Plaza Premium to take over the Menzies airport lounge portfolio

Plaza Premium and Menzies Aviation have announced an interesting deal, although the exact terms are a little murky.

Plaza Premium is taking over the 13 airport lounges currently operated by Menzies Aviation. The sites will be rebranded as Plaza Premium and presumably upgraded, both physically and service-wise, to Plaza Premium standards.

I have struggled to find a single list of the 13 lounges involved, but it appears to include sites in Prague, Budapest and Stockholm as well as a number in South Africa and New Zealand.

It isn’t clear if Plaza Premium is buying the lounge contracts from Menzies or will simply operate them under licence. The sites will presumably leave Priority Pass once the deal completes, as Plaza Premium is planning to launch its own ‘lounge club’ card.

Plaza Premium and Menzies have also announced plans to roll out ‘meet and greet’ services at airports where Menzies operates. This appears to be something that Plaza Premium will manage but which will be staffed by Menzies, although the exact details are not clear.

Plaza Premium has been making some aggressive statements recently about its post-corona growth plans. I wasn’t totally convinced, but this announcement shows that there are plans actively in hand.

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.