British Airways Galleries Munich Lounge

This lounge is now closed, and the BA lounge in Munich is now a third party lounge.

Munich British Airways Galleries lounge review

The Munich British Airways Galleries Lounge is not only a rare survivor of a British Airways outstation lounge, but also one of the few that has been fully upgraded to a new Galleries rather than an old Terraces lounge. Finding the BA Lounge Munich is however a tiny bit of a challenge. It is located in the non-Schengen B section of Munich's Terminal 1. When you are past both security and the passport checkpoint, bear left, then walk to the end of the 'Modul' in the terminal. There is a tiny sign here pointing to the toilets & the lounge. Go up the unassuming corridor, then right up the stairs, and up three flights to stairs: there is a small logo on the uppermost flight to let you know you are nearly there. Finally, at the top, walk along the corridor, and on the right is the Munich BA Lounge entrance, looking for all the world like the one at Heathrow. Indeed, the Munich British Airways Lounge is just like a miniature version of the Galleries at LHR too: you walk in past the square blue entrance (don't miss the chair and visitors book by the door), then you see the room dividers very similar to the ones in all the other Galleries, with an acorn motif. As you walk down there is first a newspaper rack, then computers, while on the left is the small coffee bar area with cappuccino machine. At this point you can see the Munich Business Class BA Lounge proper - and see how small it is. It seats 70 guests on 300 square meters. There are windows, but alas just with a view of the flat roof of the inner part of the terminal. The windows sadly don't open. There is a small food bar on the left, and two small white benches, which are designed as dining tables but which most people use for laptops. On the right is the famous British Airways Munich Silver Bar, surrounded by a square of seats with small round tables. As you can probably guess, this is the drinking area. Over by the windows are racks of two+two seats with the same small round coffee tables, under big square lights, which seem vast here compared to the home they were designed for - LHR T5. There are power sockets on the small coffee dividers between the armchairs, for both euro round pin plugs and UK square pin plugs. There is plenty of comfortable Seating upholstered with Osborne and Littke fabrics. There are a couple of big - very big - sofas as the lounge narrows to a point: these tend to be dominated by American's having a kip before the Delta flights leave, and indeed before the midday Delta flight, the lounge can get packed; at other times, with now only flights to Heathrow, the lounge can be all but empty at other times. The BA Munich Lounge is a decent lounge, and well worth a visit. Certainly the British Airways Munich Lounge is a big improvement from the shared lounge BA previously had in Modul B with Delta, and before that the cramped DBA lounge back in the 90s. Indeed, it's sad that the Munich British Airways Business Class Lounge is the sole survivor of the original six BA lounges in Germany, and one of the few left in Europe. However the reason why it survives is clear - there are no other lounges in Modul B of Terminal 1 - hence, all the international flights which leave from this Modul also use it, and as a result it is also the Delta Skyclub Munich, and the Munich US Airways Lounge and American Airlines Club Munich. Indeed, there are around half a million passengers a year flying from Munich to London, and a third are German, making Munich BA's most profitable route out of Germany. While that continues, the lounge will too.

Food

The food in the British Airways Munich Lounge is exceptional; Delta pay BA quite a lot for the use of its lounge, and one of Delta's requirements was hot food for passengers on the long flight to the US. Hence, there is a daily rotation of hot food, all aimed for around lunchtime. The hot food is either hot chicken schnitzels or curry samosas, or a curry and rice, or meatballs. Sandwiches are good in the BA Munich lounge too, with typically four different types on offer - ham, cheese, egg, or veggie. There are plenty of other rolls too, on the shelf above the sandwiches. There is a cheese plate, and this is actually quite impressive for a European outstation, with soft German cheeses mixing with cheddar and edam. There is one other delight - an ice cream fridge.

Bar

The bar in the Munich BA Lounge is what many people come for - and it sure looks impressive, with the classic silver backed bar typical of BA's lounge product nowadays. It sure makes for a comfortable place to wait for the short flight back to London. The drinks selection is quite comprehensive, with lots of beers, as you'd expect in Munich. There is Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier, and Becks. There is also that most rare of drinks, Bionade. Spirits are good, with 14 different bottles all free pour on the counter top, including Hennessy, Jack Daniels, Smirnoff, Gordons Gin, Ballantines, Baccardi, and Baileys. There are two types of red and white wine each, all with tasting notes. Reds are on the counter, while whites are in the trough. There is also a sparkling white, although it is often just a cheap Monet. Soft drinks are unusually in bottles not cans, with coke, mixers, and a good Bloody Mary mix.

Business Facilities

The British Airways Munich Lounge has computers - and good ones two. There are four on a high bench by the entrance, and two lower down on a table, all connected to a laser printer. There is also, oddly, a huge pile of rubbish piled up by the computers. There is wifi: password is on a display on the computer desk (although it is the same password each month in each BA lounge). The newspaper rack is quite comprehensive, with ten daily papers, include four from the UK (FT, Independent, Mail and Times). There are also some magazines, although not always the best (Cigar Smokers Monthly anyone?)

Bathrooms

Alas, toilets are outside the lounge, and indeed quite some way away up the corridor and on the right.

Access

BA Business Class, oneworld Saphire, Emerald. Delta Business Class, Skyteam elite.

Video: British Airways Galleries Lounge

British Airways Galleries Lounge video - Click to play