Review: the impressive British Airways lounge at Johannesburg OR Tambo Airport

This is our review of the British Airways lounge in Johannesburg OR Tambo Airport.

The Johannesburg lounge was one of the first international lounges to get BA’s new lounge concept, first introduced in 2018. Unfortunately, not long after it reopened, covid happened and the lounge was closed.

The lounge is now back open and, as a result of the long closure, it is effectively still brand new.

As I was flying back from Mauritius via Johannesburg I thought I would give it a look, and I was impressed with what I saw.

The lounge is open daily from 3pm until 10:15pm.

Who can use the British Airways lounge in Johannesburg?

Anyone flying in Club (business class) or First on British Airways is invited to use the BA lounge in Johannesburg.

You can also get access if you are oneworld Sapphire or Emerald (equivalent to BA Silver or Gold, respectively) if you are flying a oneworld airline in any class, including Qatar Airways.

Where is the British Airways Johannesburg lounge?

The lounge is located in Terminal A, the International Terminal of OR Tambo Airport, just after security.

Head towards gates A7 to A30. It is on the mezzanine level, together with the Emirates and South African Airways lounges:

As you come out of the escalators do a u-turn and you’ll see it directly in front of you:

Inside the British Airways lounge at OR Tambo

After scanning your boarding pass at the reception desks you head straight in to the lounge. First up is the main bar, which you may recognise in style from some of BA’s other recent lounge refurbishments:

and

You also have some casual seating around the bar, plus bar stools and a few dining tables to the right. A big abstract painting is mounted on one wall:

To the right of this painting is also where you’ll find the toilets and showers.

The bathrooms are very classy – on par with the Cathay Pacific lounges at Heathrow T3 (review here). They are clad in a beautiful beige stone with grey gold/brassy fittings. This is NOT a PR photo:

The showers, of which there are a handful, are in the same style. I didn’t manage to get a photo but I did get a peak into one whilst it was being cleaned and they look very smart. They put the showers in the Heathrow lounges to shame! It genuinely feels upscale.

The rest of the lounge is then divided into separate zones and rooms, which helps to break up the 880 square metre facility and create cosier lounge areas. Immediately after the bar you have a buffet with much more restaurant style seating:

To the right is the Concorde Dining Room, which looks very classy in red velvet:

and

This is only open to people flying on a First ticket – status won’t get you in. Unfortunately I was flying Club so I wasn’t able to try it out but my experience with Concorde Dining Rooms in other BA lounges including at Washington Dulles is very good. You can find out more about BA’s pre-flight dining here.

Deeper into the lounge you’ll find a large boardroom and high desks along the window. There are plug sockets everywhere and I imagine this would make a good spot to work from. As you can see there’s also a printer.

The bar stools overlook the terminal concourse – unfortunately the lounge has no external windows with views across the tarmac, although it manages to do well with what it’s given and lots of clever lighting to brighten things up.

Opposite the board room you’ll find a series of more casual rooms featuring armchairs:

and

Again, British Airways has gone all-in on providing charging opportunities, with numerous plug sockets and USB ports at every single table:

The only thing missing was physical newspapers and magazines!

Food in the British Airways lounge in Johannesburg

Whilst there isn’t a huge amount of choice, the quality of the food in the lounge is good. There is a small buffet next to the bar offering bar snacks including a charcuterie and cheese board:

But the main food on offer is in the main buffet next door, next to a self-serve drinks fridge:

This includes a choice of three salads:

Hot options included vegan lentil ‘simmer’ with rice and coconut chicken curry and soup:

Nachos were also available.

And whilst the lounge still had online-ordering stickers at tables you could only order a couple of things from the buffet this way – there were no additional items available.

Union coffee machines and soft drinks stations are dotted throughout the lounge:

Conclusion

And that’s it! The lounge is bigger than it appears when you first enter, and if you don’t explore you might miss out on an area more suited to your preferred seating. In total, there is space for around 250 guests, which is about right given that BA often runs two A380s per day to Johannesburg. At full capacity, that’s around 222 First and Club World passengers, before you factor in anyone with status travelling in lower cabins.

That said, whilst it was busy when I first arrived it certainly didn’t feel crowded. It was a far cry from the Heathrow lounges where you’ll often struggle to find a seat if you’re not travelling alone. Once the A380 flight boarded (I was on the A350) it got a lot better.

The Johannesburg BA lounge is better than the British Airways Heathrow flagship lounges pretty much any way you measure it: quieter, much more modern and stylish and with bathrooms and showers look like they’ve been transplanted from a 5* hotel rather than the the smelly, plasticky toilets you’ll find at Heathrow.

We can only hope that British Airways introduces the same quality and style to their flagship lounges if and when they are refurbished.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (December 2023)

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 Plaza Premium, Delta Air Lines and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey 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.