After travelling to Johannesburg on an Emirates First Class A380 flight, our Marketing Coordinator Anjelica was then heading back to Sydney to return home. She was flying with Qantas on their A380 First Class cabin and was able to visit the British Airways First and Business Class Lounge in Johannesburg.

You can visit this lounge if you are flying in First or Business Class with British Airways or any of their oneworld partners. Also if you’re a oneworld Sapphire or Emerald member, or if you’re a part of Club World or the BA Executive Club.

To visit this lounge, view our Qantas Business Class deal to Africa!

This lounge is mainly for Business Class passengers but has a dining room sectioned off for First Class passengers. Unfortunately, even though Anjelica was flying First Class on Qantas, this dining room is exclusively for First Class passengers travelling with British Airways. This was pretty disappointing considering the Business Class part of the lounge was a little underwhelming.

Read all about Anjelica’s thoughts below.

British Airways Lounge Layout and Seating

The lounge is essentially divided up into 3 different wings, dedicated to different spaces. The first wing as you enter has a bar and a buffet, with a barista on hand too. There were small armchairs to sit in groups of 2, making this ideal for solo travellers or couples.

As you walk down the hallway you enter the second wing. This section has a more formal dining area that also has a buffet and a self-service bar. There were a handful of tables for 2 and only a couple of tables dedicated to groups of 4. It’s good to keep in mind that this makes it not very ideal for families. In this wing, there was also an exclusive lounge for British Airways customers in First Class. Since we were travelling First Class Qantas, I had asked if I was able to go in, however was unfortunately denied.

The third wing was more of a relaxed, casual seating area. There was a work station which was really busy, with a TV available inside. The other seating areas consisted of plush armchairs, suede couches and other ‘lounge-type’ seating. These were all fitted with ambient lighting and desks. This wing only had a small drinks station with a coffee machine, soft drinks and teas. This area could be better for families, as the seats were laid out all in rows.

It’s also good to note that there were a lot of USB charging ports with a variety of plug types- this was so handy for me! I actually found it quite hard to find the right plug-type adapter for South Africa as they don’t use the same as the rest of Africa. So this was great to see they had Australian plugs available.

British Airways Lounge Dining

As mentioned previously, the lounge had two buffets in different wings. The first section had mostly just antipasto like cold meats, salads, fruit, cheese and nuts. Alongside this were cakes, biscuits and small dessert slices. I found it odd that although there were mainly sandwich stuffers available, there was no bread. I had to head over to the second wing for bread.

In the first section was a bar that was not self-service, with a range of quality spirits like Grey Goose Vodka, Johnny Walker Black Label and Hennessy. There was also a barista making coffee to order, a tea station, as well as a coffee machine that didn’t seem to be working.

The second wing contained all hot food options such as soup, beef massaman curry, chicken breast with lemon and capers, vegan polenta and steamed rice as a side. This was actually a great selection of choice and I was impressed with the allergen warnings that were shown easily. This buffet also contained a fresh bakery selection, jerk chicken sliders, cold meat platters, dips and an assortment of desserts.

The bar in this section was self-service and contained a selection of red wine, white wine and some spirits. Next to this area was a fridge with a range of canned beverages including beers, plus non-alcoholic soft drinks, iced tea, tonic and soda water, and tomato juice. It was nice to see a variety of non-alcoholic drinks available, especially in cans!

There were also QR codes on most tables that you could scan and view the menu.

British Airways Lounge Showers

The bathrooms and showers are located in the first wing of the lounge. They were really modern and decorated beautifully with marble and grey/gold detailing. With only a few showers available, they were all being used in the short time I was there. I managed to get a quick glimpse between cleans and saw there was a nice range of luxury British Elemis toiletries, with amenities like a towel and hairdryer. However, the bathrooms were quite small, with little space to hold luggage.

British Airways Lounge Summary

In comparison to other lounges I have visited, this was probably on the lower end of the scale when it came down to dining, amenities and seating. I really loved that it was divided up into different sections and had a couple of bar and buffet areas. However, I don’t think it’s a great lounge for families due to the lack of group seating. It would have been nice to have access to the First Class section as well. This lounge is probably best for solo passengers on a short layover or couples.

View our British Airways Business Class deal to Europe to visit the other British Airways lounges around the world! To visit this lounge in Johannesburg, view our Qantas Business Class deal to Africa!