Which British Airways UK lounges are open, which are closed and which will never reopen?

Whilst British Airways has lounges up and running in Heathrow Terminal 5, the situation elsewhere is a lot more fluid – and a lot less positive.

Shortly before I went to Gibraltar, British Airways decided to reinstate access to the VIP lounge in the airport. (Quick review – it is OK, there isn’t much else going on in the terminal anyway, and it has outdoor balcony seats overlooking the runway which you rarely find.) Unfortunately it hasn’t been as proactive in the UK.

This is the current position as far we know, in alphabetical order:

Aberdeen Airport

The British Airways lounge, above, is still closed but is expected to reopen at some point. There are no alternative arrangements in place.

Belfast City Airport

British Airways transferred management of this lounge to Aspire last year. In the last few days it has cancelled its contract with Aspire so you will no longer have access. There are no alternative arrangements in place.

EDIT: By coincidence, the Belfast City lounge reopened to British Airways passengers today.

Edinburgh Airport

The British Airways lounge is still closed but is expected to reopen at some point. There are no alternative arrangements in place.

Glasgow Airport

The British Airways lounge is still closed but is expected to reopen at some point. There are no alternative arrangements in place.

Jersey Airport

Whilst still BA-branded in places, this lounge has been run independently for some years. British Airways is no longer paying for access. There are no alternative arrangements in place – there are no other lounges …..

EDIT: by coincidence, Jersey is accepting BA passengers again from today

London Gatwick Airport

The British Airways lounges, above, in the South Terminal are still closed, with the few remaining BA flights departing from the North Terminal. It is unclear if British Airways will resume services from London Gatwick or not (see this article) due to the need to protect landing and take-off slots at Heathrow.

Manchester Airport

The British Airways lounge is permanently closed. There are no alternative arrangements in place. This article has a few photographs of the British Airways Manchester lounge if you want a reminder of how it was.

Newcastle Airport

The British Airways lounge is permanently closed and has already been stripped out. There are no alternative arrangements in place.

All in all, it isn’t hugely positive for British Airways travellers outside Heathrow …..

Which British Airways lounges are open at London Heathrow?

As a reminder, the current situation at Heathrow is that:

• Galleries Club South remains open at peak times

• Galleries First is open at all times, with Business Class passengers being allowed to use it when Galleries Club South is closed

• The Concorde Room (pictured above, before BA sold off the artwork!) is closed but a temporary lounge for ticketed First Class passengers and qualifying Gold Guest List members has opened on the terrace of Galleries First

• Galleries Club North remains closed

• Galleries Club in the ‘B’ satellite remains closed

The lounge in Terminal 3 is also closed, as is the entire terminal, along with the Terminal 5 Arrivals Lounge.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2024)

Here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Eurostar, Lufthansa and Delta Air Lines lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.