British Airways Club Lounge (T5 South) — Attraction in London

11th May 2025 (Sunday)

I am very disturbed and perturbed to be subjected to harassment by your check-in staff Mr Caspar of counter E12 at Terminal 5 last week.

Unduly & unnecessary magnitude of checks and disclosing of my personal information not privy to him. I was mentally pushed to the brink of panic of not able to make to the departure gate in time.

Chronology of event :

510pm Arrived at BA Assistance check in counter

515pm Caspar made Call Nr 1 to his “supervisor” on my Chinese surname / first name due to BA system issue

522pm Caspar requested my Singapore Immigration Arrival (ICA) E-Card info and insisted to check my ICA app on my phone. Made a Call Nr 2 to his “supervisor” to check on this issue.

526pm Caspar commented that he can’t see my passport no on my SG Arrival E-Card and commented something isn’t right. Made a Call Nr 3 to his “supervisor” to check on this issue (again)

533pm Caspar told me to show my Avios membership no to him and when I did showed him - he told me he can see it on his computer screen. I was flabbergasted where is this Spanish Inquisition is heading to ???

536pm Caspar made Call Nr 4 Line and apparently as his words - he can’t reach his supervisor and the line is bad !!??

This is where I made decided to make an end to his unprofessional and unbecoming behaivour to the next check in counter. Explained to her why I had to come to her for assistance and I don’t wish to miss my flight.

542pm Ms Natasha process my check in and baggage tag after getting a supervisor on the floor.

545pm Ms Nastaha passed me my boarding pass.

-End-

Your counters would be equipped with CCTVs and voice recordings of E12 so please do...

Terminal 5

Would you like to start your journey with this?

Waiting with nobody to help you (there are lots of staff about, but they are socialising)? Not knowing where to go within the airport? Humping your bag around and onto the conveyor belt as it doesn’t work whilst staff laugh at you? Being shouted at when you get to security clearance? Not be my able to find a spare seat? Using the business lounge and queueing for everything? Trying to make calls to customers, whilst the business lounge is like a playgroup? Queuing for the toilet? The final slap in the face, you are herded onto an overcrowded bus and the bus driver gives his mates preferential treatment. Please see photo.

Seriously BA terminal 5, why has the terminal declined so much in 9 years? What is the point of paying extra.

I hate to moan without offering a solution, so here's what may work:

Departures Use ceiling height flags or signs to show where the business and other check ins are. Ask staff to limit conversations in front of customers to 40 seconds.

Business Lounge More shared toilets (reduce the number of cubicles) When water taps are broken, provide jugs of water in other areas, so customers don’t have to walk and queue continually. Provide a separate area for children in the business lounge Train staff on how to be convivial with customers. Enlarge the area and the solo business quiet workspaces.

The staff on the plane are superb, but it’s cheaper, easier and a better experience on the Eurostar train. That’s what I’ll be doing...

I am afraid this lounge leaves much to be desired for. I visited on a Wednesday, at around 5pm. The indicator said the lounge was at 3/5 full, but in reality, I would say it is closer to 4/5.

There is one central buffet area with a salad bar (offering lettuce, beans, quinoa etc); a hot food bar (offering rice, potatoes, a curry, a stew and some quiche). There is also a picnic area offering sandwiches, slices of pound cake, pickles and two cheeses. A juice bar offered fresh juice and a mystery smoothie in an opaque box which I dared not try. The quality of food was fine; I would describe them as cafeteria food.

Pictured here is one of the “free pour” alcohol area dotted around the lounges. This is standard, nothing to write home about. BA attempted to offer 3 cocktails but they were uninspiring (and not very alcoholic). The lounge also has plenty of tea and coffee stations, which were self service machines, and they were okay - not many alternative milks though.

The main complaint I have is with hygiene. I am easy to please, but the sheer amount of flies present near the coffee and tea stations is rather alarming. This is the same with the bathrooms - although there seem to be someone cleaning them constantly, they were NOT clean. I will spare you the details. It is rather shocking that the main Heathrow bathrooms were in much better shape.

Given how many competitors there are in Heathrow, BA really ought to step up their game if they want to keep...