susan4207

Hello Fellow Travellers

I'm flying into Heathrow Terminal 5 early in June. Our flight is arriving at 10am. We are not able to get into our flat until after 2pm. So we will need to kill about 3 hours. We are flying business class. Is there a lounge were we can spend a few hours? We don't want to leave the airport if we don't have to. We'll be carrying 3 suitcases.

Thank you for any info you can give us.

rialtogrl

What airline?

susan4207

British Airways

rialtogrl

They have an arrivals lounge.. open until 2pm. You can even take a shower there

Once you are out of immigration and the baggage claim just look for the signs to the lounge.

crellston

There is a BA arrivals lounge at Terminal 5. https://onemileatatime.com/british-a...lounge-review/ for info on how to find it. Given the queues I experience a few weeks ago and the time it takes to get into town, you wont have much time there

janisj

LHR can be a mess. Normally the Arrivals Lounge is great but with all BA/AA and many other One World passengers (with qualifying status) allowed entry it has become very crowded. AA's arrivals lounge is 'temporarily' (likely permanent) closed so that increases the numbers using BA's lounge. I'd try going there first but - if you're arriving at T-5 there is a nice Sofitel hotel there and you could spend time in the lobby, Tea Lounge, or restaurant.

susan4207

Thanks very much.

veronicamcmanus1576

You always can put your bags at a storage spot in the airport, then take the Heathrow Express into the city. Takes about 15-20 minutes to Paddington. They might have an hour bus tour you could take? Who wants to sit around in a lounge when London is right there?! Go have tea or visit a pub.

janisj

Welcome to Fodors. Unfortunately your suggestion isn't that practical - if they leave their bags at LHR, they would have to travel all the way back out to the airport to retrieve the luggage and then head back into London to check in to the flat. Plus with a 10AM arrival and a 2PM check in there really isn't much 'time to kill'. An hour-ish for immigration 'formalities', waiting for luggage, and an hour-ish in to London means they probably wouldn't be in to the city til about 12:30 at the earliest. So if they land early -- just go to the T-5 Arrivals Lounge (if they qualify) or the Sofitel, have coffee or a drink and start their way in to London around 1PM.

(any bus tour from Paddington would be one of the H-o-H-o's and they take considerably longer than an hour)

PatrickLondon

Or see if there's somewhere near your apartment to park the luggage, while you explore the area? If it's near a rail terminus, there could be a left luggage there, or there might be a Stasher location nearby (at least nearer than the airport):

https://stasher.com/luggage-storage/london

stokebailey

I'd get through arrivals formalities, which could take care of one of those hours, freshen up a little, get my Oyster card bought or updated, hop on the tube, sit near my suitcase and relax, people watch, enjoy the first glimpses aboveground. Drop off my bag at hotel, and head for a coffeehouse. Maybe your apartment will be ready early.

Hmm. Business class. Three suitcases. Don't want to leave Heathrow. Maybe never mind. What Patrick said.

laurie_ann

Consider a luggage storage service like nannybags.com. You book on line. The places may be hotels or shops or such. You could even wait and see when you arrive LHR how the time is, how the weather is, etc. and book from there. It worked great for us when we had a long layover in Paris coming in to CDG and flying out of Orly.