British Airways opens a ‘Concorde Room Lite’ at Heathrow Terminal 3 – but not for Gold Guest List
Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.
The rumours, it seems, were half-true. British Airways has opened a ‘Concorde Room Lite’ at Heathrow Terminal 3 but it hasn’t gone down well with many travellers.
The Concorde Room, for those who don’t know, is the lounge in Terminal 5 which is exclusively for the use of passengers travelling in First Class or those holding Gold Guest List or Premier status with British Airways.
(The Galleries First lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5 isn’t actually meant for anyone flying in First Class. It’s effectively the Gold Card lounge.)
British Airways is moving an increasing number of long haul flights over to Terminal 3.
Any regular HfP reader will know that there are some excellent lounges in Terminal 3 which can be used by BA elite members or anyone flying in Business or First.
You have the Qantas lounge (and, from 2025, a separate Qantas First Class lounge) and the Cathay Pacific Business and First Class lounges. These are well ahead of the BA offerings, and BA is charged a fee – rumoured to be over £100 – whenever a BA traveller uses them.
You also have two poor American Airlines lounges (reviews here and here) but I doubt many BA passengers are bothering with those. They are very quiet, however.
Terminal 3 now has a ‘Concorde Room Lite’ – but Gold Guest List members are banned
The British Airways lounge in Terminal 3 is split into a Business and First area. The First area, as per Terminal 5, is effectively the Gold Card lounge because until this month British Airways had no flights from Terminal 3 with First Class.
As per our most recent review, it is absolutely nothing to get excited about.
What has changed is that part of the First lounge has now been blocked out, given a coat of paint and relaunched as a ‘Concorde Room Lite’.
(EDIT: It turns out that the official name is ‘First Dining Room’)
Intriguingly, only the following people are allowed access:
- anyone flying in First Class on a oneworld flight, plus a guest
- British Airways Premier cardholders (click to learn how to become Premier) flying in any class
British Airways Gold Guest List members, who have Concorde Room access in Terminal 5, are NOT allowed to access this area.
The decision seems to be down to space, as the area only has a reported 12 tables. It is in the small room behind the bar:
It’s worth noting that there are only 16 BA First Class seats flying out of Terminal 3 per day (eight to Bermuda, eight to Bahrain). It’s not as if British Airways needed to create an extra lounge space to keep its First Class passengers happy.
A reader sent us a full suite of photographs this morning, so we will run a follow-up article tomorrow to show GGL members what they are missing.
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:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
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
25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £12,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
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
30,000 points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
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.
Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa
Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review
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.
British Airways Accelerating Business American Express
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.
American Express Business Platinum
40,000 points bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
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.
drdan 
Rob 
CT 
NorthernLass 
lumma 
His Holyness 
Nick 
Rob 
Paul 
mvcvz 
Sussex Engineer 
boredflyer 
Comments (107)