Plaza Premium lounge in Heathrow Terminal 4 officially opens today

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Whilst it has been in a ‘soft opening’ phase for a few weeks, the new Plaza Premium departure lounge in Heathrow Terminal 4 officially opens today.

You can buy passes via the Plaza Premium website here.

The Terminal 4 lounge follows on from the successful launch of the Terminal 2 departure lounge (reviewed here) and the Terminal 2 arrivals lounge (reviewed here). At Terminal 2 it is now the only Priority Pass lounge now that United Club – and all United lounges globally – withdrew from the scheme.

Terminal 4 will be tougher for them. The SkyTeam lounge is very good – I reviewed it here – and that is a Priority Pass lounge. Will Priority Pass and Lounge Club passengers be persuaded to visit SkyTeam instead? I’m not sure if SkyTeam sells day passes on the door or not – if it doesn’t, that will give Plaza Premium a chance.

There are a few features which make it look interesting:

it has showers (not sure if SkyTeam does, I don’t remember any)

it has a live cooking station, which may be a first for a UK airport lounge

unlike the Terminal 2 lounge, it has a lot of natural light

it is the only lounge in Terminal 4 serving halal food

it has ‘productivity pods’ giving privacy to people looking to work (again, I don’t remember SkyTeam having anything like this)

Despite losing the contract to operate the independent lounge in Terminal 5 – which is a shame, as it would probably have been classier than the Aspire lounge – it has other big plans at Heathrow. The company is planning its first UK airport hotel, due to open in Terminal 3 in 2016.

If you pay on the door without using a Priority Pass, there is an opening rate of £30 per person including VAT until the end of June. This is for a 2-hour stay and includes the use of the showers. From July the price rises to £35 including VAT. You can book via the Plaza Premium site here.

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:

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.