LHR BA Galleries First - T5

[wtolmie]

Hey all.. how many of you have been to the BA GAlleries 1st Lounge at LHR - T5 ? Im here right now and its absolutely huge !! and very well appointed.. All the other airlines have a thing or 2 to learn about airport lounges.. Best ive ever seen.. Im sure there are some other good ones.. Have a 5.5hr layover before my ORD flight.. lovely breakfast.. lovely view, fast internet connections.. wowow..

 

[notzac]

Hey all.. how many of you have been to the BA GAlleries 1st Lounge at LHR - T5 ?

I know I'm certainly familiar with it, as are a few other AFF'ers
Have a glass or three of the Bolly for me!

 

[Keith009]

If we only we can import that lovely champagne bar into the QF Flounges! Top quality stuff.

 

[wtolmie]

ill be having a champers before i leave, but 6am is a little early yet.. hehe

 

[Keith009]

ill be having a champers before i leave, but 6am is a little early yet.. hehe

Say what? :shock::mrgreen:

 

[wtolmie]

yeah yeah.. i know.. getting a little soft..:shock:

 

[notzac]

It's after midday somewhere in the world...

 

[NYCguy]

ill be having a champers before i leave, but 6am is a little early yet.. hehe

Amateur! :mrgreen:

 

[drewbles]

Amateur! :mrgreen:

I'll drink to that

 

[Mal]

It is quite a nice lounge, and the Bolly does go down well.

Most of my flights ex-T5 have been pretty early in the morning, so I've gotten used to the breakfast buffet there.

 

[simongr]

I think the T5 Galleries first is ok but have the following criticisms:

- They make you walk half way down the terminal to walk back to the lounge unless going to the Concord room - to force you to shop
- The food offerings arent as nice as the the QF F lounge

It is certainly better than the JFK AA F lounge and a nice place to spend 8 hours which I did last year.

Re 6AM Champers - I never knew there was a correct time to have champers other than whenever it is available...

 

[harvyk]

ill be having a champers before i leave, but 6am is a little early yet.. hehe

But didn't you know, drinking champers for breakfast is suppose to be the embodiment of class...

 

[Mal]

- They make you walk half way down the terminal to walk back to the lounge unless going to the Concord room - to force you to shop
- The food offerings arent as nice as the the QF F lounge

Blame BAA for that. They want people to shop, and BA apparently couldn't get permission to have the entry near security (although did manage to get the Concorde Room entry open. The poor staffer though spends half their day turning away pax ! ).

The nicer restaurant type food is in the Concorde Lounge, which is the "true" First (plus some other assorted pax) lounge.

BA did trial a seafood bar at the F lounge, but quickly dropped it. Would have been nice.

 

[Keith009]

- They make you walk half way down the terminal to walk back to the lounge unless going to the Concord room - to force you to shop

Not such a bad thing - the shopping in T5 cures any jetlag. I'd written off airport duty free shopping until T5 opened.

 

[gumpy]

I the past 50 hrs I've been in the Syd Flounge, LAX Flagship, ORD Flagship (temp) and this BA Galleries First and I think it's easily the best so far... The atmosphere, both a la carte and buffet food, the wine selection is stunning... It feel more relax here because of the space and the fact that there's so much self serve around... In the Syd Flounge I'm always a bit on edge not to look or do something stupid...

Big thumbs up for BA... lets hope the long haul flight to Bangkok goes well as this place...

 

[Ewok]

The Champagne bar there is a great way to end a day. Or start one for that matter!

 

[samh004]

On the space feature, guess it’s easy to provide when a whole terminal is specially built for your airline. Gives you a lot of choices

 

[Will]

I the past 50 hrs I've been in the Syd Flounge, LAX Flagship, ORD Flagship (temp) and this BA Galleries First and I think it's easily the best so far... The atmosphere, both a la carte and buffet food, the wine selection is stunning... It feel more relax here because of the space and the fact that there's so much self serve around... In the Syd Flounge I'm always a bit on edge not to look or do something stupid...

Big thumbs up for BA... lets hope the long haul flight to Bangkok goes well as this place...

I'm honestly surprised anyone could claim BA T5 FL is better than the SYD FL. Food, wine, service, view, couches, massage service, showers - all significantly better in Sydney. By a wide margin.

That said, T5 FL is better than any lounge I've been to other than the 2 QF FLounges.

 

[Febs]

The T5 Flounge is certainly an impressive lounge, but...

I'm honestly surprised anyone could claim BA T5 FL is better than the SYD FL. Food, wine, service, view, couches, massage service, showers - all significantly better in Sydney. By a wide margin.

Completely agree. Although I will say the alcohol selection in the T5 lounge puts the SYD/MEL Flounges to shame (Glelivet 18yo, JW Blue, Vintage Bolly etc...)

In my opinion the best 3 lounges in the OW network, in order, are:

• SYD/MEL Flounge (I'm grouping them )
• NRT JAL Flounge - very relaxing, nice atmosphere, great food selection and brilliant Scotch selection. I think they have a spa too, but I was there pretty late.
• LHR T5 Flounge

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[simongr]

I the past 50 hrs I've been in the Syd Flounge, LAX Flagship, ORD Flagship (temp) and this BA Galleries First and I think it's easily the best so far... The atmosphere, both a la carte and buffet food, the wine selection is stunning... It feel more relax here because of the space and the fact that there's so much self serve around... In the Syd Flounge I'm always a bit on edge not to look or do something stupid...

Interesting - I have never really rated the T5 F lounge - I think the a la carte menu seemed a bit rubbish compared some of the offering in SYD. It is a shame I havent been able to sample the lounge for a while being on QF/AA/JL out of LHR I have a trip to LHR planned in March so might route through there if I can (may even have to be BA metal :shock:

I do see your point about looking foolish in SYD though - hadn't thought about that for a while since I have a preferred seat there now...

The Champagne bar there is a great way to end a day. Or start one for that matter!

Also good for elevenses, with lunch (of course) and for afternoon tea... not forgetting dinner either...