I used to dread flying British Airways out of Terminal 3 at London Heathrow, but not anymore.
BA operates out of both T3 and T5 at London Heathrow. I’d say T3 caters to more leisure-based and second-tier destinations and that shows in the lounge situation. It’s not that BA’s Galleries business class lounge is world class in T5, but it is far better than the extremely overcrowded lounge in T3. The Priority Pass lounges in T3 are also routinely packed. That always left me fuming when my BA flight happened to depart from T3.
But that’s all immaterial now, at least when flying British Airways in business class. The Qantas lounge now provides an exceptional alternative to the British Airways lounge. A BA business class ticket or oneworld sapphire or emerald status traveling in any cabin on a oneworld flight will grant you access.
The lounge is open from 7:55 A.M. to 8:35 P.M. and includes great coffee, great food, great showers, and friendly service. I spent a few hours here earlier this week and was so pleased that I now prefer T3 in all cases over T5. In fact, in terms of the coffee the Qantas lounge has the First Class Concorde Room beat.
CONCLUSION
I’ll post a full review of the Qantas LHR Lounge next week, but just make sure you don’t forget about if you are flying on British Airways. It is a wonderful upgrade and worth arriving early for.
And I didn’t even make it to the American Airlines and remodeled Cathay Pacific lounges, also in T3. Yep, I think I’ll always be rooting for T3 now when flying BA…
What do you think? American, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, or Qantas Lounge in LHR T3?
I’d say Qantas or Cathay Pacific. BA or AA only if the other two are closed.
I was in T3 a few weeks ago, and this was the run-down:
-Coffee at the Qantas Lounge
-Noodles and bubbles at the CX F lounge (I love how quiet it is and great views!)
-Sit down for a meal at Galleries F
-Wait for flight to be called at AA lounge and be baffled at how uncompetitive the ‘first class’ side remains
I’d agree I prefer T3 to T5 as well. It’s no HKG, but OWE status makes it especially delightful.
I’d look forward to connecting in LHR when it was pure T3 (a bit less when transferring to/from T5, but still okish) -> based only on the CX lounge.
Re: the coffee comment, I appreciate that Aussies do coffee better than the British, but BA have changed their bean supplier recently to Union, who supply quite a lot of the hipster cafes here in London, so the coffee is pretty good now in the Concorde Room (though there isn’t a barista as far as I know.)