For my last London flight, I decided to go with British Airways to see what their offering was like lounge-wise. The flight was departing from Heathrow Terminal 5, where they have three lounges in total available to business class passengers. I ended up in the South lounge, which is the biggest one. This British Airways business lounge review of London Heathrow Terminal 5 Club Lounge South will give you an idea of what you can expect from your visit.
First of all, location. British Airways Terminal 5 South lounge is in the main shopping area of the A-zone after the security checkpoints. After I went through security, it wasn't immediately obvious where I was supposed to go to get to the lounge, as the sign I could see was for a 3rd party lounge, so it was really more by accident that I ended up in the South Club (British Airways refer to their business class as Club, hence the name) lounge and not the North one. As a guidance for you, if you want to get to the South Club lounge, head towards gates A18-23, whereas for the North Club lounge, follow the signs for gates A1-7. If you know your flight is departing from zone B, there is a third British Airways Business lounge in that area, and it is recommended that you go to zone B straight away to avoid having to budget in transfer time shortly before boarding.
Walking through the shopping area towards gates A18-23, you will get to the escalators going up to the lounge area. One level up is the British Airways first class lounge, which is not available to business class passengers. You have to walk through the reception area of that lounge and take another escalator to the next level up, which is the entrance to the business class lounge.
Once you get into the lounge, you are in the food area with seating both to the left and to the right. The BA T5 South Club lounge is very big - it's the largest I've been to so far - but on my visit it was also very full, so much so that walking past all the occupied tables I was staring to worry whether there'd be any free seats there at all. Here's an idea of how full it was - this is only one small section of the total floor area, but they were all this busy, so taking a photo with no people was just really not an option (faces blurred for privacy):
This is the middle of the day on a normal Friday, not a bank holiday or school holidays. Not sure if it's always this busy or if I just happened to choose a particularly popular time to fly. Throughout my stay in the British Airways T5 South lounge, there were short periods when a few seats became available, but they were quickly filled with newcomers, so the lounge never emptied.
Luckily, I did find some free seats in the furthest corner of the lounge at the bar table overlooking the runway. And the view is pretty awesome if you like watching planes take off. The window area is huge and goes across different seat sections, so, depending on seat availability, you could enjoy the view from a bar stool or an arm chair or even a seating pod (not sure what these are actually called, but they were like a private cocoon for one).
There was a playroom for children, but with kids in there I didn't feel comfortable taking a photo. The glass panels on the left in the photo above are where the playroom is located.
I was hoping to read some cool magazines or newspapers in the lounge, but the selection on the press stand that I found was pretty scant - it was more or less the British Airways magazine or the British Airways magazine. If there were any other press stands, I didn't find them. So that was a bit of a disappointment:
Moving on to the food and drinks. There were several different drink stations in the lounge, with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. When it comes to coffee, some coffee machines have a wider range of drinks available than the others, so if you don't find a coffee you like at first, try a different machine. Not depicted on the photos below, but there was also a small selection of juice/smoothies among the non-alcoholic drinks.
The food stations offered a very good choice of hot and cold dishes. Everything is served buffet style, so you pick things you like and serve yourself. There was a salad bar, a sandwich station and quite a few options for hot mains plus of course a few desserts. The only slight issue were the very small plates - you can see my meal on one of the photos below. For a normal-sized portion you'd need several plates really, but that makes it more difficult to carry the food over to the table unless you walk back and forth a few times.
As for the toilets, there is no division between male and female toilets - instead, there is a row of separate cubicles used by everyone, each with a toilet and a sink. The products used in the toilets are by Elemis, in case that matters to you - I don't really care about the brand as long as there's soap and hand cream available.
That's it for my review of British Airways Heathrow Terminal 5 Club Lounge South. While I was a bit shocked to see how busy it was in there, as the whole point of lounges for me is to avoid the hustle and bustle of the airport, I was pleasantly surprised by the food and drinks selection, so overall it was a pleasant visit. If you're planning to head there before your flight, check the latest opening hours here, and I hope you enjoy your time there!