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Review: the new British Airways lounge at Aberdeen Airport

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This is my review of the new British Airways lounge at Aberdeen Airport.

This is part of our series of reviews of airport lounges across the UK. You see all of the reviews here.

Aberdeen Airport has recently seen a redevelopment programme.  As part of the work, British Airways has gained a brand new lounge which opened on Tuesday.  I popped in to take a look.

British Airways Galleries lounge Aberdeen Airport review

Aberdeen Airport also has a high quality independent lounge called Northern Lights, which can be accessed via Priority Pass, Lounge Club or for cash.  I also visited the Northern Lights lounge and will review that later.

But which is best?  British Airways or Northern Lights?  Our review of Northern Lights is here if you want to compare.

The new British Airways Galleries lounge in Aberdeen

“I’ve had two customers come in today who went in the new BA lounge and didn’t like it, so they came here” said the receptionist at the Northern Lights lounge where I started my lounge safari.

That wasn’t a great sign, but I can see why.  These people were clearly hungry.

But first things first …..

The Northern Lights and British Airways lounges are both on the first floor of Aberdeen Airport’s departure lounge.  There is also a small Eastern Airways lounge at gate level.

The BA lounge can be accessed by anyone with a Club Europe ticket or with Gold, Silver or oneworld equivalent status.

It is effectively two rectangular areas side by side.  One half has windows running the full length of the lounge overlooking the runway.

There are 15 or so stools by the windows.  This is where I sat with my laptop.  There are TWO power sockets per stool – you won’t go short here!

Click on any picture to enlarge slightly:

British Airways Galleries lounge Aberdeen Airport review

This area, which is obviously very bright due to the windows, also has around 30 solo armchairs.  Each chair has a side table between it and the adjacent chair, and all of these side tables have UK, European and USB sockets.  It is impressive.

British Airways Galleries lounge Aberdeen Airport review

The loos are inside the lounge.  For those who care about these things, the gents has no urinals, only cubicles.  The flush is sensor operated which means waving your hand in front of a digital display depending on the size of flush you need.

There is also a decent and smartly arranged selection of magazines.  Newspapers are in the bar area.

British Airways Galleries lounge Aberdeen Airport review

In the other side of the lounge is a smart looking granite-topped bar.  There are stools here but no sockets (EDIT: apparently there are sockets and I didn’t bend down far enough. What I thought was a handbag holder in the picture is apparently a plug.)

British Airways Galleries lounge Aberdeen Airport review

This area also contains a dining area with tables and wooden chairs.

The bar area is darker – much of the light from the windows in the other half of the lounge does not reach.  I’m not sure how it will look on a dark Scottish Winter evening.  Cloudless sunny days like the one I had yesterday are presumably scarce in Aberdeen.

British Airways Galleries lounge Aberdeen Airport review

There is a wide selection of drink:

British Airways Galleries lounge Aberdeen Airport review

As you can see, there was also an ice bucket with three bottles of Castelnau champagne in it.  I’m not sure if this is an ‘opening offer’ or if BA intends this to be a permanent feature – you rarely see self pour champagne in Galleries lounges except for Galleries First.

British Airways Galleries lounge Aberdeen Airport review

Staff were also coming around to offer champagne refills, which is definitely not usual for BA!

The food … oh dear.  Why are British Airways regional lounges so bad at food?  The lunch options available at Northern Lights next door were substantial.  Excellent mini-burgers, a curry, pasta, soup, and big lemon cake.

British Airways Galleries lounge Aberdeen Airport review

The only thing that BA could rustle up was the usual sandwich selection (these were very fresh, I should add), some bits of cheese and vegetable soup.  No wonder people were walking out and heading over to Northern Lights for something substantial.  This is becoming a pattern now – I do the same in Amsterdam, going into the Aspire lounge for the decent food before popping into the BA lounge next door for the newspapers.

What I did enjoy in both lounges was watching the runway action.  You’re not in Heathrow anymore, Toto.  Almost all of the aircraft flying in and out were turboprops, with brands such as West Atlantic which meant nothing to me.  There were also Eastern Airways, Loganair, Wideroe and Flybe flights and various helicopters coming and going.

Conclusion

Most people don’t have a choice of which lounge they visit, so comparisons are often moot.  However ….

If you can get into the British Airways Galleries lounge at Aberdeen, you will find a fresh, modern and generously sized (given the number of flights) space.  It is a perfectly pleasant place to spend an hour or so, unless you crave food.

If you can get into the Northern Lights lounge – which accepts Priority Pass and the Amex Gold credit card Lounge Club cards, amongst others – you will find yourself in one of the nicest airport-run lounges in the UK.

If you can get into both, I would recommend Northern Lights.  My review of the Northern Lights louge at Aberdeen Airport is hereBritish Airways has done a good job with the new Aberdeen lounge but it was up against stiff competition and fell short.


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Comments (67)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Gordon says:

    The only advantage the Northern Lights lounge has is it’s range of hot food. The staff at that lounge are undertrained and undermined by inadequate systems that often sees check in queues extending out through the entrance doors.

    BA offers a better range of liquor, including premium brands; all of which are self pour. The way that the Northern Lounge not only guard but dispense using measures is just annoying and slow.

    I was at the BA lounge on Tuesday, when it opened. The fizzy is not self-pour but happily served and replenished by the excellent lounge staff. I know this because due to a misunderstanding I started to uncork one of the two unopened and sealed bottles resting in the ice bucket. Whilst doing this someone arrived with a pre-poured glass and took the partially opened bottle off me and back to the kitchen.

    Finally, the BA lounge has far more sockets than the Northern Lounge and most other BA lounges since they have learned the mistake of undersupply from the refurb of LGW.

    Oh and as a native Aberdonian, what’s sunshine?

    • grex910 says:

      It’s that yellow light you sometimes see when you briefly release your grip on your cash…

    • IanMacK says:

      The Northern Light Lounge has undertrained staff – well some of them look very similar to the ‘old BA lounge’ staff to me – maybe I’ll see them back next door tomorrow …
      Annoying was the whole drawn out process that BA travellers had to go through to be ‘checked in’ at the Northern Lights lounge entrance – it was clear the system couldn’t cope and details had to be manually entered – hence the long Q.
      Amazingly, in the last couple of weeks its been boarding pass scan and walk right through – technology (almost too late !!) …
      And there was more sun in Aberdeen yesterday than London !!!

  • Nick says:

    BA Galleries LGW South has self pour Castelnau champagne too!

    • Premier01 says:

      What about other BA Galleries lounges e.g. JFK- do they serve bubbles on request- can’t remember seeing self-pour?

      • Nick says:

        No sadly not! Only a German sparkling wine… but if you ask any staff member they will serve champagne from the kitchen.

      • Rob says:

        In theory but I have never asked.

        • Nick says:

          No, I can assure you in JFK Galleries they serve champagne upon request.

  • Paul says:

    The First lounge at Gatwick was brilliant this morning – excellent breakfast and great environment.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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