2022 US Trip – Day 30 (Newark Airport – British Airways Galleries Lounge)

As anyone who knows me and my travel habits knows, I don’t like arriving late for anything. I don’t even like arriving slightly early, I’m always far too early. But then again, I don’t miss anything so there’s a win there I think. Unlike my friend Liam who seems to consider arriving at an airport two hours before the flight acceptable, I’m very risk averse. The reason I’m mentioning this is that I actually arrived at the BA lounge two hours before the flight. However, by this, I mean the flight before mine, I was about six hours early for my flight.

The lady at the desk was personable and engaging, saying I was of course welcome to enter the lounge early (after she checked I wasn’t one of those Priority Pass customers who can use the lounge earlier on during the day) and she said that I hoped I enjoyed my time in it. Then she looked at my boarding pass and said she was concerned, I would miss my connecting flight to Dublin the next day because of the late outgoing flight that I was booked on. I explained that I wasn’t too concerned as I wasn’t in a rush and that I had an emergency exit row seat on the aircraft with plenty of space so wasn’t keen on moving to a central seat.

The staff member was endlessly helpful, she had a look at the options and said that she would be able to move me to the exact same seat on the flight before mine. She said that way I’d get time to visit the lounge at Heathrow and also get a couple of hours in the lounge in Newark, arriving in Dublin actually earlier than I was ticketed. Given this, I was sold and my new boarding passes were issued for the earlier flight and she was also able to replicate by seat on the London Heathrow to Dublin flight. I’m not sure if anyone else got booted out of the seats I was given but I was surprised that the seats were available that close to departure.

I really liked the friendliness of all the staff members here, but the agent at the desk was everything I associate with the United States (well, not the guns) in terms of her willingness to help and offer excellent customer service. The above photo is of the snacks area which I first thought was the entirety of the food options so I wasn’t initially delighted.

I really should wear glasses and I’ll get that sorted at some point, but until then I use my phone to zoom in on the beer options in the fridges. They weren’t breathtaking, but they would suffice me as I only had a couple of hours.

There were some extensive views over the tarmac from the lounge and it was suitably bright and colourful.

I’ve mentioned this before, but there’s something very comforting about seeing Speedbird as I’m one of the fanboys of British Airways and it to me offers the reassuring nature that I’m going home. I remember particularly feeling this when I went to Chengdu and spent a week struggling to find anyone who could speak English, so it was beautiful to see Speedbird in all of its glory at the airport, although British Airways have long since given up flying there. Over the last few years the airline has become even more US centric, something I can’t much complain about.

The taqueria station and this was my favourite of the food sections. It was all self-service, although there were additional food items that could be ordered using the app. There’s a separate dining area for those who want to use it although the staff were ridiculously efficient. I had a slight problem that I got myself a drink and put it on the table to go and get food, then it was cleared away as they thought it was abandoned. I returned and put my food on the table to get another drink and then had to rescue that plate from being collected when I returned with my replacement drink, even though it was full of food.

The cheese station.

The charcuterie and New York deli station, which is all combining to be my favourite foods. I started to regret changing my flight to an earlier one and indeed I wondered if I could just move into this lounge permanently. To be honest, I’d have given thought to have spending the entire trip just in this lounge, I can be quite easily won over by food.

Big pretzels. What a time to be alive.

My second beer, the Brooklyn Lager, I had already had the Nut Brown Ale from Sam Smiths. The staff member at the bar remembered me from my first drink and was about to get me the same beer again, I think she thought I must have been disappointed with my Sam Smiths but it was more that I like variety. And I don’t want to support Sam Smiths too much as they’re a ridiculous brewery led by one of the people I consider who has most trashed the atmosphere in pubs with his joke of a company which seems to take pride in shaming their own staff. Anyway, I’ve rapidly digressed, but I’m quite appalled at the actions of Humphrey Smith and it’s no surprise he’s become a figure of fun.

It looks simple, but it was absolutely delightful……

At that moment, I was done in the lounge as the flight was called. I was content with the amount of food and drink that I worked through, really handy just before getting a meal on board the flight. This was one of my favourite lounges, it wasn’t too busy, there was an excellent range of food and drink which felt tailored to my own personal tastes (I accept that it wasn’t designed that way, it was just chance) and the staff were friendly and keen to help. It was a positive last note on which to leave the United States.