Around the World in 100 Hours: British Airways Galleries First Lounge and Club World Lounge London Heathrow

Introduction
United Club San Francisco, International Terminal
United Business Class San Francisco to Seoul
Asiana Airlines Business Class Lounge Seoul
Korean Air Lounge and Singapore SilverKris Lounge Seoul
Singapore Business Class Seoul to Singapore
Ambassador Transit Lounge Singapore
Singapore SilverKris Lounge Singapore
Changi Airport Free Singapore Tour
Singapore Business Class Singapore to Colombo
Transiting Colombo
Lotus and Araliya Lounges Colombo
Qatar Airways Business Class Colombo to Doha
Qatar Airways First Class Premium Terminal Doha
Qatar Airways First Class Doha to Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates First Class Dubai to London Heathrow
British Airways Concorde Room London Heathrow
British Airways Galleries First Lounge and Club World Lounge London Heathrow
British Airways First Class London Heathrow to San Francisco

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Since we had a lengthy layover and all of the British Airways lounges in Terminal 5 are so close together, we decided to go lounge hopping to see what the other lounges were like.

Our first stop was the Galleries First Lounge, which is directly across from the Concorde Room.

While the Galleries First Lounge had many more people in it than the Concorde Room, it was also considerably larger. It felt busy, but not overcrowded, as many domestic lounges can be.

Perhaps this is just due to expectations, but I think I preferred the Galleries First Lounge to the Concorde Room. Even though the Galleries First Lounge is more self service and less exclusive, at least the self service options were well stocked, so I could access anything that I wanted immediately. On the other hand, you have to ask for things in the Concorde Room, which is great if there are enough staff, but I didn’t feel like there were.

In terms of the actual amenities, I think what was on offer between the Galleries First Lounge and the Concorde Room was largely comparable, although the Concorde Room had a slightly better selection of alcohol.

The thing that made me really like the Galleries First Lounge, though, was the terrace had a better view of the tarmac. From the corner of the terrace, you have a great view of one of the runways, so I sat for a while to see multiple 747s and an A380 takeoff.

Next up was the Club World Lounge, which is upstairs from the Galleries First Lounge and the Concorde Room.

While there wasn’t any hot food on offer in the Club World Lounge and the alcohol selection was not as good as the lounges, I thought it was a pretty decent business class lounge, and easily better than most any domestic lounge in the US.

There were also quite a few people using the lounge, but the lounge is quite large with a lot of different seating areas, so it didn’t seem to hard to find a spot to sit down and work.

The best part of the lounge, though, which neither the Galleries First Lounge nor the Concorde Room had, was an ice cream fridge!

The Galleries First and Club World Lounges are pretty good lounges, especially if you’re getting access through alliance status. British Airways really needs to step up their game for their own first class passengers, though, as the Concorde Room is nothing special.