British Airways (BA)
- Class: Business
- Access:
- Oneworld Business and First ticket holders
- Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald cardholders
- Date: December 2015
Entrance to BA Galleries North Lounge LHR T5
BA Galleries North
The decor is very elegant and stylish and a good effort has been made to subdivide the seating areas. This helps to avoid the dentists waiting room feel that you can get in some lounges. I also love the apron views from the glass sided building. During the day this lounge gets an immense amount of natural daylight.
The drinks selection is one of the best in any business class lounge. Ciroc vodka, Bombay Sapphire, Talisker, Gentleman Jack etc. Champagne wasn’t visible during my visit but was available on request from members of staff.
At the far end of the lounge is a business centre and a kids area (seems odd to put those two next to each other…)
There are a few of these tea, coffee and cookie areas dotted around the lounge and it seems sensible to keep them separate from the bars, to moderate the amount of foot traffic through any one area of the lounge.
The business centre features a few laptops and printers as well as workstations featuring numerous international power sockets and USB charging ports.
We opted for seats at the far end of one of the lounge sections
The views of the gates were pretty amazing.
These huge glass walls go all the way down to ground level
Whilst in the lounge we wandered over to the dedicated ticketing desk to get help with our seat assignments, make sure our AA numbers were on our boarding passes and ensure that everything had been processed smoothly with our flight changes. The ticketing agent was very friendly and helpful and was fun to talk to (she found it hilarious that I knew my girlfriend’s AA number but not her phone number).
As is often the case at LHR, our flight went from “go to gate” to “final call” without “boarding” in between. Luckily our plane was right beneath us and I was able to snap a shot of our immense skybeast, before sprinting out of the lounge.
Conclusion
The British Airways Galleries North lounge has a quite a lot going for it and is a very relaxing place to spend an hour or so, provided you get there at a quiet moment.
Other times of day, when it is full (this is BA’s home hub after all) the experience is quite different. In this case, I will usually seek refuge on the outdoor terrace.
There aren’t really enough power sockets and the lack of hot food at certain times of day is annoying. Conversely, the alcohol selection is great and the lounge is conveniently located, right by security.
Overall, not the best lounge but certainly competitive when it comes to business class offerings.
- Part 1:
- British Airways : Galleries North Business Class Lounge – London Heathrow T5
- Part 2:
- British Airways : Club World (Business Class) – A380 – London Heathrow to Singapore
- Part 3:
- Conrad Singapore : Centennial Suite
- Part 4:
- DNATA Lounge – Singapore Changi T1
- Part 5:
- Cathay Pacific : Business Class – A330 – Singapore to Hong Kong
- Part 6:
- Intercontinental Hong Kong : Harbour View Room
- Part 7:
- Qantas : First and Business Class Lounge – Hong Kong
- Part 8:
- Cathay Pacific : The Bridge Business Class Lounge – Hong Kong
- Part 9:
- Cathay Pacific : Business Class – B747 – Hong Kong to Bali
- Part 10:
- Intercontinental Bali : Singaraja Room
- Part 11:
- Villa Kerasan (Airbnb) Ubud, Bali
- Part 12:
- Alila Villas Soori, Bali
- Part 13:
- Villa Jiwa (Airbnb) Jimbaran, Bali
- Part 14:
- Sofitel Nusa Dua, Bali
- Part 15:
- An updated guide to Bali
- Part 16:
- Cathay Pacific : Business Class – B772 – Bali Denpasar Hong Kong
- Part 17:
- Cathay Pacific : Business Class – B77W – Hong Kong to London Heathrow
