I will have up to a seven hour wait at Heathrow between flights (United transfer to British Airways). I'll be in London shortly thereafter so plan to remain at Heathrow. I remember somewhere seeing that you can "buy" a lounge pass for a day. Does anyone know whether this is possible with either United or British Airways. The United flight would be from Fresno via Los Angeles and it would be nice to have a pleasant area to relax and refresh.

1. Where are you flying to on BA? BA departs from T3, T4 and T5. It'll be helpful to know which terminal you'll be departing from.

2. Which class are you flying on? You have access to BA's lounges if you are flying with British Airways in First, Club World or Club Europe .

3. You can buy a pass for the Servisair Lounge, but they are only available in T1, T3 and T4.

I'll be flying out of Heathrow (BA) to Toulouse, France. There is an almost $200 difference between an economy class roundtrip ticket and their Club Europe ticket. Would I be able to get a shower and relaxing place for the $200? What about renting a hotel room for a couple of hours?

UA flies into T1
Your BA flight flies out from T5

When you transit, you go directly from T1 to T5 airside. There are only BA lounges in T5, which you cannot buy a pass to get in, AFAIK.

The only option for you I can think of, is:

1) Exit T1 (ie, go through immigration and customs)
2) Travel from T1 to T4
3) Rest at the Yotel at T4
4) Travel from T4 to T5
5) Go through security check to get inside T5 for your BA flight

Perhaps other people can think of a better option for you. 4 hours at Yotel cost £29 (You have to book a minimum of 4 hours).

P.S. traveling between T1/T4 and T4/T5 are kind of a pain. They are far from one another and involves taking a free train between them. [Don't want you to get the impression of most US airports where you can WALK from one terminal to another.]

There's a Yotel at Heathrow T4: http://www.yotel.com/default.aspx For under about $75 you can have a small cabin with shower, bed, etc.

The BA lounges are very nice, with showers, spa treatments, food and drinks, etc, but 7 hours is a long time, even for a nice lounge. And there are no private places to lie down/stretch out/cat nap.

The only real alternative to the Yotel at T4 is the Sofitel at T5 (but it costs a lot more: at least £100 for a dayroom)

In your shoes, I'd search "showers" on the Heathrow website, have one, leave my bags at Heathrow and get the Heathrow Express into London

It appears that the easiest solutions would be to simply get a day room ($188 thereabout) at the Sofitel or upgrading to Club Europe with British Air ($193). Hitting three terminals (the Yotel) doesn't really appeal and I don't want to go into London. By the time I arrive in the morning 7:30Am to the time I depart (2:15PM), I figure I would have only about three hours of sleep time at best. Thank you for the help. At this stage I am leaning towards the upgrade and drinking alot.

Based on what I've read, the BA lounges at T5 are all very nice. There are 5 BA lounges at T5, BUT I'm not sure which ones you're entitled to use flying Club Europe. There's also a spa which is limited to certain class pax (or elite status on BA). You can definitely use the showers at the BA lounge.