London Heathrow’s Terminal 5 is the home of British Airways and if you’re flying their Business/First Class you can access their rather good lounges. However, if you’re only flying Economy like I was today the lounge options are a bit dire. Here I’m reviewing the Plaza Premium Lounge, accessible by either paying £48 for two hours of entry. Or available through a handful of Lounge Pass Memberships. Today I used my Amex Platinum Card for free access for me and a guest. Please read my review to find out if it’s worth it! Or watch my Youtube review below:
Heathrow Airport Lounges
The main lounge option at Heathrow Terminal 5 is obviously the flagship British Airways Lounges, of which there are many. I previously review the Galleries Club South Lounge, which was pretty good despite being extremely busy. They also have a similar lounge in the North of terminal and another in the B satellite terminal. These lounges are accessible to Business passengers as well as those who hold Silver/Gold status with British Airways, or Sapphire/Emerald status with another Oneworld Alliance airline. Full details of who can enter each lounge are found here.
And if you’re really living the high life and travelling in First Class you can access the famous Concorde room. This review from Travel Update shows how luxurious that is. I’ve never been but hopefully some day I’ll be able to give it a try.
There’s also the Club Aspire Lounge, which actually looks quite promising so I’ll give it a try next time I fly out of Terminal 5. This lounge is located at the South end of the terminal and is also accessible for free through Priority Pass.
Plaza Premium Lounge
The Heathrow Terminal 5 Plaza Premium Lounge’s location definitely makes it feel like an afterthought. It is in the corner of the terminal at the North end. The runway views are admiteddly quite good but the whole area feels really cramped. There are plenty of seats filling in the floor space. However, when we visited it was so busy that we were unable to find any comfortable seating for two people next to each other. In the end we just sat at a table in the dining area.
The Lounge is open from 05:30 to 21:30 every day, so definitely not an option if you have an overnight layover. There is a bar with a selection of house beer and wine, with further drinks available for an additional charge. However, both times I passed there was nobody staffing the bar, so not sure how that works exactly. The toilets also follow the general theme of not having enough space, with it being an effort to squeeze into a stall.
There is a single shower, but it will cost an additional £17.60 to use. For this you do get a toilety kit and fresh towels, but it is a bit disappointing to see them charging for showers when most lounges offer that for free. For instance, I recently visited the SATS Premier Lounge at Singapore Changi Airport’s terminal 3 and the showers were free. Not only that, but the lounge is open 24/7 so it’s suitable for overnight layovers.
It’s also worth mentioning the queue. Given the lounge is relatively small in such a busy terminal it is invevitable. But at 9am in the morning it was basically full with a queue (pictured above) both when we arrived and left.
Seating
As I mentioned earlier, the lounge was so full that we couldn’t even find two seats next to each other. In the end we resorted to sitting at a table in the dining area. But this annoyingly meant we couldn’t really relax and didn’t have access to any power sockets. Comfier lounge chairs and private cubicles are available. But you’ll have to be lucky with timing to be able to grab one.
As you can see in the picture below, there are some bar seats too, but these are communal. There are also comfier looking lounge chairs throughout, but these were all taken. The location within the airport is pretty cool though. It’s perched on the edge of the main departure level, with views overlooking the north runway and aircraft sitting at gates. The expansive ceiling also helps make the lounge feel a bit more spacious than it actually is.
Food & Drink
The food options were a bit disappointing at the Plaza Premium Lounge. For breakfast they do have enough to make a full English breakfast, but besides that there’s not much. Some very basic salad, some yoghurt and a few pastries. And that was about it. Drink options are a bit better though with both blueberry and cucumber flavoured water soft drinks.
The bar is actually quite nice, with live sport playing on TVs at either end. Customers are entitled to house beer and wine, but you’ll have to pay extra for anything more exotic. There was however nobody attending the bar the whole time I was there so if I’d actually wanted a drink I’d have been out of luck. It was 9am in the morning though so maybe they just don’t serve drinks that early. Though I’m a firm believer that airport lounges should serve booze at all hours.
Final Thoughts
All in all I would only recommend the Plaza Premium Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5 if you can get in for free like I did. It was so busy that it doesn’t feel like you’re escaping from the main terminal and seating is limited. But it is good to be able to get some free coffee/drinks and food, even if it is a bit mediocre.
If you want to pay for access though I would say to just forget it. £48 per person for only 2 hours just seems ridiculous to me. And adding a shower to that makes it even more ridiculous costing £65.60. For that you get a very small food choice and no guarantee of being able to find a seat.
More from me…
Please feel free to check out other related posts I’ve written:
- The Pullman Danang Beach Resort – Perfect location for a trip to Da Nang & Hoi An
- The No1 Lounge at London Gatwick’s South Terminal – surprisingly good
- Vietnam Airlines Economy Refreshing Airbus A321 Trip Report
And if you fancy earning some fantastic rewards and Avios points through American Express, please use my referral links below:
- The Platinum Card – You Receive 65,000 Membership Reward points and a £200 travel credit after spending £6,000 in the first 6 months (for a limited time until June 2023): https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/fREDEGgRA5?CPID=100493012
- British Airways Card: You Receive 8,000 Avios after spending £1,000 in the first 3 months: https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/fREDEG42lN?CPID=100503089