It took me a few minutes and asking a few different airport employees to finally find the BA Arrivals Lounge at Terminal 5. You have to exit through customs then go back up one level and along a corridor before you come to the lounge.

Once I found it, I scanned my boarding pass and was admitted to the lounge. It’s available for anyone flying long-haul First or Business Class on BA or AA (and BA Gold members), but obviously in Terminal 5 that’s going to be on BA as the other OneWorld airlines fly long-haul in and out of Terminal 3 where there is an American Airlines arrivals lounge that can be used for those flyers.

My first objective was to get a shower and change clothes since I had been wearing the same clothes for almost 24 hours. There are 94 shower suites at this lounge. That’s not a misprint – 94! There’s a desk where you sign up for a shower and they assigned me a shower room down one of the many aisles where they are located towards the right side of the lounge.

The shower suite itself was fairly old and not in great shape although it did appear to be well-cleaned. It basically looks like a hospital bathroom. It had a toilet, sink and shower as well as space to open and store your bags on a shelf. There were clean towels and large refillable containers of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel in the shower.

After a nice shower and change of clothes, I headed back into the lounge for breakfast. There was a fairly extensive buffet with hot and cold breakfast items, breads/pastries, several coffee machines and this being a BA lounge, a large tea selection. I sat and had breakfast in the dining area.

After eating, I found a quiet spot overlooking the arrivals area below. The lounge was never super busy. I suppose most people arrive and head directly into central London if they are tourists or home if they are from the UK. I was only stopping here because my wife’s flight from Atlanta did not arrive until 11am, about four hours after my arrival from JFK.

There were several seating areas, all with UK plugs and USB power. Some of the newer seats had wireless charging as well. I caught up on the news, snoozed a bit and listened to some podcasts while I waited.

Once I saw my wife’s flight was about 1/2 hour from landing, I made my way over to Terminal 3 where the BA Atlanta flight arrives and departs. From Terminal 5, I went to the tube station and took it one stop to Terminal 2/3. Even though I tapped in and out with Apple Pay, there was no charge within the airport.

Once I got to the Terminal 2/3 station, I followed the signs to Terminal 3 Arrivals (it’s a different route than Departures) and waited for my wife when she walked out of customs. From there, we took an Uber to Central London.

Up Next: Great Scotland Yard Hotel London Review

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