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On our most recent trip to Budapest, we departed from London Heathrow Terminal 3. As we were flying in Club Europe, we had access to the British Airways Galleries Business Class Lounge in Terminal 3.
While we were in Budapest, we reviewed The Ritz-Carlton Budapest, Hotel Matild Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, and Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest, so you might want to take a look at these reviews if you fancy a bit of luxury for less. Budapest was remarkably good value with hotel prices less than half what you’d pay for the same brand elsewhere.
How To Access The British Airways Galleries Club lounge in Heathrow T3
If you are flying British Airways Club or Business Class around Europe or internationally, you get access to this lounge. If you are flying by another Oneworld airline (including Finnair, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, or Qantas) on a business class ticket or with the correct elite status, you will also be able to access this lounge.
Oneworld Sapphire or Emerald members, and British Airways Executive Club Silver or Gold, also get free access to this lounge, whatever class of travel they are flying.
This British Airways Galleries lounge was great. My immediate thought upon arrival in the lounge was that it was a blessed relief after the maze that makes up London Heathrow Terminal 3. Each part of the check-in and security process had a big queue. Even Business/Club Class check-in and their associated “fast track” security seemed to take hours, so it was great to have a sit-down!
Location
This Galleries lounge is located in Lounge F at Terminal 3. Just follow the signs to Lounges B-H (or similar – I can’t quite remember the sign, except it didn’t say airline lounges, simply “Lounges” with some letters).
The lounge is long and runs along the side of the building, so there are views of the planes from one side. Being an older airport design, the lounge windows are not floor-to-ceiling but are large enough to enjoy the views of planes parked up and taking up.
Style & Character
The lounge design is pleasant but feels more dated than the lounges in London Heathrow Terminal 5 because of the older building it is housed in. This lounge did have the advantage of being less busy than the lounges in Terminal 5, with plenty of seats and a stool area that is ideal for working.
While the design of this lounge was less modern than the best British Airways lounges at Terminal 5, largely due to its setting in an older building, the decor was fresh and stylish and mimicked other British Airways Galleries lounges. The generous availability of the seats was a major advantage over the other BA lounges we’ve experienced at London Heathrow.
Food & Drink
The food offerings in the lounge are much like those in all the other BA lounges. It may even come from the same central kitchen. We arrived for their lunch offering. A hot buffet was available, which included chicken balti pies, salmon fishcakes, a large buffet container of chicken madras curry (really delicious!), vegetarian fusilli pasta, and a bean ragu. The hot vegetable side dishes were steamed new potatoes, rice, peas, and carrots.
There were about eight different salad choices, ranging from lettuce to tomatoes with herbs, bean dishes, and cucumber in dressing. There were also Nachos with numerous dips in the main buffet area, as you can see in the picture below.
There are also usually bowls of whole fruit, which is a nice touch, although it can be more difficult to eat as sticky peaches always require a hand wash afterward. Whole fruit is less tempting when there is such an array of easy food.
If you use this lounge in the morning, the food offering is completely different, with a full English hot buffet with scrambled eggs, hash browns, baked beans, rolls, bacon, etc. There is also cold fruit, yogurt, and cereals as a healthier option.
At this point, it is worth mentioning that if you decide to cut up a peach, the bathrooms are at the back of the lounge and are excellent with big cubicles, your own basin within the cubicle, and they are nice and clean with Elemis toiletries. Again, they are designed just like the toilets in the Galleries lounges in Terminal 5.
You can also book showers if you are using this lounge. The showers are outside of the lounge but look much like the bathrooms you will find within the lounge but with a shower cubicle to one side of the cubicle.
As time passed, we spotted chicken, cheese, and tuna sandwiches with fruit cake next to the coffee machines around the corner from the main buffet. These were part of the afternoon team offering and were also tasty. Scones, cream, and jam usually come out later, but we missed those. The carrot cake is very good in the British Airways lounges and goes nicely with a cup of tea.
There are also tiny packs of ice cream, usually vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, available in pale blue freezers placed discretely within British Airways lounges. We love these ice creams, so look out for these freezers, as they can be fairly well hidden.
For drinks, there were cans of all the usuals: coke, tonics, etc., plus sparkling water from a Brita tap and juices.
For alcohol, there were lots of wine, spirits, and nibbles like crisps to go with them. For those who like hot drinks, there was more than one coffee and hot chocolate machine that churned out excellent hot drinks.
There was a cocktail area in the back lounge, and because we popped in during the summer, Pimms was set out with mixers and cut citrus fruit and cucumber.
Conclusion
We really enjoyed our time in this lounge. It is one of the best airport lounges at London Heathrow. It is also a great retreat from the madness of Heathrow Terminal 3, and I would book Club Europe specifically to use this lounge.
I also wanted to mention that the food at the British Airways London lounges in the afternoon really is outstanding. These British Airways Galleries lounges, which are accessible even if you are only flying Club Europe, offer a huge array of hot dishes, including one delicious curry dish (my stomach is rumbling just thinking of these curries), mash, rice, as well as a vegetarian dish and usually a pasta dish and huge salads too.
This is far better than almost any other airline business class lounge I have experienced, and if you get the chance to try one of these lounges out of London Heathrow, it’s absolutely worth going out of your way to try and get access.
Usually, the food in these British Airways Galleries lounges is far better than on the plane, particularly if you have an afternoon flight in Club Europe, as the BA afternoon tea is spectacularly underwhelming, and I always leave these lounges with a full and happy stomach.
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