British Airways unveils its refurbishment plans for Terminal 7 at New York JFK airport

British Airways announced plans yesterday for a £52m refurbishment of its home at Terminal 7 at New York JFK.

Scheduled for completion by the end of 2018, the plans include:

a new ‘spacious, modern’ check-in area, with the current separation of First and Club World to remain

Galleries Club and Galleries First lounges to be “completely regenerated” with more space and restaurant-style pre-flight dining

The Concorde Room to be “refreshed” – which is usually BA-speak for some new chairs!

The pre-flight dining areas are to be substantially expanded.  This may be linked to the recent announcement that New York flights are to get a new service standard in Club World which allow five hours of sleep.  

The only way I can see this working is if one meal is removed – with passengers encouraged to eat in the lounge beforehand – or if one meal is reduced to an on-demand tray service which does not require trolley movements.

There will also be changes made to the public areas of the terminal:

The introduction of “an authentic New York culinary experience” with local food and beverage concepts to satisfy a variety of tastes

“An immersive retail environment” for duty free shopping and concessions

New gate seating areas with additional power outlets

It all sounds promising – to be honest, The Concorde Room was in decent shape when I was there last Summer (see my review) so the lack of major change there is not a problem.  Let’s see what materialises.

The British Airways ‘What’s New?’ site, covering all of the current investment initiatives, is here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

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There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

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