White Rose Suite Leeds Bradford Lounge
The Leeds Bradford International Airport White Rose Suite Lounge is the main mid-range pay in lounge at LBA, and used as British Airways Leeds Business Class lounge.
It is also the main Priority Pass lounge, and really a remarkably pleasant place to spend an hour while waiting for your flight to Heathrow.
However, any longer than that and it could become rather dull. It has a buffet and staffed bar, and as such is marginally better than the main leisure lounge, but doesn't have the cooked to order food of the Runway Club.
Leeds Bradford White Rose Suite lounge review
The Leeds Bradford International Airport White Rose Suite Lounge is in effect one large box, at the end of the suite of lounges at LBA, and down the ramp. The lounge is at the end of the building, beyond the Saltire Bar, and then beyond in the distant reaches of gate 6, next to the glass lifts. Reception checks your boarding card if you're on BA - or PP card - and then waves you down what seems to be an endless corridor, past the seemingly inviting doors to the Runway Club.
You then walk down a little ramp, giving a sense of arrival, which means you can see the whole lounge before you, and the dramatic image of Yorkshire, pasted onto the far wall. There is a staffed bar on the left, the buffet area is straight ahead, and around which are the dining tables.
Past the room divider is are more comfortable armchairs. And then at the windows is a bank of sofas - which are typically reserved - plus three large high round tables. These tables go really quickly indeed, and people tend to pounce as soon as one group of passengers moves on.
The most comfortable part of the lounge is on the right, where there are low tables, comfortable seats, and a good view. But then again, almost anywhere becomes difficult to find a seat in the mid afternoons in the summer with many passengers booking the lounge before their holiday flights: at these times, the lounge actually bans entry by those with Priority Pass due to the overcrowding.
Food
There is quite good food in the LBA White Rose Suite, with a small buffet in the corner. It has a salad bar, with eight bowls of different salads, pasta, often a quiche or two, cheese and ham.Next to this is a hot counter with various dishes in the day, from pasta to breaded chicken. You have to be pretty quick to get the food when it comes out though.
There is also hot soup.
Cheese and biscuits, and crisps complete the options.
Bar
There is a large staffed bar in the White Rose Suite at Leeds Bradford, with a barman who will mix up cocktails from the large array of spirits behind the bar.
Have a look in the fridge beside it too - often there is a craft cider, plus beer like Old Speckled Hen.
Draft beer includes Stella and Heineken on taps at the bar.
There are a couple of types of white in the fridge too, plus red on the counter top, but annoyingly you have to ask the barman to pour the wine for you, and indeed the beer - it is definitely not self service. And if you are behind someone ordering a rack of cocktails, you'll have to wait a while.
Basic beer and wine is free, but there is a charge for some of the more exotic spirits.
Bathrooms
There are toilets inside the lounge, and indeed shared between the 3 lounges in the complex, in the linking corridor. However, the nearest toiler is the single disabled toilet at the top of the ramp, and there can be quite a queue.Business Facilities
There are newspapers available in the corridor area between the three lounges, but not the lounge itself, featuring The Yorkshire Post and newspapers from London.There is also a small magazine rack in the lounge, with a few holiday brochures, but not much of interest.
There are no computers, but plenty of power sockets if you bring your own.
There is Wifi, and it is very fast. Alas the wifi comes from the airport's main supply, and needs registration including your flight number.
Access
You can pay on the door - it cost £29.95 for the White Rose suite.
Or, there is free access for Business Class British Airways passengers, and those with Frequent Flyer access.
The White Rose Suite, also the Priority Pass lounge LBA and the LoungeKey lounge, is the mid-level lounge, as opposed to the first lounge you will come to, the Yorkshire Lounge, which is for bucket and spaders, while the 1432 Runway Club is the elite, First Class lounge (with waiter-led service and costs £5 extra over the White Rose).
Video: White Rose Suite Lounge
