Snapshot review: American Express Centurion Lounge, London Heathrow Terminal 3
Terminal 3 really is an airport lounge lover's dream - from Cathay Pacific’s brilliant First Class space to Qantas, Emirates and more. In late-2021, this got even better with the opening of the American Express Centurion Lounge - but how good is it? I’m only doing a ‘snapshot review’ of the Centurion Lounge today because we were pretty full from the Cathay and Qantas Lounges which meant that we didn’t sample much of the food on offer. Here’s a quick look at what you can expect.
For entry to the American Express Centurion Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3, you’ll need one of the following cards.
Platinum Card (global)
Centurion Card (global)
Delta SkyMiles Reserve Card (US-only)
U.S.-issued American Express Cards can bring in 2 extra guests for free until February 2023 only - after which they will need to pay USD 50 per guest if they spend less than USD 75,000 per annum on their card. Non-US cards are unaffected.
You will need a same day boarding pass and you can only enter the lounge up to 3 hours prior to your flight departure or 3 hours to lounge closing if your flight departs after shutting its doors. The lounge is open daily from 06h00 to 18h00.
Finding the lounge is not the easiest, and not all signage has been updated. It’s sandwiched in a corner next to Accessorize.
By no means the fault of American Express but Heathrow Airport seem to be a fan of quite naff looking sticky tape - rather than properly altering a sign.
But wait! That’s not the actual entrance, you need to go up a slightly drab stairwell or lift to get to the entrance, exit and then walk round a hospital-like corridor to get to the actual Lounge reception.
The actual lounge entrance looks fantastic, clearly embracing the Amex Centurion symbol and classy looking contrast between the entrance wood effect and clean white look of the ‘porch’.
Welcoming staff sit at the reception desk with a slightly out of place but equally nice natural wall. Handover your American Express Platinum or Centurion card as well as same-day boarding pass for entry.
Entering you’ll immediately notice a carefully curated selection of British and London-inspired artworks - which at least attempts to embrace the local area in a way I’ve not seen many other lounges do in this way.
Immediately after entry, an initial space is available for you to frequent - which is pretty work-oriented with a board-style table in the centre and private booths to take calls, with a funky background that your colleagues will probably think is virtual.
Other, more private, working booths can be found which are suitable for solo travellers or anybody who just needs to focus on their work.
This area is finished off with a badly located television broadcasting BBC News in HD. This is a small rant as somebody who works day-to-day in the broadcast industry, but why do so many venues still play TV in Standard Definition on clearly 4K televisions? So frustrating!
The attention to detail around the television in this lounge is fantastic from the wood-embossed American Express logo and an eclectic collection of suitcases with retro style items. Even more impressive is that none of the items appeared to be dusty - so the cleaning team must be doing a decent job here!
The centrepiece of the Amex Centurion Lounge is likely the impressive 1920s-inspired bar - from the gold curvy features through to the lighting. The finishes are great and if this look was transported to a posh Central London location, it wouldn’t look out of place.
A selection of non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks are available - including Centurion Signature cocktails and a selection of wine. I wasn’t in the mood for alcohol so went for a Diet Coke.
Coffee and tea can be found on self-serve machines. It’s not great and Amex could really improve the experience by having an Espresso Machine and barista.
The self-serve food selection was limited to mostly salads, desserts and sweets - though they looked great.
We even managed a little bit of space for this excellent piece of Baklava - a long way away from the carby heaven of British Airways.
We were advised by the staff that you could order additional food from the menu by asking - the selection was impressive.
A semi-closed room with clever lighting at the background to represent the London skyline - this could easily be occupied by a whole family if they wanted a little more privacy.
Lounging space is finished off with a more relaxed seating area - clad in the signature blue Amex colour. You’ll notice the soft cylindrical furnishings dividing seats which are home to power outlets, USB, and USB-C ports - how forward looking and effective!
And finally, how great does this awkwardly placed chair look?!
Bathrooms were extremely clean and had great lighting. I would have tried the shower rooms too but I couldn’t because of ‘Covid’ - which is ironic when I have seen many a reviewer use these since the lounge opened, during Covid!
Conclusion
In short, this lounge is a great space that you could easily spend a few hours in prior to a flight. Even though I could access pretty much all of the great lounges at Terminal 3, this would probably be my number 2 option after Cathay Pacific. A bit more on my concluding thoughts are below. Most reviewers will comment on how there is no natural light in this lounge. While that is true, did I honestly notice in my short visit? Not really. The lighting is exceptionally good at giving an impression of natural light and I wouldn’t necessarily criticise them for this - but as an avgeek I would probably choose the Cathay Pacific Lounge for their excellent views. I would have loved to try and then compare the showers in this space, but I feel I was denied entry more because the lounge was closing soon and the staff did not want to clean it up after - which was a shame to an otherwise excellent interaction with the people working here.
Terminal 3 doesn’t necessarily feel like the best location for the lounge space but they could equally be onto a winner. On one hand, Terminal 3 has a dearth of options for people to opt for and the clientele that have an eligible Amex card will probably be travelling business or have airline status - so they don’t necessarily need another lounge option. On the other hand, they are offering a premium lounge option at a terminal which has a lot of premium heavy flights on long haul destinations - rather than the number of short haul flights at Terminal 5 that could easily overwhelm a lounge this size. Ultimately, it would be difficult for Amex to choose the perfect location at Heathrow - but at least it wasn’t at Terminal 4!
