After a great few days in Munich, it was time to say goodbye. Our driver Henry drove us to Munich, where he dropped us off at Terminal 1. The terminal looks nice enough from the outside, with a semi-enclosed driveway containing lots of natural light.
Munich Airport Terminal 1 Exterior
Unfortunately the inside is a dump. Worst of all, Qatar Airways doesn’t seem to have many ground staff in Munich, so the people working the check-in counter were all airport employees. They were nice enough, but checking in a person and loading a bag took around five minutes. This meant that it took our queue of six people deep around 45 minutes. We decided to split off into duty-free, thinking that we’d queue up with the receipts, and just show them the goods we’d be bringing onto the plane.
Qatar Airways Check-in Munich Airport
Unfortunately duty-free was a complete catastrophe – the process was more convoluted than usual to start with (actually, the process is convoluted to start with), but the guy manning the counter was being an absolute cretin. I’ve outlined my experience in a separate post, so won’t do so again – what an inconsiderate, obnoxious, repulsive man.
He wasted The process took around an hour and a half (which included being legally threatened and visiting two other counters), so we were able to pass security around 25 minutes before boarding started. Fortunately there was a fast track lane during security, so we were through security with 10 minutes to spare.
I spotted signage to the lounges, where I headed over to the British Airways Galleries lounge, which is the lounge Qatar Airways, along with all other oneworld airlines, uses at Terminal 1.
Signage to Lounges Munich Airport
This required going up a rather long flight of stairs, so I’m happy I didn’t have a carry-on on me.
Signage to Lounges Munich Airport
Soon I reached the entrance of the British Airways Galleries lounge, where I was checked into the lounge by a rather stone-faced attendant.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Exterior
I knew that the lounge would be rather bare-bones, but I was still excited to see what this British Airways Galleries lounge would have to offer. The lounge was basically a big room, though there were partitions that stopped the lounge from being overly exposed.
To the entrance was a business center, with some equipment I’ll talk about later. Here I found some seating revolving around tiny tables.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Seating
I found some chairs that would’ve been comfortable to sit in, some of which featured a computer on them. However, it was rather disappointing that you basically had to be “exposed” if you wanted to work on your own laptop – there wasn’t even a seat facing the wall without a computer at it.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Seating
If you didn’t mind not having a table, you technically could sit at one of the awkwardly-placed chairs near the side of the lounge.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Awkwardly Placed Chairs
The actual “main” area of the lounge was a small triangular room, with a variety of seating. I couldn’t help but feel like the lounge’s decor was overly dated, especially since it seems like their furniture just went through a refresh.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Main Seating
I couldn’t make sense of some of the chairs that literally made you feel like you were sitting in the middle of the lounge.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Main Seating
Most of the seating provided consisted of armchairs, some of which were located near a wall, some of which were situated by the partitions, and some of which were just lying around in a cluster in the middle of the room.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Seating
I did appreciate that there were proper desks where you could work, but they were all too exposed for me.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Seating
Apart from being exposed, does the decor on some of these chairs look appealing to anybody? Oy, British Airways, the Hotel Bayerischer Hof Lindau called, and they want their chairs back.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Seating
Nearer to the very end of the lounge was slightly more comfortable sofa seating surrounding some tiny wooden tables, some of which were also dressed in the same hideous flowery pattern (and some that were dressed in a worn, though not as offensive striped grey).
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Seating
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Seating
The end of the lounge also seemed to be slightly cluttered, though otherwise I didn’t find the dated seating to be too badly laid out.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Seating
Going back to the business center, there were a bunch of PCs that you could use, and other places at the same desk to sit at if you have your own computer. Again, I hated how exposed these seats could be, as the whole of the area can basically see you working no matter where you sit at on this table.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Seating
There were also four PCs by the wall with bar-style seating.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich IT Station
Business travelers on shorthaul flights will be happy to find a printer, where they can print out some of their last-minute paperwork.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Printer
There was also a newspaper selection, with reading material that some travelers may enjoy. As someone who checks my news on the internet, though, I didn’t have a need for that.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Newspapers
In terms of the lounge’s food spread, there was a coffee machine and a limited spread with bread, sandwiches, biscuits, jelly and chicken nuggets, though that was about it.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Coffee Station
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Food Spread
There was also ice cream, which I was happy to see.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Ice Cream
Aside from the airport control tower, the lounge doesn’t offer much in the way of views, as it’s obstructed by a shield and faces the carpark.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Views
The lounge also features power ports, but I didn’t have the time to check if they were functional. I also didn’t have time to check out the WiFi speed, so can’t report back on that.
British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich Power Ports
Soon it was time to leave the lounge, as I still wanted to be one of the first onboard. I quickly found gate B15, where our flight would be boarding. While there wasn’t a line set up yet, I found myself a hallway where I could grab good pictures of some aircraft.
Munich Airport Terminal 1 Hallway to Gates
This included a picture of the wildlife-themed Emirates A380, which made me regret not choosing Emirates for the trip, as we could’ve ended up on that plane under the same travel dates. That would’ve given my sister a good surprise!
Emirates Airbus A380 Munich Airport
Fortunately our leased A350 from LATAM was also gorgeous, and after an angering experience at Munich Airport (along with your less-than-average outstation lounge), I was more than ready to fly back to Doha.
LATAM Airbus A350-900 Munich Airport
Bottom Line: British Airways Galleries Lounge Munich
British Airways’ Galleries Lounge at Munich Airport is definitely not a great lounge. I’ve seen pictures of some of British Airways’ newer lounges, and they look pretty modern. This certainly wasn’t one of those lounges – despite the furniture being recently revamped, some of the furniture looked like it belonged in another decade.
Despite that, Munich Airport is a rather crappy terminal on the whole, and I wasn’t expecting much more for an outstation lounge owned by British Airways. I wouldn’t visit the airport early just to visit the lounge, but would certainly arrive earlier than I’d usually arrive at an airport, just to navigate through the confusing layout of the trashy departures hall and the horrible people at the tax-free stations.
Great Review! I live near Lindau at Lake Constance and I definitely understand what you implied! 😀