British Airways moves 12 long haul routes from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3

British Airways is moving a decent chunk of its long haul operation from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3 from next Spring.

12 routes will be operating from Terminal 3 instead of Terminal 5, allowing qualifying passengers to enjoy the Cathay Pacific and Qantas lounges (forget the British Airways ones!) and the American Express Centurion lounge.

Which long haul routes are moving to Terminal 3?

These are routes moving from the start of the Summer 2023 timetable on 26th March:

• Accra
• Austin
• Bahrain
• Bermuda
• Grand Cayman
• Las Vegas
• Nairobi
• Nassau
• Providenciales
• San Diego
• Sao Paulo
• Vancouver

Some of these routes operated from Terminal 3 between April and July in Summer 2022, before British Airways chose to consolidate all long-haul flights in Terminal 5.

The changes are already reflected at ba.com.

Note that earlier reports that Phoenix flights were moving to Terminal 3 were incorrect. British Airways has now sent out emails to passengers saying that they were informed in error.

Which lounge should you visit in Terminal 3?

If your flight is now operating from Terminal 3, you will be able to access some world class airport lounges. Don’t bother with the British Airways or American Airlines offerings!

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, image above.

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 the Qantas London Lounge, reviewed here.

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, but this cannot be prebooked.

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

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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:

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

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.

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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.

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.

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