Hmm. Hardly a fair challenge, given the breath of access granted to you in LHR...

Skyteam is right out.

Let's see what a *G could do.

FRA has 4 in B (2 J, 1 LH*G, 1 AC*G), 2 in Z, and again 4 in A (2 J, 1 SEN=LH*G, pano) 10 in total, 11 with the PP landside lounge.

MUC has 1 SEN and 1 BIZ each in 4 of the sectors (T2 and T2S, Schengen and NS each) plus I think 2 supernumeraries.

Sprinkle in ZRH, 2 in E, 2 in A complex, plus Alpine and D lounge. And a smattering of PP lounges.

Doable in a weekend, I gather.


How about a wager, on the proviso that I manage to get matched to SEN, I'll give it an honest try. If I manage to beat your total, I'll lay claim to one of your gift OW statuses. Under condition of realtime reporting, of course.
Trouble is I don't know what to offer in counter.

 

A little update on the trip. I did bring back an unexpected gift, I’ve been laid up since a little after 2am with Norovirus or some other form of gastroenteritis, it’s been an unpleasant day and 19 hours later looks on track to be an equally unpleasant night. Considering the timing I could have picked it up anywhere, I’m just absolutely ecstatic that it waited until I got home, imagine the horrors if it kicked in whilst in flight!

No sympathy sought or required, It was worth it

 

Go for it! I’m thinking 28 lounges is achievable in 48 hours, and I have the avios to do it, but neither the time nor the will right now

 

SO sorry for your illness.

Get well soon!

 

Thanks for the TR JapesUK this report and others have been truly fantastic lately.

Interesting to see the lounge capacity issues. Priority Pass seems to offer little value if you are using it at LHR for No1 / Plaza / Aspire.

I must admit that I have given up on even trying to get into Galleries Club South or North. All too frequently this year both lounges have been full to the brim. The best I have managed is in South and grabbing the last bar stall that overlooks South Security.

T5B used to be a haven of tranquility but I have also had issues getting a seat in the prime real estate area in the middle lately. I normally end up sitting down by the kids area. I wonder if the struggle I've been having in T5B is directly associated with it now being the "best" of the GC lounges given the live cooking area.

I suspect BA's issues with GC capacity seem to be associated with more people having Silver status thanks to the generous double Tier Point offer via BA Holidays and the upgrade offers BA heavily tout on CE routes. You can never please everyone but I do find it bizarre that you can have someone who has paid GBP40 upgrade offer on a flight to DUS getting the same lounge benefits as someone who has paid top dollar for CW to SFO. I wonder whether BA will do a QR and create a lounge for those with Silver / OWE but not flying in J (doubtful given real estate issues at LHR) or they follow the American carriers and restrict access if you are flying some of the shorter routes (like Alaska have done this year).

 

Like yourself, I cannot see BA creating yet another lounge. I would not be surprised to see another paid lounge appear in T5 eventually if space could be found. people are clearly prepared to put hand in pocket, I saw one person pay £201 for 5 hours in the lounge for 3 people, and another group being refused entry to Aspire despite being willing to pay, and those two events were just whilst I was hanging around for a couple of minutes. Add to that the literal dozens of PP being refused and that’s a lot of money being left at the door. It was definitely a struggle with PP lounge access, and once inside, the product was generally sub-par.

I’m not convinced that the double TP offer is the main culprit of the BA lounge overflow. I doubt that the number of people taking 1 or 2 business class holidays and then dropping to economy for any further holidays is statistically significant outside of the FT community . I personally think that the change in the ratio of leisure vs business passengers flying premium cabins means a higher average linger time in the lounge, something I’m definitely guilty of in this trip!

 

Sorry to hear about the virus, however on the bright side that will mean an instant weight loss from the weekend's overindulgence and no need to calorie restrict this week.

Re the BA lounges, last year when I was through LHR the lounges were so crowded, hard to get a seat and the situation was made worse by dirty dishes everywhere and insufficient staff to clear them. I wonder if more people are paying for business class and if it's a new thing they are thinking I am going to get my money's worth in the lounge. I'm not much of a lounge lizard myself, but to some people it's a big deal posting photos of themselves to SM with a glass of cheap bubbles.

 

The CX lounge was probably constrained due to the number of students returning to HK for the summer. Many of the students have CX silver which grants lounge access with Cathay.
JapesUK Fantastic report (as always) - don't think I would be able to beat your record any time soon. I've never seen the plaza premium rammed like that

 

I would say that in case of BA lounges, they are a victim of their own success. BA sells a lot more J than any other airline especially in short haul - I mean, looking at Japes' reports, 10 rows of CE are nothing unusual. No other airline I fly around (and I do fly a fair mix of carriers and routes, I'd like to think) comes even close, and if they ever do, then it's a connection heavy flight on a trunk route and those folks are off for a longhaul. 2-3 rows are a typical J size for a random outstation flight by LH, SK, KL...

Add to that the fact that a lot of BA J fliers are leisure fliers, who are much more likely to arrive early and linger, compared to a typical business flier, who would ideally want to leave from LCY, but if he has to depart from LHR, he wants to arrive as late as he dares to risk...

as an aside, personally I would welcome a Centurion lounge in T5. Haven't been to the one in T3 (haven't been to T3 yet) but the ones I visited elsewhere were nice, and despite being technically credit card lounges, they were a well different world from your random Aspire.

 

I've hung up my platinum spurs for a couple of years, hence not visiting the T3 centurion on the last two trips. Previous experience has been that it has been busy, very busy, or completely rammed. The F&B in the T3 centurion is definitely a large step up from the PP lounges. I found the lounge itself a bit of a dark hole and the dining area in front of the bar was very school canteen although the rest of the space was better appointed.

 

Or worse, which carries on brewing inside of you... I fully agree!

As someone said earlier, you belong in a straightjacket, but then who would take all those pictures and write your reports?

Thanks, it's been good to read along.

 

Is it really YOUR airport though? It's as much your airport as Oyster card is gives you access to pearls or oysters 🤣

 

What's wrong with avo?

 

The only thing Avo is good for is spreading on toast immediately before you thrown the Avo and toast in the bin

 

I guess we can't be friends then 🤣