Qantas Aquire members get arrivals lounge access at London Heathrow

Members of Qantas' Aquire scheme for businesses can now enjoy free arrivals lounge access at London's Heathrow Airport with the opening of the Regus Express Lounge in Terminal 5.

Yes, it's a business centre. But with free high-speed Internet and working spaces with ample power outlets, the Regus Express Lounge is also a handy place to freshen up after a long flight or to catch up on some work before heading into town.

UPDATE: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that showers and a vending machine were available in the Regus Express T5 Lounge. This resulted from erroneous information published on the Regus website, which was still present at the time of posting this correction.

There are private meeting rooms and workspaces available for hire, although we’ve found the shared lounge space to be more than enough for basic laptop work in some of Regus’ other lounges.

Also inside is free tea, coffee and cable TV – but unlike most airline-operated lounges, you’ll find nothing on the food front.

If you’ve stepped off that inbound flight a little peckish, we'd suggest stopping by one of the cafes at T5 for a fresh, barista-made latte and a bite to eat on your way to the lounge.

Situated ‘landside’ and out of the airport’s secure area, the Regus Express Heathrow Lounge isn’t limited only to arriving passengers – in fact, you don’t even need a boarding pass to use the facilities.

The lounge is ideally located for passengers arriving on British Airways flights in T5 – such as BA16 from Sydney via Singapore – rather than on Qantas’ own flights in T3.

(Of course, travellers in BA's business class, first class or enjoying Gold status in BA's Executive Club have access to British Airways' own excellent arrivals lounge in T5.)

It takes about 20 minutes to zip between terminals, which makes the lounge better-suited to longer stays rather than a quick email before jumping on the Heathrow Express.

The lounge is open from 6am until 7pm on weekdays, but is unfortunately closed on weekends.

How to get your free lounge access

If you’re not yet a member of Qantas’ Aquire program for businesses, check out our handy guide to get yourself started.

Aquire is free to join until September 30 2014, so if you have an ABN, there’s no reason not to join.

Once you’re a member, you can then register for a free Regus Businessworld Preferred membership, which gets you five visits to any of Regus’ Business Lounges worldwide – including at London Heathrow.

You’ll also get two single-use ‘guest passes’ as part of the parcel, which can be used to bring your partner or a colleague into the lounge with you at no charge.

To top things off, you’ll also pocket 1,000 free Aquire Points after visiting a Regus Business Lounge for the first time, which is an easy way to get your Aquire balance moving.

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Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.