British Airways now using the No1 Traveller lounge at Gatwick North – feedback?

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• Hooch says:

  2 Feb2 February 07:49

  My own observations in random order :

  – Food options much better than old BA lounge – fishfinger sandwiches and cheese straws kept me and Mr Hooch very happy before our CE flight to Seville on a Thursday afternoon.
  – Good seating options – the Library was an oasis of calm at least until a suit decided it was perfectly acceptable to talk in a ‘quiet zone’ !
  – Drinks are served at the bar for you – which did mean you needed to have good ‘bar presence’ and also involved a little waiting. The Sauvignon Blanc was serviceable 😉
  – back to the seating, I really liked the fact that there were a number of different areas, which I won’t say we’re themed but you could clearly choose to be part of the action, to sit in the dining area, or chill out in the library.
  – we were ‘suggestively sold’ the lounge next door as first option (‘mylounge’) as it would be quieter. It was – but for a reason ! No 1 was better all round, and mylounge felt like some very un-pukka Jamie Oliver experiment (chilli con carne [before a flight ??] was the only food option …) Mr Hooch and I hotfooted it back to the desk and swapped our vouchers for No 1 sharpish.

  In summary, I’d agree : No 1 at Gatwick is a marked improvement on the old BA Gatwick lounge !!!

• Josh says:

  2 Feb2 February 07:51

  Agreed about the queuing, small quantities of food available (they need a second buffet table) and crowds–one seat is fine except at peak time, 2 together tougher…

• Jason says:

  2 Feb2 February 07:56

  I would say a cinema is a big deal, lots of travellers have iPad or whatever loaded or films on the plane.

  A football table, sorry but it’s not as if the masses can all use it at once!

  • Jason says:

    2 Feb2 February 07:57

    I wouldn’t say is what I meant, I a rush (no time to watch a film or play table footy).

    • Jj says:

      2 Feb2 February 08:20

      And there is no cinema now!

• Pjh says:

  2 Feb2 February 08:12

  Visited No 1 twice in the past 2 weeks – on both occasions lounge was busy, staff chaotic but it was by no means unbearable. Choke points are on entry, at the bar and at the toilets – all of which suffer from queues – as evidenced by other comments.

  Interestingly, the CSD on a flight yesterday was asking CE passengers what they thought of the lounge. The questions were unsolicited but he said that BA were acknowledging that there were ‘issues’ and reviewing the lounge offering. He said that a noticeable consequence of there being no champagne in the lounge was that consumption of champagne onboard had increased significantly and it was now commonplace for champagne to run out onboard – further, due to the removal of storage space ahead of 1 A/C on the G-GAT* 320s they cannot carry additional stock and on leisure flights routinely run out before they’ve offered all passengers a first drink.

  I’m not sure if this interest was prompted by BA as a matter of policy, or simply down to a friendly talkative CSD engaging with his passengers?

  • Jj says:

    2 Feb2 February 08:29

    Oh no didn’t realise this was commonplace, had heard one report of someone not getting any on the plane. And I have a 4hr flight on a g-gat coming up, which already seems like a far from premium experience. Grrrrrr. Really poor show BA. If you cant stock enough bottles on the plane for one round then give the extra stock to no1 to supply to BA pax!

• Ade says:

  2 Feb2 February 08:26

  I fail to see how this arrangement makes good business sense to BA in the long term. If you have status with BA then while it is not ideal you will probably be prepared to put up with it or try and use Heathrow where possible. However if you have just splashed out on a Club or First ticket you are going to be pretty disappointed with this. The whole point of lounge access with these tickets is the feeling of exclusivity. If you are going to be put in a lounge that anyone can access for as little as £20 then it takes the shine off it somewhat. If you add into the mix the problems of overcrowding and long queues you are going to get some pretty disappointed customers. I guess they might redeem themselves with their inflight service but judging by some I’ve been on recently I wouldn’t count on that! BA should have spent some money on a decent alternative as I imagine some people will be put of flying club or first with them in the future.

  • Chris C says:

    3 Feb3 February 14:58

    Please remember that BA using the #1 lounge is temporary until they move to the South Terminal when they will have a totally new lounge.

    There isn’t any alternative space for them in the N terminal. It was basically the #1 lounge or nothing.

• Jovanna says:

  2 Feb2 February 08:36

  Used the Etihad lounge at T4 last week when flying economy with Alitalia (and Freccia Alata Plus card you recommended via the status match). What a lounge!

  Small and comfortable – it never got more than half full. Plenty of staff, who were very proactive. Champagne topped up all afternoon. Staff approached us as soon as we took our seats and arranged treatments. My other half was gone 25 minutes for his massage – I was beginning to worry!

  We sat and dined together. Plenty of tasty options on the menu and we indulged in 3 courses. Simply amazing! Good selection at the buffet too.

  Lounge and tables kept spotless throughout. Aircraft even pulled up to the gate next door.

  Thank you for the tip, Raffles. It was a great start to our trip. And what a contrast to the situation a Gatwick…

• Judge says:

  2 Feb2 February 08:45

  We had a long connection at Gatwick on Sunday, travelling Club. I’d been dismayed when I’d discovered in advance that the BA lounge (which we knew) was going to be closed for our trip, but when I heard it was to be No.1 instead I was optimistic, having used it and other No.1s many times before and always being pleased with the experience.

  The reality on Sunday was grim. The lounge was an absolute zoo. No comfortable seating available for two together. A member of staff seemed to be acting as a seat finder and took us to a table for two. Having not long eaten on the flight, we were not after food so this seating was not exactly what we were after. Whole lounge noisy and far from relaxing.

  After a quick cup of tea we had to get out of there, so went downstairs to the Aspire lounge using our Priority Pass. Food options obviously not so good, but a much more relaxing experience – just what we wanted.

  Incidentally you can pick up BA WiFi in the Aspire lounge if you know the monthly password (faster than Aspire’s), which would certainly lend support to the idea that the old Delta lounge next door is being readied for BA.

  The business of calling in at a BA desk on first arrival at the lounge complex seems to be to sort you between No.1 and their sister MyLounge (rather than giving you a champagne voucher!), since they had vouchers on the desk for both. Presumably once No.1 is even worse than we experienced, you are sent to MyLounge. This looked busy when we arrived, hence did not use Priority Pass to go there, though looked much quieter when we left.

  In short I would recommend using Aspire if you have Priority Pass, unless you really want the No.1 food offering (not worth the unpleasantry in my opinion).

• Sasha says:

  2 Feb2 February 09:09

  I’ve been a regular user of No. 1 lounge previously as I prefer it over the old BA lounge. I didn’t have a chance to go there after BA took it over though. Travelling to Malta in a couple of weeks so hopefully will try it out then.

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