Emirates has closed its lounge at London Heathrow Terminal 3 for four months so that refurbishment work can be carried out.
The Gulf carrier has advised its passengers travelling in first and business class and Skywards members that they can access British Airways' Galleries First and Galleries Club lounges in T3.
BA, however, told Business Traveller that only its Club lounge will be accepting Emirates passengers
The Emirates Lounge at London Heathrow shut on Monday and is scheduled to reopen in October.
Emirates operates five A380s daily out of T3, departing at 0905, 1415, 1700, 2040 and 2215.
Each of these has 76 business seats and 14 in first class — a total of 450 premium passengers per day that can now enter the BA lounges, in addition to top tier cardholders in the Emirates Rewards loyalty programme.
An Emirates spokesman said: "We will be overhauling our lounge at London Heathrow to transform the facility into the contemporary, premium service that is more in line with the understated elegance of our new, global lounge style...
"[Passengers] can still enjoy our exclusive chauffeur drive service for first class and business class passengers and a dedicated airport check-in at London Heathrow."
Richard Montague, BA's manager of global lounges, said: "We look forward to welcoming Emirates customers to our Galleries Club lounge to show them some British Airways hospitality while their facilities are updated.
"With plenty of room to relax and the opportunity to try some of the delicious food and drink on offer, we are happy we can give all our customers the welcome they deserve before they board their flight."
Emirates opened a lounge at Tokyo Narita Terminal 2 this week (see news, June 11) and a facility at Los Angeles International airport in March (see news, March 19).
Graham Smith
