Plaza Premium lounge reopens at London Heathrow Terminal 5

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• The Savage Squirrel says:

  22 Aug22 August 07:18

  Interesting move. Given the impossibility of controlling Covid19 in India from here, I can’t see severe travel restrictions being lifted any time soon, and could easily see them being tightened. Who is going to fill this flight?

• Catalan says:

  22 Aug22 August 07:21

  Rob, the aircraft pictured above is an ATR 42-500. The Saab aircraft in the Loganair fleet are an entirely different aircraft type.

  • ADS says:

    22 Aug22 August 11:15

    I think it’s a typo – Rob was probably originally writing Saab 340, then changed it to ATR 42, but forgot to remove “Saab”

    Looks like it’s normally the ATR that Loganair fly on the route

    https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ba3288

• S879 says:

  22 Aug22 August 08:15

  Thank you Rob! We will be heading to T5 in a couple of hours and when I looked on the PP app last night it wasn’t showing Plaza Premium and only Aspire. Looking forward to going to the Plaza Premium one.

  • Pete says:

    23 Aug23 August 14:47

    Why would the Plaza Premium ever show up on the Priority Pass app, when Priority Pass isn’t accepted there?

    • Rob says:

      23 Aug23 August 15:54

      It would be in the Amex Lounge Collection directory.

• Matt says:

  22 Aug22 August 08:19

  Surely people booked with BA to IoM have re-routing rights from EU261? I don’t think BA can just give them a refund and forget about them.

  • Bill says:

    22 Aug22 August 08:48

    My thoughts exactly. I have a reservation on this route next June. I’ll wait it out …

  • Sukes says:

    22 Aug22 August 09:22

    The Faroe Islands, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are ‘third countries’ (ie non EU) within the territorial scope of EU261. So flights to IoM from London City would be covered by EU261 but not the return sector. Flights from IoM might be covered by IoM consumer legislation.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      22 Aug22 August 10:35

      But BA are an EU airline therefore it doesn’t matter if the country your are booked from is in the EU or not.

      • Lady London says:

        22 Aug22 August 14:01

        +1
        passengers with booked flights from IoM to anywhere on BA would have the right under EU261 to have BA rebook them on another airline free of charge. @TGLoyalty at the same time, do you think they could also choose a later date ?

    • Bill says:

      22 Aug22 August 11:38

      IOM to LCY is covered by EU261/2004

• Michael C says:

  22 Aug22 August 09:14

  Arrgghhh…all my IOM points flights on a ridiculously expensive route suddenly disappear!!

• Nathan says:

  22 Aug22 August 09:20

  Lounge Oddity vis-á-vis AMEX Platinum at ARN.
  Passing through Stockholm recently I had time just about enough time to visit the reduced hours Priority Pass accessible lounge – can’t remember the name, hardly worth the effort to, very basic and empty, no food other than crackers and cheese, no wine or spirits etc. – after walking past the branded ‘American Express Centurion Lounge’ offer as, unfortunately, I had left my card at home 🤦‍♂️

  It would appear not to be a lounge per se but an arrangement with the Pontus In The Air Brasserie; a similar arrangement to the PP arrangement with The Grain at LGW(?) and one that I’d not heard of before seeing the sign and neither does it appear on the https://thecenturionlounge.com/ website

  If flying out without status again, and even with, I will almost certainly head there as it has a good reputation.

  • TM says:

    22 Aug22 August 11:20

    I believe you also have access to fast track security with Amex platinum at ARN

    • meta says:

      22 Aug22 August 11:31

      At Helsiniki airport too.

• Will T says:

  22 Aug22 August 09:44

  Did Virgin fly anywhere else in India before the pandemic? And if so, what is the likelihood they will restart those flights at some point in the future?

  • memesweeper says:

    22 Aug22 August 11:25

    they used to fly to Delhi IIRC

    • KS says:

      22 Aug22 August 16:24

      Delhi and Mumbai, both.

• David S says:

  22 Aug22 August 09:49

  I sure hope all inbound passengers on those Virgin flights are tested for Coronavirus and that they all know they need to isolate for 14 days.

  • Lady London says:

    22 Aug22 August 10:35

    Except that Hong Kong has just suspended incoming Air India flights because too many people on them were arriving testing positive for Covid. Tve report I saw said 11 incoming passengers on one flight were positive.

    Not clear if Air India is not checking passengers enough, or if some certificates are forged or if labs in India arw unable to do accurate testing.

    • DB2020 says:

      22 Aug22 August 12:37

      Lady London,

      It is probably a combination of all the options you have stated. This comment will hopefully add some colour to the situation for you and other readers.

      Before Covid-19 became a thing in India, but was here in London and spreading without control, lots of Indian billionaires and multi-millionaires abandoned their second or third homes in Mayfair and flew back to New Delhi or Bombay / Mumbai. They arranged through their political connections to bypass the testing on arrival at the international airports in those cities.

      Once home, they ignored the quarantine requirements and went partying. The local press reported on specific cases where the returning nouveaux riches, the new elite of India, spread the virus by attending parties on the day that they arrived. Not just the young, but also older people.

      Unfortunately this resulted in prejudice against all foreigners stuck in the country when India closed its borders, who were tainted as the ‘phirang’ (yes the same word as is popular in Thailand, with Sanskrit language roots) that spread disease.

      The bigger question is whether this new elite of India will follow any quarantine requirements when flying to and from India opens up. Your guess is as good as mine, looking at the Hong Kong incident as an example.

      If they receive a call from the agency that monitors people arriving in the UK from non travel corridor countries, I imagine they will be spotted in Royal China Baker Street, shouting into their phones, in order to confirm as loudly as possible that they are where they are supposed to be. They believe that they are above the law and they can do whatever they like. Given the loose control here, the likelihood is that they will get away with it and see it as a reaffirmation of their superior status.

      They also give most law-abiding Indian citizens a bad reputation. They are the Dominic Cummings of their country.

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