No1 Lounges increases its reservation fee for Priority Pass airport lounge card holders
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No1 Lounges has increased its reservation fee from £5 to £6.
There is, however, still an option for getting it for £5 as I will show you.
The majority of No1 Lounges locations, which include My Lounge and Clubrooms, are part of lounge card schemes such as Priority Pass (currently 10% off), Lounge Club, DragonPass and LoungeKey.
Our main Priority Pass review is here if you don’t know anything about it.
The problem is that No1 Lounges are a victim of their own success. At peak times, especially at London Gatwick, is has become very difficult to get in as a ‘walk up’ guest. A lot of airlines have taken to using No1 for their premium passengers, which means that the space available for lounge card scheme guests is reduced.
To get around this problem, No1 Lounges allows you to reserve a slot. This guarantees that you will get entry on the day.
The fee for this is now £6. To be fair to No1, your £6 also gets you Fast Track Security at Gatwick, Birmingham and Edinburgh which makes it better value.
Whether it is worth paying £6 is up to you. People who have paid cash for a Priority Pass are understandably aggrieved to be asked for extra money. People who receive a Priority Pass card via American Express Platinum or a Lounge Club card via Amex Gold (2 free passes) may see it differently.
I am assuming that overcrowding at Gatwick South has dropped sharply since the new Club Aspire lounge (review here) opened last year, and promptly won our ‘Best Independent Airport Lounge 2019’ award. You can also still claim £15 credit at The Grain Store cafe.
Gatwick North also has other Priority Pass options (Aspire, My Lounge) and does Heathrow Terminal 3 (Club Aspire).
You can reserve No1 Lounge access for £6 via their website here.
However …. if you have a Priority Pass, you can still reserve for just £5 via this page of the No1 website. I’m not sure how long it will remain at £5 via this link, however.
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.
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