Bits: 1200 Avios for £30 of LEGO, London City Airport launches a Business lounge

News in brief:

New Tesco / LEGO promotion launched

Tesco Direct has launched a new LEGO promotion, this time with LEGO Disney Princess.

As you can see here, you will receive 500 bonus Tesco Clubcard points – worth 1,200 Avios or 1,250 Virgin Flying Club miles – when you spend £30 by Monday evening.

This deal requires a smaller minimum spend (£30 for 1200 Avios) than the recent ‘£60 for 2400 Avios’ deal, and may work better if you want to give the LEGO as a gift for a specific child in your life.

This Shopper Points article today looks at the deal in more detail.  The full list of available LEGO Disney Princess sets is here.

London City Airport launches a Business Lounge next Monday

Regular readers will remember our recent review of the First Class Lounge at London City Airport.  It is based in the Private Jet Centre next to the airport.  

It comes with a premium price tag (£95) but you get peace, privacy and – depending on which airline you are using – access to a private security lane and a chauffeur car to drive you across the tarmac to our aircraft.  Which is quite cool.

London City will launch a ‘pay as you go’ Business Lounge on Monday, also in the Private Jet Centre.  We will be popping down to take a look in the next week or so.  This has a lower price point – £33 per person – but you do not get driven to your plane.  You will be driven to the main terminal instead just before your flight departs and you need to pass through standard security before boarding.

This may be a better option for British Airways passengers as BA refused to participate in the ‘be driven to your plane’ scheme.  This took away one of the main reasons to pay the £95 fee for the First Class Lounge.

A photograph of the new lounge is above, and a review will follow.

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.