As I discussed last week, the brand new Concourse D at Dubai International Airport, which will be home to most of the European airlines, is now open.
The first flight to use it, as it happens, was a British Airways departure.
The good news is that the new British Airways lounge complex is now open. This will be a relief to anyone who has had to put up with the pathetic facilities in Terminal 1.
It looks pretty good as you can see from these promotional pictures.
The Concorde Bar is a separate room for First Class passengers. The general response to the first one, in Singapore, has been muted so it will be interesting to see if this one has changed or is better received.
My only concern is that the lounge does not seem very child friendly, for an outstation which deals with a huge number of holiday makers, but these pictures clearly do not tell the whole story.
I will be there in early April and look forward to reporting back.
(EDIT: Here is a comment from a HFP reader who has visited the Concorde Bar: “Suffice to say it is underwhelming. Food and drink exactly the same as in main lounge and not enough seating for first passengers plus guests/ Concorde Room card holders. Nothing to aspire to.”)
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Off topic but have you seen this:
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/british-airways-stops-unaccompanied-minor-service-in-bid-to-cut-costs-a6895931.html
I know a family who use this almost every other week! Will certainly put a spanner in the works!
Check yesterday’s articles…
Ah yes! Haha
“The lounge is not particularly child friendly'”
Raffles, what element of BA service IS child friendly?
My kids are now teenagers and have had status since an early age but I can’t say I have ever had a good experience on BA. It’s been ok but my wife and I worked hard to ensure it was.
Kids meals are dire, IFE was poor, and premium cabins ill equipped for there needs eg headsets and chinaware.The lounges were also poor with broken equipment and a lack of kid friendly PCs.
Cathay,and Qantas both excelled and on Cathay I forgot I had kids with me so engaging were the crew.
I put BA antipathy toward kids down to their dated policy of banning their own staff from having their kids in First, right up to CEO level. Consequently the mind set is why should anyone have kids in First?
Agree. My wife and kids hate BA IFE and I am in the doghouse for not booking Emirates for Easter! However, needs must when you have a 241 and an Avios pile ….
It’s not just unaccompanied
minors, it’s also split cabin bookings where kids are in a lower cabin than parents. This will not be allowed either.
People actually sit in diff cabins to their kids? Maybe I just don’t understand this but blimey I couldn’t picture sitting in business while the kids are sat in eco alone
I can picture it! 🙂
But let’s not downgrade the wonderful friendliness on here, by going into anyone’s strong views on kiddies in x class on planes 🙂
There are times when that would be perfect 🙂
However I wouldn’t take that route.
Only time I’ve booked 2 different cabins is for Etihad, in F & J, because I couldn’t get 4 seats in F on miles.
Hi Rob. I will be passing through tomorrow so I will let you know what it’s like. What a result is has just opened!
BA Concord Rooms/Bars where they don’t let Gold BAEC/OW Emerald members is a way of cheating OW alliance rules.
By calling it “Concord” or in QR case “Al Safwa”, these airlines say it’s not the designated First Class lounge and they don’t have one!
Indeed it seems the norm now for new first class lounges to not allow OWE in. Seems quite poor form really?
“The lounge is not particularly child friendly'”
Raffles, what element of BA service IS child friendly?
My kids are now teenagers and have had status since an early age but I can’t say I have ever had a good experience on BA. It’s been ok but my wife and I worked hard to ensure it was.
Kids meals are dire, IFE was poor, and premium cabins ill equipped for there needs eg headsets and chinaware.The lounges were also poor with broken equipment and a lack of kid friendly PCs.
Cathay,and Qantas both excelled and on Cathay I forgot I had kids with me so engaging were the crew.
I put BA antipathy toward kids down to their dated policy of banning their own staff from having their kids in First, right up to CEO level. Consequently the mind set is why should anyone have kids in First?
Sitting in the lounge right now waiting for BA104 back to LHR. The pictures do virtually tell the whole story in so much as its a small lounge (maybe around 40-50 seats) – although I guess there are only 3 flights per day on BA from DXB. Reasonable but limited food selection and decent drinks. Not at all child-friendly- no kids areas or any apparent concessions to children or toddler travelers
They will regret that at Easter ….
I know you love Dubai but is it really a big family holiday destination for Brits? I didn’t notice that many, though they were no doubt confined to their hotels and the water park!
Yes, huge
Very rare we don’t see other parents from our kids school.
+1 large availability for 241 and Lloyds voucher plus lots of good hotel options makes it an easy option
+1
What’s the commercial point of this for BA? Three 777s a day is hardly a large volume of potential users and since the loss of the Qantas codeshare to APAC, very few BA passengers will be transiting in Dubai, unlike Emirates or Qantas. This obviously explains why the lounge is so small, but would it not be better to have struck an agreement with another DXB lounge operator to allow access to a bigger and better one? Or does BA want a private lounge at DXB for reasons of corporate vanity?
It’s one of the vanity capitals of the world, “corporate vanity” seems more than appropriate for the clientele!
I visited this new lounge yesterday and was completely underwhelmed to the point that my wife and I chose to leave and wait in the large and well designed public space downstairs.
The lounge itself is far too small and claustrophobic and when we left there were many couples struggling to find two seats together. We originally sat in the seats facing the window, but this has been frosted so that whilst light can enter, there is no view at all other than a million dots on the glass. Had they made the glass clear, at least partially, the view of the main concourse would have been preferable.
The food offering was poor and the queue for the coffee machine, substantial.
We found the new concourse well designed, well lit and with a good number of dining and shopping options. Whilst the BA lounge has free WiFi, so too does the terminal, all be it for only 60 minutes.
If I were to return to this terminal I’d avoid the lounge althogether.
Anyone know what other one world Lounges you can access in Dubai?