Star Alliance Lounge opens in London Heathrow's Terminal 1

Star Alliance customers flying from London Heathrow Terminal 1 can now make use of the alliance’s largest lounge. The facility is for first and business class passengers, invited guests and Star Alliance Gold Card holders travelling on any member carrier from Terminal 1.

“The opening of a Star Alliance lounge in a major hub airport such as Heathrow is a major benefit to our member carriers and their customers,” said Lee Hock Lye, Vice-President, Products & Services, Star Alliance. “Rather than own separate lounges and incur duplicate construction and operating costs, Star Alliance lounges save the airlines money, and give customers a high-quality experience in a comfortable environment that is much larger and with more amenities than the carriers could provide on their own.”

The lounge provides 1,650 square metres of space and is located in the international departures area near the flight connection desks in Pier 3. It features more than 300 seats in separate first class and business class sections, food service areas, two business centres with computers, printers, faxes and Wi-Fi Internet access, shower facilities and a special area for children.

Along with the opening of the departures lounge, first and business class passengers arriving at Heathrow on bmi, South African and United can also use the new arrivals lounge (by invitation only), built in Star Alliance design, which opened in April.

Star Alliance member carriers are moving into Terminal 1 as part of the airport’s major renovation and rebuilding project. United Airlines and Air New Zealand moved in last Friday. Asiana, bmi, LOT, South African and US Airways are already located in Terminal 1.

Work on Terminal 1 started in April with demolition of the check-in islands and the creation of a re-designed check-in hall that allowed Air New Zealand and United to move from Terminal 3.

The second phase of the move will coincide with the closure of Terminal 2. Austrian, Lufthansa, SWISS, TAP and regional member Croatia Airlines are scheduled to move to Terminal 1 later this year or early 2009. All other member carriers serving Heathrow will continue to operate from Terminal 3 until 2012.

The movement of member carriers into a single terminal is called 'Move under one Roof', a programme that is in place at more than a dozen airports around the world. Eighteen Star Alliance member carriers – plus two regional members - fly to Heathrow. Egyptair will join the alliance this month, bringing the total to 19 member carriers.

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