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British Airways opens a ‘Concorde Room Lite’ at Heathrow Terminal 3 – but not for Gold Guest List

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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 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:

BA Galleries First Heathrow T3 window seating

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.

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Comments (107)

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

  • Tony says:
    12 Jun12 June 06:26

    The BA job experience kid tries his best…but always screws up! Another farce to upset Sean’s Premium pax!

  • Andrew J says:
    12 Jun12 June 06:40

    The list of T3 destinations has always been very dynamic and there’s been plenty of times over the last few years when flights with First have operated from T3. I used to fly to MIA from T3 regularly on A380 in First, but the CX First lounge was more than adequate.

  • James C says:
    12 Jun12 June 06:45

    Very disappointing. Had half expected this would be restricted to ticketed F but even still it’s not as if there is a shortage of room in the T3 lounges to have created a large enough space to accommodate GGLs too. What I do find disgraceful is that AA CKs get access when GGLs don’t- these are your highest value customers at your base airport what message is that sending?

    • MJB says:
      12 Jun12 June 11:53

      100% agree with this. The message is clear. If you’re a ‘Premier’ and control travel budgets they care – otherwise they don’t

    • Mike says:
      12 Jun12 June 15:38

      Considering when I was in the T3 BA lounge in April they were begging people on the tannoy to leave and go to the other lounges, there’s certainly a shortage of something.

  • lumma says:
    12 Jun12 June 07:11

    I’d be very surprised if BA is charged £100 per lounge visit. Several times I’ve tried to enter the American Airlines lounge when flying BA (I want some free pick n mix), the receptionist has said something like “you’re flying BA today, do you know your can use their lounge”. Both ok business class tickets and as a silver.

    • LittleNick says:
      12 Jun12 June 07:42

      Oh interesting, I’m flying out of T3 this week, was contemplating just skipping the AA Lounge but maybe I’ll try it and see if I get this response

    • Bagoly says:
      12 Jun12 June 08:09

      For flights within the AA-BA+ JV between UK and USA, is there any net financial effect?
      i.e. on a BA ticket, does any cost of use of an AA lounge go into the shared pot?

    • Kevin C says:
      12 Jun12 June 08:39

      I was allowed in AA business lounge with no issues a few weeks ago. It was busy. Not a huge selection of pick n mix but nice jerk chicken. The first lounge sweets are just in their entrance and are clearly superior.

    • astra19 says:
      12 Jun12 June 08:50

      That has happened to me before too. I took it to mean “our lounge isn’t that great”. And to be honest that’s true, but I wanted some sweets.

    • John says:
      12 Jun12 June 10:48

      I’ve been told it’s along the lines of US$80 for F and US$60 for J by several sources , but that was before covid and high inflation, however whenever I repeat this on forums someone comes by and says I’m completely wrong

  • Archie says:
    12 Jun12 June 07:33

    Very surprised to read the cost charged to BA as ‘rumoured to be over £100’ for a partner lounge visit. I regularly stop in at all 4 oneworld lounges (7 if you count the first & biz) and when flying to Gibraltar or Luxembourg from T3 on sub £100 tickets. Had no idea this was so expensive for BA.

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:
      12 Jun12 June 07:41

      I doubt it’s over £100, at least for the business (silver) lounges but I’m sure you realised that lounge hopping on a cheap ticket means they’re making a loss on you. It’s fine to do on occasions but for those flying regularly from T3 it’s probably best if they stick with their favourite rather than lounge hopping. Sites like HfP should promote how excellent the BA lounge is and leave the other lounges for those who know better 😁

      • Rob says:
        12 Jun12 June 07:42

        Cathay F is almost certainly over £100.

        Remember that Cathay opened its T3 lounges again BEFORE THEY EVEN STARTED FLIGHTS because the lounge made so much money from BA, AA etc that it was worth doing. If its such a slam dunk, even after giving you a full table service restaurant meal with all the champagne you want, we can assume the fee is high.

        • Save East Coast Rewards says:
          12 Jun12 June 07:54

          How much for the business lounges? I’d say £50-60 would be about right. Although then again at certain times of day the QF lounge does at seat dining. I doubt the lounges can charge different amounts depending on the service offered at the time of day

          • Londonsteve says:
            12 Jun12 June 15:47

            I think the Qantas lounge charges £60 to any walk up visitor and I’d be very surprised if One World alliance airlines were being asked to pay the same price! I was initially surprised that a) you could buy entry to the QF lounge considering it’s a space shared by Qantas’ First passengers and, b) that the fee was ‘only’ £60 considering some third party lounges are charging £35 and offer a fraction of the quality and experience (buffet food, measly drink pours and so on). It would be incredibly easy to spend £60 on food and drink in T3 if you were hungry, thirsty and drink alcohol, especially if you’re looking for something more sophisticated than just a pint of beer.

        • Bagoly says:
          12 Jun12 June 08:12

          Interesting comparison with the rumoured costs of food onboard.
          Pre-covid (and recent inflation) I read £15 in Business and £40 in First.
          Lounges do involve real estate costs as well as the alcohol.

          • Rob says:
            12 Jun12 June 08:33

            Or £5 if you’re United 🙂

          • AJA says:
            12 Jun12 June 08:58

            Those costs (pre-covid) seem about right to me based on my experience working for airline caterers prior to 2011.

            The reality is that the caterers aren’t buying the food from Sainsbury’s or Tesco. Plus there are economies of scale involved.

            As for the alcohol it is all acquired duty free and held in secure bonded warehouses so costs literally a fraction of the price we pay as consumers, not forgetting of course, that the price you pay at Tesco includes a substantial markup for Tesco.

          • Gordon says:
            12 Jun12 June 10:07

            Can you imagine the lounge cost if tobacco was available, As it was many years ago, As well as alcohol. I purchased a 500G box of tobacco.(With OH so within my limits) as a gift in duty free on the way back to the uk yesterday and the cost was 58USD Approximately £47 and the same quantity in Tesco for example is £330!.

          • Gordon says:
            12 Jun12 June 10:15

            Just seen AJA’s post after I posted mine!
            So maybe not so relevant now….

          • Gordon says:
            12 Jun12 June 10:25

            @AJA, I would say that spirits in duty free shops now are not much different in price from the main stream supermarkets now. So much so that I rarely purchase any,
            Bombay and Tanqueray for example were 27USD around £22 yesterday in Punta Cana, I regularly see that price in Tesco for example!

      • Archie says:
        12 Jun12 June 09:45

        Of course there’s a cost to BA which might make my individual travel not profitable on occasion, but this needs to be offset against the higher fares/additional travel incurred obtaining status with the airline. Both my wife and I are gold from purely discretionary leisure travel. The partner lounges are part of the product being sold.

        • lumma says:
          12 Jun12 June 12:59

          @gordon supermarkets are extremely cheap for spirits and when I’ve ran independent restaurants I’ve often used them for buying instead of our actual suppliers. Even Waitrose on the King’s Road would often sell our house gin (beefeater) for roughly the same as the supplier but with VAT included.

          Airport duty free prices are a rip-off unless you really want an “airport exclusive” bottle. Flying back from Mexico without checked luggage I was going to buy some tequila in the airport but it was more expensive than buying it here. Leaving the UK and flying back from Ireland post Brexit are the only exceptions.

          • Mikeact says:
            12 Jun12 June 15:58

            Except that you won’t get Tanqueray or Bombay @ 43% in Tesco.

          • Gordon says:
            12 Jun12 June 17:43

            @Londonsteve, In CW I am served champagne basically as soon as my arse hits the seat and the plane is firmly on the tarmac in London, I may even ask for one more while boarding continues so that theory is incorrect!

          • Rob says:
            12 Jun12 June 17:50

            No you’re not, not at airports in countries which charge duty when alcohol is consumed on the ground. BA is too mean to pay in these scenarios.

          • Gordon says:
            12 Jun12 June 17:46

            I’m referring to BA, So I guess they are breaking the rules to some extent if it is true!

          • Gordon says:
            12 Jun12 June 18:17

            @Rob Yes I am, So BA is definitely bending the rules! I’m not imagining it, I’ve definitely been served alcohol in CW on British soil before the plane has taken off on every time in a J seat!!!!

          • Rob says:
            12 Jun12 June 20:04

            UK not a problem. Some other countries are a problem pre take off.

          • Gordon says:
            12 Jun12 June 20:26

            “not at airports in countries which charge duty when alcohol is consumed on the ground. BA is too mean to pay in these scenarios”. @Rob, Im confused, As this was exactly my point re my comment to Londonsteve, Should BA be serving alcohol on the tarmac being a country that charges duty on alcohol consumed on the ground or not

          • Rob says:
            12 Jun12 June 21:16

            Some countries treat aircraft on the runway as being ‘in the country / landside’ and charge duty if you open a bottle. Other countries treat the runway as ‘airside’ and outside duty rules. Apparently.

          • Gordon says:
            12 Jun12 June 21:42

            “Apparently” So I am still unsure? Well as long as BA are confident enough to serve me Champagne on a flight before take off I’ll let them deal with the consequences!

        • AJA says:
          12 Jun12 June 14:50

          @Gordon I wasn’t suggesting passengers buying alcohol “duty free”. BA doesn’t pay anywhere near the price of even the “duty free” price we see as passengers as that has a markup allowing the airport shops to make a profit. If I remember correctly the cost of a litre of Tanqueray, for example, to BA was in the order of 20% of the retail price at Tesco ie incredibly cheap. Of course there was also a bulk purchase discount as well given the quantities being consumed.

          • Gordon says:
            12 Jun12 June 15:27

            Thank you, That’s an Interesting insight.

          • Londonsteve says:
            12 Jun12 June 15:53

            Is it legal to serve duty free alcohol airside? I thought it’s only for passengers to be consumed in-flight, i.e. once you’re off UK soil and that it’s for this reason some airlines won’t offer an alcoholic welcome drink for Business passengers before departure, you have to wait until you’ve taken off and the on board bar is opened. It’s also why the on board bar has to be locked and sealed before landing in the UK. Granted, even if airlines are having to serve duty paid alcohol in their lounge, they’ll be buying it wholesale for a remarkably low price compared to even a supermarket special offer. Duty paid alcohol is not all that expensive in the UK anymore compared to many locations in the world; it used to be among the most expensive!

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:
    12 Jun12 June 07:34

    It probably is the old dining area. This is pretty much what the access rules used to be back when it was run as a first class dining room. It just seems like they’re going back to pre-2012

  • Dev says:
    12 Jun12 June 07:52

    Whatever happened to those Concorde Bars with secret codes to access?

    • Metty says:
      12 Jun12 June 08:00

      Isn’t there one of those at Singapore still? Again, no entry for GGLs not flying F.

      • Rob says:
        12 Jun12 June 08:23

        Singapore and Dubai. Dubai was inviting basic Gold when I was there last October.

  • Ed says:
    12 Jun12 June 07:53

    Feels a bit unlikely that as much as £100 – when I last attended T3 Qantas in Feb they were offering walk-up direct to passenger rates of about £50 (albeit on a very quiet day)?

    • Andrew. says:
      12 Jun12 June 08:37

      “Cash Only”?

    • Lady London says:
      12 Jun12 June 10:51

      Marginal revenue. Great if your fixed costs are already covered by other mean eg airline contracts.

      “Not fair” of course but will work for them.

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