Plaza Premium lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 opens on Sunday

If you don’t qualify for access to the British Airways lounges in Heathrow Terminal 5, Plaza Premium will reopen its lounge on Sunday.

The competing Club Aspire lounge at the other end of the terminal has been open for a few weeks, so it is good to see Plaza Premium back in business. It opened briefly at the end of July but then closed again, either due to staffing issues or lack of custom.

During the closure, virtually all Plaza Premium lounges have left the Priority Pass lounge card scheme. This doesn’t make any difference in Terminal 5, however, as this lounge was never in Priority Pass in the first place.

You can still get free access via:

• American Express Platinum (show your Platinum card at reception, one guest allowed)
• DragonPass

…. or book for cash via this page of the Plaza Premium website.

If you are able to access both Club Aspire and Plaza Premium, you would be crazy not to go with Plaza Premium. Irrespective of what the food offering may currently be, it is simply a far better designed and more pleasant space than Aspire.

Our last review of the Plaza Premium Terminal 5 lounge is here. Our recent review of the Club Aspire lounge in Terminal 5 is here.

Opening hours are 6am to an early 5.30pm looking at the Plaza Premium website.

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.