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The lovely British Airways Lounge Gatwick. My review

I had high hopes for the British Airways Lounge Gatwick. After all, I was suitably impressed by the BA Lounges at Heathrow. The Lounge met my expectations! 

The Lounge is really nice. A large space with natural light, extensive buffet and varied food/drinks.


I was in the BA Lounge Gatwick for three hours. Enough time to do a good review. I woke up at 5am to get here early. My wife wasn’t pleased! But I love writing for you guys, and I love writing reviews.

The British Airways Business lounge is located in the South Terminal. Which is where the BA flights depart from, at Gatwick Airport. The lounge is just five minutes walk after security.

The decoration of the lounge was really classy. This is typical of British Airways lounges. They put a lot of effort to make their lounges look nice.

I’m also happy to report they had a full English breakfast spread. On my previous visits to British Airways lounges, I was underwhelmed with the breakfast selection.

I made sure to take loads of photos for this review. Each photo can clicked, to open out the full slideshow.

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What I Liked

  • Runway views
  • Windows on two sides of the lounge
  • Large buffet
  • Extensive alcohol selection
  • Decent kids play area
  • Service was attentive

What Could be improved

  • Tea and coffee were average 

The Entry Requirements

You can get into the British Airways Lounge Gatwick via the following methods:

  • Fly in Business Class or First Class with British Airways
  • Fly in Business Class or First Class with a Oneworld Airline
  • You have British Airways Executive Club status. Silver or gold
  • You have status with a Oneworld airline (Oneworld Sapphire or Emerald)


I got entry as I was flying in business class with British airways.

The British Airways Business Lounge is next to the British Airways First Lounge. However, no BA flights from Gatwick have First Class. You can enter the First Lounge if you have Gold status with British Airways. Or equivalent status with a Oneworld airline (Oneworld Emerald).

You can’t pay for entry to this lounge.

If you don’t have access, there are other lounge options in Gatwick South. Your best bet is probably a Priority Pass Membership. There’s three lounges and one restaurant you can access with Priority Pass.

If you didn’t know, Priority Pass is a membership program that provides access to over 1,600 airport lounges worldwide. You can signup here for a 30% discount. This offer is not available to the general public. Thanks to Priority Pass for their generous offer.

In Gatwick South, you can access My Lounge, the Club Aspire and the No1 Lounge. You can also use your Priority Pass to get £18 off your bill at Pizza Express.

If you wanted to, you could visit all three lounges and Pizza Express in one day. It would make a great Youtube video!

The first time I went to an airport lounge was a semi-religious experience! Having my own space, away from the madness of the terminal was mind blowing. The journey has now become the best part of the holiday. Previously, airports and flights were a necessary evil.

My Priority Pass membership has been a great investment for me. Standard Plus Membership costs £183 for the year and comes with 10 free lounge visits. So each visit costs £18.30. Amazing value for unlimited food, unlimited drinks and your own personal space.

The Location

The BA Lounge is in the South Terminal of Gatwick Airport. All British Airways flights depart from the South Terminal.

Unlike Heathrow airport, there’s only one British Airways business lounge in Gatwick. Heathrow has four BA business lounges. Three in Terminal five. One in terminal three.

The lounge is just a five minute walk after security. There’s clear signs to follow. Which is nice! It’s next to other airport lounges, such as the No1 lounge.

The Lounge

The BA Lounge Gatwick South is large. It’s a long and thin rectangle shape. At the corner of the terminal building. There’s windows on two sides. With runway views.

The lounge has the following facilities

  • Large space
  • Full hot buffet
  • Complimentary alcohol
  • Tea and Coffee stations
  • Kids play area with computer games and table football
  • Study room


The lounge decoration was nice. I know I say this about all British Airways Lounges, but it’s the truth! The Gatwick Lounge has high ceilings with lots of natural light. Nice and modern furniture too.

There were runway views, which were pretty nice. Not the best I’ve ever seen however. The best views may have come from the Eventyr lounge in Copenhagen. The view from the Gatwick Lounge is below.


 

There’s lots of seating in the British Airways lounge. Mainly lounge seating with low tables. There were also some high tables with stools. And some cool globe chairs.

The lounge is mostly on one level. There’s a small mezzanine level. You can get there by taking the stairs up one level. The mezzanine floor is more quiet. The lounge was pretty busy when I visited, but hardly anyone was on the mezzanine level. I definitely recommend it. Some photos are below.



 

 



There was one buffet counter in the centre of the lounge. All the food was served from here. There were multiple tea and coffee stations throughout the lounge.

There was a small kids play area. One of the better ones my kids have used. With computer games and table football.

A quick word about the service. It was good! There were lots of staff. The food was regularly replaced. Dirty cutlery was quickly removed.
 

The Food

I was at the lounge during breakfast time. All food was available from the buffet counter.

I’m happy to report that they had a full English breakfast spread! My previous visits to BA Business lounges left me underwhelmed by the breakfast service. I’ve complained at length that they didn’t offer a full English.

At the British Airways Lounge Gatwick, the following items were available:

  • Toast
  • Hash browns
  • Baked beans
  • Bacon
  • Eggs
  • Mushrooms
  • Porridge
  • Fruit
  • Pastries
  • Cereals


It was a really good spread. The food was fresh, hot and regularly replaced.

I had toast, mushrooms, hash browns and baked beans. A small breakfast for me. I’d already had a large bowl of bran flakes at home.

My breakfast was pretty nice. This is the best I’m going to get as a vegetarian!

The Drinks

The British Airways Lounge Gatwick had a full complimentary bar. With beer, wine, Prosecco and spirits.

All the alcohol was self pour. With a drinks station next to the buffet counter. I was there in the morning, so I didn’t have any alcohol.

There were tea and coffee stations throughout the lounge. Coffee was served from the machine. The tea selection was by Twinings.

I had two cups of tea. One Earl Grey and one English breakfast. They were both solid. Twinings isn’t my favourite brand, but it’s perfectly acceptable. At supermarkets in the US, it costs $8 for 20 bags of Twinings tea! These days, I take M&S gold blend tea with me when I travel to the US. 80 bags for £3.40!

My wife had a latte from the machine. She said it was strong.

The Kids Play Area

There was a small kids play area. It was good. Better than the kids play areas at most lounges. Most kids play areas have nothing that kids actually want to play with!

This kids play area had a computer games console and table football. There were also some kids books.

It’s not as good as the British Airways South Lounge in Heathrow Airport. That lounge has an awesome kids play area. With a model airport and an airplane!

Conclusion

Well that was good! I had three hours in the lounge with my family. Time well spent! Enough time to do a review and enjoy the lounge.

The British Airways Lounge Gatwick is solid. A wide variety of food and drinks. Lots of natural light and runway views. A winning combination in my view!

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