Today I want to share my review of the Concorde Room at Heathrow with you. This flagship airport lounge in London is one of the most famous in the world, and it’s worth a visit if you can get in.
Concorde Room at Heathrow
Being a professional travel blogger, I spend a lot of time in London airports. From Stansted’s waiting areas to Heathrow’s Terminal 5, I see a range of what the UK capital has to offer in the way of aviation.
My favorite experiences at the airports in London are the ones in the lounges. There are various tiers when it comes to airline lounges in London, and I’ve spent time in nearly all of them. My favorite is the Concorde Room at Heathrow.
London Airport Lounges
One step up from serfdom, my airline status gets me into the regular business class lounges of certain airlines, such as the British Airways Galleries lounge in Terminal 5.
But when I travel with my boyfriend—who thinks that his higher status entitles him to refer to me as his “not-so-well-traveled girlfriend”—we get to use the “premium” Galleries First lounge.
The Galleries First lounge is normally reserved for those that are two steps up from serfdom, which, if I remember my 7th-grade history correctly, is the landowning class.
These lounges offer nicer champagne and premium liquor, as well as more food and nicer sofas. Serfs not included.
Concorde Room at Heathrow Review
But the real bonus came when we left for a trip to South Africa and Namibia two weeks ago.
My boyfriend found the deal of the year: a round-trip ticket from Heathrow to Cape Town in first class on British Airways for 100,000 American Airlines frequent flier miles.
For those that don’t travel often, that’s a great deal. The ticket costs around $15,000 USD if you’re paying cash.
With a First ticket, there’s an even more premium lounge than the Galleries First lounge: the Concorde Room at Heathrow.
A lounge for the third tier up from serfdom (the nobility!); I could do a whole anthropological study on English culture using only Heathrow.
The Concorde Room at Heathrow Terminal 5 is the flagship lounge in the flagship terminal of the flagship airport in the most important (former) imperial power in the world.
Apparently, it doesn’t get any better than this.
Concorde Room Experience
We got to the airport early to make sure we had plenty of time to enjoy all the Concorde Room had to offer.
We knew it was an important place when we had to pass through not one but two “lounge dragons” who checked our tickets thoroughly and eyed us with much suspicion to make sure we belonged there.
Once in the lounge, we took a look around. Smaller than the others, it was decorated in rich wood, lots of leather, soft light, and all the nice little touches.
We walked to the bar, which ran from end to end along one of the walls, and tried the “premium” champagne, which was sadly not as impressive as we’d hoped.
We then enjoyed a full sit-down lunch. To protect our privacy (or more likely that of the other passengers) the restaurant in the Concorde Room at Heathrow was made up of tiny compartments that each fit one table.
It was so well enclosed that we half expected our server to slide a pocket door out of the paneling and entomb us in our booth while we ate.
Luckily, we didn’t get locked into our table. After eating hamburgers made with what I’m sure was the most premium beef in all of Scotland, we took a seat on one of the soft leather chairs and people-watched our hearts out.
As everyone from Arab sheiks to African kings to European aristocrats strolled by, I sipped my third glass of champagne and tried to guess their net worth by the number of Louis Vuitton bags they had convinced security to let them past the “one bag only” sign with (as a former private banker, I’m good at this kind of thing).
The Concorde Room also had a spa, which led me to think that one could actually live there if one were so inclined.
If they were to re-make the movie The Terminal, they could make Tom Hanks’ character an oligarch from an unstable country in the former USSR who gets stuck in the Concorde Room forever. It would be far more amusing than the original version.
We booked massages at said spa, but didn’t make it back before we had to head to our flight. Maybe next time. If there is a next time (spoiler alert: there is).
Flying British Airways First Class
As for the flight itself, I’m sad to say that it was practically indistinguishable from Club World, BA’s term for business class.
Aside from a plate of canapes, a slightly more extensive dinner menu, and more of the “premium” champagne, there was really no difference at all.
I suppose most people who fly paid First are purchasing the Concorde Room and the physical barrier between them and the serfs rather than the actual experience. I hope so, anyway.
In any case, I enjoyed my stint in the Concorde Room at Heathrow and my first class flying experience. I could certainly get used to traveling this way.
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