No 1 Lounges opens its new Birmingham Airport Clubrooms lounge

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No 1 Lounges has opened its 2nd lounge at Birmingham International, by Gate 54. As we exclusively revealed back in June, the group has opened a second site to cope with demand.

Aspire has also just opened a second lounge in Birmingham which we reviewed here.

The new No 1 facility is part of the Clubrooms brand. This means that it is NOT available on Priority Pass, Lounge Club etc.

It is designed as a more exclusive space, designed in the style of a private club, with table service and a la carte dining. The lounge offers runway views. The only picture on the website is the one above, which doesn’t show much.

It will be interesting to see if Emirates decides to close its own lounge and use this instead, given its location near the Emirates gate. It must be expensive to run its own lounge for just two flights per day, seven hours apart.

You can book online here. It costs £35 per person booked in advance (£40 on the door) with inclusive champagne packages costing extra. Children under 12 are banned and there is a dress code.

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 Cook says:

28 Nov28 November 12:26

Has anyone got any experience of the F lounge for BA passengers at Newark, NY?
- Craig says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 21:14
  
  Flew EWR – LHR in F couple years ago. Lounge was so so. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great, standard business lounge… But it’s all one lounge with some booths that separate First dining. Not the Concorde Room experience.
Genghis says:

28 Nov28 November 12:52

OT. My Creation IHG points for the November statement have now posted. Still waiting for my wife’s.
- Alan says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 12:55
  
  Mine have posted now too – weren’t there last night.
  Also have a line from yesterday saying “Deposit for the award AHMR2 (0 pts)” – anyone else seen that or know what it is? It’s not my free night cert as that was added months ago (and still is only showing 1 free night).
  - Alan says:
    
    28 Nov28 November 12:57
    
    PS am guessing may be related to AMB free night cert (as recently renewed that and received cert in the post), but didn’t have this line last year.
    - Genghis says:
      
      28 Nov28 November 13:00
      
      I had that line too. Tried a google and couldn’t really work it out. I got my AMB BOFOF certificate a few months ago now…
    - Liz says:
      
      28 Nov28 November 13:46
      
      Mine still not posted yet! Although finally got my 1750 Avios for a Viator tour back in May – gee that was hard getting those points. Also received 1659 Avios each for our outbound flight to Tallinn on a reward booking – shouldn’t have received anything. Just need my IHG points to post and I will be very happy cos I’ll hit Spire for 2019 and get my bonus 25k! Maybe tomorrow!
      - Alan says:
        
        28 Nov28 November 23:29
        
        Nice result on the Tallinn flight points!
    - Liz says:
      
      28 Nov28 November 14:00
      
      Mine have just posted!!! 😀
      - Alan says:
        
        28 Nov28 November 23:29
        
        Yipee!
- Alex W says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 13:44
  
  Mrs W’s points still missing.
  - New Card says:
    
    28 Nov28 November 13:46
    
    Mine still missing.
    - New Card says:
      
      28 Nov28 November 15:38
      
      Just posted now!
- Benilyn says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 14:16
  
  OT to your post Genghis / all, ignoring the free nights element for hitting bonuses, do you prefer IHG Creation or SPG Amex in terms of reward per £1 spent?
  
  I have never collect hotel points so at zero on all of them bar the £10k on my IHG Creation, and £1k on SPG Amex. Deciding what route to go down? IHG Creation (+Curve) might be an easy winner though….
  
  Thanks!
  - Genghis says:
    
    28 Nov28 November 14:27
    
    For me, SPG Amex is what I churn (or did, although I plan on keeping it in the new year for the ongoing spend 3/£ = 1.5% return).
    IHG Creation is a solid hotel non-Amex card. Both my wife and I have one for the £10k annual spend.
  - Alan says:
    
    28 Nov28 November 23:31
    
    I’ve found Marriott to be pretty appalling post merger so have been pushing a lot more spend through IHG. Amex SPG decent for sign-up bonus though.
- Genghis says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 15:22
  
  And wife’s points now in account – the joys of award wallet. It’s like they’re manually added one by one, which given Creation and IHG wouldn’t surprise me.
- Tracy says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 17:33
  
  Mine and OH’s too, still waiting on Hilton though…..
roberto says:

28 Nov28 November 12:59

OT…. Hilton Credit card Points.
Mine have failed to appear this month. Normally they are in pretty much after the statement rum but 10 days later I still don’t have them.. Any one else in the same boat or is it just me???
- Genghis says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 13:01
  
  My statement date is 10th of the month but my points have always posted around 22/23/24 of the month. I thought that was normal…
- Adam says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 13:45
  
  Now that you mention this…
  
  Like Genghis my points usually post on the 22nd (unless that falls on a weekend then it happens on the following Monday, which could be 23rd or 24th) but for November they haven’t posted and its way past due.
  - Liz says:
    
    28 Nov28 November 13:51
    
    I am also missing 2000 HH points from erewards.
    - Nick says:
      
      28 Nov28 November 16:04
      
      @Liz same boat here regarding e-rewards, result of Hilton IT “upgrade” works potentially at the end of October
    - Peter K says:
      
      28 Nov28 November 16:14
      
      Wife and I both missing e-rewards points. I’m missing credit card points.
    - RussellH says:
      
      28 Nov28 November 17:00
      
      Yes, still missing both 7000 from e-Rewards and 2440 from Barclaycard. e-Rewards tell me to wait three weeks ie until tomorrow, while Hilton tell me to wait for 30 days for points from e-Rewards.
      Barclaycard points have always posted 22/23/24 or the month, which is a max of 2 days from the card statement date. Also should be due an upgrade to Hilton Gold, haveing spent the requisite 10K – no sign of that yet either.
  - H says:
    
    28 Nov28 November 19:01
    
    Mine to
    Statement dated 10th and points normally on 22/23. Needed them book something soon as well.
- New Card says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 13:46
  
  Mine are missing too!
  - Lee says:
    
    28 Nov28 November 14:46
    
    Mine missing too. Looks like there will be another round of fighting for points after SPG drama.
    Although won’t expect same results as bagged extra 60k points after 3 months delay.
- Adam says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 15:02
  
  Could this be related to the recent IT updates I wonder 🤔
- Anna says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 17:16
  
  I thought mine were taking a long time to post! I checked and it does say it can take 4-6 weeks so it’s probably not worth trying to chase it up just yet as they’ll just tell us to wait that amount of time if they’re anything like Amex.
Voltron says:

28 Nov28 November 13:00

OT – AMEX to Hilton bonus points
I never got the email but webchat “confirmed” I was eligible as open to plat charge users, phone call to amex also “confirmed” this. Did the transfer and only got 2x and not 3x, Amex say it is an ongoing issue and the bonus points will take up to 8 weeks to credit, now the waiting game…
- Liz says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 13:54
  
  I was told by Marketing dept last week that it is targeted so if no email received then no points will post despite what you are being told. I was also initially told it was open to all but had it confirmed by the marketing dept. Also it will take up to 8 wks. I plan on transferring some of mine anyway so will see what happens.
Crafty says:

28 Nov28 November 13:09

OT: Trying to add Radisson as Amex transfer partner. It keeps telling me “Sorry, there has been an error!”, which is not much use. Is there anything I have to do with the account number (e.g. leading zeroes)?
- Genghis says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 13:14
  
  Drop first six digits of membership no.
  - Crafty says:
    
    28 Nov28 November 14:31
    
    Thanks! Mad that I have to go here to find this out.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    28 Nov28 November 21:27
    
    Thanks been trying to work this out, should have msgd you 🙂
    - Genghis says:
      
      28 Nov28 November 21:43
      
      😃 these co’s don’t make it easy to transfer points to them
Alex W says:

28 Nov28 November 13:16

OT: recently updated awardwallet Android app, anyone else having major issues updating accounts?
- Graeme says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 20:21
  
  Yes. All of them are unable to update – every day.
Nick Reynolds says:

28 Nov28 November 14:07

Very OT: Audio at AMEX call centre

Is it just me finds the audio quality at the AMEX Platinum call centre really bad and very quiet so difficult to hear what the adviser says? The audio is fine when calling the number on back of the BA card which I assume is a different call centre as I’m always put through to someone with an American accent.
- Anna says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 14:39
  
  I’ve occasionally spoken to the office in Brighton and the quality is always fine; I’ve also been called by staff who are clearly overseas and reception is usually very “tinny”, worse than on a Skype call!
DaveL says:

28 Nov28 November 15:17

OT – how long should I wait before following up a complaint with BA? They have an automated message on their phone system asking people not to chase (after which it cuts off), but three weeks after registering a case, I’d expect to have been contacted. I have a case reference.

What are others doing in this situation? How long should I give it? Is there another contact number that doesn’t simply cut off?!
- Shoestring says:
  
  28 Nov28 November 16:24
  
  Have you submitted a formal complaint on BA’s online complaint system? They are normally very prompt to come back with a reply and often a suggestion for service recovery (ie some compensatory Avios). You get a case reference number and can follow up quickly if you think their offer is acceptable or too low.
  
  I’m just guessing, but given you’ve had no reply to your complaint, then my guess is you phoned in a complaint to Customer Service? If so, start again from scratch with an online complaint using BA’s complaint system.
  
  If you did that already with no reply after 3 weeks, then just file the online complaint again.
  
  You wouldn’t need to phone at all.
  - DaveL says:
    
    28 Nov28 November 19:19
    
    Thanks for the reply and advice.
    
    I submitted via email, and got a confirmation with a reference number telling me they’d be in touch. I thought I’d follow up via phone (0344 4930747 – option 3, option 3) but after a recorded message about their backlog, it simply cuts off.
    
    Given that it sounds like they’re usually prompt, and it’s now been 3 weeks, I should perhaps submit a follow-up via the online form with my reference number. I’d rather not phone if I can avoid…
    - Shoestring says:
      
      28 Nov28 November 19:27
      
      yep sounds like you did it right but I wouldn’t phone now
      
      3 weeks would be much longer than usual to get a compo reply for your complaint
      
      keep it online wd be my advice
    - Alan says:
      
      28 Nov28 November 23:35
      
      Might be worth trying Twitter team, they certainly used to be decent.
  - Alan says:
    
    28 Nov28 November 23:34
    
    I used their online complaint system, took 3-4 weeks to get a reply which just empathised with my concerns but did little else – replied to this and eventually got 5k Avios. Pretty rubbish given all the issues raised, BA CS pretty atrocious recently IME.