I’m on a very quick review trip from London to Zurich, Vienna, and possibly Budapest. A major reason I’m doing so is because I wanted to review all of the Star Alliance lounges at Heathrow’s Terminal 2, which I felt was long overdue. I was also keen to catch one of British Airways’ vintage A319s, which currently is scheduled to fly from Budapest (my Aeroplan ticket also let me fly Austrian for the first time, which I’m looking forward to).
While I’ll write a full review of all of Heathrow’s Terminal 2 lounges, in this post I just wanted to share how the day went from my perspective. I’m certainly prone to getting jaded by flying, and today I had some time to step back and enjoy how awesome flying is.
Visiting Star Alliance’s awesome lounge portfolio at Heathrow T2
I generally prefer being able to visit lounges as they open, so I can take good review photos before other passengers arrive. So given that award space was wide open, I booked a 9 AM flight to Zurich, with a morning connecting flight from Zurich to Vienna the next day (this required calling Aeroplan, which went less smoothly than I’d hoped).
I got to Heathrow just before 5 AM (taking the Heathrow Express for the first time in ages, since the first Elizabeth line train got in after 5). I swear Heathrow’s new scanners are allergic to my bag, as I’ve been pulled aside for secondary screening all three times I’ve departed Heathrow this year (and at no other airport, including airports with new scanners).
I got to the Lufthansa lounge at around 5:01 AM. This is how crowded the lounge was one minute after opening:
Not that crowded, but wow this is a popular lounge (to be fair, there are 6 AM flights to Zurich, Frankfurt, and Vienna)
To be fair, I also had access to the Senator section, which you can access with a business class ticket and an AmEx Platinum card. This section was much quieter and had slightly nicer seating, but otherwise had an identical food spread.
Lufthansa Senator Lounge London Heathrow
But of course I wasn’t just here so early to be at the Lufthansa lounge. So after photographing the lounge, speed-testing the WiFi and getting a quick glass of water, I headed over to the B-gates at Terminal 2, which required going through a long tunnel (the signage says it’s a 13-minute walk, but those who can speedwalk can probably do it in 5 minutes). Do note that the travellators only head one direction, so if your flight is departing from the A gates, you’ll have to walk the full way.
Off we go to the B gates!
I made a beeline to the United Club, which also opens at 5. The United Club doesn’t have the best food and beverage selection, and even the staffed bar isn’t the most inspiring – while you can probably request a cocktail to be made, the formal bar menu has been reduced and just lists the spirits on offer – probably a victim of the pandemic.
United Club at London Heathrow T2
I knew that the Singapore Airlines and Air Canada lounge would open at 5:30 AM and 6 AM respectively, so was excited to visit both of these lounges at their respective opening times. At 5:30 AM I headed over to the Singapore Airlines lounge, which had been recently refurbished. While not huge or particularly airy, I thought the lounge was pretty, and the staff were friendly as well. I particularly enjoyed having the lounge to myself for the first 15 minutes.
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge at Heathrow Airport
I’ve heard that people were disappointed by the food selection at the SilverKris lounge. In ways, I echoed the sentiment – the lounge doesn’t have a huge selection of food – I’d have hoped for a noodle bar or at least some made-to-order laksa, though the only options were English breakfast items, a chicken congee, and some nasi lemak.
While that may be true, the nasi lemak made up for any other shortcomings that the lounge’s lacklustre food spread had. It was phenomenal. The chicken used was juicy chicken thigh, there was an incredible amount of flavour, and I loved the toppings as well. The ability to have it with a Singapore Sling (yep, at 5:45 AM) was the icing on the cake.
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge London Heathrow Nasi Lemak and Singapore Sling
At 6 AM, I headed to the Air Canada lounge, which was literally right across the hall from the Singapore Airlines lounge. The Air Canada lounge was so swanky, and I liked the soft lighting. I do have a major complaint, though – the WiFi was so slow it was basically unusable, much worse than what I’d experienced at any of the other lounges.
Air Canada’s stunning lounge at Heathrow (unless you want to get some work done)
The lounge had barista coffee, so I indulged. They even had these raw croissants next to a waffle maker (which made me think that they made fresh croffles), though stupidly I forgot to try one, despite promising myself that I would.
Air Canada’s croffles at Heathrow – I still wonder what they tasted like
One of the most awkward things to do in a lounge is when I ask whether I can take a photo of a shower room, without actually using it. I did this at the United Club, whereas at the Singapore Airlines lounge I was able to photograph one of the shower rooms that was left unlocked (since no one was manning the showers early in the morning). The Air Canada lounge was the last lounge that I visited, and I deliberately skipped my morning shower at home so I could indulge. These are quite stylish shower rooms, and I enjoyed my shower here.
Air Canada Lounge Heathrow Shower
I told myself that I’d make some progress on one of my freelance projects, though this didn’t come to be (reasonably so, given that I’d woken up at 3:45 AM). Instead, I took a nap on one of the daybeds in the far corner of the Air Canada lounge, and actually napped quite comfortably for a bit. I did set one alarm for around 1h after, knowing that I’d likely not nap for that long, and the lounge wasn’t particularly quiet anyway.
Air Canada Lounge Heathrow Daybed
There’s so many fun widebody aircraft by Heathrow’s T2 B-gates
When I woke up from my nap, I decided to do another lap around the lounge and – woah, hello there! A beautiful Air India A350 was parked right outside the Air Canada lounge, featuring the airline’s striking new livery.
Air India A350 at Heathrow Airport
This was a two-year-old A350 that sported the airline’s newest interiors. It had pulled into the gate during my nap at around 6:45 AM, and was due to run the 8:45 AM departure back to Delhi, where the plane was based. (By the way, I’m not sure how I feel about the flight timing – this flight leaves London at 8:45 AM, and gets into Delhi at 11:45 PM. I guess that’s quite similar to the JetBlue Mint flight I took a couple of years back, which is one of the only daytime eastbound transatlantic flights.)
Having marvelled at this gorgeous A350 outside the lounge window, I decided I might as well make the most of my time at the B-gates. So I bid farewell to the Air Canada lounge attendants, and decided to head downstairs for a little bit more planespotting.
As you’d expect from a Star Alliance terminal at one of the world’s busiest airports, of course I first had to say hi to the Singapore Airlines A380, which was operating the 10:40 AM morning flight to Singapore.
Singapore Airlines A380 at Heathrow Airport
Then I went and visited the relatively new Thai Airways 777 parked next to it (this plane didn’t exist the last time I flew Thai Airways, and it would’ve been one of the final few 777s produced).
Thai Airways 777 at Heathrow Airport
I was also happy to see a United 767, which was headed to Newark. I’ve been wanting to fly a 767, and I’d welcome the opportunity to fly this plane, particularly in their 2-2-2 premium economy cabin!
United 767 at Heathrow Airport
There was also an Air Canada 737 MAX bound for Halifax, a route that my friend Rhys from Head for Points reviewed last year. The 737 MAXs have a product you’d expect on a shorthaul plane, though their forward cabin (normally first class within Canada) is sold as premium economy on this 6h 55m route from London to Halifax. While I’m not sure I’d love flying a 737 MAX for that length of time, it’s sure cool that airplanes like the 737 MAX make routes like this possible!
Air Canada 737 MAX at Heathrow Airport
I also walked past the Air India gate right when they were boarding, and found it really cool that everyone I was walking past would be in Delhi in a mere 12 hours.
I’ve flown out of Terminal 2 so many times over the past few years, though because of the airlines I’ve flown, they’ve all been from the A-gates. If I’m flying from the A-gates again in the future, I might make a point to venture over to the B-gates, where most of the widebody aircraft are. It just makes for such fun planespotting.
The fun didn’t stop once I got onboard
After my little planespotting spree, it was time to go back to the A-gates, where my flight to Zurich was departing. Despite posting a 8:35 AM boarding time, boarding actually started early, so I scurried onboard in the priority lane just before general boarding began (I wouldn’t have done intra-European business class on a normal day, though I specifically booked business class on this route so I could review some lounges in London and Zurich). While I could’ve flown to Frankfurt, Zurich, or Vienna, I chose to first position to Zurich, as a friend lives there (despite the fact that I’ve reviewed Swiss’ A321neo business class before on the exact same route – a couple of things have changed, so I’ll review the flight again).
Sadly the only way to pick up an A220 flight was to wait until the evening, and as fun as a full day at Heathrow sounds, I did have to eventually get on with the rest of my day. So I picked up the 9 AM A321neo flight, and was pleasantly surprised to find the aircraft now equipped with USB-A and USB-C power ports, as well as WiFi.
Swiss A321neo business class
Shortly before departure I spotted an SAS aircraft, with the registration EI-SCG. Wait what – why is an SAS aircraft registered in Ireland (where the EI prefix originates from)? After doing a bit of research, I figured out that SAS Connect (SAS’ shorthaul, low-cost subsidiary) is actually registered in Ireland, due to lower operating costs. I’ll write a post dedicated to this soon.
SAS A320neo…from Ireland
The British Airways A320 that taxied past us was not the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.
Oof, this guy needs a bit of a glow-up…
Perhaps my favourite part was right before takeoff, where we were held before runway 27L for a bit. Heathrow is very busy in the mornings, and we had an awesome view of all of the aircraft leaving out of Terminals 2, 3, and 5, headed all over the world. The photo below doesn’t do it justice, but there were aircraft headed to Geneva, Nassau, Tokyo Haneda, Newark, Madrid, Dubai, and more.
Aircraft heading all over the world!
Conclusion
While I booked an itinerary primarily to review some lounges at Heathrow Airport, my greater takeaway from this morning was how much I love flying. From spotting aircraft coming into Heathrow from all over the world, to being able to see aircraft lined up for takeoff to their respective destinations scattered all around the world, air travel really is a special industry that I don’t think I’ll ever fall out of love with.
I think I’ll remember today for a while – not because of the lounges at Terminal 2 (though they were nice), though because it reminded me of how much I love the aviation industry. I’m so privileged to be able to work in it.
What are your most memorable avgeek moments?
