British Airways airport lounge openings over Christmas – where can you go?

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Which British Airways airport lounges are open over Christmas?

We have got hold of a copy of BA’s internal lounge access guidelines for the Christmas period. The good news for anyone flying First Class is that The Concorde Room is back.

This is what you will find open, and when, in Terminal 5:

Galleries First – open 5am to 10pm. The terrace area will be available to all passengers, not just ticketed First Class passengers, during those times when the Concorde Room is open.

Galleries Club South – open 5am to 9pm, passengers to use Galleries First from 9pm to 10pm

Galleries Club North – open between 17th and 23rd December, and 27th/28th December, from 5am to 2pm

The Concorde Room – open between 17th and 20th December from 8am to 3pm (First Class ticket holders only, other passengers may be sent there if Galleries First is busy)

All other BA lounges remain closed. It isn’t clear what sort of food and drink service is currently offered.

The two independent lounges in Terminal 5, Club Aspire (buy here) and Plaza Premium (buy here) are also open.

Plaza Premium is by far the best of the two. Remember that it does not accept Priority Pass but you can still get in by flashing your American Express Platinum card at the door. The Club Aspire lounge does accept Priority Pass.

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:

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

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

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

Will CARPMAEL says:

17 Dec17 December 08:10

Won’t Ba quote Covid and say that is an escape route for them? They refused compensation for my midweek cancelled trip to INV (on load factor)and operational reasons. Expect to have to go to small claims for every ticket?
- Will CARPMAEL says:
  
  17 Dec17 December 08:10
  
  Refused comp and reroute.
GJB says:

17 Dec17 December 09:00

I have just had return flights to St Lucia cancelled for April 21. No reason given . Just said they will be in touch. It’s part of a BA holiday booking.
Mark says:

17 Dec17 December 09:03

Durban is also axed, according to https://www.thesouthafrican.com/travel/british-airways-flights-london-durban/
Paul f says:

17 Dec17 December 09:15

If you take a travel voucher for a 241 that used the Avios half price offer in September – does the voucher and Reduced Avios used stay intact for a future Booking by April 2022 ?
Peter Fargus says:

17 Dec17 December 10:34

If we have to stay on for a couple of days to catch a different flight do you think would BA pay for the accommodation?
- Rhys says:
  
  17 Dec17 December 10:37
  
  Yes, that is covered by duty of care.
George Bond says:

17 Dec17 December 10:39

Same question as Paul I think – My cancellation was flight with 241 voucher so if I ask for future voucher does exact conditions apply with reduced avios for future flight up to Apr 2022.
elt says:

17 Dec17 December 14:05

Help please – urgent
241 Flight cancelled to SKorea.
BA will reroute us to tokyo but insist they will not pay for onward to Seoul with JAL or anyone else.
Will not reroute us via Doha with Qatar either.
Otherwise they will only offer refund.
Is this correct?
Thanks
- Gavin says:
  
  17 Dec17 December 15:33
  
  No, they should reroute you to Seoul for no additional cost.
  - elt says:
    
    17 Dec17 December 16:22
    
    Spent an hour on phone to BA after I got thru.
    V. pleasant agent contacted the helpdesk several times but they abs. refuse to rebook us with another carrier as it’s a ” 241 and therefore has to be on BA metal”.
    Where do I go from here?
Rebecca says:

17 Dec17 December 15:49

Hi I have had my families flights cancelled to Peru for July 2021, both myself and my husband used a 241 companion voucher. We are happy to reroute using ba to Madrid and then Iberia to Lima. Usually you cannot use your 241 voucher on this route as it is operated by Iberia. Will ba have a duty of care to book us into these flights now? Thanks
- Rhys says:
  
  17 Dec17 December 16:19
  
  Yes, they should do. Should be fairly easy as BA and Iberia are so close.
  - elt says:
    
    17 Dec17 December 16:25
    
    Rhys, pl see my comment just above re our cancelled 241 Seoul flight.
    It’s only the outbound that has problem as we are returning from Tokyo.
    Is there someone senior in BA you can refer us to?
    Thanks
    - Rhys says:
      
      17 Dec17 December 16:35
      
      Is it urgent? If not, give it a few weeks for BA to sort out their airline agreements and hopefully they’ll rebook you on Qatar or someone else then.
      - elt says:
        
        17 Dec17 December 20:57
        
        Thanks Rhys, flight not for a while, tho actual routing will affect itinerary I’m planning now.
        But BA rep checked with “the manager on the help desk” and apparently they were adamant, has to be BA metal.
        Also strangely although on Jal website I could see Haneda to Seoul (Gympoia?spelling) flights the BA agent could not.
        All she could book us on, with us paying, was flight Haneda, via Osaka to Seoul (Incheon)
        Which would have been crazy with BA using Haneda.
        I would really like to flag this up to someone senior in BA now