The Concorde Room in London Heathrow Terminal 5, the home of the country’s flagship carrier, British Airways, is head and shoulders above any other lounge experience in the country. Steeped in esteem and exclusivity, the lounge itself is only available to a select few passengers out of the thousands that travel through Heathrow daily.
This review will go through my experience of the Concorde Room on a recent visit when travelling from London Heathrow to Dubai in First Class on the 787-9 Dreamliner. More details on my flight experience will be linked below.
So how exactly can you get into the Concorde Room? Well, it’s a small club, and you’re only eligible if you are one of the following:
- Travelling in a First Class cabin on a long-haul British Airways flight.
- If you carry BA ‘Gold Guest List’ status within the British Airways Executive Club, which is only possible through extensive premium travel each year. To qualify, you must earn 5,000 tier points in a single year, and 3,000 thereafter to renew the membership.
- Carry BA Premier status or a OneWorld equivalent (typically invite only or exclusive to those who manage sizeable corporate travel budgets).
Unlike the BA First Class lounge, status holders can’t access the lounge unless they are on a ticketed First Class fare, making it a much quieter and exclusive experience than typical “First Class” lounges.
How to get to the Concorde Room
The Concorde Room is located on the First Floor in Terminal 5 departures, opporiste the BA First Class lounge and underneath the BA Galleries South lounge.
The easiest way for you to access it is by using the First Wing when checking in, a separate First Class check-in area located at the end of Terminal 5 reserved for those travelling in First and BA Gold Executive Club members, or OneWorld Emerald equivalents.
The First Wing security leads you directly into the FIrst Class lounge, and from there you can simply walk across the corridor into the Concorde Room.
There is also separate access through what is known as the coveted “Millionaires Door” outside the standard security checkpoint for easier access to the rest of the terminal.
What’s it like?
The Concorde Room has a very classy and timeless aesthetic to it. The decor is a mix of colours and mis-matching furniture, with chandeliers hanging from the cailing, and an inviting, brightly lit bar along with a fantastic terrace looking out on to the tarmac.
My favourite space in here is the dining room, with several small booths that you can pick for a full a la carte dining experience.
Below are the images of the 3 course meal that I had when dining on this occasion. I was impressed with the soup, the main was OK but I felt could be of a higher standard for a premium lounge. The dessert however, was absolutely fantastic and stole the show.
Accompanied with Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle, a premium champagne that retails for £200 per bottle, and impeccable service, the dining options are far better than what BA offers in its “standard” First Class lounges.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to sit in the dining area, the members of staff will be happy to serve you wherever you choose to sit, such as on the couches, at the more informal dining area, or out on the terrace.
The Terrace
Speaking of the terrace, the view that it provides out to the tarmac are great, but the best part of it in my opinion is the nose of a Concorde plane in the corner, paying tribute to the supersonic jet.
Throughout the lounge you will find Concorde memorabilia littered throughout, a true gem for aviation geeks.
The terrace also has afternoon tea, snacks, cakes and self-serve champagne at certain time of day if you are feeling peckish. Once again, LPGS is on hand, as well as British sparkling wines from Hattingley, and Lanson rose as a third choice.
The Bar
For those of you more interested in a liquid lunch, the bar has ample selection to choose from. With premium spirits, cocktails, mocktails, and an excellent mix of red, white, rose, dessert wines, and port, the resident bartenders are happy to serve a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
What I really like about this is once again the ease at which the staff will attend to your requests. If you’d rather lounge on a big armchair with a martini in hand, then that’s absolutely fine.
I chose to sit at the bar and try out the C&C Negroni from the menu. It was excellent and served from this beautiful chinaware.
For more details, here’s a full list of the cocktails available. In addition to this, there was a separate selection just for Bloody Mary’s, with a separate stand for you to help yourself, mix and match and make your own if you’d like.
As you can tell from what you have read so far, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Concorde Room.
As a TLDR, let me highlight the pros of this experience. After that, I’ll mention some drawbacks of the CCR, in the hopes that BA improve on these in the future to elevate the experience from what it already is.
Pros
- It’s very private, and undoubtedly the best lounge experience that British Airways has to offer. It’s arguably the best lounge experience that you can get in the UK. Some of the Middle East airline satellite lounge experiences are great, but I don’t think they come close to the Concorde Room.
- The varied dining options are excellent. From a formal a la carte experience, to being served anywhere in the lounge, to afternoon tea on the terrace, you are guaranteed to find what you are looking for in here.
- The champagne is top tier. While it’s only an occasional treat for me, I feel it enhances the entire experience. Couple with the fact that the service is equally as good, you can’t go wrong here.
- The service in general is fantastic. There is always someone on hand to assist you with what you need. From food and beverage, to shower suites, guest services, and more. The Concorde Room caters to a variety of needs without having to leave the lounge.
Cons
While I think the Concorde Room is an incredible experience, I feel that there are still some areas of improvement. They aren’t the most important things in the world, but an improvement on all of these specifics would certainly make the whole experience more enjoyable.
- There are a lack of power sockets in the lounge. Most of the time you can find them on side tables against a couch. The downside of this is that many times you will find these couches are occupied by a single person, which takes up a disproportionate amount of space in the lounge. Even then, the ones that are available sometimes don’t work.
- The dining experience was great, but not mind blowing. I thought the starter and dessert were of a high standard, however, I felt the main dish was lacking somewhat. Overall, I think the menu could be more creative, and I think for a lounge that requires the exclusivity that it does (and the price point that comes with that), one should expect a culinary experience here. Personally, I don’t think that my meal delivered on that.
- The lounge can become quite busy during the middle of the day. While BA has reduced its First Class capacity in recent times with the retirement of the 747 fleet and the move from 14 F seats to just 8 in its 777 refurbishment plan, Heathrow can still sometimes struggle to cope with the capacity that it services. This is a common theme throughout all the lounges, with the BA Galleries (Business Class) lounges seeing the worst of this as it is the lowest tier lounge to access. I hope that in time Heathrow and BA find a way to increase their lounge capacity at the airport to be able to better service their passengers.
- While it’s a great benefit to be able to take a shower in the lounge ahead of your flight, the shower suites at Heathrow look tired and dated. They, along with the bathrooms could do with an upgrade to modernise them. This is not a huge issue as functionally they work just fine, but even the BA Galleries (Business Class) lounge in London Gatwick has better amenities from this perspective. I have covered this in a separate review here.
Conclusion
The Concorde Room is a great experience for anyone lucky enough to travel in First Class on British Airways from London Heathrow. It is hands down the best lounge experience that the airline has to offer.
While it is a very enjoyable place to spend a few hours before your flight, there are a couple areas of improvement that could elevate the experience, particularly around better power outlet options, and refurbished shower suites / bathrooms.
To see how the rest of my journey went, I have covered my review of the BA First Class experience onboard the 787-9 Dreamliner. It is the more modern interpretation of British Airways’ First Class on their 777-200ER and A380 planes, and second only to the First Class Suite which is exclusively on select 777-300 aircraft.
For more information on other lounge experiences, I have covered the BA Galleries Lounge (Business Class) in London Gatwick, so you can see for yourself how the experience can change depending on which level of stastus or class you travel in.
What is clear is that when travelling in First Class and getting to experience the Concorde Room, the holiday doesn’t start when you arrive at your destination, it starts when you arrive at the airport.
