South Terminal, London Gatwick Airport

Introduction

This is my review of the British Airways Lounge in London’s Gatwick Airport, in the South Terminal.

I’ve wanted to review this lounge for quite some time – but I’ve simply not traveled from Gatwick as a passenger since around early 2020!

There are two ‘sections’ to this lounge – the Club World/BA Silver Member section, and the First/BA Gold Member section.

Visited

October 2023 at 14:00.

Opening Hours

The lounge is open daily from 05:00 to 21:45.

Entry Conditions

The First/Gold Lounge is open to OneWorld Emerald members. Technically, it would be open to anyone traveling on British Airways in First – however (at the moment) BA do not operate any aircraft from Gatwick with a First cabin. So, it’s Gold Members and OneWorld Emerald members that would tend to use this lounge.

The Business Class/Club/Silver Lounge is open to OneWorld Sapphire members, and those traveling in Business Class on British Airways (known as Club World) and other OneWorld operators from Gatwick.  

How to Get There

Once you’re done in Security, you’ll go down escalators and through the maze of duty free.

Once you’re out of the duty free maze, you should see some escalators up to the food court. Go up these escalators, and make a left. From here you’ll see sign posts to the No1 Lounge and the BA lounge.

Then it’s up in an elevator, down a corridor and you should see the entrance of the lounge in front of you!

In fairness it is well sign-posted, so if what I’ve written makes no sense, the signs will!

Once you’re in the lounge, depending on your OneWorld status you’ll have the option of turning left or right. Left is to the First/Gold lounge and right is to the Club/Business/Silver lounge.

First/OneWorld Emerald/BA Gold Lounge

Layout

This lounge is around a third smaller than the Club/Business Lounge – however it is very modern and has great views over the runway!

There are two ‘sections’ to this lounge. The first is a lounge area, with casual seating.

The second ‘section’ is a dining area, which also houses a work area – complete with printer!

This area is great for views over the apron of the airport and the runway!

Food and Drink

Drinks

The drinks are all self-service in this lounge, in a similar way to BA’s lounges at Heathrow and worldwide.

The usual self-service tea/coffee machines, fridges of beers and soft drinks, and a central wine bar were available.

Lunch/Dinner

There is a major game changer about this lounge compared to the First Lounge in Heathrow. During Covid-19 BA had allowed ordering via an App at Heathrow’s Galleries First, but this has been abolished in favor of the buffet.

Gatwick however, has retained the App – meaning you can order food via the QR Code on the table, to your table. As a benchmark, I of course went for the burger! Plenty of other options were available, and my burger was pretty good! For desert I ordered the cheese.

If you don’t fancy the menu, or you’re in a rush – then there is a small buffet of food items available for self-service. However, this is substantially the same as the Business Class lounge, and which actually has more self-service variety. So you may want to consider visiting that lounge if yo prefer to do the buffet.

Wifi

Wifi in lounge worked perfectly for me – I was able to do all the work I needed to, including some Zoom calls.

Showers

Showers are shared with the Business Class lounge – see below!

Business Class/OneWorld Sapphire/BA Silver Lounge

Layout

This lounge is a great and modern looking lounge with views over the apron of the airport and the runway.

The lounge mainly has casual seating by the large windows.

There is also a neat coffee area, which is away from the hustle and bustle of the main dining area.

My favorite area (of course) was the business area, which has a printer! This is a great area for working. One thing BA don’t quite seem to have got their heads around is the taking of calls – so for anyone needing to do a Zoom call from the airport, this probably isn’t the right area. Nonetheless, it’s a great quiet area for working!

Food and Drink

Drinks

The drinks are all self-service in this lounge, in a similar way to BA’s lounges at Heathrow and worldwide.

The usual self-service tea/coffee machines, fridges of beers and soft drinks, and a central wine bar were available.

Lunch/Dinner

The lunch/dinner offering in this lounge is all self-service – however compared to the First lounge there is a huge amount of variety.

On my visit, there were salads, sandwiches, hot options, nachos, pies, fish cakes, etc. Quite a good selection in my view!

Wifi

Wifi in lounge worked perfectly for me – I was able to do all the work I needed to, including some Zoom calls.

Showers

There are either 3 or 4 showers in the lounge. The showers are modern, in excellent condition, and very hot!

Conclusion

Gatwick is often seen as a ‘poor cousin’ to Heathrow, particularly because the Gatwick aircraft tend to be a lot older than the Heathrow fleet.

However, from the lounge perspective, I genuinely think Gatwick’s lounges for Business Class and First are by far my superior! The food is as good if not better, the QR Code ordering excellent, the showers excellent – and the lounge is a lot more quieter than Heathrow’s.

So, whilst for me Heathrow is usually more convenient – I think BA’s Gatwick lounges win on the quality front!