A first class lounge that ultimately doesn’t offer much unique over the business class lounge next door.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Springtime in the City of Light
• Review: AA Flagship Lounge LAX
• Review: American Airlines 777-300ER Business Class LAX-LHR
• Review: British Airways Galleries First (this post)
• Now With a Nice Kids Area: British Airways Galleries South
• Great for Families: A Review of the Hyatt Regency Étoile
• Exploring Paris With Children
• Thoughts on Disneyland Paris
• Review: Air France Business Class Lounge CDG Terminal 2E Hall K
• Review: Air France 777-300 Business Class CDG-LAX

Location

This lounge is located in London-Heathrow (LHR) Terminal 5. If you’re arriving from London, there is direct access to the lounge via a special check-in section. However, since we were arriving as a transit customer, we needed to first take a bus from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5. We then needed to clear transit security and walk the length of the terminal to the South end where three British Airways lounges are located (The Concorde Room, Galleries First, and Galleries South).

Access Rules

For this visit, Alex and I accessed this lounge separate from others in our party (they proceded to the nearby Galleries South lounge). We accessed the lounge since I currently have oneworld Emerald status and get one guest to accompany me. Other eligible ways to access this lounge include:

• Fly in British Airways first class (but doing so would make you eligible for the more-exclusive Concorde Room)
• Fly in first class with other oneworld carriers (but it would be difficult given only British Airways operates out of Terminal 5)
• Have top-tier oneworld Emerald status when flying a oneworld airline

You can thus think of this lounge as the landing point for all oneworld Emerald elites.

Arrival and First Impressions

Alex was thrilled by the horse lamps immediately after entry and wanted a quick photo of them. I’m pretty sure the style will never match what I’m going for in my house, so this might be his only chance to see them.

Aside from that, the first thing I truly noticed about the lounge were the massive crowds. It was hard to find empty seats here and not due to the size of the lounge (which was massive) but rather it seemed quite a few people had access. In fact, the business class lounge located downstairs was less crowded (more on that in the next post).

Seating

There is varied types of seating in here, including a fake outdoor area, but there seemed to be crowds everywhere we went. We ultimately didn’t spend too much time here as I was mostly interested in figuring out if it’s any different than the business class lounge next door.

Food

There is a section of the lounge dedicated to food. In the front of section are some chips (or crisps, depending on where you’re from).

Further inside is a soup and salad section, along with bread, cheese, and crackers.

Then in the far back is a buffet station with some hot items. To be perfectly candid, we did later go to the business class lounge and all food options up to this point are identical between the two lounges. While I understand it is easier having the same kitchen, it’s a bit disappointing there isn’t much extra offered in the first class lounge, which is supposedly the superior option.

The one difference in catering I could find was an option to select hot items. At your table is a QR code you could scan and then select Lounge Menu. From there, just select your item and wait for someone to bring it out. I would have given it a try, but nothing looked appealing to me or Alex.

Drinks

There are a number of drink options scattered about inside the lounge, including a bartender and a barista. I resisted the urge to give it a try given I was just with six-year-old Alex.

Kids Lounge

Located next to the buffet is a small playroom for children. The room didn’t have too much to offer for children (one of the TVs appeared broken). The room might appeal to toddlers but Alex had no desire to hang out in here.

Odds and Ends

There is a section of the lounge intended for catching a bit of rest. Although Alex is pretty calm and quiet, I didn’t want to stress anyone by showing up with a child, so I didn’t check it out in more detail.

In case of IROPS, there is a desk here with an agent who can assist. If you do encounter flight problems, this is probably a much shorter line than you would find at the gate.

I’m always surprised by the lack of investment when an airline offers a premium product but lets it deteriorate. The latest example is the restroom. I won’t go into the theme (which is best described as ‘industrial train’), but rather there seemed to be excessive wear and tear. This doesn’t strike me as something dedicated to first class customers.

Recommendation: I’m Indifferent

I normally would say if you are eligible to go to the lounge, then by all means go to it. But I think it’s more accurate to say this lounge is crowded and doesn’t offer anything substantive over the next door British Airways Galleries South lounge. So I believe the correct thing to recommend is to try out both lounges and see which one has smaller crowds. And yes, it’s sad when a first class lounge and a business class lounge are fairly identical.

Have you visited the British Airways Galleries First lounge?