British Airways Concorde Room lounges reopen

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The Concorde Room lounges at Heathrow and New York JFK have reopened fully for the first time since March 2020.

For the past year, anyone travelling in First or with a Concorde Room Card had to visit the Concorde Terrace, a temporary set up located within the British Airways Galleries First lounge. Whilst this was better than nothing, it wasn’t quite the Concorde Room.

The good news is that both Concorde Rooms at Heathrow Terminal 5 and New York JFK are open and will be serving a handful of exclusive cocktails to celebrate:

“The new menu contains seven cocktails, with two unique British Airways serves designed in celebration of the airline’s heritage and iconic colleagues. The two special cocktails are named the Barton and Lawford after Lynn Barton, the first female British Airways pilot, and Bill Lawford, the first ever British Airways pilot in 1919. The menu has been designed with a focus on the best of British seasonal ingredients that specifically embrace ‘in-flight’ and wind pollinated flavours.”

The Barton and Lawford cocktails will also be available in the Galleries Club lounges and First lounge.

Guests will continue to receive full table service, rather than the in-app ordering seen in the other lounges.

PilotsTogether launches mental health text advice service

PilotsTogether is a charity set up last year to help pilots from UK-based airlines whose careers are being impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last week the charity launched #WePilots 85258, a text-based mental health advice service for all pilots based in the UK. It is available for use by any pilot who is struggling with their mental health, in a profession where mental health issues carry a significant stigma.

You can find out more about the service, and what PilotsTogether is doing to help those in the industry, on its website.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

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

GaryC says:

2 Sep2 September 05:15

I had a sneak preview last week of the terrace outside the CCR – my friends and I who were on the GF terrace were invited to sit there by an excellent BA lounge attendant. The Concorde nose cone in the corner is very cool, and the furniture has seemingly all been refreshed.
Mike P says:

2 Sep2 September 05:34

The CCR Terrace was in use when I was there last Friday. It’s a nice space but good to hear that the CCR has reopened, albeit for limited hours.

Not all GGL members can access the CCR, you need to either be flying First or hold a CCR card.
- Save East Coast Rewards says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 07:39
  
  For those interested in CCR access (correct me if I’ve got any of this wrong).
  
  I’m using the normal tier point amounts here, as opposed to the reduced amounts due to COVID.
  
  The first year to qualify for gold guest list (GGL) you need to earn a higher number of tier points (5000), then in subsequent years you need 3000 TP to renew.
  
  5000 is also the number needed to get a CCR card so all first year GGL will have access, but if you don’t hit 5000 when you renew you won’t get a CCR card. Therefore not all GGL card holders have CCR access.
  
  The current COVID reduced rate 2250TP for GGL renewal which doesn’t include CCR card or 3750 for CCR/first time GGL. So if you are doing lots of travel on routes still operating this might be a good year to go for it.
  
  Please note that currently the CCR closes early (around 15:00), the menu isn’t as substantial as usual (but a vast improvement over the current offerings in the other lounges) and the cabanas aren’t available.
  - KBuffett says:
    
    2 Sep2 September 12:28
    
    Nice summary, thank you.
Stu says:

2 Sep2 September 05:58

I was in the Galleries South Club lounge yesterday morning and it was mobbed! Staff were clearly overwhelmed with the number of folks and were struggling to keep up with orders. We ordered coffee and bacon rolls on arrival and waited over 10 minutes for the coffee and 20 minutes for the rolls. It certainly didn’t feel like a very premium experience, with dirty service items littered at countless tables. Have to say I actually felt sorry for the staff, some of whom were visibly stressed with workloads.
- Gumshoe says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 06:27
  
  Back to normal then!
- Andrew says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 08:09
  
  Let’s face it, Galleries Club lounges are like a staff canteen, and a not very nice one at that.
- Stian says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 09:47
  
  I was in the Concorde Room (T5) yesterday. Disappointing service. I was there for an hour, waited 20 minutes for the menus and another 20 to order. My drink was delivered, the food never reached me before I had to leave. Staff was very friendly but they’re clearly overwhelmed. Top tip: Stop by the bar for your (first) drink when you arrive.
  - Will says:
    
    2 Sep2 September 13:23
    
    Rarely is the CCR experience what it should be based on the price of a first ticket. Took a bunch of friends there who don’t fly a lot and they were laughing at the “first class toilets”
- paul says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 15:44
  
  Twas ever thus! We are talking about BA of course.
- Char Char says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 16:20
  
  Last year orders arrived within 2minutes for me , sounds like they gave up!
The Original Nick. says:

2 Sep2 September 06:23

TAP GOLD via status match. I have dropped to Basic.
- Rob says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 08:37
  
  I am expecting the same. This one didn’t quite work as planned. Dropping you is counterproductive though – where is the incentive to try them now?
  - The Original Nick says:
    
    2 Sep2 September 10:14
    
    I’m cancelling my flights I have booked with them now.
- S says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 08:38
  
  Was it your account that was matched, or were you gifted from a matched account? They cleaned up their IT flaws retrospectively and clawed back status in the latter cases. I know as I’m a victim of this.
  - The Original Nick says:
    
    2 Sep2 September 10:15
    
    Yes it was my account that was matched.
- AJA says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 12:55
  
  That’s disappointing. I am expecting the same. I thought TAP had a soft landing to Silver? Seems not. Oh well.
WaynedP says:

2 Sep2 September 07:57

Thank you for publicising PilotsTogether details, Rhys.

Very important that we all look out for each other, especially in these times.
Robert says:

2 Sep2 September 13:24

Just to to edit the post re CCR room that it’s First passengers and CCR card holders that can access it. Plenty of GGLs out there without access (the majority I would think).
- Rob says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 13:56
  
  Fair point.