Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways Terminal 5B lounge refresh: details of Phase Two revealed

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Back in July, British Airways teased that it was ‘refreshing’ the Galleries lounge at Terminal 5B.

Phase One of this process was the installation of a Whispering Angel bar (below) forming a new centre-piece to the lounge – well, perhaps not ‘centre-piece’ as it’s tucked away near the play room!

This coincided with the rollout of LVMH’s Château d’Esclans Whispering Angel rose in the lounges as well as Rock Angel onboard in First.

BA Galleries Club T5B refresh

Furniture was also replaced and reupholstered. You can see more photos of it in Rob’s recent review from an early morning trip.

What is coming in Phase Two?

Phase Two is now in full swing, with a significant chunk of the lounge temporarily closed as the works take place.

Whilst this is not the full refurbishment that the lounge arguably needs, it will revitalise the space until that does, eventually, happen.

We received a number of reports on the changes from readers, and BA has confirmed to us that it will include:

  • A new live preparation / cooking area for made to order items
  • A new buffet servery for hot and cold food (this is now open)
  • The installation of a new floor around the Whispering Angel bar
  • A new ‘quiet space’ where the Elemis spa used to be

Rumours of a new, dedicated space for Gold members or First customers are unfounded, with British Airways confirming that 5B will continue to operate as a solely business class lounge.

The floor around the Whispering Angel bar was looking tired so this should freshen up the space, whilst the new live preparation station sounds intriguing. If it offers a made-to-order menu it would be a significant upgrade on the current food offering and a step up when compared to the Galleries South First lounge.

Work on the lounge should be completed in the next few weeks.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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 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 card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 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

30,000 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 £15,000 Read our full review

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (107)

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

  • Numpty says:
    6 Oct6 October 08:05

    Will they be putting some mouse traps down too? T5 galleries north last week, at about 9 pm saw a little furry critter running straight across the middle of the floor in the ‘outside’ seating area.

    • Novice says:
      6 Oct6 October 14:42

      OMG! I would have freaked…

      I saw one in Africa on safari and just about managed to not have a heart attack , telling my OCD that I’m in the wild so it is expected. But absolutely hate the idea of rodents anywhere where they can and should be controlled and got rid of.

      • Gordon says:
        6 Oct6 October 17:14

        You went all the way to Africa on a safari and just saw a rodent! I’d ask for a refund from the safari company !!!!

        • Novice says:
          7 Oct7 October 00:20

          LOL!

          No, I have been on 3 safaris so far and have seen most of the animals.

          • Gordon says:
            7 Oct7 October 01:27

            Sounds great.Did you see the big five!

            I’ve booked safari’s in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda for next August/September, for 3 weeks, Hopefully to witness the great migration, Visiting Masai Mara NP, Amboseli NP and Lake naivasha.

            Flying to Uganda,
            Chimpanzee tracking in Kalinzu Game reserve Park,
            Gorilla tracking – Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park
            Boat cruise along the Kazinga Channel – Queen ENP, Wildlife viewing in Queen Elizabeth NP.
            Looking forward to it.

  • astra19 says:
    6 Oct6 October 08:06

    I’m always a bit confused as to what the branded components are aiming at. For example, the Don Julio one in the GF lounge seemed like an information desk? I never saw any tequila at it! They had some cocktail mixes but for some reason took them away, along with all the tequila, at 7pm. So the branded section didn’t have anything from the brand in it!

    • Numpty says:
      6 Oct6 October 08:14

      Maybe the new live cooking area is actually a McDonalds, or a Five Guys (classier). The Glasgow lounge used to have a whisky ‘snug’ which seemed sponsored by the one distillery, that was a good example of how to do it.

      • Blenz101 says:
        6 Oct6 October 08:45

        Moet seem to do very well with the champagne lounge at DXB T3, even have some airport exclusives to promote the brand.

        Can watch a steady stream of people taking photos of the backlit wall installation.

    • Rhys says:
      6 Oct6 October 08:44

      I think I was the only one in the hour or so in the lounge that asked for any tequila when I was there. I did have an excellent chat with the attendant, though.

      • astra19 says:
        6 Oct6 October 08:55

        When I was there last week the person on duty had a slightly intimidating demeanour so I’m honestly not surprised! It looked more like a display than a bar.

      • Mutley says:
        6 Oct6 October 10:45

        I agree about the toilets, and I also spoke to the attendant, and we both agreed you can’t beat a whispering Angel before a long flight.

      • The Savage Squirrel says:
        6 Oct6 October 13:49

        Admit it – it’s because you’re the only person ordering a tequila at 7.30AM 😉 😉

  • dave says:
    6 Oct6 October 08:46

    I know I have been to the terminal b lounge a few times but havent clocked where I was flying, what routes are normally out of this terminal?

    • Rob says:
      6 Oct6 October 08:49

      Very likely to be B or C if long haul, very unlikely if short haul, although you get exceptions.

      • Richie says:
        6 Oct6 October 10:27

        Some early morning A321 short hauls use B gates, prior to the LH wide bodies arriving.

  • Tony says:
    6 Oct6 October 08:47

    Ooops…”unarguably” needs!

  • NorthernLass says:
    6 Oct6 October 08:48

    My first T5 departure this year (apart from domestics) is in December so this sounds good even though I’m not a fan of pink wine!

  • chelseafifi says:
    6 Oct6 October 08:53

    Is this the only LHR BA lounge that has the Rose Whispering Angel? Do they have it onboard short or long haul too?

    • Catalan says:
      6 Oct6 October 09:14

      It’s available on Virgin Atlantic in Upper Class

    • Rhys says:
      6 Oct6 October 09:23

      It’s meant to be all of them, but it seems to get drunken quite quickly in my experience. Not sure if they are stocking more bottles now.

    • Clayton says:
      6 Oct6 October 10:23

      @chelseafifi give me a minute and I’ll post a story to Instagram showing what the whispering angel area looks like ( pre current works taken about 3 weeks ago). Acc ID is: Elite_for_Less and I won’t be offended in the slightest if you unfollow after seeing the pics ( although you’re of course welcome to stick around)

    • Stu_N says:
      6 Oct6 October 11:38

      It’s generally available in the First lounge.

      Very thirst quenching given the Provençal summer temperatures that prevail in that place.

  • Ian says:
    6 Oct6 October 09:29

    I was in here last week and did not see the Whispering Angel bar.

    • yorkieflyer says:
      6 Oct6 October 09:44

      Last Friday there was just a pop up trestle table affair with the whispering Angel, quaffable if a bit bland in my view

    • Rob says:
      6 Oct6 October 09:57

      It’s currently boarded off for floor renewal. You wouldn’t have seen the kids play room either.

  • Greg says:
    6 Oct6 October 09:40

    Let’s hope they update the departure boards more frequently to let us know if we are leaving from 5A or not.

    Yes generally there is a short/long haul split, but I’ve flown to Istanbul a couple of times fr B and once had to take a bus to a 777 from A

    • Londonsteve says:
      6 Oct6 October 11:17

      Lucky you to get a triple seven! IST is generally served with A32 metal these days. Must have been some odd cargo requirement.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!