Half-price Priority Pass back on Amazon Local

Amazon Local, the ‘daily deals’ / Groupon-style Amazon subsidiary, is repeating its offer to get a Priority Pass for half price.

The timing is excellent, given that the new Aspire lounge has just opened in Heathrow Terminal 5, as my other article today explains.  This lounge accepts Priority Pass.

The link to buy is here.

Priority Pass is a network of 700 airport lounges across the globe. Some are run independently whilst others are ‘official’ airport lounges which are happy to sell seats to the general public.  Some British Airways lounges outside the UK are included, such as Jersey.

In the UK, the lounge are generally very good (the No 1 Traveller lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 and Gatwick North and South, MyLounge at Gatwick North, the Plaza Premium arrival and departure lounges in Heathrow Terminal 2, the Plaza Premium departure lounge in Heathrow Terminal 4 etc).  Luckily the closer of Heathrow Terminal 1 has freed us from the dump that was the Servisair lounge.

If you are an American Express Platinum member, you receive 2 Priority Pass cards – each admitting two people – for free. These cards also allow unlimited lounge visits.

For everyone else, there is the option of buying a Priority Pass card and then paying for individual lounge visits. The standard cost of a 1-year Priority Pass is £69, but via this Amazon Local deal you pay just £34.

This does not include the cost of your lounge visits, of course.  You will still need to pay your £15 per visit, per person.

Amazon is also offering a £49 version of the deal which includes one free lounge visit. This is absolutely no different in total cost to buying the £34 version with no visits.

Whether this makes sense for you depends entirely on what airlines and airports you use. The biggest users of Priority Pass, I think, are companies who gives passes to their employees as a trade-off for having to fly economy.

For an individual, it might make sense if you did – say – 15 visits over a year.  This would amortise the cost per visit, including the card fee, down to £17.  The more visits you do, the more sense it makes to get an Amex Platinum to get a free Priority Pass.

It is also worth remembering that the No 1 Traveller lounges at Heathrow and Gatwick are ‘pay to enter’ for anyone, albeit for more than £15.  Plaza Premium lounges are also ‘pay to enter’, albeit at £25.  You can also pay £40 to visit the Aspire lounge at Terminal 5, although I doubt it offers value for money at that level.

On the other hand, if you have been considering cancelling your Amex Platinum, this deal could be a way of retaining the Priority Pass benefit at a fraction of the cost of the Platinum card. The Amazon Local page you need is here.

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:

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.

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.