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British Airways has opened its new lounge at Terminal 1 of Singapore Changi airport.
Designed by British design studio Graven the lounge features digital panoramic views of the Singapore skyline reflecting the time of the day outside.
Customers travelling in First Class will be provided with a passcode on entry to the lounge to access a dedicated “Concorde Bar”.
Continuing a trend of new BA lounges outside of London reflecting their local cities, the main lounge includes artwork from Singapore and British artists, including Simon Wee and Dr Brendan Neiland.
The main lounge seats 185 passengers. The Concorde Bar seats 41 passengers. 88% of seats have access to power for electronic devices as well as USB ports, and there is high-speed WiFi throughout.
The Concorde Bar features black Nero marble surfaces, European oak flooring and bespoke furnishings. Seating options including communal bar seating, private sofa corners and dining booths.
Access to the new lounge is available to British Airways First and Club World (business class) customers, British Airways Executive Gold and Silver members, and oneworld frequent flyers with Emerald and Sapphire status.
It is also worth noting that, under Oneworld alliance lounge access rules, passengers eligible to access the BA lounge, should also be entited to access the Qantas Singapore lounge.
British Airways flies to Singapore from London Heathrow twice daily and from Sydney daily using a combination of Airbus A380, Boeing 777-300 and Boeing 747-400 aircraft. It also codeshares with Qantas Airways from Singapore to Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane and Japan Airlines to Tokyo Haneda airport.
The Concorde Bar concept
The introduction of the “Concorde Bar” concept is noteworthy.
BA has long operated “First” lounges at London Heathrow, Gatwick and selected international airports such as San Francisco and Seattle. It has also offered a “Concorde Room” at London Heathrow and New York JFK, a reference to when both airports were served by a supersonic icon.
The difference between a First Class lounge and the Concorde Room is that whilst BA Executive Club Gold Cardholders can access the First lounge whilst travelling in any cabin (as per Oneworld alliance rules), the Concorde Room is only accessible by passengers travelling in First Class (and selected other cardholders).
The roll out of the “Concorde Bar” concept seems to herald the end of the First lounge concept for Gold cardholders (and Oneworld alliance equivalents) and it will be seen as denying a benefit to BA Executive Club Gold Cardholers and equivalent members of other Oneworld alliance frequent flyer programmes. It will be rolled out to other BA lounges worldwide, with Dubai expected to be next.
