British Airways Terminal 5B Galleries Club lounge refresh coming to Heathrow

British Airways is refurbishing its Heathrow Terminal 5B Galleries Club lounge over the summer. Quite why it chose the summer – the busiest period of the year – to do this is a mystery ….

The upgrade will include “new and reupholstered furniture, as well as a refreshed layout.”

Note that it is only a ‘refresh’ and not the full back-to-basics refurbishment which the lounges at Heathrow need. This is largely just a (literal) reshuffling of furniture and, I hope, a temporary improvement until something bigger can be done.

At the heart of the lounge refresh will be the installation of a dedicated Whispering Angel rosé bar. This is the a la mode LVMH rosé from Caves d’Esclans which is already available on board in Club and First (and which Virgin Atlantic is also offering this summer).

I don’t get the hype around Whispering Angel personally, but it is very on-trend and I’m sure it will be attractive to some. BA describes it thus:

“Château d’Esclans’ Whispering Angel boasts a delicate Provençal pink hue, spoiling customer with sun-kissed creamy flavours of peach and raspberries, with refreshing citrus undertones and a smooth, dry finish.”

If you fancy a glass but can’t make it to the T5B lounge, it is also available across all of BA’s First and Club lounges at Heathrow and Gatwick.

No completion date for the lounge refresh has been given beyond “the coming months”. By the sounds of it, the lounge will remain open throughout.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 2023)

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.

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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

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.

EDIT: Applications for this card are temporarily suspended due to IT issues with the British Airways On Business SME loyalty scheme.

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.