Unlike my previous visit, the Plaza Premium in London Heathrow (LHR) T4 was packed with a dismal selection of food…I stayed only a few minutes, preferring to wait for my flight in the gate area.
Plaza Premium Lounge Review – London Heathrow T4 (LHR)
First, the LHR T4 Plaza Premium Lounge is virtually unchanged since my last visit in 2018 (review below). In fact, the only change I noticed (rather humorous if you read what happened last time) was the removal of the coffee machine from the bar area.
I arrived in the lounge around 1:15 PM ahead of my TAROM flight to Bucharest (the SkyTeam lounge is permanently closed, so TAROM now uses this lounge for its business class guests) and found the lounge crowded. So crowded, in fact, that I did not re-photograph the seating areas, though you can see them in the photos below.
Food and drinks are self-serve, with a buffet offering a salad bar, two hot Indian dishes, two types of soup, and two hot Western dishes. The warm food did not look fresh, though the salad bar would have worked in a pinch.
I passed…
Restrooms and showers were also too busy to photograph, but are available.
In short, not my favorite LHR lounge and not worth showing up early for…just like any of the Plaza Premium Lounges at LHR. The removal of the fancy coffee machine was ironic…
My original review, published on July 10, 2018, is below.
The Plaza Premium Lounge in London Heathrow T4 is a quiet, nicely-appointed lounge with an excellent buffet and comfortable seating.
If you’re flying out of Terminal 4 at London Heathrow holding a Priority Pass, you might be tempted to head directly to the SkyTeam lounge, which is just past the security checkpoint. That is also a good lounge — no question about it — but if you’re willing to walk a bit further, the Plaza Premium lounge offers a similar level of comfort without the crowd.
You might confuse the entrance to the lounge for a Qatar Airways lounge. Don’t. They are both in the same place, but two distinct lounges.
As you enter the Plaza Premium lounge you can head left for a bar area or right for the main seating and dining area. With strategically-placed skylights and plenty of natural light, the lounge is brightly lit.
If you’re tired, there are not sleeping rooms, but there are reclining chairs in a darkened room available.
Plaza Premier London Heathrow T4 Dining
The buffet has a wide selection of food, both hold and hot. It also looked fresh. Looks can certainly be deceiving, but it is usually easy to spot something that has been sitting out for too long.
There is also plenty of seating in the dining area.
On the other side of the lounge, the bar includes alcohol and light snacks.
I do have one compliant. You’ll notice the bar includes is a nice coffee machine:
Over at the Plaza Premium Lounge in T2, I enjoyed a nice handmade cappuccino that turned out far better than a machine-dispensened one. Here, there were several employees standing around doing nothing (after all, the lounge was practically empty). I asked for a cappuccino and one of the lounge staff directed me to the machine. I led him back to the “real” machine and asked if I could have one.
STAFF: “No sir, only the machine is available.”
ME: “Well is the machine just there for decoration?”
STAFF: “Oh no sir, but right now it is closed.”
ME: ” Can I make it myself? I know how to work it.”
STAFF: “Oh no sir.”
Whatever, it was just a cup of coffee, but the only lounge that has decent coffee in the terminal is the Etihad lounge.
Lastly, let note restrooms are clean and showers are available.
CONCLUSION
One thing the SkyTeam lounge has that the Plaza Premium lounge does not have is a spa. When I was in the SkyTeam lounge, I was even offered a 20-minute treatment for free. But this is a very nice Priority Pass lounge. I still wouldn’t show up early for it, but it’s a great place to wait for your flight. The lounge is open daily from 5:ooa.m. to 10:30p.m. Your Priority Pass card gives you three hours of access.
So I have to ask – how exactly do these lounges with time limits actually enforce them? The only one I’ve been to with one is the KAL lounge at LAX, which only accepts PP until 7:30 PM. I ended up “overstaying” by about an hour, but nobody came by to look for me and kick me out or anything. Does the Plaza Premium just not allow you to enter more than 3 hours before boarding time or something?
I’m not a big fan of the Plaza Premium lounge at T4. The n0.1 traveller lounge at T3 or club aspire at T5 is much better.
With that being said, if you’re unable to access a business or first class lounge, these pay-in lounges can make your travel experience so much better, even if they’re not up to scratch. This is especially true at heathrow T4 and T3, which are dreadful terminals to be in, even during quiet periods.
They can also be better value then staying in the main terminal, particularly if you’re someone who likes to have a meal and drink alcohol/coffees etc before a flight. The prices of the eateries and bars in the main terminals at LHR are pretty hefty and you can quite easily spend way above the £40 entrance fee to a lounge like plaza premium, for equally sub par food.
At least in a pay-in lounge at a major hub you get unlimited food and drink in most cases, cleaner and more private toilet/washing facilities and generally a much nicer area to wait for your flight providing the lounge is not heaving with passengers.
I mostly fly BA through LHR, so largely have been in T5, which also has Aspire and PP. But the last few times I was in T5’ everything – including the BA lounges – that I only got into one of the Galleries lounges and the little-appreciated T5B lounge. I was doing a bit of a lounge tour, but both Aspire and PP in T5 had waiting lists too long for a multi-hour layover. LHR has gotten very crowded would appreciate your views on the T5 experience right now.
Anyone done the T5B Galleries lounge since the refresh? Is it generally quite crowded?
I’m going out of LHR on BA Club World in a few weeks– wife and kids with me, flight typically goes out of T5B.
Like many folks, I have a variety of ways to access lounges, but I don’t think I will have one world access at the time of this upcoming trip.
I’d personally go to the galleries south lounge in T5 (depending on age of kids also has a small playroom) and then just take the train to T5B when ready.
Although was there today for an hour before our flight and avoided the lounges entirely – sat at the bar at Fortnum & Mason for breakfast with the family. Yum!
Note that an enterprising person has created a beta app that shows real-time how crowded each BA T5 lounge is. I’m guessing I can’t mention the name, but it sort of rhymes with “boungelird”.
The lounge is ok the food and drink is pretty good but the staff are awful I have not seen one smile or heard and politeness or manners the employees take absolutely no pride in working here and make the experience unpleasant as it costs nothing to at least be polite and not just one from the dare o say greeting at the entrance to the bar staff and wait staff all are rude and unprofessional and can’t smile. For a business class lounge it has to be the worst I’ve been in staff wise.
The agent who scanned my boarding pass at the entrance was very pleasant.