a room with a christmas tree and a man standing behind a counter

Review: Qantas Lounge, London Heathrow Airport (LHR)

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During the morning rush in the Cathay Pacific lounges prior to the 11:15 AM flight, I thought I’d check out the new Qantas lounge at London Heathrow, which I’d heard really good things about. The Qantas lounge is located in Lounge B at Heathrow’s Terminal 3, and is open from 7:55 AM to 8:35 PM every day.

The lounge itself had a snazzy wooden entrance, where sliding doors led to two booths where my boarding pass was scanned.

a wood door with a logo on it
Qantas Lounge London Heathrow Entrance

I was welcomed into the lounge and informed there wouldn’t be any boarding announcements.

The Qantas Lounge at London Heathrow is open to all oneworld first class, business class, Emerald and Sapphire members. The lounge doesn’t feature a separate first class area, so all passengers have access to the same part of the lounge.

The lounge is separated into a bottom floor and a top floor. The bottom floor features dining-style seating, which presumably catered to the buffet and a-la-carte menu that would be put out later in the day. At the time of my visit no a-la-carte menu was on offer, so this area stayed largely deserted.

a room with tables and chairs a restaurant with tables and chairs a counter with bowls of food and utensils
Qantas Lounge London Heathrow Downstairs

There were nice tarmac views, and I appreciated that most of the stalls and tables by the walls were outfitted with power ports.

a table with a chair and a windowa room with tables and chairs
Qantas Lounge London Heathrow Seating Downstairs

The lounge wasn’t busy at the time. Although there was a Perth flight scheduled at 11:55 AM, it was cancelled that morning due to weather circumstances in Australia. As a result, the lounge was very quiet at this time of day, and most of the action was intentionally contained to the upper level of the lounge.

The upper level is accessible by a rather snazzy, gold-finished staircase.

a staircase with a railing and lights
Qantas Lounge London Heathrow Stairs

The centerpiece of the upper deck is a circular bar, which serves drinks including barista-made coffee. I found this floor to be gorgeous, with a variety of comfortable seating; I also appreciated how well-lit it was, which would make a good space for working.

a room with a christmas tree and a man standing behind a counter a room with chairs and a screen a room with a couch and chairs a room with a counter and chairsa room with couches and tables
Qantas Lounge London Heathrow Seating Upstairs

One thing that I’d note regarding the seating was that the work-style seating upstairs seemed to be limited to a few tables. Qantas seems to consistently outfit their lounges with low-level tables, which are great for conversation but not so much for dining and working. While the tables on the lower deck were a good height, they seemed to be used more for dining purposes, so I’d have appreciated some separated “work seating” of sorts.

Much like the lower deck, the lounge took advantage of the tarmac views available to it, with some dedicated chairs facing the windows.

a room with red leather couches and a table and chairs a plane on the runway
Qantas Lounge London Heathrow Tarmac Views

At the time the lounge also featured a nice breakfast spread. While the options weren’t too varied and were limited to a few hot items, I found the quality to be great, as is the norm in Qantas lounges. I presume that a larger food spread is available during lunch and dinner hours (it’s expected to see airlines put in less effort in breakfast dining options in general, so I wasn’t surprised to see that here).

a buffet table with food on it a group of bowls of food a counter with a variety of cups and teapots on it
Qantas Lounge London Heathrow Food Spread

I didn’t eat much, though I did get a double espresso from the bar, which hit the spot. Qantas is impressively committed to making great caffeinated beverages in their lounges across the world (I’ve had great coffee in Qantas lounges in Sydney and Hong Kong as well).

a glass of liquid on a white plate
Qantas Lounge London Heathrow Double Espresso

During my short stay in this lounge I decided to call a friend from home, so asked a lounge attendant if there was a quiet space where I could do that. The lounge attendant proactively provided a private room where I could do so. I asked if I could use the room for 30 minutes, and soon extended my stay to an hour, which was accommodated without issue. The lounge attendants I interacted with were reserved, but friendly – and the room was really nice too (the curtains opened to reveal a wall, however – so much for form over function).

a white square table next to a couch
Qantas Lounge London Heathrow Private Room

WiFi in this lounge is easy to connect to, and functional – my video call connected seamlessly, so I imagine you’d be able to stream without issue.

Conclusion: Qantas Lounge London Heathrow

Qantas has a beautiful outstation lounge in London Heathrow that is reminiscent of their lounge in Hong Kong. I don’t quite think this lounge has the functionality of the Hong Kong lounge, especially workstation-wise, though I really enjoyed my stay.

Presumably during busier times the ground floor would be better utilised. I know that a while back Qantas used to offer a-la-carte dining in this lounge, so I was somewhat hoping it’d be available on the morning of my visit. Qantas generally does well with food and beverages – the food spread here was good, and the coffee spectacular – so I’d like to see some thought being expanded on their a-la-carte selection downstairs (including when it’s offered), which would really set this lounge apart.

Read more from this trip:

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