British Airways Johannesburg airport lounge closing today

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The two British Airways lounges in Johannesburg, Club and First, close today for a five month refurbishment. Re-opening is currently planned for October.

During the closure, passengers will be split between Comair’s SLOW Lounge (First Class passengers only, NOT Gold card holders) and the Aspire Lounge (Club World and Gold and Silver card holders).

The SLOW lounges have a good reputation, but I don’t know anything about the Aspire facility. This is the lounge used by Iberia, although it is dropping its Jo’burg service. A photo is above.

There is little information about whether the two separate lounges will remain after the refurbishment or whether a ‘Concorde Bar’ will be introduced for First Class passengers – not Gold card holders – as is seen in Dubai.

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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 BA Amex American Express card

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British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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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

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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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:

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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.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Jonathan says:

23 May23 May 07:24

My OH is gutted that the spa has stopped HD brows….whatever that is.
- Alex M says:
  
  23 May23 May 07:29
  
  High definition brows? Just guessing..
  - Mr Entitled says:
    
    23 May23 May 07:36
    
    To be replaced by UHD4k eyebrows?
    - Peter K says:
      
      23 May23 May 08:21
      
      😂
Simon says:

23 May23 May 07:25

We were flying first from LHR to NRT two weeks ago and both got walk in appointments. Had tried to book a month in advance and were told there were no spaces available to book and to try the walk in on arrival. Must have been lucky.
Nigel the Pensioner says:

23 May23 May 07:29

T5 spa walk in bookings open at 7AM. Never had a problem booking as a walk in at that time. Likewise Ive never had a problem with later flights out East as I guess its a little quieter and passenger arrivals to the lounge are more spread out during the afternoon.
Its a way of passing 15 minutes but the staff change like the UK weather…… Shame. I do wonder about the viability of the service but then its another little extra over and above other airlines for the marketing people. I did like the simple on board treatments that Virgin used to do in Upper.
I wonder if AC has thought of charging for Spa treatments in Avios, tiered according to BAEC status with Gold getting it free?!! That would show the perceived value of the service by passengers.
Robert says:

23 May23 May 07:54

Hand and Arm Massage actually was on the menu until not that long ago and then removed.
Mike says:

23 May23 May 08:07

Hurrah for the JNB refurb; long overdue.

Ref Elemis; there are also some pay for add-on options now.
Mark says:

23 May23 May 08:20

London to Rio next month with BA – £1500 bussiness class one way (no return available) or 75000 avios and £450 tax – is that good value for my avios or should I pay the cash.

I’m even torn about neither and flying Norwegian economy for £290 one way and keeping them for another day but Iv been keeping them for years doing the same thing.
- Titus Adduxas says:
  
  23 May23 May 08:28
  
  1.4p per Avios sounds good to me.
- John says:
  
  23 May23 May 08:49
  
  Do you need 140 (or is it 160) TPs?
- Michael says:
  
  23 May23 May 09:06
  
  Only you can really decide if it’s a good idea to burn them or not. There are better avios redemption’s out there than seats on BA i.e Qatar, Cathay
  - Genghis says:
    
    24 May24 May 05:14
    
    But avios easily replaceable for around a penny
- marcw says:
  
  23 May23 May 09:20
  
  Have you looked flying with Iberia from Madrid? Savings could be significant.
- Lumma says:
  
  23 May23 May 09:52
  
  Latam are currently offering one way in business from Lisbon via Madrid for around £500 if you don’t mind convoluted routes
- APPL says:
  
  23 May23 May 09:54
  
  There is a Business Class one way fare from Lisbon to Sao Paulo with LATAM/Iberia for around €500 – 600 if you don’t mind positioning to Lisbon and from São Paulo to Rio.
Down the Back says:

23 May23 May 08:29

Have anyone ever had a shave in either Spa in T5 ?

I’m not surprised the shave has disappeared, I don’t know anyone who has had a shave at the spa in T5, any time I asked there was never anybody who could do a shave available even at 28 days out. More recently I had a conversation with one of the therapists whilst having a facial (no shave available) and she told me there were very few people trained therefore insured to give shaves but even the ones who are trained will not do it because there simply isn’t enough time to do it properly in the time allocated, therefore they always just say no one available to do it.

Regards

DtB
- BillyK says:
  
  23 May23 May 09:36
  
  I have always had the same happen to me. I just thought it was my bad luck
  - Liz says:
    
    23 May23 May 11:40
    
    They never had the qualified staff to do them – that’s what we were told last May.
    - Alex W says:
      
      23 May23 May 22:43
      
      What a BA marketing con.
Michael says:

23 May23 May 08:43

“Jet lag eye reviver” seems to have been removed without a replacement. Our favorite, and the only one we book in advance … 🙁
- Anna says:
  
  23 May23 May 08:57
  
  That’s what I’ve booked for next week!
  - Michael says:
    
    23 May23 May 09:52
    
    Us as well! I have asked YouFirst to let me know which of the new treatments would be similar.
    - Anna says:
      
      23 May23 May 13:59
      
      I called them earlier and they said the treatments we have booked will still take place and that the news ones have gone onto the website too early!
      - Anna says:
        
        23 May23 May 14:00
        
        There seems to be some kind of treatment with an eye massage device now; it doesn’t make it clear whether there’s a human involved!