Heathrow Shopping and British Airways Galleries South Lounge
More Pleasure, More Business
In this divided trip report
Part Two Onto Business
- Part One – The Pleasure
- Part Two – The Business
- British Airways Galleries South Lounge
- BA962 London Heathrow to Hamburg – Club Europe
- IBIS Budget St Pauli
- Crystal Cabin Awards Roundup
- Aircraft Interiors Expo – What you might have missed
- Back to Hamburg Airport, Hamburg Airport Lounge
- BA967 Hamburg Airport to London Heathrow – Club Europe
- Not going home in a hurry
- Compensation Fun, Games and Paperwork
- Life is in many parts
Meanwhile at Heathrow Airport…
You re-join me as I swap over at Heathrow Terminal 5 – where I was last spotted pushing my trolley of stuff through the terminal and checking my bag into safe luggage – and missing a baggie thanks to British Airways.
My aim now is to condense what I need down to an overhead bag and a day bag. Alas, with most of my clothing… well, not with me, I condensed out what I could from the rucksack into the Ski bag (which by now was bursting beyond capacity).
With the repack complete and the luggage dropped off at Heathrow safe luggage (which costs an arm and a leg – but that’s life as they say), it was time to head up to departures and claim my boarding pass for this trip
Although no issues with Billy Ocean’s check-in process.
I had a fight with a boarding pass issuing machine, with none of them happily giving me a boarding pass. In the end, I had to disturb a BA employee who was more interested in being on the phone than issuing boarding passes.
With a pass in hand, it was time to head off to Fast Track security, and the joy of the South Lounge. In previous years, this flight has tended to leave from T5A (the main Terminal 5 building), and normally in the main section. For me – this was a chance to relax a bit.
Of course, there was a slight problem… and that’s the clothing problem I had.
Or the lack of there-after. Yes, I did pack underwear and socks, no I did not pack a shirt. And don’t ask why there’s a Peep in my bag.
It’s just the way life rolls some days.
I gritted my teeth, and browsed the UK’s most expensive shopping mall, finding one shop that deals with trousers and shirts.
Thankfully, Thomas Pink saw me coming a mile off. With the kind help of their salespeople, I had a pair of chinos (whatever the heck they are… they look like trousers) and a long-sleeved shirt (not my preference at all… but what choice did I have apart from ruin my afternoon in Hamburg).
The price of that privilege? £270.83
Yes. £270.83.
And they didn’t even stock a belt.
Even after this time, I’m wondering how many shirts and trousers I could have got elsewhere at various other outlets for that price.
With those items in hand (at least there was a Heathrow Rewards promotion that allowed for 500 extra points to be added to my account), I headed to Galleries South to relax for a while.
And to get changed.
British Airways Galleries South
Horselamp was eyeing up my purchases.
I was welcomed to the lounge and was directed indoors to it. With the measly breakfast served in World Traveller Plus, it was time for a proper breakfast (and I skipped the vodka… I honestly wasn’t in the mood).
Considering I landed at 6:20 in the morning, and it was near enough 9 am when I got into the lounge…. I wasn’t a happy bunny in the least.
Nonetheless, breakfast was a priority. And thankfully, it seems British Airways has moved away from Bacon roll and cheese omelette rolls…. A bit.
Juices
Cereals
Fruits
Pasties
Hot items
Drinks.
Instead, we’ve got Spanish style omelettes, hash browns, pasties as well as bacon rolls.
This is a lot better the previous offering, to say the least.
I found somewhere to plonk myself down and organise myself… and my purchases.
To sit, to plonk.
For it was time to transform from slacker Kevin who slouches around in tracksuit bottoms and a polo shirt to business Kevin who wears overpriced clothes and goes to conferences, meetings and trade shows.
Or something like that.
With me suited and booted (and worrying if the bag would arrive on time or not – it had a deadline of Tuesday evening), I headed back into the lounge. This is normally the perfect time to check what gate I would be going from. In the past, this Hamburg flight has been in the middle of the main terminal, so selecting the south lounges is normally a good shout.
Today, it was going from A3… at the other side of the Terminal 5 A complex.
I didn’t know if to laugh or cry.
I got my crap together and headed out
Passing though the transfer area
Big letters, big speedmarque.
Broken cloud sculpture.
I walked over to Gate A3, expecting it to be busy… and when I hit the gate … it was pretty packed. Thankfully, priority boarding had just commenced.
Group 1 today.
I slid my way through the queue and into the priority lane. With a beep of my boarding pass, I was under way for the next step of my journey
Next: BA962 London Heathrow to Hamburg.
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Ubahn from HAM to Hauptbahnhof and you’ve got Kaufhot, Peek & Cloppenburg and even good old C&A within a stones throw 🙂
Change from €20 in there ….
That’s the worst part.
Sadly, I was out of time at both ends – with meetings at one end and waiting to get through security at the other.
And yes. It would had been £20 in Tesco Howslow too…
My wallet aches in sympathy…had to buy a polo shirt at an airport Brooks Brothers once and I thought that was painful, but nothing compared to that.