Which British Airways flights use Heathrow Terminal 3 for access to the awesome lounges?

It is generally accepted by oneworld alliance frequent flyers that there is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to lounge access at London Heathrow Terminal 3. There are numerous awesome lounges to choose from, which is great if you are flying from there.

The airport is British Airways’ home base and they use Terminal 5 for most of their flights. As the terminals at LHR are all separate, it’s not possible (without a huge amount of effort and risk) to visit a different terminal than the one you’re departing from. So how do you use the T3 lounges cheaply?

Choose A BA European Flight From T3!

Certain flights operated by BA are in Terminal 3 because there is just not enough space in T5. Routes are selected as they have a minimum amount of connecting traffic, reducing the number of people who need to change terminals. Here’s the list of flights for Summer 2023 out of T3 on British Airways.

Algiers (ALG)
Billund (BLL)
Bucharest (OTP)
Bastia (BIA)
Budapest (BUD)
Figari (FSC)
Gibraltar (GIB)
Gothenburg (GOT)
Krakow (KRK)
Ljubljana (LJU)
Luxembourg (LUX)
Marseille (MRS)
Nuremberg (NUE)
Olbia (OLB)
Oslo (OSL)
Perugia (PEG)
Prague (PRG)
Pula (PUY)
Sofia (SOF)
Stuttgart (STR)
Valencia (VLC)
Vienna (VIE)
Zagreb (ZAG)

Of course, if you’re flying long-haul, you’re not forgotten. Services to Accra (ACC), Austin (AUS), Bahrain (BAH), Bermuda (BDA), Las Vegas (LAS), Nairobi (NBO), Nassau (NAS), San Diego (SAN), São Paulo (GRU) and Vancouver (YVR) also use T3.

Awesome Lounges, You Say?

Most of the other oneworld airlines are based in Terminal 3. With London being a flagship destination for most airlines, the lounge facilities that have been constructed are a cut above an average outstation facility.

It is generally agreed among frequent flyers that first class passengers and Emerald level frequent flyers should use the Cathay Pacific First Class lounge. There’s a video tour here and it certainly is excellent. In addition, there is a well regarded sit down dining experience, which mirrors that in Hong Kong. Business class passengers aren’t left out either, as the separate business class lounge for people in that class and Sapphire frequent flyers is also top notch! Another excellent facility is the Qantas London Lounge, which is over two levels, features a gin bar as well as some excellent food and drink. A separate first class lounge is coming, but that is a couple of years away. If it’s anything like the one in Sydney, it will be very popular indeed. American Airlines have a First Class lounge in Terminal 3, which I found to be better than expected. It is also probably worth a look at if you have the right status (avoid their Admirals Club though!). Of course, British Airways also have a Galleries First lounge and a Galleries Club lounge in the terminal, but since these are similar to those in T5, they would probably be last on your list.

Overall Thoughts

As you can see, there are some awesome lounges in Terminal 3 for oneworld frequent flyers. I once decided to spend a good six hours in the Cathay Pacific lounge, which was a pleasant way to spend some time before a flight.

Have you been to any of these lounges before? Do you have a favourite? What do you love about it? How about a least favourite and why? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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