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

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• Rob says:

  2 Feb2 February 11:34

  Went on Saturday. Lounge was carnage!! Nice design but a bit irrelevant when overrun with a mixture of boob-tube clad, Torremolinos bound, Wetherspoon drinking wannabes, their 16 kids and Sir Ponsenby Smythes complaining about lack of champagne! Only allowed 1 (tiny) portion of food before having to pay and quality of the stodgy ‘Asian’ noodles was poor. Sweet snacks at the buffet were good but savoury options limited! Bar completely overrun but barman was amazing and even made cocktails (to annoyance of other waiting customers!).

  Interestingly BA staff member said that this situation would last a year making me think move is definitely delayed. She said Virgin are busy constructing their lounge above which is a bit enraging to BA EC members. Would definitely take the old BA lounges to this on a busy day although if you hit it when it’s quiet, No 1 is better! Conundrum!

  Also travelled on IB Express yesterday and used Club Rooms in South Terminal. Same design & menu as No 1 in North although difference is that food is not rationed and lounge was peaceful. What No 1 should be I guess!

  • Chris C says:

    3 Feb3 February 15:04

    In the South Terminal the V-Holidays lounge (as well as one of the commercial restaurents has been closed to allow for the new BA lounge to be built,

    That must be a bit enraging for V-Hol customers eh?

• Lee says:

  2 Feb2 February 11:47

  I was in there two weeks ago, on a Friday morning about 7am. It was quite busy and not many tables or seats were free, and the ones that were had not been cleared from the previous occupants.
  I ended up sitting at the bar and ordering a small snack and helping myself to the (busy) coffee machines and that was OK. It wasn’t relaxing though, too many people with too much hustle going on. It didn’t bother me too much, but I can see would be too busy for some people.
  There was only one guy serving behind the bar and taking the food orders, but he was very good considering the amount of people there were.
  As it’s the only choice currently available for BA at LGW North, I’ll probably go back but only because there isn’t another choice. I’ll try and keep my BA flights out of LHR instead!

• NickD says:

  2 Feb2 February 11:47

  Sorry folks but what you are experiencing now is yet another dose of Will Walsh’s “cut,cut,cut” mentality, ever since he’s been at BA it has gone down,down,down. He did exactly the same at Aer Lingus. When you compare BA’s First/Business class offering now to many of the Middle/Far East airlines it’s not even a close 2nd, more of a 3rd. I know the lounge situation is not BA’s fault but why not pay for a few extra staff to help us feel that they are trying to make up for it?

  • Ian says:

    2 Feb2 February 13:14

    Yes, this sums it up exactly. Recently I read that BA has joined the European Low Fares Airline Assocation, which gives a very clear indication of where they are going. I liked the old BA lounge at LGW and thought it was at least as good as Galleries Club at LHR. As we have a trip to Seville booked soon, I was disappointed to find out about the new lounge arrangements at LGW. However, as the one daily flight leaves mid-afternoon, perhaps we’ll be in the lounge at a quiet time.

• Phill Ramsay says:

  2 Feb2 February 11:56

  Does anyone know what the deal with the priority security is when doing the airport lounge reservation on a loyalty scheme. The reason I ask is if you try and purchase full price access to the lounge it says the priority security stops on 26th April. Will this be the same for reserving access through the above link? Or will reservations continue to get priority security?

• Simon says:

  2 Feb2 February 12:02

  It’s going to be crap if the lounge is always busy. Last month I was turned away because it was full (a mere priority pass holder) – they said they’d call me on my phone when I could get in but that call never came.

  Is there really a point of paying an extra £5 to force entry if you can’t find anywhere to sit? Next thing we know there will also now be a voucher which guarantees a seat. Very Ryanair-esque.

  I can’t see much solution here apart from to get rid of some of the more frivolous aspects of the lounge (ie cinema room, quiet zone, swinging chairs) which offer very little and install some higher density seating. Of course that devalues it a bit more but I forsee some of the precious Metal cardholders having a frustrating time here. It would also be equally annoying for someone to shell out the money for a PP lounge pass in advance and then be told they can’t come in.

• Mike says:

  2 Feb2 February 12:05

  Given the choice between number 1 lounge and my lounge, chose no. 1.
  There was plenty of room in “the library” although the rest of the lounge was full.

  The Malta flight (160tp for fewer pounds) had 8 rows of CE!

• Colin J says:

  2 Feb2 February 12:07

  Call me old fashioned but I found the old lounge quite charming. Friendly, quiet, relaxing and comfortable. And you could help yourself to drinks. Went in there twice in the two weeks before it closed.
  I’d been in the No 1 traveller a few times on AirportAngel and LoungeClub cards and it was great. Been there twice since BA started sharing and it is completely different. They’ve expanded it quite a bit and repurposed some areas (library?).
  It’s clean, bright and pleasant. The problem, as others have said is that it’s not geared up for the volume of traffic. The staff are trying really hard but some of the the policies are making it harder for them and us.
  Ordering food from the bar is daft. Collecting a voucher 10 yards after you’ve been given it is daft. Making everyone queue for a glass of wine is daft. I really hope No1 rethink their processes. can you imagine meeting when No1 said, “we won’t trust BA staff to greet people and let them in, we’ll have a second checkpoint”?
  And while the seating looks great it’s not arranged efficiently, so as soon as the lounge fills up there are couples sitting on clusters of four chairs and line travellers wandering about looking for a seat. .
  When my Air Berlin Gold status expires I’ll probably go to MyLounge, unless that is. Also being offered to BA passengers, in which case I might be better off grabbing a table at Jamie’s.

• Leo says:

  2 Feb2 February 12:22

  There is another way of looking at this i.e. from the previously solid customers of No 1 Lounges’ perspective who now have to put up with all the BA passengers! We have often used No1 lounges before and have had no complaints. I do have BA status btw and whilst never used the LGW lounge I’m happy to rely on Rob’s opinion that the No1 was better. I’m not using LGW this year – all my flights (mercifully?) are from LHR where I’ll use the BA lounges. But whilst all BA customers are moaning (probably fairly) spare a thought for the paying customers of No1, it could be you one day.

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