How does DragonPass Premier+ with the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card work?

Barclaycard has added an airport lounge access discount to its Avios Plus credit cards. You can now get discounts for yourself and your travel companions at thousands of lounges worldwide.

The discount is being offered in conjunction with DragonPass, the lounge aggregator, under its ‘DragonPass Premier+’ offering.

How does DragonPass Premier+ work?

DragonPass Premier+ lets you book lounge passes at a discounted rate of £18.50 per guest.

You can use lounge passes at any one of the lounges in the DragonPass network. Your lounge passes are not tied to a specific lounge or date. Thousands of lounges are available across the UK and globally.

Your DragonPass lounge passes do not guarantee you entry to a lounge. If you turn up on the day and find the lounge is full, you will be turned away.

Many lounges have a challenge at the moment with capacity, and a useful feature offered through DragonPass compared to other programmes such as Priority Pass is that you can pre-book for an additional £5 fee. This guarantees you entry at your booked time and even the combined cost of the pre-book fee and lounge pass (£23.50) is a lot less than many lounges charge on the door.

Is DragonPass Premier+ a good deal?

That depends if you already get free lounge access or not.

If you do not currently have access to a lounge program then being able to purchase lounge passes for £18.50 (£23.50 for a confirmed booking) is not bad, especially given that some lounges charge almost double for walk-in customers.

For comparison, here are some of the prices charged directly by lounges for advance bookings:

• Aspire Heathrow Terminal 5 from £39.99
• Plaza Premium Gatwick North from £39.60
• Plaza Premium Edinburgh from £39.60
• No1 Gatwick South from £34

Barclaycard believes that this is competitive with other banking products, including the HSBC Premier Mastercard which charges £20 per visit (soon to be £24) and does not allow pre-booking.

Whilst HSBC Premier’s World Elite Mastercard offers free lounge access (cardholder only, no guests), it is £195 per annum and is only available to HSBC Premier customers which requires an income of £75,000+ plus one of the following HSBC products: a mortgage, an investment, life insurance or a protection product.

In addition, the earn rate with the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard is 1 Avios per £1 (rather than 1.5 per £1 with Barclaycards Avios Plus).

Who is eligible for DragonPass Premier+?

The DragonPass Premier+ offer is exclusive to cardholders of the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card. If you have the basic Avios card you do not get discounted lounge access, although you can still use DragonPass independently to purchase lounge entry at non-discounted rates.

This article looks at the benefits of the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card.

To learn more about the cards, read our Barclaycard Avios Mastercard credit card review here and our Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard credit card review here.

The new DragonPass Premier+ benefit is a new, ongoing benefit. Both new and existing cardholders get access to the discounted lounge passes.

Don’t forget that Barclays and Barclaycard are currently offering a crazy 100,000 Avios bonus when you sign up to both Barclays Premier with Barclays Avios Rewards and the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card. You can find out more about the 100,000 Avios offer here.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

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.

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.

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

American Express Business Platinum

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

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

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

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review