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Where can you fly on British Airways from Terminal 3 for the Qantas and Cathay lounges?

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Long time readers of HfP will know that when you are flying from Heathrow Terminal 3 you are spoilt for choice when it comes to airline lounges.

The excellent Qantas lounge (review here) is regarded as one of the best business class lounges in the UK.  You also have the Cathay Pacific lounges (review) which are a great place to go if you have a British Airways Gold card and would like to enjoy free restaurant dining in their First Class lounge. The Business Class part isn’t too bad either.

If that wasn’t enough, American Express has also made Heathrow Terminal 3 its home for one of the first Centurion lounges to open outside the US. This lounge won your vote for ‘Best Independent Airport Lounge’ in the Head for Points Travel & Loyalty Awards 2023.

Heathrow Terminal 3 british airways flights

As well as the amazing Qantas and Cathay Pacific lounges, you can also visit the T3 American Airlines and British Airways Galleries lounges.  These are both perfectly acceptable but not in the same league as the others.  Anyone with Gold Guest List status with British Airways can try the new First Dining Room in the Galleries lounge.

If you have a Priority Pass card, there are also two good independent lounges – Club Aspire (review) and No1 Lounge (review).

Have you flown from Terminal 3 in a while?

All this means that Heathrow Terminal 3 is the place to be if you want to relax in style before a British Airways flight (unless, of course, you can use the BA Concorde Room in Terminal 5.)

Remember that you need to be travelling in Club Europe / Club World to access the lounges, or have a British Airways Silver card or above, or oneworld equivalent.  You will need a BA Gold card or equivalent to access the First Class private dining section of the Cathay Pacific lounge.

You should also note that not all the lounges are open all day, so they may not be an option for very early or late evening flights.

British Airways routes from Heathrow Terminal 3

Which British Airways routes operate from Terminal 3?

This list is for the Summer 2024 season, for flights from the end of March until the end of October. It is based on official British Airways documents.

You can also access these lounges with a business class flight on any other oneworld airline using Terminal 3.  A very attractive option would be the handful of Finnair’s Helsinki flights which use the new A350 long-haul aircraft which I reviewed here.  Book yourself in business class, for cash or Avios, and you can check out the new Terminal 3 lounges and then fly to Helsinki on a flat bed!

Note that this list is correct as of the time of writing but some routes may move between terminals at short notice or may operate across different terminals at different times in the Summer season.

British Airways short-haul and mid-haul routes from Terminal 3:

  • Billund
  • Bucharest
  • Budapest
  • Figari
  • Gibraltar
  • Gothenburg
  • Krakow
  • Ljubljana
  • Luxembourg
  • Lyon
  • Marseille
  • Olbia
  • Oslo
  • Perugia
  • Prague
  • Pula
  • Sofia
  • Stuttgart
  • Valencia
  • Vienna
  • Zagreb

British Airways long-haul routes from Terminal 3:

  • Accra
  • Atlanta
  • Austin
  • Bahamas
  • Bahrain
  • Cayman Islands
  • Las Vegas
  • Phoenix
  • Sao Paulo
  • Turks and Caicos
  • Vancouver
Cathay Pacific lounge Heathrow Terminal 3

Which lounge should you visit in Terminal 3?

I selflessly spent a day touring the various lounges in Terminal 3, and you can read my final rankings here.

If you have a British Airways Executive Club Gold card or are flying in First Class, the obvious choice is the Cathay Pacific First Class lounge, reviewed here. You can also visit the American Airlines First lounge, review here. Or why not try both?

If you have a British Airways Executive Club Silver card, it is a toss up between the Cathay Pacific Business Class lounge, reviewed here and image above, and the Qantas London Lounge, reviewed here. Of course, you can try both – plus the British Airways and American Airlines lounges too.

If you don’t have status but do have an American Express Platinum card, you can visit The Centurion Lounge, reviewed here.

If you don’t have any status but do have a Priority Pass, there is a No1 Lounge in Terminal 3, reviewed here. You can guarantee entry by paying £6 to reserve a spot via this website. Bookings for cash can be made here. There is also a Club Aspire lounge in Priority Pass, review here, which can also be pre-booked.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

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

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You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Cathay Pacific and Asia Miles, oneworld alliance partners

Comments (67)

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

  • astra19 says:
    18 Feb18 February 13:28

    I was at T3 last week and ended up most comfortable in the BA F dining. We were the only people.

    Cathay was stuffy, busy and slow. Poor drinks too. I’m not sure why it’s raved about. Qantas was much better.

  • Gary says:
    18 Feb18 February 13:55

    Agree with you, since BA opened up the first dining area, that’s my go to place now. Comfortable, relaxed, excellent service and decent food. No power sockets unfortunately – it’s very much a dining room – but there are good places to sit and work in the main lounge, which Cathay First lacks. The Cathay lounges are decent lounges, but in my view don’t justify their seemingly mythical status and the level of adoration they receive.

  • Ervo says:
    18 Feb18 February 15:27

    I’m confused. I’m only a bronze card hiolder, but I’ve a paid for Business Class flight to Vienna (07.20 unfortunately). Am I stuck with a BA lounge or can I use any of the others?

  • Derek says:
    18 Feb18 February 15:36

    Weirdly, on Friday for the Las Vegas Flight, we boarded buses from T3.. to a T5 remote stand. What’s that all about?
    I also used the Qantas London lounge as it was quiet and chilled then went to the BA lounge for the range if drinks for the last hour. What a difference. Standards wise, for design and ambience it shows BA’s up as Waitrose vs Aldi!

    • Alex G says:
      18 Feb18 February 18:06

      In the March edition of Which?, Aldi is rated above Waitrose. A rating I personally agree with, as Waitrose has gone downhill in recent years.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        19 Feb19 February 00:32

        Rated above for what exactly? Food quality? Value? Look? Cleanliness?

        Also might have Waitrose bear on the first two the absolutely don’t on other other two

        • Londonsteve says:
          19 Feb19 February 14:21

          Even that depends. I have a recently opened Aldi near me, while it’s not trying to be ‘posh’, it is new, fresh with wide aisles, well illuminated and just a pleasant place to shop as it never gets too crowded. In comparison, my nearest Waitrose is looking tired with narrow aisles and water dripping through the ceiling in places. It doesn’t feel ‘premium’.

    • Paul says:
      18 Feb18 February 19:13

      It’s the BA way! If you arrive back late at night you are often parked in T5 with the tour of T5/3 which can 20 minutes. And it because cannot or will not tow the aircraft as it costs money.

      • Derek says:
        19 Feb19 February 16:55

        The previous inbound arrived at around Noon, and was parked at remote T5 til LAS dept at 16:10, so maybe a shortage of stands for flights at T3, so not sure why BA don’t have the flight at T5 and not waste time and cost of the transit buses

  • Lady London says:
    18 Feb18 February 15:40

    BA for those lovely wet bacon rolls, at 06.00am in the morning with whisky (tge drinks selection not too bad)

  • Michael C says:
    18 Feb18 February 17:21

    Which (if any) of the business-class lounges have returned to real-life magazines/newspapers?!

    • Stefan says:
      18 Feb18 February 18:51

      Cathay has the FT and my favourite newspaper, if only to annoy readers of this blog, the Daily Mail. 🙂

      • His Holyness says:
        18 Feb18 February 22:07

        As does Lufthansa at T2.

      • Lady London says:
        18 Feb18 February 22:09

        I’m sticking to my story that I only buy the Daily Mail for the TV supplement on Saturdays.

        Noting that most days in Waitrose the free newspaper that always disappeared the quickest by far, out of all the Nationals, was the Daily Mail. And not just weekends.

      • John says:
        19 Feb19 February 07:27

        I observed a little old lady pass up the Mail recently, and pay 10p more for something else. She surveyed all of the front pages carefully, and selected the only title that wasn’t screaming about Meghan and Harry, trans and woke. There is hope.

  • Aisak says:
    18 Feb18 February 17:49

    It’s impressive how BA’s LHR ops have grown over the years since T5 opening (and subsequent airline moves). At the earlier stages of T3 (after T5), BA only ops were the subfleet of 757 to MAD/BCN/NCE/LIS/HEL and the 3 LH ops shared with the Qantas JV SIN/SIN-SYD/BKK-SYD.

    • Paul says:
      18 Feb18 February 19:19

      BA have had a foothold in T3 for long before T5. PHL was one route till the corporate client that kept it afloat insisted it went back to T4.

      • Aisak says:
        19 Feb19 February 12:14

        Just before the T5 “grand” opening, T3 only housed MIA flights for BA.
        T3 didn’t house BA ops post Mar27th-2008 until the 757 subfleet moved there from T1 about a year later.
        Regarding LongHaul HKG, JNB, LAX, NRT, SFO, YVR were at T1 and the rest at T4
        Regarding Shorthaul I don’t have the specific split (apart from Domestic and GB Airways being housed at T1). The only info I recall is that all 320-series moved overnight from T1 and T4.
        GB airways and its aircraft were not part of the move as it was effectively withdrawn the day before. And the 757-subfleet was retained at T1 (later at T3) for that handful of euro-routes above (the un-containerized remedy)

        I think T3 has never housed so many BA ops than now.

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