Passengers hoping to gain access to the lounge of Malaysia Airlines are finding the facilities at Heathrow Terminal 4 closed to them.

A reader rang to inform us of the situation. He is due to fly with Malaysia Airlines to Kuala Lumpur this morning and found the lounges closed. He was redirected to the Skyteam lounge as an alternative.

“The explanation we were given is that the lounges have been closed on request from Scotland Yard,” he said.

Sky News is reporting that the closures are the result of over 300 Sodexo staff having their airside passed suspended as a result of a fraud investigation.

Qatar Airways lounge at T4 was briefly closed on Friday, a spokesperson for the airline confirmed, but had quickly reopened. Other airlines briefly stopped serving hot food including Virgin Atlantic (in Terminal 3) and United (in Terminal 2), though the lounges remained open.

Instead they contacted passengers by text to warn them of the situation.

A spokesperson for United said

“The United Airlines Global First Lounge and United Club at London Heathrow Terminal 2 are operating as normal today.  They both experienced some reduced operating hours as a result of third party staffing issues.  We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused.”

Malaysia Airlines was contacted for a comment as to the reason for the prolonged closure but no one was available.

The reader was told that the lounges had been closed for some days and there was no news as to when they would reopen.

“It’s not the start to our holiday I was hoping for.”

 

heathrowairport.com