Review lounge No. 1, if you go through London Heathrow terminal 3 there is much better

The premise of this review is: if you are passing through this terminal there are plenty of lounges where you can wait for your flight, this is not one of them.

Joking aside. T3 is the most "multi-carrier" terminal at London's mega airport, there are so many official lounges, as this airport hosts practically 90% of the airlines that fly intercontinental around the world. And if there is a popular route, it is definitely to London.

In the details at T3 are (in strict alphabetical order)

• Centurion Lounge (owned by American Express)
• Qantas Lounge (OneWorld Group)
• Cathay Pacific Lounge (OneWorld Group)
• Aspire Club (independent Priority Pass and others)
• Emirates Lounge
• British Airways Lounge (OneWorld Group)
• Admiral Club (OneWorld Group)
• No. 1 Lounge (independent Priority Pass and contracted for many carriers such as Air France/ KLM, Etihad, Korean, Vistara and others)
• Virgin Atlantic Club House (Virgin and Delta passengers)

As you can guess, only the StarAlliance group is left out, simply because it flies from another terminal.

I passengers with OneWorld elite status are truly spoiled for choice. My advice: if you pass through this airport and fly OneWorld, take a tour of all the lounges, especially the Qantas and Cathay lounges which are the best, rather than going to the BA lounges which are markedly inferior to those in Terminal 5.

Location

Lounges are almost all compacted in the central area of the terminal, only the Emirates one and the American Express one are separate from the others. The former because it is directly connected to the gate where A380s arriving from Dubai are parked, and the latter because it is the latest arrival and there was evidently no more space.

No. 1 Lounge is located at door F, the same door that houses the British Airways lounge. The directions are clear and easy to follow. Taking the corridor, you will see the typical BA blue at the end, taking the first door on the right just go up one floor and you will find the entrance to the lounge.

Access

Business passengers from 10 airlines and related elite status holders in one of their respective loyalty programs can enter this lounge. Alternatively, access will also be possible by presenting their Priority Pass card.

The hall

The hall is large, but not very large. It faces the runway, being a classic dreary London afternoon I was unable to take good pictures, much less was there a chance to experience natural light.

At the entrance there is immediately a bar counter with seating.

The central part consists of a series of small rooms, including one with a small cinema. At the time of my passage, some were closed, others occupied.

In general it was quite crowded. The part facing the windows had a mix of seating and sofas. However, I did not understand why the sofa area was practically all "reserved."

The hall also houses small rooms that can be reserved for sleeping and a spa. It was not operational at that time, not sure if for covid reasons or otherwise.

Food & Beverage

There is a dedicated hot beverage island near the food buffet.

Buffet that is nothing striking, in fact it is very basic, both in terms of offerings and presentation. The bar counter, on the other hand, is nice to look at, and the offerings include, in addition to the classic non-alcoholic drinks, a varied selection of wines and super spirits.

In conclusion

If you have a Priority Pass card, because you are an American Express Platinum cardholder, my advice is to go without delay to the Centurion Lounge, is less than 4 minutes away and is more beautiful, as well as having a significantly superior food and beverage offering.

In general, this No. 1 Lounge should be just a fallback, a Plan C, in case you do not have access to any other lounge.

PS Obviously there is no point in wasting PP access if you have a pay-as-you-go subscription, much less using one of the vouchers offered to American Express Gold holders.

This is just one of many reviews you can read on our site, covid and restrictions permitting. Every Wednesday we publish a review of a lounge airport, while every Friday you can read the review of one of our flights or a hotel where we stayed.

• Priority Pass