NEWS: British Airways Lounges – Heathrow T5 Sleep pods gone, T5B improvements and New lounge for Miami?

British Airways – Heathrow T5 Sleep pods gone

I had heard that the Forty Winks sleep pods had gone from the T5 First and Concorde room lounges, so I went to investigate last week when I was flying out. The concept of having a quiet area for sleeping/resting is a great one, but personally, I think BA did it all wrong. I’m guessing that they got some sort of a deal to install the sleep pods as it seemed a very over-engineered version of what was actually needed. If you are a side sleeper or like some privacy, the sleep pods were no good at all. I tried them and did not find them conducive to sleep at all. What they needed were separate cubicles with some simple chaise lounge-type beds like Qatar has in their rest areas. 

I’d guess that the sleep pods were not really used much for the above reasons, but the replacement seems an odd choice. Hopefully, the furniture is just temporary as I still think they need a quiet area. When I was in there, the lighting was still very dark, but they had an odd set-up of a couple of comfy armchairs and then a lot of dining tables and chairs. I’m not sure who would want to eat/work in the dark or try to relax on a dining chair? I hope they work out exactly what the area is supposed to be and equip it properly for the purpose. 

The 40 winks in the Concorde Room has also gone and it was empty last week during my visit. I have been told that they plan to restore the boardroom. I always liked the boardroom for somewhere to work quietly or if it was empty, make a phone call. It will be interesting if they go with the old large table or have some more individual booths as have become fashionable in lounges. 

T5B Galleries Club Lounge improvements

I reviewed the newly revamped T5B Galleries Club lounge and the Whispering Angel bar here. If you were visiting in the last week or so, you would have seen boarding around the Whispering Angel bar. They are not getting rid of it, they are simply replacing the flooring in the area. All the furniture has already been replaced in the lounge. This should be finished imminently.

There are more “improvements” for the T5B lounge coming:

• A Cook-to-order station with jacket potatoes/omelettes/pancakes etc (opening in a week or so)
• New champagne – Monopole Silver 
• New Quiet area’ where the Elemis Spa used to be
• A more permanent buffet area (getting rid of the temporary wooden counters)

It will be interesting to see how the live cooking station copes with demand but anything fresh has to be a good thing. I’m still not sure how a jacket potato can be cooked to order, I assume they mean the toppings, not the potato!

New lounge for Miami and potentially selling drinks?

It has always been surprising to me that there is no BA lounge in Miami, given the fact that they usually run two flights a day including an A380 and have BA lounges in other major US city airports. Currently, you have to use the AA Flagship lounge. According to this article, a new lounge could be built for BA opening in 2026.

British Airways has proposed a 10-year lease with Miami-Dade County to build and operate a 12,973-sq lounge on the fourth floor of Concourse E at Miami airport. 

It still needs to be approved but this should be done in November 23, although building work is not due to start until the end of 2024 with the lounge due to open mid-2026. 

There is a rather odd phrase in the article saying that “British Airways will pay the county 18% of its monthly gross revenues from liquor sales and 10% of its monthly gross revenues generated from the sale of other amenities such as VIP conference room rentals.” This seems more like something AA would do where they charge for premium drinks in their non-Flagship lounges. I really hope BA does not start to do something similar in the US, as that would be a very backwards and unwelcome step.