British Airways Lounge, Glasgow Airport Review

Damon and I booked a last minute trip to Venice towards the end of March. After having a huge debacle with a cancelled EasyJet flight, we ended up booking two BA business class flights, part-paying with Avios. The first flight was from Glasgow (GLA) to London Heathrow (LHR) and the second flight, after a 8 hour layover, took us from Heathrow to Venice Marco Polo (VCE). 

Thankfully, for us, because we were flying business, it meant we could experience and review three BA lounges along the way. The first of three being the BA Lounge in Glasgow Airport.

Contents

• How To Access The Lounge
• Where Is The Lounge?
• Lounge Arrangement
• View
• Food and Drink
• Facilities
• WiFi
• Staff Service
• Conclusion and Scoring

How To Access The Lounge

You can access the BA lounge if you’re flying Business, First, Sapphire Tier or Emerald Tier with BA or any other oneworld member airline.

Where is the BA Lounge?

You can find the lounge in the main terminal, after security, near gate 15. 

There was no queue at the desk when we arrived but it was 7:40am on a Sunday morning so we didn’t expect to see a large number of business passengers. To gain access, the staff member at reception simply had to scan our boarding passes so it took no time at all. 

Lounge Arrangement

The lounge is effectively one long rectangle with seating around the outside and catering facilities in the centre. On entry, we walked past a large newspaper stand on our right offering a selection of publications. 

I didn’t miss the opportunity to pick up a complimentary FT Weekend (the finance nerd in me recognises this paper usually requires a substantial monetary investment).

There were quite a few places you could sit. Separate tables around the outside, and armchairs towards the back (in a bit of a dark corner), stools at the bar area. I would deem most of the seating practical rather than comfortable and I could imagine being annoyed having to settle for a bar stool when the lounge was busier. 

There was a little whisky-snug area with a couch and TV-fireplace, a nice touch. We opted for a table near the window (and the food) with a bench and chair seat.

View

There was a window along the side wall with views outside onto gate 26. This was nothing spectacular but it did bring some natural daylight into the lounge. 

Food and Drink

For the size of the lounge, I thought the catering selection was ample but there was a lack of hot food options (only hot porridge). There was a cereal bar offering corn flakes, bran flakes and granola. 

Next to that was an area where you could pick up fruit (mixed fruit, grapefruit, oranges, bananas, apples), yoghurt (greek-style, strawberry) and a range of fruit juices.

There were a few continental breakfast options (ie. croissants, pain aux chocolats). Damon was happy that the caterers hadn’t cheapened out here with smaller croissants (these were both tasty and substantial). 

If you were just in the mood for a snack, the lounge had a small selection of biscuits and crisps too. 

In terms of drinks, there was a section where you can pick up a range of teas/coffees (I couldn’t find any decaf tea options). There were fridges filled with non-alcoholic soft drinks (eg. Coca Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Schweppes) and beer (eg. Heineken, Amstel, Tiger). 

Alcoholic options included Grey Goose Vodka, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Bacardi and Baileys to name a few. White and red wine was also available. 

You could taste a range of single malt Scotch whiskies at the whisky snug in the corner of the lounge, quite a unique feature. 

Facilities

This lounge only has a basic range of facilities. There were a few flight information screens, an in-lounge restroom and there was a business centre with a few computers, desks with plug-points. There was a printer too but this was out of order during our visit. 

There were plenty of plug points available on the walls around the room. There were a couple right on the wall next to our table by the window. 

WiFi

The BA Lounge has its own dedicated WiFi which was getting quite slow download (2.72 Mbps) and upload speeds (0.69 Mbps), making streaming videos in full HD quite difficult. 

Staff Service

This whole lounge is self-service except from the reception desk so we didn’t experience a lot of interaction with the staff. But Damon and I did feel like the staff member on the desk lacked a ‘warm and welcoming’ approach. 

Conclusion and Scoring

We were pleasantly surprised by our BA lounge visit in Glasgow. For the size of the airport, we felt the lounge was a decent size, comfortable and had a good selection of food and drink items. The lounge was also only a short walk away from the gate.