I spent the night at the Hilton London Heathrow Terminal 4. I reviewed it last year, so won’t review it again this time around — I have a hard time getting too excited about a Hilton, let alone an airport hotel.
My flight to Charlotte was departing at 2:25PM, so I decided to leave my hotel at around 10:30AM. I had to first walk into Terminal 4, and then take the Heathrow Express from there to Terminal 3. The entire process took about 20 minutes.
London Heathrow Terminal 3 exterior
American and US Airways have a dedicated premium check-in area at Heathrow that’s actually sort of nice, though I was intending to carry on more bags than Santa Claus, so figured I was better off not using it. Instead I just used one of the self service kiosks.
From there it was a quick walk to the Fast Track security line, which was one of the less bad experiences I’ve had with security at Heathrow. I was through in maybe 10 minutes.
London Heathrow Terminal 3 airside
From there I navigated my way through the maze of duty free shops.
London Heathrow Terminal 3 airside
The American Admirals Club (and Flagship Lounge) is located at Lounge Pier H, which is shared with the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse. Am I the only one that looks at the passengers taking the elevator up the Clubhouse with disgust jealousy every time I’m entering the Admirals Club?
London Heathrow Terminal 3 airside
London Heathrow Admirals Club entrance
Once you enter the lounge there are first a few security officers that usually ask you questions, though when they saw I had a US Airways boarding pass they allowed me to pass.
There was a friendly lady at the reception desk, who directed me to the Flagship Lounge, which is located immediately to the right of the entrance. As a reminder, the Flagship Lounge is American’s international first class lounge, which is for first class passengers and oneworld Emerald members (a vast majority of people using it are oneworld Emerald members, in my experience). There are plenty of other options at Heathrow for those with a credit card with lounge access.
The Flagship Lounge at Heathrow is fine. It’s furnished similar to its counterparts in the States, and does have a fair amount of seating. It gets quite busy before noon when most flights are departing, and then gets a bit quieter later in the day.
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge seating
There are lounge chairs, table-top seating, cafe style tables, etc.
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge seating
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge seating
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge seating
I usually just grab a seat on one of the booths in the corner of the lounge, since it’s private and a good place to work from.
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge seating
There’s also an entertainment room next to that.
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge seating
The lounge does boast nice views of the Terminal 3 tarmac, so that’s pretty cool.
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge view
The lounge has a decent size buffet. When I arrived they were serving brunch. There’s both a buffet as well as a small a la carte menu.
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge buffet
The bar is self serve, with soft drinks, juice, booze, wine, beer, and a cappuccino machine.
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge drink selection
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge drink selection
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge drink selection
Brunch was on offer, so they had a couple kinds of soup, which were accompanied by croutons and bread rolls.
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge buffet
Then they had snack mix, along with the signature stale cookies.
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge buffet
Then they had yogurt, fruit, muffins, croissants, etc.
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge buffet
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge buffet
Shortly after noon they switched from brunch to “heavy” afternoon tea, I guess you could say. They had veggies, sandwiches, scones, etc.
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge buffet
Then there were a couple of hot dishes, including a fricassee and frittata.
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge buffet
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge buffet
Here’s how the food selection was described (not totally sure I get what’s up with the font):
London Heathrow American Flagship Lounge brunch menu
Wifi in the lounge was fast, and after a week of over indulgence I wasn’t interested in food or drinks, but rather just in getting work done, and the Flagship Lounge facilitated that.
At 1:30PM I decided to leave the lounge for gate 27, which was maybe a five minute walk away.
London Heathrow Terminal 3 departures hall
London Heathrow Terminal 3 departures hall
Boarding passes had to be scanned to enter the gate area, though they did have a Fast Track lane, so I was through pretty quickly.
London Heathrow Terminal 3 departure gate
Once in the gate area it occurred to me that I still hadn’t been asked the standard Heathrow security questions (who packed my bags, do I have any electronics, when did I buy my electronics, can I describe all my electronics, etc.). I’ve always been asked at Heathrow, and then received one of those “stickers” on the back of my passport.
I figured it was an anomaly and didn’t want to have my boarding delayed as I like to take pictures when the cabin is still fairly empty, so (stupidly) went up to the gate agent to say that I still hadn’t been asked security questions.
So she called over a security agent and said “he wants you to ask him security questions.” She responded “well what do you mean?” “I don’t know, just ask him something.”
“So… um… did ye pack yo bags?”
London Heathrow Terminal 3 departure gate
So I guess they don’t actually do security questions at Heathrow anymore, at least not for US Airways? Or something? Oops! I was trying to prevent a problem by being proactive about it, but I guess I only created one.
Anyway, at 1:45PM boarding was finally called, which was a bit of a free for all since boarding passes had already been scanned, and everyone just kind of ran for the jet bridge.
Flagship Lounge Heathrow bottom line
The Flagship Lounge at Heathrow is a perfectly nice lounge.
Funny enough my favorite lounge at Heathrow is the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse, which I far prefer to the British Airways Concorde Room (despite the fact that the former is a business class lounge and the latter a first class lounge).
In terms of Terminal 3 oneworld lounge options, there’s also the British Airways Galleries First Lounge that I could have used as a oneworld Emerald member. I do slightly prefer it to the Flagship Lounge. I’d say the food selection is roughly comparable, though the British Airways Lounge has a better drink selection. That being said, for this layover my goal was just to get work done as efficiently as possible, and the Flagship Lounge did the trick for that.
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