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Amex Platinum cardholders can now pre-book UK airport lounges for FREE

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American Express has responded to issues over the unavailability of UK airport lounges for Priority Pass cardholders.

Effectively immediately, holders of The Platinum Card can pre-book selected UK airport lounges for free.

This is only a six month trial but if successful I would expect it to continue, possibly replacing the Harvey Nichols credit as a benefit from 2025 if that is not carried over.

Priority Pass airport lounge prebooking

How many lounges can you pre-book?

If you have The Platinum Card or the Centurion card, you will have received FOUR pre-booking credits which need to be used by 31st December 2024.

You need one credit per person entering the lounge, so a couple would require two credits.

Here is an important point: supplementary cardholders receive their own pre-booking allowance. If you haven’t issued the free supplementary card on your Platinum account to your regular travel companion, you may want to do so now. (This person also receives all of the hotel elite status benefits.)

Note that this offer does not apply to holders of American Express Business Platinum cards.

How do you pre-book an airport lounge?

You need to download the Priority Pass and register your card.

Search for a participating lounge and you will see a button which allows you to prebook.

If you visit the Priority Pass website here you can see some screenshots of how it is meant to work.

I tried to do a dummy booking to create my own screenshots but it wasn’t working. I’m not sure if it isn’t live yet or if an app update will appear later today.

Am I guaranteed to be able to pre-book?

No.

Some lounges do not release pre-booking slots at peak times. This is usually when an airline has pre-booked some or all of a lounge for its own passengers.

Which lounges are participating?

At the moment, the only participating lounges are those run by Swissport (Aspire), Collinson (the owners of Priority Pass) or Airport Dimensions, which is a Swissport / Collinson joint venture.

This means that you won’t, for example, be able to access any Plaza Premium lounges. The only Heathrow Terminal 5 option is the Club Aspire lounge.

Here is the list with links to the relevant page of the Priority Pass site:

Lounge NameAirport
Aspire LoungeBirmingham International
Aspire Lounge (South)Birmingham International
No1 Lounge BirminghamBirmingham International
Clubrooms BirminghamBirmingham International
Aspire LoungeInverness
Aspire LoungeHumberside
Aspire LoungeLiverpool John Lennon
Aspire Lounge – Terminal 1Manchester
Aspire Lounge – Terminal 2Manchester
Aspire LoungeNewcastle International
Aspire Lounge (Gate 4)Edinburgh
Aspire Lounge (Gate 16)Edinburgh
Aspire LoungeBelfast City
No1 Lounge Heathrow – Terminal 3London Heathrow
Club Aspire Lounge – Terminal 3London Heathrow
Club Aspire Lounge – Terminal 5London Heathrow
No1 Lounge Gatwick – South TerminalLondon Gatwick
No1 Lounge Gatwick – North TerminalLondon Gatwick
Clubrooms Gatwick NorthLondon Gatwick
Clubrooms Gatwick SouthLondon Gatwick
My Lounge – South TerminalLondon Gatwick
Club Aspire Lounge – South TerminalLondon Gatwick
No1 Lounge LutonLondon Luton

Note that two Clubrooms sites are included

‘Clubrooms’ is the premium lounge brand offered by No1 Lounges, with improved food and drink.

Pre-booking these lounges usually costs £15 instead of £6 because it includes a supplement to cover the premium Clubrooms product. American Express appears happy to pay the full £15 on your behalf.

If you are flying from Birmingham or London Gatwick, it makes sense to prebook Clubrooms instead of any other lounge.

Conclusion

This is a good step forward for holders of The Platinum Card.

Adding Plaza Premium would obviously be another step forward – although that would require Priority Pass to do a deal with the competition – but hopefully this will reduce complaints about UK lounge overcrowing this summer.

You can find out more on the Priority Pass website here.

PS. As a reminder, click here to learn more about the new Platinum card sign-up offer of £400 of Amex Travel credit and 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert to 40,000 Avios.

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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

American Express Platinum card

Comments (218)

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

  • James Wyatt says:
    10 Jul10 July 08:21

    Once again us Business Platinum card holders get left out of the mix. Wonder why? I suspect business users spend rather more than personal card holders?

  • Stuart says:
    10 Jul10 July 08:33

    I am trying to book the clubrooms for the 5th October but saying there is no availability. Surely it doesn’t get booked up that far in advance ?

  • Julie Bissett says:
    10 Jul10 July 08:58

    Anyone know how far in advance the clubrooms can be booked for free?

  • Martin says:
    10 Jul10 July 09:26

    I booked no 1 at luton for August.
    Worked a treat.
    Said £6 each, the came up in next page with confirmed booking zero charge.
    Easier than expected.
    Save us £48 pre booking this summer..

  • Ian says:
    10 Jul10 July 09:43

    We used to happily pay to prebook at Bristol airport but that option now seems to have been removed from our accounts. Seems like we have lost a benefit..

    • Rob says:
      10 Jul10 July 09:53

      When the new lounge opens at the end of the year I suspect it will return. They will be very tight on capacity over the summer.

  • MW says:
    10 Jul10 July 10:05

    I think it’s not on that Business Platinum customers are being ignored again. First Eurostar, now this.

    Why advertise something as a benefit and then make it impossible to use it?

    Seriously considering closing the card as a result of this.

  • davidn says:
    10 Jul10 July 10:27

    Rob has previously stated that the travel industry reads HfP (quite rightly!) and I wonder if Amex look at these comments as part of their thinking on decisions such as whether to cancel the HN credit, etc!

    • Rob says:
      10 Jul10 July 10:47

      HN is taking the decision, not Amex. If you think Amex pays HN £50 when you use your £50 credit you’re living in fairy land. And if you use your credits to buy items costing £50.01 then you’re part of the problem (as do Rhys and I, we’re not apportioning blame here!).

      • davidn says:
        10 Jul10 July 10:58

        You said in a previous comment:
        ————
        This is how it works.

        *HN agrees to fund 50% (?) of each redeemed credit, so it only costs Amex £50 to give you a £100 benefit

        This means that the actual cost-neutral option for Amex would be a) give you £100 of HN credit or b) knock £25 off the fee. I’ll take the £100 thank you very much.
        ————

        … so, ok, maybe £25 of the £50, initially, but that’s why I assumed….

        And I appreciate that you went on to say “I suspect HN actually funds more than 50% of the credit”, and that you were merely speculating, but still… it was more a wider point that HfP can be partly used as a ‘testing ground’ to help make possible decisions.

        Incidentally, “My wife made a four figure purchase when I told her in January she could pop in and buy something and we’d get £50 back” and “for those of us who charge the Platinum fee as a business expense” — I assume she therefore made a HfP business purchase? 😉

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
      10 Jul10 July 10:56

      The HN credit being at HN is sort of neither here nor there for me. It’s more about having the opportunity to gain back £100pa of the card fee which otherwise can be marginal in justifying.

      This 4 free bookings is utterly pathetic. Gone in one family holiday. I actually think it’s one of those moves that in its parsimony is arguably going to create more ill will than if nothing had been done. Up to now we could just suspect Amex was taking the proverbial; 4 passes p/a proves they are. I’m really not sure they’ve thought this through.

      • JDB says:
        10 Jul10 July 11:33

        Yes, there does appear to be a large element of fiddling while Rome burns in this wonderful added ‘feature’ by Amex and many of the lounges will still remain overcrowded. They know the customer proposition of the Plat card is inadequate as evidenced by the ridiculous retention bonuses, so a much bigger fix is needed, but as a matter of competence/professionalism, they really ought by now, in H2 to have established the core benefits of the card for 2025.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          10 Jul10 July 13:07

          What makes you think they haven’t? Or you know the team working on it and have inside info.

          • Andrew J says:
            10 Jul10 July 15:37

            So it’s confirmed then that the HN credit won’t continue in 2025?

          • Rob says:
            10 Jul10 July 16:43

            Not confirmed, no.

          • Roy says:
            10 Jul10 July 16:51

            Well, given people will be making renewal decisions, they should have established *and communicated* what the benefits will be.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            10 Jul10 July 19:01

            If you don’t find value then cancel. The credits weren’t a guaranteed life long feature. In fact they were anything but they were given a defined end date.

  • Deek says:
    10 Jul10 July 10:36

    I booked yesterday via the website using 1 of my credits, if that helps. It even showed the number of credits remaining after I had booked.

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

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