Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Where can you fly on British Airways from Heathrow Terminal 3 to visit the Qantas and Cathay lounges?

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

Long time readers of HfP will know that when you are flying from Heathrow Terminal 3 you are spoilt for choice when it comes to airline lounges.

The excellent Qantas lounge (review here) has now been open for almost two years, and is regarded as one of the best in the UK.  You also have the Cathay Pacific lounges (review) which are a great place to go if you have a BA Gold card and would like to enjoy some fine restaurant dining in the First Class lounge.

If that wasn’t enough, American Express has also made Heathrow Terminal 3 its home for one of the first Centurion lounges to open outside the US. Existing Centurion lounges have a very good reputation so this is one to keep an eye out for when it opens in early 2020 – vague image of the entrance below!

As well as the amazing Qantas and Cathay Pacific lounges, you can also visit the T3 American Airlines and British Airways Galleries lounges.  These are both perfectly acceptable but not in the same league as the others.  If you have a Priority Pass card, there are also two excellent independent lounges – Club Aspire (reviewed here) and No 1 Lounge (reviewed here).

Have you flown from Terminal 3 in a while?

All this means that Heathrow Terminal 3 is the place to be if you want to relax in style before a British Airways flight (unless, of course, you can use the BA Concorde Room in Terminal 5!)

If you thinking about weekend break destinations for an Autumn trip, you might want to put a British Airways Terminal 3 route on your list.

British Airways is currently running a sale, as we covered here.  As it happens, one of the best Club Europe deals – Helsinki for £210 return, which earns a whopping 160 British Airways Executive Club tier points – departs from Terminal 3.

Remember that you need to be travelling in Club Europe / Club World to access the lounges, or have a British Airways Silver card or above, or oneworld equivalent.  You will need a BA Gold card or equivalent to access the First Class private dining section of the Cathay lounge.

You should also note that the Qantas lounge is only open from 8am to 8.30pm so it is not an option for very early or late evening flights.

Which BA routes operate from Terminal 3?

I couldn’t find an official list anywhere so this is our best DIY attempt – if there are any errors we will update them during the day.  It reflects the changes taking place when the Winter timetable launches in late October.

This list only covers BA flights.  A business class flight on any other oneworld airline would also work.  A very attractive option would be the handful of Finnair‘s Helsinki flights which use the new A350 long-haul aircraft which I reviewed here.  Book yourself in Business Class, for cash or Avios, and you can check out the new Terminal 3 lounges and then fly to Helsinki on a flat bed!

This is where I think we are with British Airways departures from Heathrow Terminal 3:

Short-haul and mid-haul

  • Accra
  • Barcelona
  • Billund (from 27th October)
  • Budapest
  • Gibraltar
  • Hannover (from 27th October)
  • Helsinki
  • Lisbon
  • Luxembourg (until 27th October)
  • Lyon (until 27th October)
  • Marseille
  • Palermo
  • Pisa
  • Prague
  • Pula (Summer only)
  • Vienna
  • Zagreb (from 27th October)

Long-haul

  • Cape Town
  • Denver
  • Las Vegas
  • Miami
  • Nairobi
  • Phoenix (until 27th October)
  • San Diego (from 27th October)
  • Vancouver

If you are thinking of making a booking in the current British Airways sale, perhaps it is worth giving a Terminal 3 destination a try?

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

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

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 BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

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:

Nectar American Express

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

American Express Platinum card Amex

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 card

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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.)

Category

British Airways and Avios, Cathay Pacific and Asia Miles, oneworld alliance partners

Comments (159)

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

  • Aliks says:
    9 Sep9 September 05:13

    With all disappearance of Terminal 1, what does the future hold for T3? Is it scheduled for any significant changes? Last time we were availing ourselves of the excellent lounges, there was an enormous building site just outside the window. Anyone know the plans?

    Signed your roving correspondent in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

  • Andy says:
    9 Sep9 September 06:00

    I stuck my head into the BA galleries lounge while waiting for my wife to have her Elemis treatment yesterday. It was like a zoo, not one single seat to be had. Thank goddess not many people know about the CX and Qantas lounges. They are a tranquil haven.

    • John says:
      9 Sep9 September 06:30

      Yes I still don’t understand why this is, but not complaining. What do these people do in airports with no BA lounge?

      • riku2 says:
        9 Sep9 September 07:34

        I go through T3 about once a month and it’s been a couple of years since I went into the BA lounge (I have a BA gold card). The more people that stay in those lounges the better though, sometimes the dining area in the CX lounge is full and people have to wait for a table.

      • The Savage Squirrel says:
        9 Sep9 September 13:32

        Never forget that the HfP readership is a very skewed group compared to the public. The average occasional traveller with very little interest in air travel, beyond going from A to B without too much discomfort, will quite reasonably assume that a BA ticket gets you into the BA lounge, a Qantas ticket into a Qantas lounge etc etc….

  • NigelthePensioner says:
    9 Sep9 September 06:05

    Update….
    Phoenix is coming back to T5 and my understanding was that the AmEx Centurion lounge is due to open in Nov this year.
    T3 is due for a major overhaul; it comes across as shoddy and disorganised compared to T5 and the sanctuary of T4 when considering check in and public areas / gates, airside. The lounges are numerous, yes, and the CP (first) stands head and shoulders above them all. The BA galleries looks like an afterthought with just one receptionist on the entrance and no one else around the last time we went. Have your spa treatment and go to the CP (F) lounge would be my advice! There is little to entice one into the BA offering.

    • Shoestring says:
      9 Sep9 September 06:22

      The BA business lounge *does* have an excellent wine selection, I counted about 100 different wines to choose from – and of course it’s self pour so nothing to stop you trying 4x quarter-full glasses at a time if you fancy a tasting.session.

  • Tony says:
    9 Sep9 September 06:19

    OT here as no bits..Trying to use combine my avios to push my Avios in avios.com to BAEC for a redemption. Was working in May but now I got this error message: Sorry, you are not eligible to combine your Avios. Tried from BAEC end and Avios.com end both didn’t work. I didn’t change a single thing / receive anything about my account between May and now. Both addresses match and both accounts not in HHA. Would need to rely on the wisdom of HFPers here…

    Thanks
    Tony

    • Shoestring says:
      9 Sep9 September 06:47

      it’s a known glitch [google flyertalk Sorry, you are not eligible to combine your Avios.]

      fix is to wait a few days or phone BA to get the Avios moved

  • Steve says:
    9 Sep9 September 06:23

    Pls add SAN

  • Andrew says:
    9 Sep9 September 06:44

    And if you’re flying BA in First to one of the long-haul destinations, there’s no Concorde Room. CX First Lounge comes a close second to Concorde Room, so it always shocks me how many people are sitting around in the BA First Lounge when I pop in to pick up some magazines (in and out in 10 minutes), when they could be somewhere much better.

  • Qwertyknowsbest says:
    9 Sep9 September 06:44

    Could someone please confirm that my thinking is correct. Flying BA first from T5. Colleague passing through T5 at the same time on a domestic economy ticket. I think I can guest him into both first lounge and Concorde room?

    Thank you.

  • MudIslandMlungu says:
    9 Sep9 September 06:50

    Not just BA gold. I was in there last Wednesday on a Silver.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Learn more on our About page.

VAA

Latest comments

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points bonus with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.3 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold