I recently treated a friend to the Escape Lounge in T1 and she’s decided it’s the only way to start a holiday.  I agree.  Far from the madding crowd.

This review covers a separate trip where I had the use of the The Escape Plus Lounge in T2.  It is shared by Virgin and Qatar (turn left for the Escape Plus, right is the Escape Lounge).

It’s  small but is nice and quiet (apart from the steady stream of people accidentally coming to the wrong lounge).

The usual lounge complimentary lounge fare is available; light bites, low end spirits and wines.

Whilst the staff were friendly, I found the service once you were installed in the lounge wasn’t great; half an hour to clear empty plates, food and drink options not topped up once depleted.

The toilets are down a corridor and shared so there was a large queue.

In my lounge hopping opinion, 1903 in T1 and T3 are far superior.  Better food and drink options, nicer decor, quieter and with better service (and adults only which personally suits).

Nice touch that a person rather than an announcement lets you know when your flight is ready to board.

If you don’t have lounge access included in your flight, I recommend hitting the usual voucher sites (Vouchercloud, Groupon etc) as there are often deals to be had.  The passes also include fast track security to speed you to your complementary prosecco that bit more quickly!

Even at full price (£27-£35 depending on the lounge) I think they are great value as you could easily rack up that kind of spend in food and drink if you were having a meal and a few beverages before your flight.  I appreciate though that if you’re a family travelling, it does increase the overall expense of the trip by a not inconsiderable percentage.