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British Airways is building a new (and new style) lounge in Miami

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On Monday night Sean Doyle, Chairman and CEO of British Airways, invited us round to his lounge – the Heathrow Terminal 5 Arrivals Lounge, that is – for Christmas drinks.

He made a number of announcements, including BA’s first Avios-only long haul flight (to Dubai) and the launch of three BA Cityflyer routes from Stansted.

That wasn’t all, however.

British Airways is building a new lounge in Miami

Sean confirmed the rumoured new lounge in Miami, due to open in the first half of 2025.

Miami is a strong winter sun route for BA. Over the winter months, it often sends two laden A380s there every day, each of which can take up to 111 business class and first class passengers.

Whilst there is already a good American Airlines Flagship Lounge at the airport, it may not be big enough to cater to the sheer volume of premium passengers – especially when you factor in elite members in World Traveller and World Traveller Plus.

What is arguably more intriguing is that the lounge will feature a “brand-new design concept”. Before Covid, British Airways was in the process of refurbishing some of its lounges with a new-ish concept anchored around a central bar and featuring brass accents and rich burgundy velvet (see above).

BA’s most recent new lounges, in collaboration with American Airlines at New York JFK Terminal 8, also deviated from its existing design language.

British Airways is building a new lounge in Miami

I spoke to Calum Laming, Chief Customer Officer at BA, who is in the final stages of signing off the design for the Miami lounge. He told me it was an excellent space with windows on three sides, but that construction would take some time because it had not previously been a lounge and needed comprehensive rebuilding. He wouldn’t tell me anything else!

A lease agreement spotted by the South Florida Business Journal points to a ~13,000 square foot (1,200 sqm) facility on the fourth floor of Concourse E. Miami-Dade County estimates that construction costs will be $16 million and that it will receive over $13 million in rent and other fees over the course of the ten-year agreement.

Monthly rent would be just over $140,000 whilst BA would also pay the county 18% of its gross revenues from liquor sales and 10% from the sale of other amenities.

At 1,200 sqm, the new lounge is roughly the size of the Qantas London Lounge at Heathrow T3, which can accommodate around 230 passengers.

More details about the lounge are due to be released in 2024, when we will hopefully see some renders and get a taste for what we can expect.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (47)

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

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
    13 Dec13 December 05:20

    Interesting tidbit there info the cost of operating lounges.

    That’s over £ 1m a year in rent alone before they’ve even turned on the lights and staffed the place and paid for food and drink and toilet paper and napkins and dishwasher tablets and so on and so on

    • newsmike says:
      13 Dec13 December 07:01

      so about £10 per passenger visit
      (approx 125 passengers per flight x2 per day x 365 days )

  • Dohabear says:
    13 Dec13 December 06:09

    Much as your site is interesting, let’s be honest, as usual it is focused, as BA is, on all the lovely facilities that people around London enjoy. BA is not interested in anywhere north of London other than underserved expensive shuttle connections. Yet another example returning to a 4th London airport. How about getting into Sean Doyle’s ear about that!?

    • Rob says:
      13 Dec13 December 07:24

      We believe other travel websites are available 🙂

      It’s a happy co-incidence for us that BA’s core customers (and therefore our readers) are mainly higher paid Londoners which allows us to charge high prices for advertising, run 500-person events, get to review luxury hotels etc.

      Well-paid people are also generally underserved online. There are 50 websites on how to get 241 cinema tickets etc for every one looking at discounted business class flights.

      • Dohabear says:
        14 Dec14 December 05:57

        I would have thought that reply was a joke normally but sadly it displays all that is wrong with this country. Enjoy your life as a highly paid Londoner.

    • Rich says:
      13 Dec13 December 07:31

      Yep, it’s shocking given the extortionate price we pay to read these pages isn’t it?

      • Stu_N says:
        13 Dec13 December 08:16

        They run 20+ flights a day from my local airport and another dozen from the airport 45 mins along the road and some useful seasonal flights. They have dedicated lounges at both airports.

        OneWorld partners and BA codeshares operate from both airports. I live north of London.

        Maybe you live in the wrong bit?

        • Numpty says:
          13 Dec13 December 08:24

          45 minutes? Even when the overtaking lane isn’t being hogged that’s a push.

    • WearyTraveller says:
      13 Dec13 December 09:44

      Living in the countryside is a choice you are free to move to London. Nobody forces you to live outside.

  • Sapiens says:
    13 Dec13 December 06:28

    The only ‘design language’ visible in the lounge pics in this article is “premium city-centre weatherspoons circa 2011”

    • TooPoorToBeHere says:
      13 Dec13 December 14:47

      It’s 30 years since the viable blue LED was invented and people are still basing whole interior design setups around it 🙁

  • iHK says:
    13 Dec13 December 06:53

    “BA would also pay the county 18% of its gross revenues from liquor sales and 10% from the sale of other amenities” – is this a new revenue stream for BA? New design language, new strategy to sell liquor in lounges?

    • iHK says:
      13 Dec13 December 06:55

      Tongue in cheek – I’m aware that this is likely to be a standard clause in the lease agreement. I hope, anyway!

    • SBIre says:
      13 Dec13 December 14:39

      That line caught my eye too! I know many US airline lounges charge for drinks (you might get a voucher for one or two free ones as you enter) so I hope you are right and it is a standard clause. Having said that, I was in Doha last week and I think the new Louis Vuitton restaurant in the Qatar garden lounge charge for food and drink (I’m only a BA Gold so was not able to check)

  • NigelthePensioner says:
    13 Dec13 December 07:13

    The AA Flagship lounge at MIA is really good. Its quiet, clean and has a beautiful frosted glass closed off dining room for F passengers – Krug with that Sir? Superb!

  • Andrew J says:
    13 Dec13 December 07:17

    Would be a shame if F customers were no longer invited to AA Flagship Dining and have to make do with a buffet of reheated pasta in the BA lounge.

    • Rhys says:
      13 Dec13 December 08:24

      I think we will see some sort of First Dining Room as part of the lounge, given that many other of BA’s US lounges do.

      • Neil says:
        13 Dec13 December 08:47

        I think I would call the one in Chicago a dining closet

      • Cosmo175 says:
        13 Dec13 December 09:51

        The FFD at MIA is a huge step up from anything BA offers, it would be a real shame to lose access.

        • LittleNick says:
          13 Dec13 December 10:17

          What is going to happen to Flagship First Dining when American removes all their International F class on their fleets?

  • G Flyer says:
    13 Dec13 December 09:18

    Absolutely agree LittleNick. The pride, enthusiasm and positive attitude flowing from the Qantas guy feels World’s apart from BA’s standard “computer says no” view of us pesky customers being a thorn in their side!

    • PeteM says:
      13 Dec13 December 12:15

      There are people at BA who could achieve the same thing, if given the budget…

  • Duck Ling says:
    13 Dec13 December 09:47

    Could they PLEASE do something about the ‘Chicago Terraces Lounge’. Yep, still branded ‘Terraces’ because it is just like walking back into 1997. And not a good way.

    The lounge does not have a single window, the furniture is old and tatty, you will have to fight for a power plug and it is just sad and dingy.

    What’s more, with AA (and their excellent Flagship Lounge) is a train ride away in a different terminal.

    • sigma421 says:
      13 Dec13 December 09:58

      I believe BA is moving terminal soon and the AA Flagship will become the lounge of choice.

    • S says:
      13 Dec13 December 13:00

      I know the ORD lounge is pretty ropey but the staff are brilliant IMO, which goes a long way.

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

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