Review: the No1 Lounge at Edinburgh Airport

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• Trev says:

  10 Nov10 November 03:54

  You can pay £5/person to guarantee a space at a No. 1 lounge with Priority Pass or Dragon Pass, I’ve done that before at the LHR T3 lounge to ensure I got in before an overnight flight.

• Nick Burch says:

  10 Nov10 November 04:50

  Last time we went through Edinburgh, we started in the BA lounge for a drink (champagne on offer if you asked), popped round to the No.1 lounge for some hot food (BA just has sandwiches and soup), then returned to the BA lounge to await boarding. Worked well!

• Daniel says:

  10 Nov10 November 05:15

  The BA lounge is absolutely rubbish, I always prefer to use the No. 1 lounge when departing EDI and would even place Aspire as #2.

• kt1974 says:

  10 Nov10 November 06:33

  That’s harsh on the BA Lounge. The advantage is that it has toilets inside (as opposed to “around the corner, behind the pub”), free pour drinks that don’t come 125ml at a time, lots of space and quiet corners, fast internet without a silly sign-in, doesn’t have to photocopy your boarding pass and write down your flight details before using it, is directly opposite the BA LCY gate, and isn’t overwhelmed on the days that the Etihad and Qatar flights depart at the same time

  The BA Lounge is only busy when 3-4 BA flights are leaving around the same time; even then there’s plenty of room and a quiet spot to do a conference call – I usually hide in the business centre

  So, nipping into the No 1 for a tiny microwaved fish finger sandwich is fine, but then it’s back to the BA Lounge, IMHO…

  • Daniel says:

    10 Nov10 November 06:49

    Disagree on fast internet – it was terribly laggy on my Citrix session yesterday (and is most weeks). Piggybacked through my phone and was then fine.

    Never had my boarding pass photocopied or flight details written down @ No.1 but Aspire does ask for flight details.

  • Lady London says:

    10 Nov10 November 13:21

    Yes I find the portion sizes of the one hot item No. 1 Lounge will allow you, to be far too small. In the case of LGW No.1 I think they might even be decreasing in size a little more each time I go there. It does feel a bit stingy as the ingredients of their dishes are not expensive.

• Paul says:

  10 Nov10 November 07:01

  I was in both the BA lounge and No 1 yesterday. The BA lounge was empty but No 1 was very busy.

  I liked the BA lounge for size, comfort and for the very nice staff but the food was simply dreadful. Same old same old curly edged sandwiches filled with uninspiring content and the usual bits of cheese. I left.

  No 1 was busier and I sat st the bar and ordered the beetroot and goats cheese salad. The portion size was good and it is made for you and served restaraunt style. They serve draught Peroni and have 2 white and 2 red wine choices. There was also real champagne chilling on ice but something told me it was not free though there were no signs.

  It was, by some margin, a much better experience than BAs offer though I can see access being an issue at busy times. They had 2-3 people a head of me happy to pay to get in!

  BA lounges in Europe and away from LHR are now glorified waiting rooms. Food, when it’s available is poor and uninspiring and service non existent, much as it is if you travel SLF class ( self loading freight) on board. There is absolutely nothing premium about flying BA shorthaul other than the price. My flight was delayed yesterday and I looked to see if the earlier service had seats, £266 one way to get nothing on board and no lounge access. It would cost well over £300 to get Club. There was however a bus tour of T5 on arrival adding 30 minutescto the experience. It only took 60 minutes to fly from EDI to LHR.
  With No1 and plaza now offering serious lounge competition I have to question my need for status.

  • kt1974 says:

    10 Nov10 November 08:59

    I’m not sure what people expect from the BA Lounge when a oneway ticket on the one hour hop to London can cost as little as £50, half of which is taxes and fees

    On a separate note, I paid less than £100 for a non-flexible club ticket to LCY on Weds (which allows same day changes for free), knowing I might need to change to an earlier flight. Changing my flight took BA all of 30 seconds. Done with a smile and at no cost. Sometimes those cheap non-changeable tickets are a false economy…

    • Andrew says:

      10 Nov10 November 09:53

      Or as much as £424 one way.

      The trouble with the BA lounge in Edinburgh is that so many people commute to London on a regular basis that there is a considerable volume with high status. In the old days, BMI had two lounges. From memory it was Silver & Gold, then you went through another door from there into the Diamond(?) lounge.

      • Alan says:

        10 Nov10 November 11:59

        The one through to the right with bmi was for Gold – wasn’t that different but sometimes quieter!

    • Rob says:

      10 Nov10 November 10:13

      It is there to get the long-haul traffic which connects at Heathrow – otherwise people would be tempted to jump on a Middle Eastern carrier or, to North America, one of the US flights that goes direct.

• Alan says:

  10 Nov10 November 07:54

  Again, very lucky re how quiet it was, is sometimes shut to PP cardholders nowadays.

  This was the old BA lounge in Edinburgh, before they took over bmi and refurbished their lounge. No toilets in this one, have to go outside and round the corner.

  If flying BA, Jet2, Flybe this is normally a better choice of lounge for being closer to departure gate.

• TripRep says:

  10 Nov10 November 08:34

  Good tip, how long are the 10 passes valid for & can you use two at once, ie for me & Mrs TripRep?

  • the real harry1 says:

    10 Nov10 November 09:24

    usage rules are the downside – no guests for free, I think guests cost £15 same as Lounge Club so won’t break the bank

    12 months but there are times you can get 15 months for the same deal, this would work for me if I could time it to get 2x Easter + 2x May/June half term in

• CV3V says:

  10 Nov10 November 08:36

  No.1 is always my preferred lounge at EDI, its usually much quieter and the food options are much better than the same old boring sandwiches the BA lounge offers. No it doesn’t have toilets, but that isnt a deciding factor for me!

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