New British Airways and oneworld arrivals lounge opens in Heathrow Terminal 3

The American Airlines arrivals lounge in Heathrow Terminal 3 has reopened after a five month refurbishment.  Whilst AA branded, this is also the arrivals lounge used by British Airways long haul flights into Terminal 3 as well as all Qantas and Cathay Pacific flights.

The lounge features an impressive 29 shower suites, stocked with C.O. Bigelow toiletries.  A valet service is also available to help with clothes pressing.

It is, interestingly, the only American Airlines arrivals lounge anywhere in the world.

The catering has been outsourced to Rhubarb, best know for event catering at outlets such as the Royal Albert Hall.  According to the AA publicity:

Now offering champagne and Bucks Fizz

Upgrading the breakfast buffet to include made to order smoothies and omelets, pastries, pancakes and porridge

Features a new a la carte menu option

Introducing a lunch service including a buffet, artisan breads, a British cheese board and seasonal dishes

New buffet options will be offered every four weeks, and the a la carte menu will change every three weeks

Access rules are NOT the same as for airside lounges.

In order to get access, you will need to have arrived on a First or Business Class ticket on a oneworld airline or have British Airways Gold status or a oneworld equivalent.  A British Airways Silver card will not do the job unfortunately.

The lounge will be open from 5am to 3.30pm.

Next up is the reopening of the Cathay Pacific airside lounge in Terminal 3 which is now expected in very early September.  

Accessible to British Airways status card holders, this will be managed by Plaza Premium following the refurbishment.  The new year will see the impressive new Qantas lounge which I wrote about here.  Both of these will make a pleasant change to the British Airways Terminal 3 lounges.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (May 2023)

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 Plaza Premium, Delta Air Lines and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too! 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 £20.  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 LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network.  Guests are charged at £20 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.