How I booked everything
American Airlines Flagship Dining Room DFW
Etihad First & Business Class Lounge LHR
Etihad A380 First Class Apartments LHR-AUH (Video)
St. Regis Abu Dhabi
Qatar Airways Al Safwa First Class Lounge DOH (Video)
Qatar A380 First Class DOH-BKK
Cathay Pacific’s The Pier First Class Lounge (Video)
Cathay Pacific 777-300ER First Class HKG-LAX
I arrived from a quick 8 hour flight in Main Cabin Extra aboard an American Airlines 777-300ER into Terminal 3 at London’s Heathrow Airport. Now it’s long been said that transferring terminals at Heathrow is one of the dumbest and stupidest things in the known world, and, well, whoever said it is right. It’s not that someone thought of a loosely organized bus transfer system, it’s that someone else thought it was a good idea. Anyway, a confusing hour later I finally arrived at Terminal 4, from where my Etihad flight would be departing in a few hours, leaving me enough time to visit Etihad’s First and Business Class Lounge for a quick review.
Lounge Entrance
The lounge is opposite Gate 10 in Terminal 4 and the stairs entrance is next to the bigger Skyteam Lounge entrance. There was an elevator entry but I didn’t realize that until I left. Anyhoo, like most Etihad lounges the lounge featured lots of wood paneling and lots of plush white furnishings.
Lounge entryway
The first thing you need to do when entering an Etihad lounge is make your way to the Spa area to get on the list, as sometimes the waiting list is pretty long. They’re all branded as Six Senses Spa.
Etihad Lounge spa entrance
I had about an hour wait so spent some time checking out the rest of the lounge.
TV area
Nice furnishings
EVEN MOAR FURNISHINGS
Furnishings all over the place
Speaking generally, the lounge was set up very nicely. There were plenty of seating areas that didn’t take up a large amount of space but had small walls separating them, so I felt like the areas were partitioned well. I have no doubt it fills up around some of the bigger flights, but it never seemed to get too crowded when I was there before an A380 flight to Abu Dhabi so who knows.
I went to the buffet area to check out the breakfast buffet.
Etihad breakfast buffet, LHR
Etihad breakfast buffet, LHR
They had an a la carte dining area as well that was moreso in the main lounge area, the buffet was off to the side. I had a small plate of goodies and then the spa attendant came by to welcome me for my massage.
Massage room
The massage was excellent and exactly what I needed after flying over in coach. Granted, all of my flights from that point forward were in Business or First Class, so I would’ve had plenty of time to stretch out anyway, but still 🙂
Wrapping up
The Etihad Lounge was a perfectly acceptable lounge for an outstation like LHR. It’s a smaller version of what I remember their First Class lounge in Abu Dhabi being like 18 months ago, although understandably that lounge had a bit more to offer. I was sure not to fill up on food or drink, because a very special flight awaited me…
Etihad A380
