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You’re saved from Servisair … the Plaza Premium Lounge is coming to Heathrow T2

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that a flyer from Heathrow Terminal 1, without automatic lounge access, may end up in the Servisair lounge.  You can, after all, access it via Priority Pass or Lounge Club.

It is also a truth that, 60 seconds after entering, the flyer will have lost the will to live in despair at the dreadful offering.

The great news, therefore, is that Asian lounge group Plaza Premium has announced that it will be opening a third-party lounge at the new Heathrow Terminal 2 next June.  Terminal 1 will close for demolition at the same time.   And it looks good:

Plaza Premium 1

Plaza Premium has been running luxury lounges for 15 years, although this will be their first European venture.

To quote from a recent Business Traveller article:

The venue will offer a live cooking station with made-to-order dishes, a daily tapas selection at the champagne bar, and an à la carte menu by British celebrity chefs.  It will also feature an airport spa with extensive treatments designed to tackle travel-related ailments and fatigue.

Plaza Premium 2

It sounds like a world away from Servisair.  Hopefully a Priority Pass will be enough to get in.


Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, here are the three options to get FREE airport lounge access via a credit or charge card:

American Express Platinum card Amex

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

Nectar American Express

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

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

Additional lounge visits are charged at £20.  You get two 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.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network.  Guests are charged at £20 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

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

Comments (12)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • Kiran says:

    BA uses Plaza Premium lounges in some Indian airports like HYD. I think they are a good offering. But I am Indian and love Indian food. So I am probably biased.

  • Tony says:

    I walked past the PP lounge at HKG in the spring. There was a queue out the door and a one-in, one-out policy being enforced.

    Against that, I think I’d prefer Servisair (or the pub…)

    • M says:

      Oh my.

    • CV says:

      I once had a daytime flight from Kuala Lumpur and had planned on using the PP lounge there, however it too was bursting at the seams, so kept walking and went to coffee shop.

      Have sinced used the same lounge late evening a couple of times and it’s been ok, on last visit they seem to have downgraded the food choice to one hot dish, perhaps as it was quite late in evening and lounge was quiet. Alcohol was billed as an extra, i’d expect the heathrow lounge to charge for most of the features quoted.

  • richie says:

    in my opinion its not a real lounge unless alcohol is included

  • VATerp says:

    Anything is better than Aspire/Servisair/whatever they call themselves.

  • Michael Kelly says:

    I’m flying from Terminal 1 LHR tomorrow on BA, have a Marco Polo Gold Card, what lounge is available/best? Also, same question for return from Dublin terminal 1? Thanks in advance.

    • Rob says:

      Given how spread out it is, you want the one nearest your gate! If no gate shown, the one on the far far left (what was BMI’s new lounge, not sure what its called now) is presumably still the nicest.

      • Michael Kelly says:

        I see there are 2 BA lounges, one near gate 5 and one near gate 8. Gate 5 would be far far left from looking at the map, but I’m assuming I will board near the UK & Ireland lounge which is gate 8. Will go to the International lounge first.

        Lastly, I did an economy redemption with BA. Then added my Cathay Pacific reward number. I see I’m allowed 2 bags x 23kgs. Is that a benefit of the Marco Polo Gold? I thought the extra baggage allowance wasn’t carried over to other airlines?

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.