Review of No.1 Traveller Airport Lounges

I first discovered No.1 Traveller Lounges when I checked out the one at Gatwick on my way to Iceland. The clean, modern décor, complimentary pantry bar and offer of a fresh, warm sausage bap from the Bistro thoroughly impressed me. I sent a few tweets telling of my enjoyment and the social savvy people at No.1 Traveller picked up on them.

‘You should see our flagship lounge at Heathrow,’ they said. ‘Sounds good’, thought I. So we arranged to pay a visit on our way to El Gouna with Egypt Air – and it was even better than I expected.

The No.1 Traveller Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 is situated in a hub of airline lounges. It’s a surprisingly huge space, cleverly divided up into dining, working and relaxing areas.

In the restaurant area you will find a pantry bar laid out with salad, fruit, cakes, cheeses, crackers, juices and soft drinks. You can help yourself to as much as you want from this table – which is a little dangerous considering how good the chocolate brownies are! On the table is a Bistro menu which includes a few complimentary hot meals and some bigger dinners you can order for an extra cost. I’ve tried both the complimentary bacon and sausage baps and both were perfect (the menu is the same at Gatwick and Heathrow – I didn’t eat them all at once!)

At the bar all soft drinks and teas/coffees are complimentary, as well as a selection of wine which includes a sweet Rose. Bubbles and cocktails are a little extra if you really want to treat yourself.

Another extra you may be tempted by is the in-house spa. A technician comes around with the treatment menu and if I had a little more time this would have been the perfect opportunity to pamper my tootsies. Travellers in need of a freshen up can make use of the spa showers, which as the staff told us, ‘comes with everything you need apart from a new set of clothes.’ That you can bring yourself!

The lounge caters for weary travellers with it’s Snug. Basically a dark, padded room with comfortable holes for people to crawl into and snooze away – a great place to hide the snorers too. I would show you a picture but it literally is that dark. Outside are hanging chairs you can take a quick snooze in too.

The bored travellers are also catered for. There is table football in the Games Room, TV rooms, a library with newspapers and computers, there is even a cinema. For those that need to get on with work you can hook up to the free Wi-Fi and set up a remote office overlooking the runway, or if you are anything like me you can save a fortune by stocking up on the latest glossy mags – Elle, Tatler, InStyle and more are all available for free. For little travellers there is even a Kid’s Room with specially selected toys and TV programmes.

Basically you get a lot of lounge for not a lot of money. If you are lucky enough to belong to a Lounge Membership schemes such as Airport Angel, Priority Pass or Diners Club can just use your card to access the lounges on the day completely free of charge. Entrance for non-members to the lounge at Heathrow, however, costs just £30 per person (book in advance online) and compared to what you could be paying for food, drink and reading materials in the hectic departure terminal this price is more than worth it. For more information about membership and to make a booking visit the No.1 Traveller website.