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

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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.

American Airlines Heathrow Arrivals Lounge t3

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

American Airlines Heathrow Arrivals Lounge t3 2

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.

American Airlines Heathrow Arrivals Lounge t3 3

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.

Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

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.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

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.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

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

Category

American Airlines and AAdvantage, British Airways and Avios, oneworld alliance partners

Comments (28)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • James Ward says:
    6 Aug6 August 06:11

    Looks nice! I assume it’s landslide? If so, there no reason why passengers arriving at other terminals couldn’t use it, is there? Given the even earlier closing of BA’s arrival lounge, this could be a great option for flights that land very late morning.

  • @mkcol says:
    6 Aug6 August 06:31

    Do you know if BA Golds can guest someone into the arrivals lounge?

    • NickS says:
      6 Aug6 August 06:51

      Unfortunately, Golds cannot guest people into arrival lounges.

    • haasha says:
      6 Aug6 August 09:47

      BA Gold Guest List can guest one into BA’s own Arrivals lounge, but there is a good chance this will not work here.

  • Fenn says:
    6 Aug6 August 06:52

    Semi-O/T: have a couple of Amex gold card lounge passes burning a hole in my pocket (nearing expiry date). Flying from T3 in September to Miami. I recently saw my only T3 lounge option (Swiss air) was closing 1st Sept. Any suggestions on where else could use them or am I out of options for departure? Could I use them on return arrival for anything? (We’re using the wife”s passes for Miami departure).

    • harry says:
      6 Aug6 August 07:00

      No other T3 departure options with your lounge passes. Cheapest & best alternative remains the £20 No1 Traveller deal from avios.com with 750 Avios returned to you (=£12.50)

      • Rob says:
        6 Aug6 August 12:04

        Covering that again tomorrow. Dragonpass Telegraph deal back too.

        • harry says:
          6 Aug6 August 12:43

          Still £16.50? Can’t see it so I’ll await your report!

          £16.50 would be a very fair price if you’re a bit of a glugger – and if it gives you confirmed entry to (say) No1 or another decent lounge, you’d feel very happy you were getting your money’s worth, enough to persuade me to leave home early 🙂

        • David says:
          6 Aug6 August 18:11

          Do we need to purchase the paper on a certain day for a code?

  • Ade says:
    6 Aug6 August 07:54

    So if you’re flying from terminal 3 with BA (club or first) can you use any of these lounges? I’ve never really considered this as an option before!

  • mark2 says:
    6 Aug6 August 08:49

    This looks really good. When we came back into T5 last October the arrivals lounge was a bit worn especially the toilets.
    Next June we are going T5 to Seattle but coming back form Vancouver to T3. This lounge will nicely end the flight in F on an A380.

  • RogerWilco says:
    6 Aug6 August 09:36

    AY also uses T3 – are pax arriving in C with OWE status eligible?

  • Leo says:
    6 Aug6 August 09:41

    Is it bigger than the old lounge? It really wasn’t “all that” beforehand.

    • JamesLHR says:
      6 Aug6 August 10:28

      Yes, it has been extended using space from the previously enormous Qantas offices.

      • Dwadda says:
        6 Aug6 August 11:05

        Glad it is bigger. The seating area shown is where the dining tables used to be, the largest part of the old lounge. Considering my best use of the old lounge was a shower and a fry up after an overnight flight I hope there is a new dining area..

  • Joe says:
    6 Aug6 August 11:16

    Popped in for literally 5 minutes today whilst waiting for my uber as happened to be on an aa inbound. It’s quite small but a nice space and breakfast looked good (my sausage and smoothie were both great). The champagne for the Buck’s Fizz was Moët but couldn’t stomach one! Unlike the other arrivals lounges its to the right as you exit and signage isn’t that clea

    • aceman says:
      6 Aug6 August 11:44

      hmmm is it worth exiting to use?

      I’m arriving from JFK next week and going to dublin 2 hours later…. worth exiting to try, or just stick to galleries?

      • John says:
        6 Aug6 August 12:46

        If you have UK/EEA passport or registered traveller then it may be faster to enter the UK anyway, then just don’t forget where you are and leave enough time to go through security…

      • Joe says:
        6 Aug6 August 22:34

        I’d just stick with galleries especially as you’ve got to change terminal. Not worth all the hassle for a proper cooked breakfast vs a bacon roll!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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