Heathrow T5 Lounges - recommendations...

[Trikster]

OK, slumming it out of Heathrow T5 in a couple of weeks - as my wife is a nervous flyer we generally book a lounge but haven't been through T5 in years..

Historically there have only been the BA ones at T5, for biz and 1st, but they've now got an a Club Aspire (No1) and a Plaza; wondering what people's experiences of them have been (looks like the Aspire might not have toilets) as both get mixed reviews

We'd be traveling through late afternoon the Sunday before Christmas so no idea how mad, or not, the airport might be.....

[z4RRSchris]

concorde is nice and relaxing, they rest are just as busy as anywhere else but with free drinks and st food. Lounges North / South are rammo these days.

if i was a nervous flyer, id rather book into one of the resturants and have some food and a glass of wine.

[Trikster]

z4RRSchris said:

concorde is nice and relaxing, they rest are just as busy as anywhere else but with free drinks and st food. Lounges North / South are rammo these days.

if i was a nervous flyer, id rather book into one of the resturants and have some food and a glass of wine.

Thanks. Unfortunately only flying premium means no access to BA lounges - restaurants a reasonable shout, but wife is a Coeliac and stress of food cross contamination in these environments even worse than stress of flying....

I know what you mean about most lounges being a bun fight nowadays, it's more for ensuring we've somewhere quieter to sit than the food/drink

[Austin Prefect]

Aspire lounge tends to be overcrowded, Plaza is a bit more spacious.

If you go for a BA lounge, which you may as well if you do have access, don't forget the lounge by the B gates it tends to be a bit less busy.

[Suspicious_user]

Trikster said:

OK, slumming it out of Heathrow T5 in a couple of weeks - as my wife is a nervous flyer we generally book a lounge but haven't been through T5 in years..

Historically there have only been the BA ones at T5, for biz and 1st, but they've now got an a Club Aspire (No1) and a Plaza; wondering what people's experiences of them have been (looks like the Aspire might not have toilets) as both get mixed reviews

We'd be traveling through late afternoon the Sunday before Christmas so no idea how mad, or not, the airport might be.....

Heathrow will be be hoaching.

Paid lounges aren't worth it, they're overcrowded and the food is poor, eat somewhere else, we normally do Wagamama as the kids love it.

[Austin Prefect]

Suspicious_user said:

Heathrow will be be hoaching.

Paid lounges aren't worth it, they're overcrowded and the food is poor, eat somewhere else, we normally do Wagamama as the kids love it.

It depends. If you just want to eat they are, but if you have to wait an hour or so they usually provide a quieter and more comfortable environment than the main departure area. Generally no good for a meal but the snacks while you wait are a bonus.

Once I took advantage of a cheap upgrade to Club on an Aberdeen to LHR flight. The flight was delayed for hours, the departure lounge was heaving. But I was sitting comfortably in the BA lounge. Reading a book in peace with a great view of the runway,
unlimited tea coffee and biscuits, alcohol available as well. Not really a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon if you like watching aircraft.

[Suspicious_user]

Austin Prefect said:

It depends. If you just want to eat they are, but if you have to wait an hour or so they usually provide a quieter and more comfortable environment than the main departure area. Generally no good for a meal but the snacks while you wait are a bonus.

Once I took advantage of a cheap upgrade to Club on an Aberdeen to LHR flight. The flight was delayed for hours, the departure lounge was heaving. But I was sitting comfortably in the BA lounge. Reading a book in peace with a great view of the runway,
unlimited tea coffee and biscuits, alcohol available as well. Not really a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon if you like watching aircraft.

We still eat in Wagamama, despite the kids having silver BA cards (as they don't like the lounge food). The BA lounges will be busy too as it's one of the busiest weekends to travel.

[Austin Prefect]

Suspicious_user said:

Austin Prefect said:

It depends. If you just want to eat they are, but if you have to wait an hour or so they usually provide a quieter and more comfortable environment than the main departure area. Generally no good for a meal but the snacks while you wait are a bonus.

Once I took advantage of a cheap upgrade to Club on an Aberdeen to LHR flight. The flight was delayed for hours, the departure lounge was heaving. But I was sitting comfortably in the BA lounge. Reading a book in peace with a great view of the runway,
unlimited tea coffee and biscuits, alcohol available as well. Not really a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon if you like watching aircraft.

We still eat in Wagamama, despite the kids having silver BA cards (as they don't like the lounge food). The BA lounges will be busy too as it's one of the busiest weekends to travel.

But that's my point. The lounges aren't restaurants, they are waiting rooms. You wouldn't go in Wagamama for somewhere to sit for a couple of hours, you don't go in a lounge for a meal. Except the Concorde room but that's a special case.

[captain_cynic]

Suspicious_user said:

Trikster said:

OK, slumming it out of Heathrow T5 in a couple of weeks - as my wife is a nervous flyer we generally book a lounge but haven't been through T5 in years..

Historically there have only been the BA ones at T5, for biz and 1st, but they've now got an a Club Aspire (No1) and a Plaza; wondering what people's experiences of them have been (looks like the Aspire might not have toilets) as both get mixed reviews

We'd be traveling through late afternoon the Sunday before Christmas so no idea how mad, or not, the airport might be.....

Heathrow will be be hoaching.

Paid lounges aren't worth it, they're overcrowded and the food is poor, eat somewhere else, we normally do Wagamama as the kids love it.

Well I've learned a new word today.

But also this. The food will be crap and overpriced, even the "free" lounges you get with airline status aren't that good, the only reason I use them is because I don't have to pay. The only value proposition I can see for lounges is if you're the kind of person who gets schlammered before a flight and if you're nervous flyers I really, really, don't recommend drinking beforehand.

For £35 per person (or possibly more, didn't bother to do a dummy quote) you can get a decent meal at most eateries, even the Gordon Ramsay one and I'm pretty sure you can book ahead at Heathrow these days (from the Heathrow web site). If you're concerned about cross contamination of food, I'd have thought the buffet style used by lounges would have more chance of that happening than al a carte.

Also the Sunday before Christmas... I may not be fully aware of the nuance of "hoaching" but I have the strangest feeling it isn't even going to come close to how crowded it's going to be

[z4RRSchris]

good if you miss your flight or have a monster connector too.

not sure what food you would expect there to be in T5 Aspire or No1, its nibbles and st ones at that.

[CSR Performance]

Unless you have access to a BA lounge don't bother in T5. The two paid lounges are overcrowded, loud and just generally st.

There are quieter areas with reclined chairs behind some of the duty free shops which most folks don't find. Otherwise go to the C-gate concourse and find an unused gate there where it will be much quieter.

[Puggit]

Flew out last Friday (last Friday of Nov) at midday. The BA South lounge was absolutely rammed and very unpleasant. A lot of US travelers in transit.

[Trikster]

Thanks all - we're not bothered about food, it's more to escape the madness of the terminal whilst my wife's stresses about the flight - advice here seems to be the lounges (non-BA) are just as bad and just try and find somewhere a bit more chilled in the main termainal (as we're flying to Male there's probably a good chance we'll be away from Terminal A anyway)

[//j17]

I'd agree with @CSR Performance if you're just looking for a seat just head left or right.

Everyone gets dropped down from security in the middle of T5 and seem to flock to the big Starbucks/Pret area right in the middle and yes it is hard to get a chair there - but head to either the North/low A or South/high A wings of T5 (just pick one as Sods Law says your gate will end up being the other end) and there's usually loads of free seats at currently unused gates.

Personally I always head to the North/low A gates as there's a secret Pret at that end with almost nobody at it where you can normally get served straight away.

[Suspicious_user]

Austin Prefect said:

But that's my point. The lounges aren't restaurants, they are waiting rooms. You wouldn't go in Wagamama for somewhere to sit for a couple of hours, you don't go in a lounge for a meal. Except the Concorde room but that's a special case.

I do go to a lounge for a meal though, as I tend to sleep on the short flights I have. It' just the BA lounges are crap, the food isn't great, even in the gold lounge. The best lounge in Heathrow (in my opinion) is the Cathay First lounge in T3.

This is what you get in the Qatar lounge in T4, which is rather nice.

[bakerstreet]

This thread has been quite an eye opener.

We aren't due to fly until March 25th next year and I had been eyeing up the No.1 Lounge for T3 at LHR. My rationale was that we nearly always end up spending £70 on some kind of meal at airport plus the kids alwasy seem to be determined to go round Smiths and buy rubbish.

Lastly, I don't like Airport departure halls. Uncomfortable seats and its struggle to find four seats together. I thought the lounges would give me the food and guaranteed comfortable seat. Looking at some of the reviews here and on Trip Advisor, that might not be the case. In fact the pictures of the food suggest bulk buying at Costco.

Maybe I should just save my £130 for a taxi to the airport and just suck up the chaos that departures and try and keep my kids out of WHSmiths.

[Gazzas86]

bakerstreet said:

This thread has been quite an eye opener.

We aren't due to fly until March 25th next year and I had been eyeing up the No.1 Lounge for T3 at LHR. My rationale was that we nearly always end up spending £70 on some kind of meal at airport plus the kids alwasy seem to be determined to go round Smiths and buy rubbish.

Lastly, I don't like Airport departure halls. Uncomfortable seats and its struggle to find four seats together. I thought the lounges would give me the food and guaranteed comfortable seat. Looking at some of the reviews here and on Trip Advisor, that might not be the case. In fact the pictures of the food suggest bulk buying at Costco.

Maybe I should just save my £130 for a taxi to the airport and just suck up the chaos that departures and try and keep my kids out of WHSmiths.

Have a look at taking out an Amex Gold Card, you get Priority pass included which gives you 4 visits to a lounge each year,
I booked me, the Wife and 2 kids into one of the lounges Albeit Birmingham Airport for £24, (particular lounge was £6 each for pre-book), but same as you we would spend a fortune on food while in airport, makes sense imo.

[//j17]

I used the No. 1 lounge in T3 back in August and - OK if you shop around and can get a good deal.

I had a Japan flight so Eastbound, both departing and landing early morning and meaning I know I was both going to get food every few hours on the plane and had to navigate a connecting flight didn't really want to arrive half cut. As such the lounge was just somewhere quiet and reasonably comfy to sit and have a few cups of tea between security and gate. For that, well it did the job - but looking around T3 wasn't actually that bad 'outside' the lounge.

Was it anything special?
No, not really - but it was nice enough/I got a seat/I didn't have anything to complain about.

Was it worth the money?
At the £40 the Heathrow website wants - god know!
At the £24 I got it from GetYourGuide - just about.
If it had been an overnight Westbound flight at £24 - yes, as I'm sure a couple of alcoholic drinks would have broken me move than even at airport prices.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Gazzas86 said:

Have a look at taking out an Amex Gold Card, you get Priority pass included which gives you 4 visits to a lounge each year,
I booked me, the Wife and 2 kids into one of the lounges Albeit Birmingham Airport for £24, (particular lounge was £6 each for pre-book), but same as you we would spend a fortune on food while in airport, makes sense imo.

A Lloyds World Elite card costs £15/month and gives the cardholder and spouse Priority Pass, unlimited visits. I fly a lot, and use the Premium Plaza lounge at LHR T2 on a regular basis. Their breakfast offering is really good, no bacon in the buffet but they will bring you some to your table if you ask. I'm also BA silver so use the BA lounges at T5 when flying BA, and they are even better. I'm a fan.

I usually end up using PP lounges about 5 or 6 times a month, so at £3/pop or less, no complaints.

[Griffith4ever]

I cancelled the card that gave me Priority Pass access. The lounges were all so st that we both agreed we'd rather spend money on a meal in a terminal restaurant. They just don't compare to "real" BC/1st lounges, and for good reason.

I'm also about to cancel my mastercard Avisos card and look for something else - they give cabin upgrade vouchers as a reward (the card costs me £20 a month) but there is a catch, you can only use them with flights paid entirely with Avios - which rules out anything long haul for us. Best I can do right now is a couple of EU flights business class for free. That's usually 1.45 to 2.5 hour flights max. That's after 2 yers of earning Avios and 2 x upgrade vouchers. so £20 x 24 = £480. Guess how much 2 business class flights to Prague cost, return with BA? £600. What a saving....

Edited by Griffith4ever on Wednesday 10th December 02:14