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Review: British Airways “The Concorde Room”, London Heathrow Terminal 5, United Kingdom

We arrived at London Heathrow Gate 340. As I got off the plane, we followed the purple connections path. It is always a maze at Heathrow and I doubt I will ever get the opportunity to fully know it’s design secrets.

The transfer over from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 occurred on the semi-secure side. We bussed ourselves over where, on arrival to Termina 5, security took a run at examining the Refinery Amenity Kit that I had just picked up from the First Class flight. As my bag entered the secondary channel behind that plexiglass wall, not only did I have to wait 5 secondary bag screening examinations until they could get to mine, but they were a bit surprised at how many toiletries British Airways had given out with said kit. Even another economy passenger from some other flight was impressed. After another 15 minutes lost, the screeners eventually threw me a new plastic bag and told me to beat it.

Access:

We headed over towards the Concorde Room and eventually found the non-descript “millionaire’s” door. Access to the Concorde Room is only provided for those that are departing on British Airways First Class, those arriving on a same day British Airways First Class ticket and connecting to a flight departing from Terminal 5, or a few lucky card holders.

After we were screened in at the host at the outdoor podium, “please see my colleague inside”, we were admitted entry into the best lounge that British Airways had to offer.

It was my first visit to The Concorde Room. Immediately in the entry area was a grand piano. Unlike the Asiana First Class lounge, this one actually offered passengers the opportunity to play it. Although throughout my visit, I didn’t see anyone make a piano playing attempt.

Concorde Room Seating:

Having done a little advance research, we headed straight out to the indoor terrace balcony to set up and pass our time tonight. The lounge has been recently refreshed in the last year or so and looks quite comfortable.

“The highlight of the British Airways Concorde Room is the attached open air concourse terrace, that offers a pleasant space to relax with bubbles”

The terrace had over concourse views, which is better than looking into a wall or some other cargo container view. There were also nice sun set views casting a warm glow over the terminal during our visit.

I didn’t bother to have booked a travel spa experience this trip as it was more of an inconvenience than a perk the last time I went through.

Food and Beverage:

The bar in the Concorde Room was a lovely addition to the lounge. I ended up ordering a Gin Fixx drink, along with a Laurent Perrier Grand Sciele. While I was out exploring, MrsWT73 had ordered me a macaroni and cheese. It came while I was around taking photographs and was actually surprisingly tasty.

There isn’t any food out on offer in the Concorde Room. All the food is ordered off menu where waiters bring it over to you. You can also dine in the dining area; which we didn’t visit this time around. I actually found the ordering “a la carte” to be a bit of a pain. It would have been nicer to have something light to snack on that was easy to get without having to wait for it.

Conclusion:

MrsWT73 actually quite enjoyed the Concorde Room. She particularly liked the attention to detail for the drinks made at the bar, and the spacious terrace and views from it. Although not one of the world’s best lounges, it would probably be in my top ten. I’d be happy to spend a much longer layover here. Unfortunately, a lot of connection time was lost thanks to ground operations and over zealous security screeners.