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Is a Plaza Premium or Virgin Atlantic lounge coming to Edinburgh Airport?

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Is a Plaza Premium or Virgin Atlantic lounge coming to Edinburgh Airport? It seems so.

An interesting job advert popped up in my LinkedIn feed this week. Plaza Premium is looking for an airport lounge manager to be based in Edinburgh.

This is not entirely surprising, for two reasons.

Plaza Premium lounge Edinburgh airport

The first is that Plaza Premium now runs all of Virgin Atlantic’s lounges outside London Heathrow. Virgin Atlantic has just launched flights from Edinburgh and, assuming that the flights are a success, the airline will want a lounge for its passengers which it can have control over.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that the lounge will be branded as Virgin Atlantic. It could just as easily carry the Plaza Premium brand but be focused primarily on Virgin Atlantic passengers and their requirements.

The other interesting point is that Edinburgh currently has an abandoned but brand new airport lounge. No1 Lounges has given up its lounge, reviewed here, even though it only opened in 2019. It was also in the process of building an adjacent Clubrooms lounge when covid hit.

Plaza Premium has a habit of taking over lounges which were once used by others, so wouldn’t have any concerns about taking over the No1 space.

My best guess, therefore, is that the former No1 Lounge, and potentially the ‘never opened’ Clubrooms space, will become a new Plaza Premium-run lounge which might be branded as a Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse.

Let’s see. With the job of Lounge Manager only being advertised this week, it is unlikely that anything will happen before Easter at the earliest.

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Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2025)

Here are the five options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,500 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Eurostar, Lufthansa and Delta Air Lines lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here.

You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £290 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A good package, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

Got a small business?

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum which has the same lounge benefits as the personal Platinum card:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

You should also consider the Capital on Tap Pro Visa credit card which has a lower fee and, as well as a Priority Pass for airport lounge access, also comes with Radison Rewards VIP hotel status:

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (22)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • ringingup says:
    22 Dec22 December 06:57

    Where is the list of participating hotels you’re referring to?

    Their website says:
    SLH Gift Cards can be redeemed at over 520 SLH hotels in more than 90 countries worldwide. To view our current list of SLH hotels or to make a booking, please visit slh.com.

    This suggests that all hotels participate.

  • ringingup says:
    22 Dec22 December 06:59

    I’m also a bit confused about expiry… the T&Cs say:

    For SLH eGift Cards purchased before 20 March 2020, they are valid for 12 months from the date of issue and may not be redeemed beyond that period. For SLH eGift Cards purchased from 20 March 2020 to 30 June 2020, they are valid for 18 months from the date of issue and may not be redeemed beyond that period.

  • tony says:
    22 Dec22 December 08:22

    A data point on SLH rates. I’ve been staying at a SLH property in the City this year, and the rates offered via SLH have been significantly higher than you see quoted either directly on the hotel’s site via its “member rate” (you become a member by giving them your e-mail) and booking dot com has often undercut that by a fair margin, as well.

    That suggests to me they are paying a significant margin to SLH on each booking, quite possibly in excess of 20%, so look carefully at the value you can get from this gift card, which is more accurately offering a 16% discount…

    • Nick B says:
      22 Dec22 December 09:26

      I have booked several times through the SLH site and have benefited from a 10% reduction as an invited member. The 20% discount with the gift card stacks up to a real saving against the hotels own rates.

  • Stu_N says:
    22 Dec22 December 08:31

    Could be very positive for EDI.

    The No.1 Lounge was a decent space (better than neighbouring Aspire which isn’t exactly premium) and Virgin don’t look likely to have volume of flights to sustain a dedicated lounge in short term so could be a win-win.

    Don’t Plaza Premium allow DragonPass and Amex Plat in? There will be a lot of people with DP via Royal Bank of Scotland/ Natwest Black accounts in Edinburgh catchment so might be busier than you think….

  • TGLoyalty says:
    22 Dec22 December 09:01

    Why didn’t Collinson take over No.1? Not in the deal (No.1 had plans to sell)? Or elected not to take it?

    • Rob says:
      22 Dec22 December 09:41

      Collinson already has the two Aspire lounges and, if I had to guess, I’d say that the No1 lease was onerous and it made more sense to put that operating subsidiary into receivership instead.

  • ringingup says:
    22 Dec22 December 09:39

    FAQs also say: ” For prepaid bookings, the redemption will be made at the point of reservation”. This seems to be contradicted elsewhere…

  • Simon says:
    22 Dec22 December 10:00

    Good. The No.1 lounge was the best of the three indies but not as good as when it had the old BA space. As Newcastle has now shafted itself with its ridiculous dropoff pickup parking nonsense, plus removal of BA lounge, EDI is now my local for 1W in addition to Star and my 12 year old Merc is seeing a few extra miles each week. And it’s only just hit 30k. I’m pretty sure it will be in better shape than Greta will be in 10 years time if alleged rumours are to be believed…

  • Gringo says:
    22 Dec22 December 10:45

    Anyone know whether the Laithwaite’s offer (£25 off £100) is cumulative or has to be in spent in 1 transaction? T&Cs does say “on an eligible transaction” but not sure how strict this is! Thanks 🙂

    • The cyclist says:
      22 Dec22 December 10:51

      yes ive used this its a pretty good offer in my view.

      • Gringo says:
        22 Dec22 December 11:02

        Hi thecyclist – so to confirm is it 1 transaction only or is multiple ok?

      • ringingup says:
        22 Dec22 December 12:41

        I also used it to get some English sparkling. I was even offered free delivery. However Yodel screwed me around so much that I had to cancel the order.

    • Stu_N says:
      22 Dec22 December 11:01

      For retailers, unless it explicitly says it’s cumulative I’d assume single transaction.

      (Airline, hotel and amex travel offers are often cumulative because they often bill you per ticket or split it up in other ways).

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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