Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways Concorde Room lounges reopen

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

The Concorde Room lounges at Heathrow and New York JFK have reopened fully for the first time since March 2020.

For the past year, anyone travelling in First or with a Concorde Room Card had to visit the Concorde Terrace, a temporary set up located within the British Airways Galleries First lounge.

Whilst this was better than nothing, it wasn’t quite the Concorde Room.

British Airways Concorde Room

The good news is that both Concorde Rooms at Heathrow Terminal 5 and New York JFK are open and will be serving a handful of exclusive cocktails to celebrate:

“The new menu contains seven cocktails, with two unique British Airways serves designed in celebration of the airline’s heritage and iconic colleagues. The two special cocktails are named the Barton and Lawford after Lynn Barton, the first female British Airways pilot, and Bill Lawford, the first ever British Airways pilot in 1919.  The menu has been designed with a focus on the best of British seasonal ingredients that specifically embrace ‘in-flight’ and wind pollinated flavours.”

The Barton and Lawford cocktails will also be available in the Galleries Club lounges and First lounge.

Guests will continue to receive full table service, rather than the in-app ordering seen in the other lounges.

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 70,000 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

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (June 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 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 card

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 Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express Credit Card

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 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 points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 on the FREE standard card and 1 Avios per £1 on the Pro card. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 0.8 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 Card

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.

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

The American Express Business Gold Card

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (20)

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

  • GaryC says:
    2 Sep2 September 05:15

    I had a sneak preview last week of the terrace outside the CCR – my friends and I who were on the GF terrace were invited to sit there by an excellent BA lounge attendant. The Concorde nose cone in the corner is very cool, and the furniture has seemingly all been refreshed.

  • Mike P says:
    2 Sep2 September 05:34

    The CCR Terrace was in use when I was there last Friday. It’s a nice space but good to hear that the CCR has reopened, albeit for limited hours.

    Not all GGL members can access the CCR, you need to either be flying First or hold a CCR card.

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:
      2 Sep2 September 07:39

      For those interested in CCR access (correct me if I’ve got any of this wrong).

      I’m using the normal tier point amounts here, as opposed to the reduced amounts due to COVID.

      The first year to qualify for gold guest list (GGL) you need to earn a higher number of tier points (5000), then in subsequent years you need 3000 TP to renew.

      5000 is also the number needed to get a CCR card so all first year GGL will have access, but if you don’t hit 5000 when you renew you won’t get a CCR card. Therefore not all GGL card holders have CCR access.

      The current COVID reduced rate 2250TP for GGL renewal which doesn’t include CCR card or 3750 for CCR/first time GGL. So if you are doing lots of travel on routes still operating this might be a good year to go for it.

      Please note that currently the CCR closes early (around 15:00), the menu isn’t as substantial as usual (but a vast improvement over the current offerings in the other lounges) and the cabanas aren’t available.

  • Stu says:
    2 Sep2 September 05:58

    I was in the Galleries South Club lounge yesterday morning and it was mobbed! Staff were clearly overwhelmed with the number of folks and were struggling to keep up with orders. We ordered coffee and bacon rolls on arrival and waited over 10 minutes for the coffee and 20 minutes for the rolls. It certainly didn’t feel like a very premium experience, with dirty service items littered at countless tables. Have to say I actually felt sorry for the staff, some of whom were visibly stressed with workloads.

    • Gumshoe says:
      2 Sep2 September 06:27

      Back to normal then!

    • Andrew says:
      2 Sep2 September 08:09

      Let’s face it, Galleries Club lounges are like a staff canteen, and a not very nice one at that.

    • Stian says:
      2 Sep2 September 09:47

      I was in the Concorde Room (T5) yesterday. Disappointing service. I was there for an hour, waited 20 minutes for the menus and another 20 to order. My drink was delivered, the food never reached me before I had to leave. Staff was very friendly but they’re clearly overwhelmed. Top tip: Stop by the bar for your (first) drink when you arrive.

      • Will says:
        2 Sep2 September 13:23

        Rarely is the CCR experience what it should be based on the price of a first ticket. Took a bunch of friends there who don’t fly a lot and they were laughing at the “first class toilets”

    • paul says:
      2 Sep2 September 15:44

      Twas ever thus! We are talking about BA of course.

    • Char Char says:
      2 Sep2 September 16:20

      Last year orders arrived within 2minutes for me , sounds like they gave up!

  • The Original Nick. says:
    2 Sep2 September 06:23

    TAP GOLD via status match. I have dropped to Basic.

    • Rob says:
      2 Sep2 September 08:37

      I am expecting the same. This one didn’t quite work as planned. Dropping you is counterproductive though – where is the incentive to try them now?

    • S says:
      2 Sep2 September 08:38

      Was it your account that was matched, or were you gifted from a matched account? They cleaned up their IT flaws retrospectively and clawed back status in the latter cases. I know as I’m a victim of this.

    • AJA says:
      2 Sep2 September 12:55

      That’s disappointing. I am expecting the same. I thought TAP had a soft landing to Silver? Seems not. Oh well.

  • WaynedP says:
    2 Sep2 September 07:57

    Thank you for publicising PilotsTogether details, Rhys.

    Very important that we all look out for each other, especially in these times.

  • Robert says:
    2 Sep2 September 13:24

    Just to to edit the post re CCR room that it’s First passengers and CCR card holders that can access it. Plenty of GGLs out there without access (the majority I would think).

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 50,000 bonus points (worth 50,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Special offer: Get 30,000 bonus Hilton Honors points until 14th August 2025

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? Get the only free credit card with points which convert to Avios

Get points worth 20,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!