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Portugal relaxes covid entry requirements
Visitors aged 12 or above must take a PCR test up to 72 hours before departing for Portugal, or an antigen test up to 48 hours before departing. Children 11 or under do not need to show test proof or be vaccinated.
Test certificates must show:
– type of test taken;
– passenger name (as per passport);
– date of birth;
– clear identification of the laboratory including the certification;
– the date and time the sample was collected and the explicit negative test result;
British Airways reopen arrivals lounge, & introduces mobile shower booking
It has also been revealed that British Airways has reopened its Arrivals lounge as well as the Concorde breakfast room. The Concorde area is for those travelling in First class. Ordering will be via the app. You can read about my previous arrivals lounge experience here. The arrivals lounge will be open 05:00 – 14:00 and you will be able to have breakfast and shower.
With the reopening of the Arrivals Lounge and the Concorde Room there will be changes to the way you can reserve a shower in all locations at Heathrow. This will also be on the Your Menu website as well. I like the idea of this and hopefully, they keep it. Far more efficient than having to queue up to make a booking.
More details about the Concorde Room reopening
Yesterday I spoke about BA reopening their Concorde Room for its First and Concorde Card passengers. One detail I missed out that you may have noticed from the picture is the large bell by the bar. This is the Gordons Tree Station bell. This was used in British Airways Sudan Gordons Tree terminal and was rung this for every flying boat arrival and departure. It also rang this at the moment BEA and BOAC were united to form British Airways.
The Concorde bar team will now ring this bell for the first departure of the day and the last boarding before the Concorde Room closes.
The Concorde Team will now work from the CCR host desk to help premier and GGL customers.
Sadly the CCR millionaire’s door will not be open, so if you get to Heathrow after 2pm when the First wing closes, you will have to go through main security and go downstairs, back upstairs, and then into the lounge that way.
The cabanas are also closed currently and it is not known when they will return.
I have now seen the new bar chairs and I’m afraid the pattern is not my cup of tea. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.
Other BA lounges due to reopen
The Escape lounge in Terminal 1 is now available in Manchester for BA customers.
There are now more BA lounges reopening worldwide in the next few weeks.
- Chicago 21st Sept
- Washington – 23rd Sept
- Newark – 29th Sept
- San Francisco– 30th Sept
- Houston – 05th Oct
- Boston – 07th Oct
There are also plans to reopen Geneva, Rome, Dubai, and Milan soon but there is no firm date yet.
5 comments
Michelle,
Thanks for the Concorde Room info. In the previous article you said that it’s open till 3pm, but today you state that the First Wing security closes at 2pm. With an LAX flight at 3.15pm I’d love to know at what time we might get kicked out of the lounge!
The two are not connected. First Wing closes the security channel at around 2pm (can still check in) and the Concorde Room closes at 3pm. Really they should link it but they haven’t!
Of course Portugal is still on Amber so any unvaccinated may be able to go but they can’t come back without quarantining:)
Just spent a week there – it was wonderful
Hi Lucy, hi all – we’re off to Portugal end of the month. Will the NHS vaccination certificates be accepted?
thanks!
LS
Yes but I always advice reading the official advice on the U.K. FCDO page.
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