The Galleries BA Lounge at Terminal 5 Heathrow

Last month we were lucky enough to travel business class to Barcelona, I recently shared our wonderful business class experience, but want to conclude by talking about the Heathrow Business Lounge.

The Galleries lounge is set aside from the hustle and bustle of the terminal 5, as soon as you check into the lounge you feel the sense of quality. It is vast with several areas for eating, working, and relaxing.

On arrival we decided to get a spot of lunch so found seats in the dining area, the area consists of huge communal bench/tables, the great thing about this is you can mostly always find a seat. Once we found our seat we decided to start with a nice glass of wine, I must say the choice was endless with many good red and white wines, we went for a nice Pouilly Fume which we enjoyed whilst taking the opportunity to chill and people watch. The choice of lunch was great and offered something to suit all tastes, including soup and a choice of sandwiches through to chili, rice, curry, jacket potatoes and salad. There was also a choice of cookies and cakes for pudding. 

Coffee, tea and soft drinks were also on constant supply with several cafe bar style areas. There were always a plentiful supply of cups, plates, and cutlery. And food and drink supplies were continuously replenished during the time we spent in the lounge. 

Once we had eaten we made ourselves a coffee and looked for a comfy seat to chill out and read our books, there was lots of choice ranging from cafe style table and chairs, chairs and comfy sofas, offering you the option to sit with a laptop and work or snuggle and read a book.

Flying Business Class With BA

We were lucky enough to fly to Barcelona with BA last week and even luckier to fly business class. Now no matter what class we have flown we have always enjoyed great service. The best we have received on any other airline. Even in the past when there have been minor problems with flights, planes, ash clouds etc. BA have always got us to our destination. This faith has ensured that in the last few years we always book with BA.

I thought I would share our business class experience. And my justification, why I feel flying business is worth the extra. 

Firstly cost, if you shop about you can get some great deals. We booked with our Avios points so for us it was a mega deal. It cost us; £50.00 each, 30 thousand Avios, and a companion voucher. For this we got return connecting flights from Manchester to Heathrow, then flights from Heathrow to Barcelona. 

Convenience, BA has a dedicated check in for business class, silver and gold executive club members. This is great as although we did have a slight queue at Manchester you generally do not have to wait very long at all before your bags are checked in. 

Airport security fast track, this was amazing. You get to go in a fast track queue through security that is so much quicker. The airport staff was still as thorough on security checks yet we sped through due to less crowd volume. 

Manchester Airport BA Business Lounge

Last week we flew business class to Barcelona, this included a connection from Manchester to Heathrow airport. We flew from terminal 3 and ensured we arrived at the airport in plenty on time, to give us the opportunity to have some breakfast and a coffee, before catching our connecting flight. 

I must say, BA is my preferred airline but we must have arrived at the airport at an extremely busy time as it took us 40 minutes to check in via the business check in. This is the longest we have ever experienced at a business check in desk. However when we did eventually reach the desk the staffs were helpful and courteous, just experiencing heavy traffic. It was much the same at the express security lane. It seemed to take forever think this was mainly due to security fast tracking families with small children.  I do not have an issue with this as we have been in that position trying herd small children through a busy airport, it is so stressful. 

Holiday Planning Mum, Budgeting for Family Holidays

I recently saw this opportunity to blog about budgeting for family holidays, and thought this is right up my street. Chris gets incredibly bored of me constantly pricing holidays and flights to get the best deal. In fact I think after blogging, searching for holidays is one of my favourite pastimes. I really should have been a travel agent and not a teacher. So here goes; my top 10 tips for planning and budgeting a holiday.

1.    Do your research, if it is a big holiday plan well in advance. I find flights are always cheaper as soon as they come out. For the Disney trip we are going on next year I researched prices and deals a year in advance, this way I got a feel for the actual prices. When a deal came out, I could recognise that it was infact a great deal. This paid off; We got the Disney Dining Plan Free for our holiday to Orlando next year, saving us a fortune.

2.    For cruises book early to get on board credit, the best cabins and early booking discounts. 

3.    Collect air miles, I use my American Express credit card, and Join the British Airways Executive Club to build air miles. We have flown business class on holiday for the last few years using our Avios points.

Amazing Air Miles

I love air miles; I cannot believe the cheap flights we have receive by using these. 

There are many schemes available but we use British Airways Executive Club. When you read reviews there are good and bad, however I can honestly say we have never had any problems. As long as you are prepared to be flexible there are flights available, you just need to be organised and keep watching the availability.

There are several ways to collect, 

1. Firstly American Express Credit Card.  For every pound you spend you get 1.5 air miles (or Avios as they are called). When you spend £10,000 in a year on your card you receive a free companion voucher, this means you can bring a companion on a flight and pay the tax but no air miles.( when you think what you spend on shopping and petrol alone this adds up quickly)