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Heathrow Lounges


baltodave

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This isn't really a RCL question but thought I'd ask anyway....

We have some time to kill at Heathrow after our Greek/Adriatic cruise and I'm considering purchasing admission to one of the lounges in terminal 5 of Heathrow.  There are 2 lounges: "Club Aspire" and "Plaza Premium".  We don't have AMEX cards so we need to buy the admission (about $43 pp for 3 hours).

Does anyone here have any thoughts/opinions of them?

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I have not been to either of them, sorry. 

One thing to consider is that if your layover is three hours (not sure if you're saying your layover is three hours, or you would be in the lounge for three hours), the amount of time you would actually have in the lounge is quite a bit shorter. Between needing to transfer gates, re-clear security, and be at your departure gate a certain amount of time ahead of your flight, that three hours can easily become 1.5. These pay lounges tend to be pretty basic, and while I am not in the business of telling other people how to spend their money, I personally think $43pp for 1.5 hours in a very basic lounge after a short flight (from Rome, Athens, Venice, not sure) may not be the best use of money. Just food for thought...and it'll probably be better than the food in the lounge 🙂

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11 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

I have not been to either of them, sorry. 

One thing to consider is that if your layover is three hours (not sure if you're saying your layover is three hours, or you would be in the lounge for three hours), the amount of time you would actually have in the lounge is quite a bit shorter. Between needing to transfer gates, re-clear security, and be at your departure gate a certain amount of time ahead of your flight, that three hours can easily become 1.5. These pay lounges tend to be pretty basic, and while I am not in the business of telling other people how to spend their money, I personally think $43pp for 1.5 hours in a very basic lounge after a short flight (from Rome, Athens, Venice, not sure) may not be the best use of money. Just food for thought...and it'll probably be better than the food in the lounge 🙂

This is accurate.  It took us about 1.5 hours to move from terminal 3 to terminal 5.  To be honest, I would never intentionally choose to connect through Heathrow ever again.  It is literally the only airport I have ever been to that makes you go back through security on a connection (we did not go through customs).

There is a lot to do in Terminal 5 in terms of Restaurants and shopping.  I would personally avoid the lounges unless they are free with your ticket.

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19 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

I have not been to either of them, sorry. 

One thing to consider is that if your layover is three hours (not sure if you're saying your layover is three hours, or you would be in the lounge for three hours), the amount of time you would actually have in the lounge is quite a bit shorter. Between needing to transfer gates, re-clear security, and be at your departure gate a certain amount of time ahead of your flight, that three hours can easily become 1.5. These pay lounges tend to be pretty basic, and while I am not in the business of telling other people how to spend their money, I personally think $43pp for 1.5 hours in a very basic lounge after a short flight (from Rome, Athens, Venice, not sure) may not be the best use of money. Just food for thought...and it'll probably be better than the food in the lounge 🙂

I believe our incoming flight (from Venice) and our outbound flight are both in terminal 5.  Also, there are 6 hours (scheduled) from when our inbound flight arrives at its gate and our outbound flight departs its gate.  So, I figured 3 hours in a lounge might be okay.  If we are staying within terminal 5, do we need to go through security?  

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18 minutes ago, baltodave said:

 

I believe our incoming flight (from Venice) and our outbound flight are both in terminal 5.  Also, there are 6 hours (scheduled) from when our inbound flight arrives at its gate and our outbound flight departs its gate.  So, I figured 3 hours in a lounge might be okay.  If we are staying within terminal 5, do we need to go through security?  

No, you should be OK.  In your case, it probably makes sense.

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You can land far enough away from Terminal 5 that you need to jump on a bus to get you to terminal. ( i had this once )

Once in Terminal you follow purple signs for connecting flight, this takes you to a security check which can take a long time. 

I have been in Club Aspire lounge and in my opinion it wasnt worth it! 

Can't comment on other lounge but it does look better, sure its beside the weatherspoons pub near the A1 to A7 gates 

Also for smokers heathrow is a no smoking airport! They do not have a smoking area within airport. Anyone wanting a smoke must go outside.

 

20211109_095705.jpg

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21 hours ago, wordell1 said:

This is accurate.  It took us about 1.5 hours to move from terminal 3 to terminal 5.  To be honest, I would never intentionally choose to connect through Heathrow ever again.  It is literally the only airport I have ever been to that makes you go back through security on a connection (we did not go through customs).

I connect through LHR T3 and T5 many, many times each year. It's not ideal, but it's not terrible in my opinion. There are tons of airports all over the world that make you go through security on International-to-International or International-to-Domestic flights, including all airports in the US and Canada. 

 

20 hours ago, baltodave said:

I believe our incoming flight (from Venice) and our outbound flight are both in terminal 5.  Also, there are 6 hours (scheduled) from when our inbound flight arrives at its gate and our outbound flight departs its gate.  So, I figured 3 hours in a lounge might be okay.  If we are staying within terminal 5, do we need to go through security?  

A six hour layover definitely gives you plenty of time to spend three hours (or more) in the lounge, so that makes it a bit more "worth it". Another option with six hours is to get out of the airport - use the Heathrow Express to get in to the city for a couple hours, for example, or head to Windsor/Windsor Castle. Just an option...I've done it with that kind of layover, but it does add the immigration component on both ends. 

Yes, you'll need to re-clear security even if you stay within T5. 

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