Gatwick BA lounge situation?

[Olly]

Am I right in thinking this is currently closed? And presumably no prospect of it opening soon?

Are business class passengers currently being offered a third party alternative?

[masaccio]

If your flight is at the North Terminal then you’re in the fairly rubbish Aspire Lounge. It’s probably no worse than a BA Club Lounge but it’s nowhere near as good as the First Lounge in the South Terminal which has some delicious breakfast options.

[Olly]

It is next month, so will be from North terminal (I thought all BA flights were there at present).

Isn’t Aspire in the South though, and No.1 lounge in the North?

[masaccio]

Maybe I am confusing my crappy third-party Gatwick lounges then. There was ‘table’ service for food which was edible at least but the contents of the buffet are barely that.

[FatherOfFour]

I believe its now no1 lounge at the north terminal for BA passengers. Aspire qas converted to an EasyJet lounge, as reported on here by Rob.

[Rob]

No, it was MyLounge that was converted into the easyJet lounge – albeit anyone can still use it on Priority Pass or cash.

I am 90% sure that BA will move back on 29th March, which is the first day of short haul flights from Gatwick, and it would make sense to open the lounge at that point.

I think BA is using No1 at the moment. If you have Amex Plat, go to the ex-Virgin Plaza Premium lounge.

[Lady London]

FatherOfFour wrote:

I believe its now no1 lounge at the north terminal for BA passengers. Aspire qas converted to an EasyJet lounge, as reported on here by Rob.

No the Aspire lounge is still the Aspire lounge. That’s still the one, that is one level down in the lift on the same lower floor as the lounge Virgin recently took over. The Easyjet lounge is the old “My Lounge” (forgot the exact name) on the main floor as you approach the No. 1 Lounge. It’s on the left as you come into the lounge area in LGW North Terminal.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[memesweeper]

FatherOfFour wrote:

I believe its now no1 lounge at the north terminal for BA passengers.

Correct (or at least that’s where we were sent a few weeks ago). It’s not terrible, but not super-great either. Breakfast OK, lunchtime food offering was weak, decent drinks available at all times, just about enough space. Had to hassle staff to get tables wiped/cleared.

[Olly]

Thanks all, we’re on the morning flight to CUN, so if there is a reasonable breakfast spread at somewhere to keep the kids entertained, that’ll suffice

[SJ]

Currently in CUN. Flew out Saturday 22nd. It was No 1 lounge that BA used. Breakfast choice was reasonable. Buffet with hot and cold choices. Interestingly there was a sign saying they weren’t allowing ‘cardholders’ to use the lounge due to capacity constraints. Not sure if this meant Airline status or Priority Pass members.

[Cosmo175]

It is indeed No.1 lounge, which is pretty mediocre. Food choices are better than the drinks choices – white wine was only a cheap chenin blanc, sparkling was prossecco. It did not feel very premium having to stand in a line at the bar waiting for the one bar person to serve you. Let’s hope they move back to the South Terminal soon – I see that airlines are going to have to use at least 70% of their slots this summer.

[Rob]

BA has already offloaded its spare slots to easyJet and Vueling so I doubt the annoucement today will make much difference.

The real problem is for overseas airlines. I don’t know how many ANA and JAL flights are coming into Heathrow these days with Japan effectively closed, for example. We may see airlines paying UK carriers to take their slots – eg perhaps ANA offers Loganair £250k to run a random domestic flight into Heathrow for 70% of days this Summer?

[Iona]

Rob Burgess wrote:

I think BA is using No1 at the moment. If you have Amex Plat, go to the ex-Virgin Plaza Premium lounge.

Does that advice hold at all times of day? We’ve got a morning flight coming up so most interested in a) drinkable coffee, b) a reasonable breakfast and c) a couple of seats together.

On a CW flight from Gatwick North and have AmEx Platinum (& therefore Priority Pass too).