Here's a pleasant surprise: Air southwest have Business Class lounges! It's not what you'd expect from a low cost carrier, however Air Southwest still have some hangovers from when it was a British Airways operation, and one of these used to include a full business class called Business Plus. No longer - rises in Air Passenger Duty have put paid to that. Instead there is the new Advantage Class, which gives you access to the lounge. Some lounges are also Priority Pass, and some regular passengers are PP members, just to use the lounge in places like Newquay.

NQY: Newquay Air Southwest Business Class Lounge

Small door beside teabar Open 0530-2200
Access to SZ Advantage passengers, and priority pass.
At the small Cornish hub of Newquay it's a pleasant surprise to find there is a full business class lounge. Technically this lounge is owned and operated by the airport, but pretty much the only passengers to use it are those on Air Southwest and Eastern Airways, except in mid-summer when Lufthansa's business class passengers get the perk too, and for a few hours it becomes the defacto Star Alliance lounge at Newquay.

The lounge is unattended (even though there is a small reception desk) so make sure you ask at checkin for the door code. The four digit code is written down on a small piece of card, and you punch the code into the door. Finding the door is easy: it's at the far side of the main airport waiting lobby, past the small snackbar. If you are Priority Pass, present your credentials before security at the Information Desk to the right of the check-in desks.

Newquay Business Class Lounge

Newquay Business Class Lounge

The Newquay business class lounge is lovely; small, compact, and feeling exclusive, it is the way all business class lounges should be. Plus, it gets hardly any traffic, and so it still has that very new (if slightly broom-cupboard) feel.

There is seating for 24 people, mainly in large squishy brown leather armchairs, although there are also a couple of sofas along the far walls, set around low coffee tables, and with a couple of palm trees in pots to complete that Cornish feeling. Around the walls there are some quite nice photos, most of which have been taken by the airport staff. At the far end is a lovely alcove - and the only window - with just one seat and a coffee table, overlooking the airfield and the two gates. It is by far the best seat in the lounge.

There is one wall-mounted television (which is usually turned off, however it does receive Freeview, and when on it is often on News 24) and a separate flight departure screen, although when a flight departs, there's usually a shout across the inside of the hut (sorry, airport) to hurry people along. There are no showers in the lounge, but there are two unisex toilets, in the corridor in the nearside corner, and a vending machine offering toothbrushes.

Newquay Business Class Lounge

Business facilities are spartan. There are no computers in the lounge, but there are three simple workstations in the far corner, with a net port (bring your own RJ45 cable). There is also free secure wifi in just in the lounge (the code is on a laminated card sitting on one of the tables, although this tends to move around) but it is very slow. Better is the free (unsecure) wifi throughout the whole airport terminal: take your pick, but remember to bring your own laptop. There is no telephone or fax in the lounge, but there is a payphone next to the snackbar outside if you are really desperate (which you may be: mobile reception at NQY is notoriously poor, and good luck finding any 3G).

Air Southwest Newquay Lounge
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Forget coming to the lounge for food: there really isn't any. However the designers realised that for most English passengers on a short flight, what they really want is some chocolate and several beers. Hence there is a large wicker basket of chocolate bars, and another of crisps. No wonder the staff at the airfield tend to refer to this room as the free sweet shop: Kitkats, Maltesers, Smarties, Maratons, Drifters, and Mars bars: there's enough free sugar on tap to have you running around the terminal. Add to this the crisp basket with Walkers and Doritos, and it actually makes a refreshing change from the usual lounge fare.

Finally, there is a bar, and although this looks poor too, actually it offers some pretty choices. Forget spirits: all the offerings are in the small fridge under the worktop on the left side as you enter. Beer is either Corona, Peroni or Budweiser. Wine is the usual British drinking wine of Jacobs Creek, in white or rose variants, or an anonymous Italian, while red is right on the extreme top of the unit (and rather hard to reach). There are also small bottles of tonic water (but, of course, no gin), and larger bottles of Coke and Fanta, plus banana and chocolate Yazoo milkshakes, and orange and apple juice cartons.

Interestingly, the development of this lounge was paid for via the curious Newquay passenger charge, of £5 levied on all passengers: a curious way of getting economy class passengers to pay for the perks of those up the pointy end.

LGW: London Gatwick Air Southwest Business Class Lounge

North Terminal, after security Open 0515-2230
Access to SZ Advantage passengers. NO access to priority pass.
NEWS: Air Southwest have suspended all flight to Gatwick.

London Gatwick Business Class Lounge

At LGW Air Southwest operate out of the North Terminal, and use the BA lounges. The lounge complex is on the extreem left of the Terminal as you walk in, past the shopping area, however it is only an old-style Terrages. The lounge itself is big, and has all the perks you'd expect of from BA. The World Wine Bars, is highly recommended with 6 white and 6 red wines, while in the fridges under the counter are cans of Stella, Grolsh, Newcastle Brown Ale, and Guinness, plus plenty of soft drinks and bottles of water.

Food isn't quite as good with just biscuits, packets of Walker's Fruit Cake, nuts, olives, and two types of cheese (cheddar and Leicester) with three types of cheese crackers. In the evening there are some sandwiches although they tend to disappear very quickly. Dotted around the lounge are strands with newspapers - there is normally a selection of each of the main UK papers. At the far end is a very small business centre with five computers. There is a shower suite of three showers available.

Full details of this lounge are contained in the BA pages, under the Gatwick lounge section.

MAN: Manchester Air Southwest Busines Class Lounge

Manchester Business Class Lounge

Terminal 3, up stairs near central rotundra Open 0500-2000
Access to SZ Advantage passengers. NO access to priority pass.
Just as at Gatwick, Air Southwest borrow the British Airways lounge at Manchester. After you walk up the stairs from the main waiting hall below, the main feature strikes you - the huge circular central rotundra, around which the lounge is based.

There is the usual World Wine Bar with 4 whites, 4 reds, all the usual beers, and a special treat: Boddingtons - the Cream of Manchester. Food has slices of shortbread, plus breakfast (to 1130) and sandwiches (12-2, and 5-7pm) but these are very plain ham or cheese. There are chunks of cheddar in the fridge at all times.

There are several newspaper racks in the lounge, with a full selection of all the UK dailies, however despite the appearance of a library, there are no magazines.

Full details of this lounge are contained in the British Airways Manchester lounge section.