New luxury lounge planned for Newcastle Airport

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It looks like a lot of regional airports in the UK are seeing value in adding high-end lounge offerings.

I was recently in the Lomond Lounge at Glasgow Airport (review here) which has also just opened and offers, to my view, a genuinely premium experience – albeit for £40.

Newcastle Airport is the latest to announce a new premium lounge, and is hoping to have it open and running by Summer 2020. Our experience with lounges, however, is that they are almost always delayed ….

Newcastle new luxury lounge

The new lounge is being designed for 100 guests – so it will not be huge – and will compete with the existing British Airways lounge reviewed here and the existing pay-to-use Aspire and Aspire Plus lounges (review).

To quote Nick Jones, chief executive at Newcastle International Airport:

“Airport lounges are becoming increasingly popular, and with the introduction of this new premium lounge in summer 2020, this will ensure we are satisfying customer demand.

“We are working closely with the designers to create a high-quality facility that responds to a range of customer requirements.”

It does look very classy (see artists impression above) with a warm brown-grey finish with wood and brass accents, as well as excellent views. We will be up there to try it out next Summer.

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.

Spaghetti Town says:

29 Oct29 October 16:15

How long do Qatar avios generally take to post to BA?

Flown last Wednesday and still not posted
- stevenhp1987 says:
  
  29 Oct29 October 16:19
  
  They post every Wednesday. Only a couple more days to wait!
- The Original Nick says:
  
  29 Oct29 October 17:24
  
  Every Wednesday so they’ll post tomorrow
  - Spaghetti Town says:
    
    29 Oct29 October 22:00
    
    Thanks both
joe green says:

29 Oct29 October 16:17

OT IHG Premium MasterCard
Just reached my 12 month anniversary so in the cancellation zone to get free night and pay no fee.
For me the £99 fee is easily offset by the free night
My wife has same card so no need for us both to use it for points and reaching Spire in future but by keeping the card as well I am unnecessarily forgoing the sign up bonus in future were I to churn it.
Question is how long do I need to wait after cancelling to get the sign up bonus again ?
- Young L says:
  
  29 Oct29 October 18:51
  
  I cancelled and re-applied after 6 weeks.
- Genghis says:
  
  29 Oct29 October 20:07
  
  A number of reported cancelling and reapplying but being rejected.
xcalx says:

29 Oct29 October 16:40

OT Amex Business Plat referral bonus 27000 is this for referring any card or just the B Plat ? Looks the same procedure as from plat, I may be keeping this card if so.
- Rob says:
  
  29 Oct29 October 18:28
  
  27k offer only runs until 6th November unless extended.
Wes says:

29 Oct29 October 20:31

OT:
Amex > curve > VS Mastercard > curve > MBNA > curve > IHG Visa
??

Busted soon?
- sloth says:
  
  29 Oct29 October 20:40
  
  hopefully
- Spaghetti Town says:
  
  29 Oct29 October 22:01
  
  You’d have to be stupid to be running the money round that many times though
  - Rooster says:
    
    30 Oct30 October 03:06
    
    what a waste of a curve allowance trying to game it like that
    - Mr. AC says:
      
      30 Oct30 October 07:32
      
      What do people use the Curve allowance for then? (Unless you have a big tax bill to pay)
      - Rooster says:
        
        30 Oct30 October 12:41
        
        Not cash recycling! If your doing this I hope you get shut down as its stupid, if you also don’t run a business good luck explaining this to any credit applications in the future as they can see the amount of money you spend on the cards.
Spaghetti Town says:

29 Oct29 October 22:46

Qantas trialling paid access to LHR lounge
- Nick_C says:
  
  29 Oct29 October 23:32
  
  At £55 I’m hoping there will not be many takers. I’m on the 19.15 to Lisbon on Thursday, and planning to spend time in the Qantas and Cathay lounges.
  - Andy says:
    
    30 Oct30 October 01:46
    
    Very curious how much BA pays Qantas and Cathay when a BA passenger uses those lounges.
    - Rooster says:
      
      30 Oct30 October 03:07
      
      Possible nothing as they share the lounges amongst one world
      - Rob says:
        
        30 Oct30 October 05:11
        
        Money changes hands, almost certainly.
      - Lumma says:
        
        30 Oct30 October 11:21
        
        I don’t think it can be that much, as American Airlines in T3 always seem to want to dissuade me from entering. “You’re flying BA today, do you not want to use their lounge instead?”
    - John says:
      
      30 Oct30 October 05:57
      
      About 60 US dollars for J and 80 for F.
Harry says:

30 Oct30 October 22:26

So off topic but how do additional cardholders appear on AMEX statements? Will their full name appear on my pdf statement?
- Rob says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 06:15
  
  Yes