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EXCLUSIVE: 200 seat Plaza Premium lounge to open in Heathrow Terminal 5

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I always like to the bearer of good news, so I’m delighted to be able to say that Plaza Premium will be opening a 200 seat departure lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5.

The opening date is not yet fixed but it should be very late this year or early 2017.  I do not know where it will be.

The first independent lounge in Terminal 5, Club Aspire, opened last year – click for our latest review.  This can be accessed via a Priority Pass card or by booking in advance for cash.  Whilst filling a much needed gap in the market, the site is small and capacity is limited to around 40 people.

Plaza1

I was hoping that the success of the Aspire facility would convince the airport that a larger independent lounge would make sense and it seems that they have agreed.  This will be especially welcome news for British Airways travellers who can no longer retain access to the BA lounges following the reduction in tier point earning brought in last year.

I have been very impressed with the Plaza Premium facilities opened at Heathrow so far.   Whilst you may not be familiar with the group, it is the world’s largest independent lounge operator with 130 sites across 35 airports.

Yesterday I took another look at the Terminal 2 Plaza Premium departure lounge, which you can pre-book for cash here.

Plaza Premium Terminal 4 four

I also reviewed the Terminal 4 Plaza Premium departure lounge before Christmas (bookable here).

They also operate the, admittedly small, arrivals lounge in Terminal 2.  If you have a Priority Pass, this is a good place to hang out if you’re meeting someone off a flight.

Plaza Premium also has some other plans in the works:

An arrivals lounge in Terminal 4, opening this year

A 70-room Aerotel, located directly in the Terminal 3 arrivals area, opening in 2017

Allways, Plaza Premium’s ‘meet and greet’ service, is also launching at Heathrow

The big one for HfP readers, of course, will be the Terminal 5 lounge.  I will keep you updated on progress as I hear it.

Details of all of the Plaza Premium Heathrow lounges are on their website 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:

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 (31)

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

  • Scott says:

    Interesting. Any idea where it is going?

    • Kevin says:

      5C 🙂

      • matt says:

        Then no one outside the FT bunch would use it…

        There’s no chance it’s going in 5C. It will be in 5A when they close North this year.

        • Alan says:

          Given how busy Galleries North is I dread to think what South will get like if they’re planning to combine them all there?!

  • Enigma368 says:

    A T5 arrivals lounge would be great. I usually cant be bothered to schlep over to T2 before going home.

    • The_Real_A says:

      This would be fantastic, but would imagine it would be totally slammed if it was to open.

      • Koshka says:

        Not necessarily. I regularly use Priority Pass to access the Plaza Premium Arrivals Lounge in T2 and I’ve never seen more than 10 people in there (between 1-3 p.m.). I was thinking of taking some time off from Priority Pass just so that I could try the restaurants in Departures but the value I’ve managed to get in my first year of membership might mean that I just keep it going.

  • AJ says:

    It’ll probably be around gates 3-4. There’s development work due to start there later this year.

  • Metatone says:

    Sounds like great news. Thanks to HfP I’m doing fine in Avios this year, but thanks to changes at work I currently I have 0 TP this year…

    I do wonder if 200 spaces is enough, as it’s likely to be better than the Galleries Club Lounge…

  • pip says:

    Hope it will accept Dragon Pass.
    My bank switched from PP and the DP network has nothing so far airside at T5

    • Lady London says:

      @Pip do you mind if I ask which bank? I’ve been trying to work out what is the best way to access Dragonpass

  • StevieM says:

    Very exciting…….very excited!
    About time T5 🙂

  • krys_k says:

    O/T (kinda) – if flying BA business from T3, can I use any lounge other than BAs? The lounge is quite nice (actually writing this from there now), but in my two experience over the last 6 weeks, its been difficult to get a nice seat (unlike T5 which had lots and lots of room) – I’d be interested to check out the other lounges. As an aside, all-in-all, I think a very good lounge experience, and leagues above the BA lounge at Tegel airport where I recently had to sit with my wooly hat on since it was rather cold.

    • Rob says:

      Yes, I visited the AA and Cathay lounges when I last flew from T3 albeit Cathay is now closed for refurbishment.

  • flyforfun says:

    I was well impressed with the Plaza Premium at HKG (the one by gates 40, not the internal one), so much so that chose to fly via HKG so I could use it again!

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