My review of the British Airways Terraces Lounge at Berlin Tegel Airport

This is my review of the British Airways Terraces lounge at Berlin Tegel Airport.

After having spent two weeks in Germany it was time for me to fly back from Berlin to London. It was my first ever flight out of Tegel having only arrived there before on my airberlin flight from New York last summer.

What I can say is:  Tegel isn’t fun and it is rather confusing.

It took us (my flatmate came to Berlin for New Years Eve) approximately 30 minutes to figure out where to find the BA check in desk and bag drop – with very little help from the airport staff – just to find that out that it wasn’t yet open.

Once the bag drop opened we found a very inefficient process of checking people in and sending bags off.  My Silver card didn’t help as the ‘Priority’ Lane was even slower.  Once we finally got our bags dropped off it took us another 15 minutes to find the BA Terraces lounge – it is landside, back by the main entrance and upstairs next to Starbucks.

We got there in the end though:

What is inside the British Airways lounge at Berlin Tegel?

With Brandenburg Airport meant to have been open years ago, airlines have been unwilling to invest in Tegel and it shows here.  The British Airways Terraces lounge is nothing exciting, although it certainly isn’t the worst BA outstation lounge.  It’s basically one big room with different sitting areas separated by shelves.

There was a bar in the middle of the room with a selection of four different red wines, two white wines and Rotkaeppchen Sekt. There was also a decent range of gin, rum, vodka etc.

In one corner of the lounge was a small separate quiet room with view over the main entrance hall of Tegel airport.

The coffee machine with biscuits and a wardrobe for coats was at the other end of the lounge.

The centrepiece of the British Airways Terraces lounge at Berlin Tegel Airport is this stone bench with flower pot.  Looking at the comments to my Instagram photo, the flowers are a recent addition.

The lounge also had a work area with desk, lamps and plugs.

This was the magazine selection with English and German titles.

There were English and German newspapers:

The lounge doesn’t have its own bathrooms and you have to use the ones next to the Starbucks.  These are opposite the lounge but about a two and a half minute walk away (half a flight of stairs down, half a flight up, to the right, along the corridor, through the door and to the left!).

To give you a better impression, here is a short YouTube video of the British Airways Terraces Lounge at Berlin Tegel Airport (you can subscribe to our YouTube channel via this page – this is the same link to visit if the video does not appear below).

Conclusion

The British Airways Terraces lounge at Berlin Tegel Airport is not overwhelming and I don’t recommend getting to the airport too early if you can avoid it.

One thing that is especially annoying is the distance you have to walk from the main hall to the bag drop and then back to the lounge – just to retrace your route when it’s time for boarding. The fact that the toilets are outside the lounge is also slightly frustrating and time consuming.

The food selection in the evening was a bit underwhelming with a couple of sandwiches, fruits and bags of crisps.  The wine was very good and the wifi connection was decent.  All in all I found the lounge perfectly OK for a snack and a drink but a bit too depressing to want to spend more than half an hour there.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)