Review: the new British Airways airport lounge in Geneva
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
This is our review of the new British Airways lounge at Geneva Airport.
British Airways reopened its lounge at Geneva Airport last Friday.
Having failed to see the new-look lounges in Johannesburg or San Francisco yet (not unreasonable to be fair) or Rome or Milan (admittedly closer to home), I popped over to Switzerland yesterday to take a look. HfP paid all of its own costs.
The lounge is a big success, I’m pleased to report. BA can’t do anything about the location, tucked upstairs in a slightly rundown part of the terminal, but all of the Geneva lounges are in the same boat.
It started well when I discovered that Geneva now has the new bag scanners in place which means that your electronics and liquids can stay inside. Life will be a lot easier when these are fully rolled out across all major airports.
I have used quite a few PR pictures in this review. This is because it was dark when I was in the lounge, so the lighting was not ideal. All of the PR photographs are fully accurate representations of what you will find.
To quote BA:
“The lounge has been carefully curated to give guests a warm welcome and offer a place to relax or work prior to their travels. The space, which has been extended to 327 square metres, is carefully laid out to offer designated areas that are designed to meet different customer needs.”
It is a big space. And here is the best bit, for anyone who has been in the atmosphere-free new New York JFK lounges:
“Zoned areas in the lounge will enable guests to choose what area they would like to relax in depending on their mood, with a music system and bespoke playlist.”
It is worth noting that the Geneva lounge, with its limited capacity, is broken up into four distinct zones, whilst the huge new New York JFK business lounge is virtually one cavernous open space. Luckily BA will be switching terminals at JFK in 2022.
There are two reception desks as you enter the lounge, only one of which was manned when I arrived:
Off to your left as you enter is the new craft beer room:
This features Brewdog on tap, which will certainly appeal to a lot of people:
It is currently serving Punk IPA and Indie Pale Ale.
The handful of newspapers by the entrance do not exactly give off a classy image:
…. but there is a wider selection tucked away at the other end of the lounge. There are virtually no magazines however.
Here is a view looking down the lounge, with my back to the craft beer area:
I’ll mention at this point that wi-fi is blindingly quick, especially for uploads. What the lounge misses is somewhere ideal for working.
The only ‘proper’ chairs with a table are in the eating area above, which have no plug access. There is nowhere where you can sit at a ‘proper’ chair and place your laptop in front of you on a desk or flat surface whilst having it plugged in. I ended up sitting on a stool which wasn’t great for my back.
Sockets are not in short supply, I’m pleased to say, except in the dining area above. There is a good mix of Swiss, UK and USB sockets. Virtually every seat in the lounge has all three sockets available. Well done BA!
Here is the bar and buffet area, in the centre of the lounge:
For some reason BA included a photo of the bar in the London Gatwick lounge in their press release (it was marked as such) which some other websites have mistakenly used. The bar is not as flash as that, but does look good.
There is a good range of wines and spirits on the bar. There is also a ‘gin and tonic mixing area’ where you can help yourself to a selection of gins (including Swiss brand 1616 which was new to me), Fever-Tree, ice and lemon.
Prosecco is also available.
The food is good. The sandwich selection was not up my street (chicken curry or hummus and salad) but there was also mushroom soup, a hot chicken dish and a hot pasta dish in the early evening. There was also a cheese selection, a decent range of salad and bread and two cakes (chocolate and apple). It is as impressive as you will ever see in a British Airways European lounge.
Here is the salad, sandwiches and cheese:
Head down to the second coffee machine at the far end of the lounge and you will be rewarded by a few jars of sweets as well.
Here are another couple of general PR shots:
and
Is the new British Airways Geneva lounge worth a visit?
Absolutely. British Airways has done a great job here, and if you have BA or oneworld status it is well worth ensuring that you fly on BA in order to squeeze in a visit.
If BA could pick up the pace of short-haul lounge refurbishments beyond the current 1-2 per year then it would have a compelling network very quickly. The current design scheme works well and deserves to be rolled out more fully.
PS. Whilst Geneva is not overrun with tourist attractions, it makes an attractive and low cost day trip.
Switzerland isn’t cheap, of course, but I don’t know any other airport which gives visitors a free train ticket to get them into the city. There is a ‘no charge’ vending machine in the baggage hall next to the exit. The train back is only CHF 3 and is very quick. You could easily spend a day in Geneva, including a modest lunch in a prix fixe restaurant, and spend under £50 including transfers – the costs only start to ratchet up if you need a hotel. You don’t even need to bother getting any local currency (I didn’t).
Finish off your day with an hour in the new BA lounge and you’ve got yourself a good day trip! The lounge is open from 6am to 9.30pm.
PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.
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.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review
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.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
Run your own business?
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.
Capital on Tap Visa
NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review
Capital on Tap Pro Visa
10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review
There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:
British Airways American Express Accelerating Business
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.
American Express Business Platinum
50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
riku2 
The Original David 
John 
Riku2 
Shoestring 
sloth 
Doug M 
marcw 
ankomonkey 
Marcw 
Genghis 
Anna 
richmond 
C F Frost 
TripRep 
bsuije 
James 
Lady London 
Rob 
Comments (38)