I was happily greeted into the American Airlines lounge lobby by not one but four women at the front desk.  We bonded over chocolate as I was lamenting my “SSSS” status (extra security search) for the flight home from London to Philadelphia, which would be my first one on American Airlines after all those years on British Airways for work. I felt like I was cheating on BA to be honest but used my American Airlines miles for the one way business class flight home from the transatlantic cruise (hence the SSSS trigger for the one way flight). After our conversations, sharing of my Belgian chocolate from Bruges and a bit of laughter, the button was pushed for me to enter the American Airlines First Class Lounge at Heathrow. I half expected music to accompany the doors opening.

First Impressions – AA First Class Lounge Terminal 3 LHR

The first thing I noticed was the candy bar to fill a bag (or two) of sugary treats (they have candy in the business class lounge too).  The second thing I noticed and probably more important was the Moet & Chandon Champagne on ice in both Brut and Rose. Many passengers would stop on their way in to fill a glass before going to find a seat. I like Moet champagne (I toured the Epernay France Moet cellars) but I don’t usually equate it with First Class travel to be honest. (#firstworldproblems)

The lounge isn’t fancy or massive but a nice size that it never felt crowded. Standing at the champagne, there are seats arranged two by two in groups of four on your left, straight ahead up a few stairs is an open platform of seating options, on the right behind the wall is all day breakfast in the dining area and in between all the areas is the kitchen with drinks and food.   The brown leather was definitely dated and didn’t quite have the feel or the allure of a first class lounge.

I decided to sit in the first group of seats to plug my phone into the outlet (there are outlets aplenty throughout the lounge).  A staff member stood behind me for most of the visit surveying the room to see what was needed. It was noon-ish on a Tuesday so not much was needed as there were about 15 people in the lounge at the time spread out. The wi-fi was fast and easy to use in the pin drop quiet room.

Food & Drink Options – American Airlines First Class Lounge at Heathrow

The kitchen area similar to your work lunchroom setup probably –  had two food setups – hot bar and cold bar – as well as a drinks and snack area. For lunch this day, there was chicken tiki masala, rice and a vegetarian pasta.  On the cold bar – salad and prepared sandwiches. The dessert included chocolate tart and cake cubes.

The drinks area was self-serve and I liked both the bottle water choices – one was UK local and the other was Evian. Soft drinks, beer and liquor were also available. Again similar to the champagne, I can’t say it was the best wine or premium liquor but hey it’s free!  There needs to be some barometer I guess, I think I expected more as this is the “International First Class” lounge.

The all-day dining area had a separate server to oversee guests.  The menu was American breakfast all day (eggs, avocado toast and pancakes, etc.) as well as a full English breakfast option and I will say I was tempted by the pancakes since I was away over two weeks eating eggs every day.  I did think it was a bit weird though to be in a First Class lounge and the menu was breakfast.  By comparison the British Airways Concorde Lounge has a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu available with various selections.

Given that I needed to go to gate early for additional security (ugh SSSS), I left the lounge before they told me to leave but not before filling a bag full of candy.  I was surprised that the trek to Gate 28 was really, really long even with moving sidewalks so wear good shoes and leave early to get to the gate.

Final Thoughts – American Airlines First Class Lounge Heathrow T3

The American Airlines First Class Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 was fine.  Nothing really stood out to me as being a premium experience or food/drink offering. Ok, maybe the champagne and candy was fun option.  The design is a bit dated to be honest and I would have liked the AA sundae, chocolate chip cookies or other American Airlines flair.  The fact that the sit down menu didn’t have a burger and fries was a surprise and quite disappointing as I would have liked that lunch option.

The lounge experience foreshadowed my flight experience – adequate but not premium.  That’s what the lounge was like for me – adequate as I could relax and eat before the flight but compared with the three other partner OneWorld lounges you can visit next door (Cathay, Qantas and British Airways) this would rank last. I had to laugh because when I checked in with AA and asked about lounge access, the staff member wrote on my boarding pass “Cathay Lounge” because even he knew a better lounge experience was available with One World partners rather than American.