In a major operational expansion, British Airways is opening up its Concorde Room lounges at New York JFK airport and Heathrow Terminal 5.
The Concorde Room is reserved for those passengers who are flying in First. Both reopen today, 1st of Setempber
The lounges were both closed in March 2020, with the JFK lounge reopening in August.
To coincide with both Concorde Rooms opening their doors once again, British Airways will be introducing a new exciting cocktail menu, created exclusively for the airline by Mr Lyan (Ryan Chetiyawardana), a figurehead in the global cocktail scene. Driven by sustainability and his love for experimenting with new ingredients, he has carefully created an array of elegant cocktails for customers to enjoy depending on their individual tastes and preferences, ahead of their flight.
Mr Lyan (Ryan Chetiyawardana) at work with the new cocktails – Image, British Airways
The new menu contains seven cocktails, with two unique British Airways serves designed in celebration of the airline’s heritage and iconic colleagues.
The two special cocktails are named the Barton and Lawford after Lynn Barton, the first female British Airways pilot, and Bill Lawford, the first ever British Airways pilot in 1919. The menu has been designed with a focus on the best of British seasonal ingredients that specifically embrace ‘in-flight’ and wind-pollinated flavours. The Barton and Lawford will also be available in the Galleries Club lounges and First lounge.
Customers in the Concorde Room will continue to receive table service across the whole lounge, but visitors to other lounges will also benefit from using the airline’s new digital ‘Your Menu’ service which allows them to order food from the menu directly to their seat in the lounge with the use of a QR code close to them.
In addition, British Airways customers using the airline’s Concorde Room will also have access to the new ‘Forty Winks’ EnergyPods, to get some pre-flight shuteye if they wish to.
Concorde Room customers will be able to book an EnergyPod via dedicated hosts, request a time to be woken and choose a hot beverage to enjoy after their rest. Water and hot towels will be provided to add to the refreshing awakening experience.
Tempting Bronze with Silver
Elsewhere the airline will also be surprising a number of its Bronze Executive cardholders on a daily basis in September and October with the taste of Silver Card benefits.
British Airways will be inviting those who are close to the next threshold to use one of the airline’s lounges at Heathrow with a guest.
In Quotes
Tom Stevens, British Airways’ Director of Brand and Customer Experience, said:
“As we start to gradually welcome back customers, we want to ensure that they have the best experience possible with British Airways. We are looking at every element of the customer experience, from sleep pods and signatures cocktails in our newly reopened lounges, to roast dinners onboard and additional benefits for our card holders – we want flying with British Airways to be memorable. Our teams will continue to innovate, and we look forward to sharing more exciting developments with our customers over the coming months.”
Edging to Normality
The term I’ve used a lot is “edging to normality”, giving passengers a sense of what was normal before everything when upside down in March 2020.
It seems there is enough premium demand now to re-open these facilities to passengers and invite them to utilities the facilities, which is welcome to see.
The London Concorde room should see plenty of traffic, whilst the JFK room should be a lot quieter (due to ongoing restrictions to entry into the USA).
For now, it is welcome to see British Airways facilities being reintroduced for their premium passengers.
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