Review: Aer Lingus Business Class Lounge, London Heathrow

This is a review of the rather standard Aer Lingus Business Class Lounge at London Heathrow, Terminal 2. After a short visit to the Plaza Premium Lounge, which left me conflicted between good design and poor food, I went back upstairs in Heathrow Terminal 2 to visit the Aer Lingus Business Class Lounge which wasn’t open when I entered the Departures Hall.

Access eligibility and opening hours

Conventionally, most visitors to the Aer Lingus Business Class Lounge will be admitted on a Business Class itinerary that connects at Dublin. While technically not Business Class, people who fly from London to Dublin in Aer Space also get access to the lounge. Aer Lingus Aer Club members who are Silver, Platinum or Concierge tier receive lounge access on all tickets. Icelandair also utilises the lounge for their Saga Premium Class passengers.

Aer Lingus is a member of the IAG Group which also owns British Airways but is not part of the oneworld alliance meaning the rules for British Airways Executive Club members are not straight forward. While there is no reference to lounge access on BA.com, Head for Points reports that when departing Heathrow, you can use your BA Silver or Gold status to enter the Aer Lingus lounge with no guests allowed. It does get more complicated than that…but I’ll leave that article to explain. There is no reciprocity between Iberia and Aer Lingus.

You can also purchase access via Manage my Booking. I did try to find out the cost from the airline but received no response.

The lounge is open from 07h00 to 22h00 daily.

Finding the lounge

It is significantly easier to find the Aer Lingus lounge than the Plaza Premium. After Security, immediately turn right and you will see signage for both the Lufthansa and Aer Lingus lounges which are located next to each other. Note that some signs and websites may refer to the lounge as ‘Aer Lingus Golden Circle Lounge’ due to Golden Circle being the former name of their frequent flyer programme which is now known as Aer Club. The designation of the lounge is Lounge A2.

Impressions and design

If an entrance can be attractive, Aer Lingus have done a decent job. Contrasted to the clinical grey and yellow of the Lufthansa Lounge next door, the combination of wooden surroundings and slate style tiles creating a warm and cosy feeling before you even step foot inside the space. For a value carrier, I would even say it exudes a premium experience along with the Irish language ‘fàilte’ or welcome on the door.

To the left of the reception is an awkwardly located area with four chairs and two tables - quite who would sit here I am not sure.

I didn’t manage to get a picture of the reception (as I didn’t want to intrude on the receptionist) but immediately after you are thrown into Irish colour scheme galore - i.e. a lot of green

Thankfully though, the green theme at the beginning of the lounge dissipates as you move through moving onto more modern palettes of grey and creams. This is offset by the large but obstructed windows which let in a limited amount of light, but enough to make the space feel airy.

For those who are avgeeks and like a bit of jet spotting, this certainly isn’t the place to visit…

One area I really liked in this lounge was the semi-enclosed meeting space at the far left of the large window. While I suspect very few people use it for this purpose, I spent around ninety minutes prior to my flight here to get on with some work. If it’s free, this could be a good space for families to visit without feeling like they are irritating others.

Behind this is a ‘Business Centre’ - quotes intended. It’s a half-hearted attempt at making a Business Centre with a SoHo (Small Office Home Office) printer and two chairs. At least it makes use of what would otherwise be a dead space.

Further around the lounge, there is plentiful dining tables (but they are not particularly useful as you will see later).

More relaxed lounger style chairs and sofas can be found towards the right hand side of the lounge. While the faux grass may be on theme, it does look a tad tacky. That aside, this part of the lounge feels quite cosy and the slate tiles make a reappearance improving the feel of the space.

Power outlets were plentiful throughout the lounge and a good space to top up pre-flight reliably. Internet speeds were decent too, enough to upload images to my website, although the lounge was particularly quiet when I visited.

Bathrooms and showers

While not the most premium of bathrooms, they are serviceable and were clean.

Amenities are provided by the Irish beauty brand Voya, who’ve had a relationship with Aer Lingus since 2014. They were of good quality with a great scent and akin to the Elemis amenities used at British Airways lounges globally.

Despite this visit taking place in April 2022, Aer Lingus still have not opened the showers. While I did not need to use it, all Covid-19 restrictions had been lifted for one month by the time of my visit. At this point, this is a money saving strategy as opposed to any genuine pandemic prevention strategy.

Food and drinks

In one word, dreary. Echoing the shower sentiment, the food offering is purely a cost cutting exercise consisting primarily of dry pastries alongside packaged biscuits and cakes.

The space itself is nice…but there’s just not much going on here.

Drink options improves infinitely over the food with a self-serve coffee machine as well as drip coffee, tea bags and fruit juice. Although not directly pictured, bottled water, soft drinks and beer appeared to be available.

Conclusion

The Aer Lingus Lounge at London Heathrow Terminal 2 has the bones of being something good. On the plus side, excluding the slightly garish greens, is the bright and modern design principles employed by the airline alongside plentiful power outlets and good WiFi. It is those areas that have suffered from Covid cutbacks which let this lounge down and do not warrant paying extra for lounge access. With decent food on offer and the showers back in service, this lounge could be a highlight for Aer Lingus passengers departing from London. I would recommend popping in if you are eligible to see if this situation has changed as it could be a lot better than it is was in my visit.