.
Thank goodness, no more NHS / prison-cell toilets. Utterly embarrassing for 'premium' lounges.
Wouldn’t it be nice for BA and AA to deeply integrate their one world partners in JFk and LHR - they should be all over a 5 D/E terminals
Love the new lounges but more seamless connections are more important
That requires Heathrow to build it. Unlikely to happen in the short term given the 3rd runway is their priority infrastructure build. As part of that or after that then maybe.
Welcomed news, for sure. Will require a ton of patience/understanding on our part in the mean time, but worth it. Thanks Lucky.