Get airport lounge access via The Gourmet Society

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

Dining discount group The Gourmet Society – which offers discounts on meals in thousands of restaurants across the UK – is also in the airport lounge business.

Through a link with DragonPass, Gourmet Society members can buy passes for UK airport lounges for just £18 per person.

This is £3 more than you pay via Lounge Club or Priority Pass. However, you need to be an Amex Gold, Amex Platinum or Priority Pass cardholder to access that rate. Trial memberships of Gourmet Society are available online for £1 if you google.

You can see the list of accessible lounges at this page.

The UK list appears similar to what you can access with Lounge Club with the addition of airport Regus Business Centres which are exclusive to Dragonpass. At Heathrow, for example, you have access to:

No 1 Traveller (T3)
Plaza Premium (T2)
Plaza Premium (T4)
Regus Business Centre (T5 Arrivals)
Swissport (now Club Aspire) (T3)

You don’t get the SkyTeam Lounge in Terminal 4 or the Aspire Lounge in Terminal 5, both of which would be covered by Priority Pass.

Note that you do not have to enter a Gourmet Society membership number at any point. As long as you put the offer code GOURMET17 on the purchase form, you can order.

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.

Category

General

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

Tom says:

14 Mar14 March 05:04

Also still works on Telegraph / Dragonpass offer page – same price.
Interestingly the price has increased from £16.50 to £18 in the last 4 weeks on both sites (we booked via telegraph on 2nd Feb and both sites were £16.50 at the time) – so they must be monitoring both sites and be happy to keep selling at these prices via these channels.
Simon Barlow says:

14 Mar14 March 06:23

So it will be even harder to get in if you don’t pay and pre book!
Trevor says:

14 Mar14 March 08:21

Hi Tom
Do you have a link to the Telegraph/DragonPass page?
Thanks
T
- the real harry1 says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 08:46
  
  https://thetelegraph.dragonpassuk.com/
  code TELEDP16
  - Trevor says:
    
    15 Mar15 March 07:51
    
    Thanks!
Gareth says:

14 Mar14 March 08:41

Just for info, no1 have removed the option of pre booking a glass of champagne rather than paying the £5 reservation fee for pass card holders…
- the real harry1 says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 11:37
  
  For T3, Club Aspire is not quite as good overall – though the food is all right & plentiful with as many helpings as you like – but not bad at all – a very decent lounge – and unlikely to be turning people away – so if No1 turns you away, pop downstairs to them instead – not worth the extra £5 IMV
- flyforfun says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 13:17
  
  Eek! Just checked and you’re right – no option to pre buy the champers. I wonder how many people cottoned on to taking the champagne option as you at least got something for your money rather than just entry. Shame.
  
  Pleased to see the Club Aspire comments. Last time I got rejected from No 1 at T3 I didn’t bother to waste my visit at the old Serviceair lounge. It was so abysmal even the receptionist was warning guests who were bringing in people not to!!
  - steve says:
    
    14 Mar14 March 13:47
    
    Hey, at least the serviceair lounge has/d seats, which is more than I can say for the rest of T3.
    - flyforfun says:
      
      14 Mar14 March 14:50
      
      It had seats because nobody wanted to go in there!! 🙂
      
      Saying that, the last time I went it it was pretty busy, but then No 1 lounge was turning away all PP card holders at that time.
steve says:

14 Mar14 March 10:40

It this another “sorry its full” offer?
Wally1976 says:

14 Mar14 March 12:59

We get Gourmet Society membership for free via one of our Club Lloyds current accounts (also free). Don’t think we’ve ever used it though (always either not valid or can find a better offer elsewhere).
- mark2 says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 16:56
  
  I too tried Gourmet Society via Lloyds Club and by definition they were restaurants which struggled
  to get customers.
  I swapped it for a subscription to ‘Car’ magazine which was not much moew use.
  - Wally1976 says:
    
    15 Mar15 March 11:39
    
    We have two Club Lloyds accounts. The Vue cinema offer is no good to us (none of these cinemas nearby) so we have the Gourmet Society with the one account and Runners World magazine with the other 🙂
    - Wally1976 says:
      
      15 Mar15 March 11:40
      
      PS not sure I’d agree that the restaurants on there are struggling, we have just found that the offers aren’t available at the times and days we want (e.g. Friday/Saturday nights) or there’s better offers elsewhere. You’re probably right regarding some of the restaurants though.
    - Sanya says:
      
      15 Mar15 March 16:01
      
      They do either Vue or Cineworld offers. We get 18 tickets between the two of us (2 individual and 1 joint account) and find them incredibly valuable given the price of current cinema tickets.
Bob says:

14 Mar14 March 19:12

Stay away from Gourmet Society, horrible company.
Alex W says:

14 Mar14 March 22:16

“for just £18 per person”? Are you sponsored by gourmet society?!
- Rob says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 22:37
  
  £18 is cheaper than the ‘on the door’ price of almost all UK lounges.
  - Alex W says:
    
    14 Mar14 March 23:25
    
    Unless I wanted to get blotto I am not sure I would normally get £18 value out of a lounge visit!
    - Rob says:
      
      14 Mar14 March 23:31
      
      That is the same cost as 2 x GnT’s and a bag of crisps via BA’s buy on board, for comparison …. your money is better spent in the lounge first.
    - the real harry1 says:
      
      14 Mar14 March 23:38
      
      regardless of the merits of the GS deal, surely the point is to work out how value you can now ascribe to lounge passes?
      
      I won’t pay BA for on-board F&B – on principle – it’s too expensive & not good quality plus they might not even have the item you want or get to your seat @ an appropriate time for your snacking needs
      
      so my £12 or £15 or £16.50 or £18 has to be balanced against hunger pangs & alcoholic thirst & keeping the kids happy
      
      sure – you can pack a few sandwiches & apples from home & buy some drinks (or the whole lot) at Boots of WHS or somewhere else
      
      but I feel the £15 lounge offers some decent advantages: peace @ quiet/ not too many yobbos/ unlimited booze/ a snackysnack/ alternative to buying on board @ punitive prices plus beat the horrible BA/ smuggle out a few tinnywinnies for the kids etc