no 1 traveller lounge gatwick south

No1 Lounge - Gatwick South

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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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NO1 LOUNGE - GATWICK SOUTH: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

• Sun - Sat 04:00 - 21:00
• (0.07 mi) Bloc Hotel London Gatwick Airport
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• (0.02 mi) Wondertree
• (0.02 mi) Caviar House & Prunier SeafoodBar GatwickAirport
• (0.02 mi) British Airways Lounge
• (0.03 mi) Pret A Manger
• (0.04 mi) Wagamama

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Review: Clubrooms From No1 Lounges At Gatwick South Terminal

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Gatwick Airport South Terminal’s main airport lounge is the No1 Traveller Lounge, with views directly over the runway and costs around £30 GBP per person. There is now a new lounge, or should I say, a set of 4 catered rooms, on the block in Gatwick South Terminal called Clubrooms.

The new No1 Clubrooms in Gatwick South Terminal opened in October 2015. Clubrooms offer the ultimate luxury departure lounge with private rooms and a guest experience tailored to your group’s size and needs.

Located on the upper level of the main departure lounge next to Dixons, it enables you to book an exclusive room for 3 hours with your family (minimum of four people) with food and drink included. Each Clubroom has a TV, magazines and newspaper, a soft drinks fridge, and fruit. Alcoholic drinks and a rolling menu of hot and cold food are also included in the price.

Each lounge clubroom also features access to a premium security lane, a private room with a dedicated host, table service, TV, PlayStation, dining, drinks, and Unlimited Wi-Fi.

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Gatwick South Airport Lounge - No1 Lounge

• Coffee and/or Tea
• Alcoholic Beverages
• Entry/Admission - No1 Lounge - Gatwick South
• Wheelchair accessible
• Stroller accessible
• Service animals allowed
• Near public transportation
• Transportation is wheelchair accessible
• Confirmation will be received at time of booking
• Most travelers can participate
• This tour/activity will have a maximum of 8 travelers
• For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience.

• N8610NJpaulm 0 contributions 2.0 of 5 bubbles Not up to scratch Visitor the No.1 lounge in Luton as it was included in my business class ticket. Truly not up to standard for a business class lounge. Very small and lots of tables marked as "reserved" Food selection was not good. Only one option for me at eaters and that was a dried up pasta. Couldn't see any deserts. Ended up paying for food outside of the lounge instead of eating there. Read more Written April 25, 2024
• Escape26998210612 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles Standard of food Zero at a high cost What a disappointing experience, Not much choice all food that supposed to be hot was cold. They say are you alleric to anything & out of everything they had out I'm unable to eat except sauté potatoes, peas, cabbage, crackers & one sort of biscuits so as I was starving I had COLD sauté potatoes, peas & cabbage that didn't look at all appealing. Tea was ok not that hot. Beer rubbish. Keep your money & stay in the Departure lounge at least you'll have a good variety of hot food at a lower cost Read more Written March 9, 2024
• Getaway04978097188 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles No1 service and food Wendy and the team at No1 lounge were very helpful and friendly- even in the early hours! Can’t thank them enough. The options for breakfast were very good and of high quality. Read more Written February 21, 2024
• 374mickg 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles Very poor Very small but good to be in comfy seats. That's where it ends. Only one red wine(Shiraz) no merlot. No bottles of ale. The hot food is cold. No bread, no soup, no desserts. Not a patch on Aspire. Would rather sit on Wetherspoons. Will never come back to No 1 Read more Written February 16, 2024
• 766eviz 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Fab start to your break away Fabulous lounge, fabulous snacks Staff are friendly and welcoming and they have just made me the best Negroni ever Highly recommend starting your getaway with a relax in this lounge Read more Written February 8, 2024
• Adriana G 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles Avoid!!! Worse lounge that I have ever visited! Warm wine and beer, which was impossible to drink. There was no food, I was there for nearly three hours, and there was still no food until the end, just ridiculous, staff members didn’t care much, I have a feeling that was quite a “standard” service. The only thing that we had was cold soup, plus bread and butter. Would never go back there! Read more Written January 25, 2024
• leebob105 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles holidays well worth the £30 great value for money if you like a drink before you fly sue in the lounge was nice and friendly, good food and comfortable chairs not to full nice and relaxed Read more Written January 9, 2024
• ianjongs 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles Extremely terrible lounge ! Flying cathay , was told to go to The house by aspire , as Qantas lounges closes earlier . We were told by cathay that The house by aspire was run by Etihad .. I found out that this was not the case according to the reception staff. There were extremely limited food available and to make matters worse, the hot food was served COLD! Drink options were equally limited, mostly off of very poor quality! Overall lounge experience : one of the worse I have being to around the world Read more Written January 9, 2024
• 518phillipad 0 contributions 4.0 of 5 bubbles Not exceptional enough considering extra charges Lounge was exclusive. Not busy at all and we had a waiter service. Small choice of meals but they were tasty. Small selection of help yourselves pastries. Personally I feel this could have been better considering the extra charges for using this lounge. We had to pay more at the door than was stated online. This was a tad misleading . I was not impressed. Bar service was amazing however. Could have stayed longer just for that. Overall the stay was relaxing despite it being just a little too cold . A small adjustment to the air con may be needed. Not sure I would use again. Would try one of the other lounges and compare as have previously used BA's lounge in South Terminal (prior to COVID restrictions) which was amazing. Read more Written January 1, 2024
• 451kerrya 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles No 1 Airport Lounge - TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE My flight was changed from terminal 3 to terminal 5 at short notice. I've paid over £300 for 2 families travelling together, and No 1 Airport lounge refuse to move the booking from terminal 3 to terminal 5 and REFUSE to refund my money Read more Written October 20, 2023
• 993kenzies 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles Give emirates lounge in heathrow a big miss!! Worst lounge I have ever been in! Food choices were limited with no salad options except for a premade plate of wilted salad, soft drinks weren't even cold and they didn't care the fridge didn't seem to be working. No real bar area but rather a help yourself to limited amount of half empty, sticky bottles, dirty glasses, flat opened bottles of wine or champagne to chose from. I get better service and food at a Weatherspoons Read more Written October 15, 2023
• KimSung79 0 contributions 4.0 of 5 bubbles Great ambience The lounge is modern and well maintained. The buffet spread of cold and warm food are just 3 choices each, but they get replenished frequently. I used my Priority Pass to gain access. In order to have ala carte dining, I would need to pay $20 per pax. However, the reception team wasn’t aware of the procedure for the upgrade as advised by in-dining team. I had to bring them together to align before telling me YES/NO. Such a humiliation for putting customer in a fix. Please know your product and services, before handing your customers. Otherwise, it is a good place to chill for 2-3hrs before boarding the plane. Read more Written September 13, 2023
• kellyd777 0 contributions 2.0 of 5 bubbles Disgusting family We are currently sitting in the restaurant at the Etihad lounge Heathrow. Service was slow and had to ask to be served and then order arrived wrong. The manager was more than helpful rectifying the issue which was great, he also saw me waiting at the bar and immediately served me a drink. He was clearly a good manager and very polite and helpful. Buffet food is basic but enough variety - fruit, pastries, cereals and hot breakfast. Bathroom was lovely and clean. Reason for the two stars is the behaviour of other guests which isn’t the staffs fault but it did completely put us off our breakfast, there was a family - mother and two teenage daughters they touched everything. One of the teenage daughters picked up a pastry with her hand and then put it back it was absolutely disgusting. I told the waiter straight away so no other guests would eat it. This was not a small child and should have had more manners, the mother also picked up a pita bread with her hands only to put it back. This is completely unacceptable and guests like these should be removed from the lounge. Read more Written September 12, 2023
• andrewbX5942UE 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles Do not waste your money on this lounge we visited the club Room at Birmingham Airport for the first time 3rd July 2023 on arrival there was no one there to great us, we asked a waitress what shall we do she said wait there and someone will be with you, she was abrupt with us. When someone eventually came to us he showed us to a table and then walked off. We did not know what to do or where anything was, it was only for another couple sitting at the next table that we knew what to do because they said themselves no one explained anything to them. When the waitress asked what we wanted to eat she was rude and just asked what we do you want and never asked how can she help us. When we ordered the the food it arrived cold and reheated which is not what we would expect for a club lounge like this. When the waitress served the food she just said her you are and walked off ! Then after we complained we was given x2 glasses of champagne which is nice but we do not drink alcoholand was not asked if we wanted it. Then we asked if we could move lounges because we not happy with the level of service and quality of food on offer in the club lounge which to be fair the staff sorted a move to the No1 lounge which I have used on many times before. I thought the club lounge would be a lovely way to start our holiday and would be a upgrade to the No1 lounge but it was not a upgrade at all. It really was not up to the advertised standard. unfortunately it wasn’t the start we expected to our holiday the club room is over priced and does not deliver Read more Written July 11, 2023
• Emma A 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Worth the money We were very impressed with the lounge. We booked online and when we arrived we had a sofa area reserved for us. We arrived at 11am so breakfast was still being served which included some hot items like sausage, beans and hash browns. This also included croissants and muffins. Self service drinks were available. The lunch menu consisted of curry, rice and salad. The food was lovely. The children used the games room which was a nice touch for them. I would highly recommend for a less stressful airport experience. Read more Written June 21, 2023

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Gatwick South Airport Lounge - No1 Lounge provided by No1 Lounges

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Frequently Asked Questions

Who can use the lounge.

Our lounges are located after security in the departure area and are available to all checked-in departing passengers. It doesn't matter which airline or class of ticket you've got, you're welcome to use our lounges.

If you've got a lounge access membership or dining card, please click here to see which cards are accepted.

How long can I stay in the lounge?

You can use the lounge three hours prior to your flight time. Extra hours can be purchased in advance if you plan to arrive earlier.

When booking online, we automatically set the arrival time three hours prior to your flight time, in line with our terms and conditions. You're free to leave the lounge and return any time during your stay but must keep your luggage with you at all times.

What is Guaranteed Delay Cover?

We understand the inconvenience flight delays can cause. You are welcome to stay in the lounge if your flight is delayed but please keep an eye on our screens in the lounge for updates on your departure.

Please note, guaranteed delay cover is only available to direct bookings (third party bookings are excluded).

What is included in lounge entry?

No1 Lounge entry includes freshly, prepared, seasonal dishes served buffet style and a wide range of beverages from our tended bars.

Clubrooms entry includes hosted table service, a la carte dining and complimentary award-winning wines and spirits.

My Lounge and The Gateway entry includes complimentary grazing snacks and hot options as well as self-serve wine, beer and cocktails. Entry to My Lounge Gatwick South Terminal also includes access to Gatwick Airport's only outdoor terrace and designated smoking area.

Club Aspire entry includes complimentary hot and cold dishes and a variety of snacks, served buffet style and a wide range of beverages from our tended bars.

Plus, all guests will have access to our unlimited dedicated Wi-Fi, a variety of comfortable seating areas in a range of stylish spaces, convenient charging points, PressReader to download newspapers and magazines, and attentive staff on hand for your every need.

Premium Security is available at Gatwick Airport only and can be added to your booking at an extra cost. Please note, Premium Security is included free of charge on Clubrooms lounge booking at Gatwick Airport. 

Is there a dress code?

Yes, we have a dress code in place. We ask all our guests to wear smart-casual clothing. Our dress code stipulates that we reserve the right to refuse admission to anyone wearing clothing which we deem to be unsuitable. This includes themed or fancy-dress outfits, clothes with slogans that may cause offence, sports shirts, beach flip flops, vests, and clothing that exposes midriffs or upper thighs. We will not hesitate to enforce this entry requirement.

If you would like to find out more about lounge terms of entry, please click here .

Do you accept groups?

We do accept groups, however please be mindful of the rules around group bookings. If you are travelling as a group and would therefore like to be seated together in the lounge, please book as a group. Note, that we accept bookings on our website for a maximum of 8 people.

Any groups of 9 or more must contact our Guest Relations team on +44(0) 203 283 8449 or via [email protected] to enquire about availability.

Please be advised that any self-assembled groups will not be seated together. In order to ensure a premium lounge experience for all guests, we do ask that large groups are both respectful of those guests around them, and mindful of keeping noise to a reasonable level.

What information do you provide on food allergens?

We take the safety of our guests very seriously and will do our best to cater for guests with food allergies, with due process in place to support this.

We do ask that guests with allergies make themselves known to staff, so that we can provide them with accurate allergen information for our menu that day and put in place the correct precautions.

Each lounge has their own menu and allergen portal. To find your lounge allergen menu, click here and select the lounge you will be visiting and the correct menu period.

Is smoking permitted in the lounge?

Smoking is permitted in the designated smoking area on the outdoor terrace in My Lounge, Gatwick South Terminal.

Smoking is not permitted in any other lounge in our collection.

I've lost something, what should I do?

Any lost property found in the lounges will be handed to the Airport's lost property department. Please contact the relevant airport's lost & found department directly for assistance.

If you would like more information on how our lost property process works please contact our Guest Relations team via [email protected] .

Are your lounges wheelchair accessible?

All of our lounges are wheelchair accessible. This includes No1 Lounges, Clubrooms, My Lounge, The Gateway and Club Aspire.

What are the lounge entry terms?

We strive to make our lounges the best places to wait in the airport.

With this aspiration comes a responsibility to ensure that they remain an environment our guests want to spend time in, and a place that our staff can work safely within. We ask all guests to be respectful of others whilst in the lounge, please keep noise to a minimum.

We have a responsibility to ensure guests are fit to fly. If you appear intoxicated, there is a chance that you will be refused entry to the aircraft for your onward journey.

We will not hesitate to refuse service to any guests or groups that appear to be consuming alcohol in an excessive manner or are acting in a way that is compromising the lounge experience for others or has the potential to cause problems for our staff.

You can read our full terms here . You can also find more helpful articles in the No1 Lounges Help Hub .

Do lounges accept children?

While we welcome little ones to our lounges, we do not specifically cater for children. Please make sure that you bring activities that will keep the little ones occupied during your visit. Children must be accompanied in the lounge at all times and are not permitted to run around the general lounge area.

Children aged 2 years and over are welcome in No1 Lounges, The Gateway, My Lounge and Club Aspire, however we reserve the right to seat you in a dedicated family space.

Children under the age of two (infants) go free at our lounges.

Guests under the age of 12 are not permitted in Clubrooms lounges.

Do your lounges have flight information screens?

Yes, all our lounges have flight information screen, however we do not make flight announcements, please make sure you check these, as it is your responsibility to catch your flight.

Can I use the lounge when transferring through Heathrow?

If you're transferring through Heathrow and would like to use the lounge, follow the signs for flight connections when you land. If you don't land in T3 or T5 you'll need to get the free airport terminal transfer bus and follow the signs the terminals. Transferring between terminals can take up to 90 minutes, so we would recommend only using our lounge if you are departing from Terminal 3 or Terminal 5.

Please note we cannot refund your booking if you do not arrive at the lounge on the day of your booking.

Do you have shower facilities?

Shower facilities are only available at our London Heathrow Terminal 3 Club Aspire lounge and Terminal 5 Club Aspire lounge. 

Please note the showers are subject to availability and there is an additional cost to use these facilities. Please ask at the lounge reception to purchase access.

What is the group booking limit on your website?

We accept groups, however please be mindful of the rules around group bookings. If you're travelling as a group and would like to be seated together in the lounge, you must book as a group.

Each lounge has its own group booking limit on our website. All our lounges accept group bookings for up to 8 people, excluding the No1 Lounge at Birmingham Airport where the limit is 6 people. 

We accept groups of up to 5 people at Aspire owned and managed lounges online.

The Club US lounges group booking limit is 6 guests per booking.

If the group size is over the website maximum, then you must contact our Guest Relations team to enquire about availability. The best way to get in touch is via our Contact Us page or to email [email protected]

Please be advised, each lounge reserves the right to accept or deny group booking requests, and any self-assembled groups will not be seated together.

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Review: No1 Lounge, London Gatwick Airport South Terminal (LGW)

Earlier this week I had the chance to check out the No1 Lounge at London Gatwick’s South Terminal . No1 Lounges operate contract lounges at London Heathrow, London Gatwick, and Birmingham airports, which are accessible by airline invitation, Priority Pass/Lounge Key, or a pay-to-enter basis.

Here’s my review of my experience there, covering the lounge’s seating and ambience, food options, amenities, and more. Keep in mind that No1 also owns a lounge at Gatwick’s North Terminal , which I didn’t get to visit this time round.

No1 Lounge London Gatwick South Terminal Access and Opening Hours

There are three general ways to access any No1 lounge:

• Pay to access from £34 (either on the day subject to availability, or in advance through the No1 Lounge website – surprisingly, slots don’t look wide open even when booking far in advance)
• Airline invitation – in the case of this specific lounge, airlines offering access to this lounge included Aer Lingus, airBaltic, Air Europa, Air Malta, Croatia Airlines, TAP Portugal and Turkish Airlines premium customers
• Priority Pass, Lounge Key, Dragonpass and Wexas cardholders ( you can pre-book for £5 and receive “free” security access , which otherwise costs £5 anyway – otherwise cardholder entry is subject to availability )

Entry is typically granted three hours before your flight time, though I arrived before that and was allowed to enter. The lounge features “guaranteed delay cover”, which basically means they won’t kick you out after three hours if your flight is delayed.

This lounge is open from 4 AM to 8 PM – bear that in mind if you’ve got a nighttime departure.

My Experience Using The No1 Lounge London Gatwick South Terminal

I arrived at Gatwick Airport at 1 PM ahead of a 5:10 PM Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul (I was uncertain of how chaotic travel was during the 2022 “revenge travel” season, and Turkish is advising passengers to arrive 4 hours before departure for international flights). There was no queue at the bag drop counter and Turkish Airlines business class comes with premium security, so I was through in less than 15 minutes after I got to the airport. Premium security can be purchased in advance for £5 or for £6 on-site subject to availability (some of No1’s packages also come with premium security access, but they’re always roughly equivalent to booking in advance directly with Gatwick Airport).

After passing security I made it past a duty-free maze, following the “lounges” signage.

Afterwards I found myself in the main departures hall.

As a side note, this was my first time departing out of Gatwick Airport, or being in the South Terminal for that matter. Gatwick Airport is fairly nice, and I was very impressed by the quick and painless security process. However two things stood out (for the wrong reasons): firstly the signage at the airport was clear but lacking, and I found myself having to look around quite often to find signage to anywhere that wasn’t a gate. However, much more problematically, there wasn’t a single departures board apart from at the main hall connecting the three gate “piers” together. I took a walk around the airport before my flight, and when gate information was posted I walked all the way from gate 20 to the main hall (by gate 11) only to find out that my departure gate was back at gate 20.

No1 Lounge London Gatwick South Terminal Location

Gatwick Airport South Terminal’s retail outlets and lounges are all located within the main hall, with all lounges and some shops/restaurants located on an upper floor. I followed the signage and made my way upstairs.

I was able to find a sign pointing to the British Airways and No1 lounges, as well as the Clubrooms, which are also run by No1 (business class passengers typically do not have access to Clubrooms).

There was a sign indicating that the lounge was at capacity, and cardholders (who hadn’t pre-booked) and walk-in guests could join a queue to enter the lounge. As an airline guest I was granted entry, so I made my way past a lounge agent and turned right past some stairs to enter the lounge.

It’s worth noting that as a cardholder (at least with Priority Pass) this isn’t your only lounge option at Gatwick Airport – Priority Pass has three lounges at Gatwick Airport, and it seems like you can pay to access the Clubrooms as well.

The Clubrooms are a separate lounge operated by No1, located to the left of the entrance pictured above. They’re open from 6 AM until 2 PM, and feature a la carte dining. Clubroom entry typically costs £38 and comes with premium security – actually cheaper than general lounge access if you purchase premium security as an add-on – but availability is low, and you’ll have to book a couple of months in advance (I’m writing this on September 7th 2022, and a dummy booking for October 28th indicated that there was no Clubrooms availability). The a la carte menu doesn’t seem all that impressive – that being said, the space did look quieter and more premium-seeming, at least when I passed by. I certainly would pay favour paying £38 for Clubroom access over £39 for general lounge access and premium security, though do note that availability runs out quite quickly, and the Clubrooms lounge itself isn’t open for the latter half of the day.

Obviously this isn’t relevant if you’re accessing the No1 Lounge using an airline invitation, so back to the No1 lounge, which I actually visited…

No1 Lounge London Gatwick South Terminal Seating and Atmosphere

Contract lounges aren’t the easiest to review, since the bar is set pretty low in terms of amenities, and lounges typically aim to allow as many people to enjoy a quieter space (and a limited food and amenity selection) as possible. I tend to think that if a lounge is more densely populated than an airport terminal, then it really isn’t serving its purpose. After all, I’m not reviewing the lounge contractor’s efforts, but rather the passenger experience, and it really does matter how populated a lounge is. At the same time I need to be careful not to base my review of a lounge purely on how packed it is – for example, I visited the Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver in February, found a quiet space to work, and still preferred the terminal over it .

In this case I was actually fairly impressed. While the lounge was fairly packed, it was airy, had lots of natural light, and featured a variety of seating (I wanted to wait until a quieter time to grab some photos of the lounge when I first arrived, but instead it just filled up over the course of my visit).

Between the table/booth seating, comfortable armchairs, sofas, office chairs and other seating, I was happy to see such a large variety. Granted the lounge was so crowded that I never had much of a choice, but all of the seating was at least fairly comfortable. I also appreciated that there were numerous options to eat/park a laptop and work comfortably – nothing annoys me more than lounges that only have low tables .

There were some quieter alcoves. I couldn’t photograph them all since they were occupied, but below is a picture of the “library”, which featured some office space, as well as some comfortable armchairs.

A few seating options were marked as “reserved” – you’re allowed to make group bookings on the lounge’s website, where you’re guaranteed the ability to sit together (otherwise a luxury in a crowded lounge).

No1 touts that the lounge has good views of the tarmac, which I actually thought was a selling point (given that the airport doesn’t otherwise have many floor-to-ceiling windows, given how it’s laid out). Not only was there a great view of nearby parked aircraft, but you could see planes landing on runway 26L in the distance.

Not pictured is the landing Turkish Airlines 737 MAX that I not only mistook for an A321neo, but also pondered why the inbound aircraft for my flight had arrived over two hours early. Turns out I’d only forgotten that Turkish doesn’t only fly international flights out of Istanbul – this particular 737 MAX was flying in from beautiful, sunny Antalya.

My one criticism is that I wish there were a larger number of power ports, especially near the desk tables suitable for working. Even in the library, the power ports were UK-style and not universal, which I imagine would annoy some passengers returning home from London.

No1 Lounge London Gatwick South Terminal Dining Options

The No1 lounge used to operate a small a-la-carte food menu for all guests, though that has been scrapped in the meantime. Instead there was a separate hot and cold food spread.

Contract lounge food is never exciting, though I thought in terms of food quality, this lounge’s food fared on the better end of things. A chickpea masala, vegetarian pasta dish, and hoisin chicken were available as hot options (not pictured below is some white basmati rice), and cold options included a very tasty quinoa salad.

The lounge did feature a more extensive bar selection than most contract lounges I’ve visited. While there weren’t any cocktails on offer, all spirits, craft/bottle beers, wines and soft drinks were free, with only (Möet) champagne costing £8/glass.

I was happy to see some craft beers available, and went for an IPA.

Overall, the food selection is nothing to get too excited about, though I did think it was very good for a contract lounge. On further thought, the food was generally well-suited for buffet dining – an a-la-carte french toast or noodle soup is much more appealing than a buffet equivalent (since the above food items deteriorate in quality after sitting for a while), but I don’t actually see the appeal of ordering an a-la-carte chickpea masala over a self-serve option at the buffet.

No1 Lounge London Gatwick South Terminal Facilities

The No1 lounge at Gatwick’s South Terminal features bathrooms, but no showers. I was also unable to photograph a sports room located within one of the lounge’s inner alcoves, as it was occupied.

WiFi at the lounge was free, though not the speediest. At best the speeds were about 13.80 Mbps down and 0.80 Mbps up, though this slowed down once the lounge got crowded. It wasn’t slow by any means, though not particularly impressive (I didn’t even bother logging into WiFi on my phone).

No1 Lounge London Gatwick South Terminal Service

For a contract lounge, I was actually quite surprised at how involved service was. No, I wasn’t greeted by name or escorted to an empty seat, but empty plates were cleared very regularly, and the staff were friendly.

The staff at the lounge’s entrance seemed a little bit more tired and overworked, though given how varied the access requirements are as well as the need to control crowding within the lounge, I really don’t envy their job. I’ve learned that travellers are generally  very hard to deal with.

Conclusion: No1 Lounge London Gatwick South Terminal

For a crowded contract lounge, the No1 lounge at Gatwick’s South Terminal does very well. As an airline invited guest, I actually felt that even at peak capacity this was a more pleasant place to spend time than the terminal. I took an opportunity to stretch my legs and go for a walk in the terminal about half an hour before boarding (since it was my first time leaving from Gatwick Airport), and learned that there’s not really a pleasant place for people to kill time there.

At the same time, I personally wouldn’t spend £34 to enter the lounge. If anything, I’d consider spending the extra £4 for Clubrooms access if I booked far enough in advance and my flight departed at an appropriate time – Clubrooms seems like a much more exclusive experience, even if the food menu doesn’t look all that great.

My biggest takeaway is that I’ll always prebook to get through premium security for an extra £5 when departing Gatwick Airport (if I don’t otherwise get it for free), at least if the experience is consistently as smooth as it was when I visited. £5 is not a lot to spend considering how much stress this saves ahead of travel. Gatwick Airport is a hub for low-cost airline travel, and having the confidence to arrive less than four hours before departure can be really valuable at peak times. Heathrow isn’t offering a similar service at the minute (and is always a hot mess), which actually adds significantly to the appeal of using Gatwick Airport.

Read more from this trip:

Have you been to the No1 Lounge at Gatwick’s South Terminal? Is premium security always this smooth at Gatwick Airport?

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No 1 lounge Gatwick South review + how to secure entry with Priority Pass & Dragon Pass

• 8 April 2018

I have previously reviewed the No 1 lounge Gatwick North which I quite liked apart from the difficulties getting in on a Priority Pass . I had tried to get into the No 1 Gatwick South with my Priority Pass on numerous occasions and even when the terminal seemed dead elsewhere. I tried asking if I could come in to do the review as I wasn’t going to be very long but to no avail. Eventually, I decided I would just pay the £5 fee to guarantee my entrance. You can guarantee entrance by paying a £5 fee on this page if you have access through a lounge pass scheme.

In this post:

No 1 Lounge Gatwick South

The lounge is located after security. Just follow signs for No 1 Lounges which takes you to the corridor between Dixons and JD sports. The lounge is open 4:00am to 10:00pm daily.

The entrance to the lounge looked pretty smart with fresh flowers and the receptionist was friendly. She found my booking and offered me an upgrade to the Clubrooms for £15 which are a much more upmarket proposition to the No 1 lounge with free Champagne and a more extensive menu. I will be visiting the Clubrooms at Gatwick South later this week. I politely declined and entered the No 1 lounge. It was extremely busy (unlike the BA lounges when I went later that day). There were few seats to be found particularly in the dining area.

I had liked the No 1 Gatwick North lounge but this felt cramped in comparison. In the main area was a small dining area, a central bar and a raised seating area. There was a least a good view of the airfield.

There was a table by the dining area that had a few snacks and some soup. Given that I visited at lunchtime I thought this was quite a poor selection. There was also food to order at the table. I eventually managed to find a table in the dining area by hovering for a while and sat down at a rather dirty table. The waitress did not bother to clean it but simply plonked down fresh cutlery on the dirty table. Nice!

I had already got a glass of Prosecco from the bar (this has now changed – see below) so I had a look at the food menu. It seemed pretty limited considering there was no buffet either. I remembered having a nice fish finger sandwich at a No1 lounge before so it thought I would give the fish finger wrap a try.

When the fish wrap arrived it looked OK but tasted very disappointing. The fish inside the solitary fish finger was mushy with a soggy coating and there was virtually no tartare sauce making it very hard to choke down. I also would have much preferred a sandwich to a wrap but that may be personal taste.

The only pudding in the list was cheese and biscuits although it did sound like it had some good quality cheeses. The other option was the selection of cakes and cookies by the coffee machines. These had a gluten-free option too.

There was a surprisingly wide choice of drinks in the lounge. At the time they had prosecco as the sparkling wine but they now have a choice of 2 sparkling wines. The quality of the wines is not great generally with the still wines being around £6 and the sparking around £8 retail. There were lots of spirits to choose from though and the Prosecco I had was fine.

Here are the wines, beers and ciders:

• Jules Larose Blanc de Blancs NV
• Vetriano Pinot Grigio Rose NV
• Luccello Pinot Grigio
• Tariquet Classic White
• Real Rubio Rioja
• La Serre du Haut Red
• Rivertone Tannat/Cabernet Sauvignon Rose

BEER AND CIDER

• Chapel Down Curious Brew
• Meantime London Pale Ale
• Cider: Stowford Press
• Non-alcoholic beer available on request

If you wanted soft drinks there was a fizzy drinks dispenser to help yourself to as well as still and sparkling water from a tap. Next to these were a few carafes of fruit juice too. There were also two coffee machines with the usual selection of latte, cappuccino etc plus various Twinings teas available.

Lounge Facilities

There were no showers in this lounge but I am guessing at Gatwick there is not a huge amount of connecting flights which may be why. The lounge did do better with facilities than I expected other than showers though.

There were two Mac computers available to use with a nice view of the airfield.

The reading material was also good quality and definitely better than some of the very bizarre publications I keep seeing in the BA lounges recently. There were several newspapers and lots of mainstream magazines to choose from.

If you wanted a bit of peace and quiet there was a library quiet area which did not allow children under 12 or mobile phone calls (hurray!). This was also a good place to work with a long desk area with plenty of charging points.

If you wanted to catch up on some news there was a TV viewing area that was almost empty.

The toilets were clean and modern with some nice L’Occitane Verbena toiletries.

LoungeBuddy and cheap ways to get lounge access and collect miles

In this article, I looked at the ways to get reduced price access to lounges.   LoungeBuddy is an app for Android and IOS which is very useful and has a best price guarantee (which you may need to use as it is currently showing £40 for No 1 Lounge access!). Even if you don’t use it to buy access, it is a handy app for the frequent traveller. You can link it with your Tripit or Concur accounts and it will then add trips to the LoungeBuddy app. You can add additional information such your Elite status in airlines, credit cards and any memberships such as Priority Pass. Once you are ready to use a lounge, it will tell you which lounges you can access in your location or intended location. It is probably the quickest way to find a lounge. If you have Tripit Pro you get a one time $25 money off code for LoungeBuddy too.

To access the No 1 lounge at Gatwick most options are currently the same as booking direct which costs £32. However, you can book through Virgin Atlantic as a Flying Club member (free to join) and book here for £25.  You will also earn 350 miles per booking for No 1 lounges. If there are 2 of you visiting obviously it would be better to make 2 separate bookings if you are collecting the miles. You can no longer earn Avios with No 1 lounges directly. You can earn £12 Avios per £1 spent if you book your visit via the Avios eStore using lounge pass which costs £32 – the same as booking direct.

You can also book direct with No 1 Lounges via this page.

I found this a pretty disappointing lounge and I am not sure it is really worth paying the £5 to get in with PP unless you are a) not worried about food and b) not worried about decent quality wine or c) planning to drink quite a few spirits. I didn’t find it very relaxing as it was busy and the food was poor in terms of selection and quality. If you can get in without having to reserve on your Priority Pass or Dragon Pass then it would be worth it since it would be free.  If you didn’t have airline lounge access but had a Priority Pass I would recommend the Grain Store instead. This is an airside restaurant at Gatwick South that gives £15 off per person for Priority Pass holders.

Related Topics

• lounge pass
• No 1 lounges
• priority pass

InterContinental London Park Lane review in 360°

• 7 April 2018

Breaking news: Avios.com to close for UK customers

• 9 April 2018

I saw the entrance to this lounge recently when we were in Galleries south and wanted to take a look as I have 2 x Priority passes burning a hole in my pocket. TBH I’m glad we didn’t bother, highly recommend new Galleries south though and looking forward to trying F lounge at LGW South soon.

Hi Adam. Yes the Gatwick BA lounges are a huge improvement. I really like the F lounge there – its better than the Heathrow ones. The staff are really helpful and friendly, it’s usually quiet in the afternoon and the food is better quality than Heathrow too. Well worth a visit. There’s a review of it under reviews- lounges although I will be doing an updated one shortly with some 360 photos.

Thanks, great review and video. Out if interest what video making software do you use for putting your pics together? I’m looking for one that does the same as yours i can use on Android tablet.

Thanks Adam. It is the windows movie maker desktop app.

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No. 1 Gatwick Lounge (South Terminal) London Gatwick Airport

If you are an economy class traveller, you can wait for your flight in the comfort of the No.1 Gatwick Lounge at London Gatwick Airport in the South Terminal. Below you will find helpful information such as: lounge location, hours, services, and lounge access for economy class travellers.

Lounge Location

London Gatwick Airport, South Terminal, Airside, Pier 1, Mezzanine Level.

Directions: From the main departure lounge (upper level) take the corridor access between Dixons and JD Sports to reach the ‘No1 Lounge’ entrance.

Services & Facilities

• Air Conditioning
• Beverages (alcohol)
• Beverages (non-alcoholic)
• Bistro with Table Service
• Disabled Access
• Flight Information Monitor
• Internet/WiFi
• Newspapers/Magazines

This lounge does not have any sleep facilities.

The lounge is open 4:00PM – 9:00PM.

Lounge Access & Rates

Pay at the door.

When space is available, this lounge accepts guests at the door. The walk in rates are £40 per adult • £20 per child (ages 2-11) • Free for infants (under 2 years).

Lounge Passes

Lounge passes can be purchased by any traveller regardless of airline or class of service. »  Benefits : Guarantees a seat in the lounge for your desired time period  • Changes & Refunds up until 24 hours prior to arrival. »  Disadvantages : Non-refundable within 24 hours of arrival. The online rate is GBP 36.00 per person. » Buy a lounge pass

Passes are handled through our third party partners. Be sure to read the terms and conditions before purchasing your pass.  For changes and cancellations, contact the email on your pass confirmation at least 24 hours in advance of your arrival.

More lounge locations at London Gatwick Airport

• Club Aspire Lounge (South Terminal)
• No. 1 Gatwick Lounge (North Terminal)
• Club Aspire Lounge (North Terminal)
• Clubrooms (South Terminal)
• Clubrooms (North Terminal)

This guide is for informational purposes only to assist with your planning.  We are not representatives of the lounge featured on this page.  Fees for some lounge services and facilities may apply.  All information, including amenities, hours and access information, are subject to change at any time without notice.   To report errors or to add/update any items mentioned in the guide, click here .

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