Why you should now be wary about visiting the Plaza Premium lounge in Terminal 5

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• Gary D says:

  6 Oct6 October 08:53

  As a Natwest Black account holder I received my DragonPass card last week but haven’t been through T5 yet, I was really looking forward to not having to use the Aspire lounge when I do. Are there really that many Black account customers all flying at the same time that it makes a noticeable difference?

  I used the No 1 lounge at T3 on Weds however, had to queue for 5 mins to get in and the check in staff did say that they are seeing many more DragonPass cards, all of which are Natwest branded. It was rammed when I got in too of course although the hot chicken panang didn’t take too long to arrive and was really nice!

  OT, ironically, is there anywhere on this site where one can just ask a question? It seems to me that nearly every page has Off Topic comments, changing the subject in the absence of having a Forum or such like to do so.

  • Polly says:

    6 Oct6 October 09:07

    Usually people ask a ? In the bits article. But it will be answered by someone if it’s spotted in any of the topics articles…

  • Shoestring says:

    6 Oct6 October 09:09

    Ironically? I fail to see the irony.

    Any article with Bits in the title is fair game for O/Ts – as is any article, any day when there’s no Bits.

    There only seems to be a small number of people so anal that it bothers them in any case.

    • Peter K says:

      6 Oct6 October 10:04

      It’s ironic that they were asking a question about where to ask a question.

      • Shoestring says:

        6 Oct6 October 10:14

        I think they just meant ‘btw’ or ‘incidentally’ – they could (I suppose) have said something along the lines: ‘sorry to offend the rule of asking O/Ts only in the right place but here’s an O/T’ – that’s not irony by a long stretch.

        Tragic anal irony, perhaps 🙂

      • Peter K says:

        6 Oct6 October 10:42

        It was still ironic though Harry, it was still ironic.

• Rivo says:

  6 Oct6 October 09:06

  Is there anyway of knowing if your flight is going to depart from Satellite B at T5?

  I’ve only been given the nod once at check in being told that the lounge is a lot more peaceful. Which of course it is.

  • Anna says:

    6 Oct6 October 09:15

    Most trans-Atlantic flights seem to go from B and C. If you google your flight number a couple of times before your travel date it will show which gate it left from so you can get a good idea.

  • Rob says:

    6 Oct6 October 09:18

    They do know when you check-in even though it isn’t displayed on the boards. If you ask they can tell you.

  • Richard G says:

    6 Oct6 October 09:45

    I always go to that lounge anyway. Doesn’t take a massive amount of time to get to A/C from there.

    • Mark says:

      6 Oct6 October 11:14

      +1, I always ask at check in and if departing from B or C head straight to the lounge in the B satellite

      • James says:

        6 Oct6 October 12:35

        Most widebodies operate with a minimum ground time of 90 minutes or thereabouts. More often it is longer.

        BA do all their own stand planning in Terminal 5. Therefore they know well in advance which gate it will be from and which tail number is operating the flight.

        The only caveat to that being a flight late off a stand or a tail switch due to a rotational issue.

        The reson they don’t announce the gate in advance is because it is a huge faff to try and get a plane full of people from the wrong gate to the right gate when that happens.

• Andrew-a says:

  6 Oct6 October 10:10

  We are passing through Terminal 5 next week, flying CE to Athens using a 2 for 1. I have just received my RBS Dragon Pass and had considered using this lounge but noticed in a previous article that champagne is charged for. As we won’t be needing food we will probably stick to the BA lounge although find it a bit strange they hide the champagne away in the kitchen. I also read this in a previous article or wouldn’t have known to ask the last time I was in T5.

  • Anna says:

    6 Oct6 October 11:12

    I think they hope people won’t be bothered to ask for it the Champagne! Once a lovely lady staff member came over to our table and asked if we’d like a glass but all the other times we’ve had to find someone then endure the face-pulling that the request seems to engender (and I do always ask nicely!!)

• Karen Briggs says:

  6 Oct6 October 10:11

  I was in here on Friday (4th October) from about 11.20am. Terminal 5 seemed to be busy but, the lounge was wonderfully quiet and almost empty at that time. I left a couple of hours later and there were a few more people there but, it certainly was nowhere near full

• Alex Sm says:

  6 Oct6 October 11:52

  Perhaps, Aspire will get less busy as a result?

  • Rob says:

    6 Oct6 October 12:01

    Shorter queue, that will be all. And nothing changes inside.

• Mark says:

  6 Oct6 October 11:55

  For T5, BA will always know what gate each flight is departing each day. It’s on the system. The reason they do not tell you is that gates can change. If a flight gets delayed, for example from C52 for an hour, that means a gate change for another flight. It’s a finely balanced operation, even though we all have our tales of woe, and want to dispute that fact. If you are in T5 Pier C and it changes to Pier B, I understand the only way back to Pier B or Pier A is to try and re-enter through flight connections (low success rate) or exit landside and come back through security to airside. I’d never go to Pier C unless the gate is displayed on the board. Maybe someone has more inside track on the workings of T5 than I currently have…. I fly to Dublin every 6 weeks. The Heathrow gate should be A23, especially for incoming flights and the need not to go through immigration. Last week I was told A3 at check in. It changed to A11, and ended up back at A2. There is much more movement in the A gate flights.

  • Genghis says:

    6 Oct6 October 12:01

    B->A walk in the tunnel

    • Craig says:

      6 Oct6 October 12:40

      The tunnel is underused and can be quicker than the shuttle. It is also 2-way.

    • the_real_a says:

      6 Oct6 October 15:09

      Tunnel life is surreal. I have seen a jogger wearing tight swimwear, a millennial riding a unicycle and people saying hello as they pass one another…

  • Alan says:

    6 Oct6 October 14:29

    I’m also suspicious it’s part of an agreement with LHR to keep people in the main shopping terminal that is T5A 😉

    For US flights I always head to the quieter B lounge ASAP.

• Tom says:

  6 Oct6 October 13:47

  I was there two weeks ago. It was very busy but the food was excellent. Had a quick bite to eat then moved onto the BA satellite lounge which was empty as always! So there you have it – get your grub in the Plaza Premium and your pre-flight beer in the BA lounge 🙂

• Alan says:

  6 Oct6 October 14:24

  Nooooo. Visited Aspire T5 for the first time last week – walked back out again as not a seat in sight. Really liked Plaza as an alternative to Galleries Club North, was handy for domestic flights and quieter.

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