Review: the ‘refreshed’ British Airways lounge at Edinburgh Airport

This is my review of the British Airways lounge at Edinburgh Airport.

It is part of our series of reviews of airport lounges across the UK. You see all of the reviews here.

Late last year (2023), British Airways temporarily closed its lounge at Edinburgh Airport for a month for a soft refresh similar to what has been done at Heathrow with the Galleries Club Lounge at Terminal 5B. This is the first time BA has refreshed the lounge since it took over the space from bmi in 2013.

Whilst not a full rip-out-and-start again refurbishment, BA has replaced the soft furnishings in the lounge including armchairs and seats. It is based on BA’s ‘Futures’ lounge concept that you can see in the British Airways lounge in Rome, Geneva and other airports.

I was in Edinburgh to review the brand new W Hotel, review to follow, and thought I’d pop inside on my way home.

Where is the British Airways lounge at Edinburgh Airport?

The British Airways lounge is located opposite Gate 5, at the far end of the shopping precinct.  Turn left when exiting the duty free maze after security and you’ll eventually see it. You can’t miss the big blue entrance.

How can you get into the lounge?

The British Airways lounge at Edinburgh operates under standard BA lounge access rules.  This means you’ll get access if you are:

• a Silver or Gold Executive Club member
• travelling in Club Europe
• connecting to a long-haul Club World or First flight at Heathrow

oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members also get access, if flying on British Airways or another oneworld airline.

You cannot get in by paying or by showing any lounge access card. For that you’d need to head to one of the Aspire lounges or the Edinburgh Plaza Premium lounge (review here).

Inside the British Airways Edinburgh lounge

To get into the lounge all you need to do is scan your boarding pass with one of the lounge attendants.

The British Airways Edinburgh lounge is triangular and fans out from the entrance. It is surprisingly big although it needs to be given the volume of flights and the number of travellers with status. On some flights to London City Airport virtually the entire flight is BA Silver or Gold!

I stayed for a good 2-3 hours in the early afternoon and found it busy but not overcrowded. It was busy enough that I wasn’t able to get very good photos of some areas because they were perpetually occupied.

First up is a high table and some dining tables:

and

You’ll find two large coffee machines here, as well as a selection of biscuits:

After this is the buffet area, which is conveniently located slap bang in the middle of the lounge.

The buffet itself hasn’t changed in the refurbishment, and the food is the same as you’d find at Heathrow. This means a beef curry, chicken and leek pie, mashed potato and spiced cauliflower and chicken:

The cold selection included sandwiches:

…. as well as two salads and some cheese:

At some point in the afternoon, a choice of two different types of cakes was made available. No scones, though.

The drinks offering is good, with self- pour wines, beers and spirits, including Tanqueray gin, Ciroc vodka, Pimms and Don Julio tequilas.

There was a choice of 2-3 red and white wines each, as well as white and rose Bottega prosecco, with champagne on request:

As we are in Scotland, the lounge also featured a larger range of whisky including Talisker Ridge (single malt), Copper Dog (blended), Johnnie Walker Red and Black Label, Lagavulin 16 year aged (single malt) and Dalwhinnie Winter’s Gold (single malt):

The magazine racks, empty since covid, have been removed and replaced with a juice station:

The lounge does, at least, have a long wall of windows at its far end which overlooks the car park (no runway views sadly):

and

There are some new work pods in a pleasing salmon colour:

…. plus a smaller room off the main space that’s been set up for people with laptops:

If you need to take a private call, there are also two booths with closing doors:

This is a key selling point.  Lots of space and lots of variety.  Whether you want a desk to work at, a communal eating table or sofa style seating, you are going to be OK. 

Conclusion

Things have improved since the last time I was in the lounge, in late 2022, when the food selection was poor and no hot food was available at all.

Overall, I think the new furniture is very smart although the overall effect is obviously less strong than if the lounge had been fully refurbished. You can immediately tell that it is new furniture in an older structure, but it’s a definite improvement on what was there before.

Credit where credit is due, British Airways offers a range of wines and spirits on self-pour, something you won’t find at many other airlines. From my recent experience, Lufthansa and KLM both have staffed bars.

I do wish the hot food selection was a bit more inventive than pie and curry, which is what it is at Heathrow. Anyone who flies BA regularly will quickly tire of this offering and I made do with a slice of carrot cake and those delicious sweet chilli rice crackers.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2024)

Here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Eurostar, Lufthansa and Delta Air Lines lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.