The galleries longe shares the same reception area as the first class lounge and so this was my next port of call. As a complete opposite to the first lounge, galleries was incredibly busy, almost every table taken, and so quite a photo light review of this on as it was very hard to take any photos without being overly intrusive.



Once you enter the lounge there is a long corridor that leads to guest services and the washrooms are on the left part way along this corridor



Turning left at guest services brings you out to the main dining area with the buffet arrayed along the left wall. As you can see, this is almost identical to the offering from the first lounge








A little further along brings you to the first seating area and the wine bar



And further still is a second seating area and the spirits bar





Almost the same spirit offerings as in the first lounge, and overall the lounge is pretty busy throughout.

There is a play area with playstation, and a big kid thoroughly enjoying it



And that was my whistlestop tour of this lounge. It offers nothing that the first lounge does not, only in a much more crowded soace.

 

The No1 lounge is immediately above the BA lounges and accessed by a stairway located on the corridor that leads to the BA lounges.



Full, everyone being turned away

 

Having failed to get into the No1 lounge I decided to try the other PP lounge. The aspire lounge is all the way along the lounge alley a way past the Cathay Lounge

Although busy, they were still letting people in.



Unless… you happened to have a boarding pass for 6pm. ‘Sorry sir, no access until 3 hours before your flight’

Strike 2

 

Will you explore all lounges at each airport during your 15 flights trip, too? 😁

 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… most people look down on this lounge but, it has a lot going for it.

On entry you are immediately greeted by the sweetie stand, and then the champagne stall. The vast majority of the time there is a member of staff here to cajole you into a glass





After the champagne stall the main lounge opens up. To the left and ahead are seating areas, in the middle are work benches, to the right there is the buffet and bar, and to the immediate right is the sit down dining area.





Sit down dining had the breakfast menus out



And the buffet was also laid for breakfast. The tiny tiny pots of baked beans always amuse me







The only shame here is that the lounge is pretty bleak and soulless.

The bar selection is middle of the road, the beer selection is better than BA, but that is true of absolutely every lounge!






Internet speed is good, supplied by BT Openreach



Believe it or not, writing these updates is a full time job! Almost exactly noon now and I’ve finally caught up to date just as the lounge switches over to lunch.






The lunch menus are out for both the at seat dining and the buffet, however the buffet still has the remnants of breakfast laid out right now.




Time to enjoy the Moet and then head over to the AA business lounge.

Edit: Buffet lunch hot dishes

 

I wish! Unfortunately there are some short transits along the way, but I’ll certainly do my best

 

Accessed from the same reception area as the first class lounge, the first thing that greets you is a long and almost antiseptic looking tunnel



This opens out into a large rotunda that incorporates the buffet and the bar and coffee stations




Leading off from this central area are a number of seating areas.





The ambiance in the business lounge is far better than the first class lounge. It is lighter, brighter , feels more airy, and has a far better view of the airfield



The buffet is set for lunch and it is somewhat different to the first lounge.









I had only planned for a cup of coffee here, until I saw the chilli. After all, American Airlines, it must be good chilli, right?



I’ve had spicier mince! Very disappointing. The coffee was also absolutely brutal, the machine I used must have been set to ‘tar’. Lastly, a glass of Prosecco which was incredibly disappointing and boring. I sound like a complete whinger but quite honestly the food and beverage here that I have tried have no redeeming features.



It is the same network for internet access, however the speed is vastly slower, a function of the number of users I guess.



Time to move on and find a decent cup of coffee, and I know exactly the place

 

As the No1 lounge was on the way to my next destination I decided to give it another go on the way past. No chance, an absolute zoo. They have this virtual queuing system but honestly I’m not going to go rushing back therevat their whim, pass to that.

 

Once you enter the qantas lounge the first thing that greets you is the at seat dining and gin bar.






This downstairs at seat dining is open roughly two hours before each qantas flight and closes once boarding commences. The next dinner service is 5pm but when I was checking times earlier I was told they are trialing an afternoon tea and that is one of the reasons I’m here at this time.

Up the stairs brings you to the main lounge area which is quite an odd shape, being a large rectangle with the centre take up by a void and service area. The first thing that greets you at the top of the stairs is the circular bar and its iconic huge round chandelier.







The buffet is located on the far side of the rectangle from the bar





I have often observed that this buffet leans heavily towards vegetarian but today carnivores are well represented.

Quite close to the bar is this lift. You have to try it at least once, it is far and away Heathrow’s slowest lift.



The free Qantas wifi is a bit on the slow side but not awful



And, finally, the second reason I came here next. In my opinion qantas have the best cup of coffee of all the lounges


I couldn’t resist the last slice of cheesecake!

 

The afternoon tea was a bit of an oversell, this is exactly what it consisted of






At this point Leeward90 pinged me to say he had arrived and so back to the First dining for a spot of lunch

 

The interior design screams 1980's vibes!

I stick to CX lounge at LHR.

 

Not today you wouldn’t! Dragons at the gate say CX only. Will try later

 

Big shoutout to JapesUK for guesting me into BA First dining,

 

Having met up with Leeward90 we headed into the First dining room for a spot of lunch







I chose the French Onion soup and the lamb casserole. The soup was much as last time, the crouton feels a bit mean. The lamb casserole was better, actually had a reasonable amount of lamb with it.


French Onion Soup

Lamb Casserole

After lunch we decamped to the first bar to finish our drinks and at this point Leeward90 had headed off to discover the joys of the AA lounges whilst I have another go around with the PP ones.

 

…. Definitely not third time lucky. Long queues again and virtual queuing