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Regus business lounge to open in Terminal 5 – and you can qualify for a free pass

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Here is an interesting development.  Most people know that there are NO third party airport lounges in Heathrow Terminal 5.  This is not entirely surprising, as BA / Iberia have monopoly use of the terminal.

It does, however, impact people who have a Priority Pass, Lounge Club, Diners Club or Airport Angels card.  They have nowhere to go unless they have British Airways or oneworld status.

Things are changing, though.  Regus has announced that it is to open a business lounge in Terminal 5 this Summer.

To quote Regus:

“The move responds to a growing demand for ‘third place’ work locations where business travellers can check their emails, hold conference calls and meetings and print documents. Regus Express will offer a quiet, professional business lounge with a co-working space, private workstations, to be known as ‘ThinkPods’ and secure WiFi, as well as meeting rooms available by the hour.”

They also offer unlimited free TV and coffee, which is handy!  I am a big fan of Regus.  At least 50% of Head for Points is written in Regus business centres across London.

You will need a Regus BusinessWorld Gold or BusinessWorld Preferred card to access the Heathrow lounge.  However, you can get one for FREE via many loyalty programmes.

Full details are in this article I wrote in January.  However, if you meet any of the following criteria you can get yourself a free Regus BusinessWorld card:

Avis Preferred (all members – and FREE to join)

American Airlines elite members

National Car Rental (Emerald members)

RICS (any member)

TripIt (Pro level members, can be bought for $50)

United MileagePlus (Premier members?)

Virgin Flying Club (Silver, Gold and holders of the Black credit card)

If you meet any of the above criteria, this article from January has the links you need.  It is not 100% certain that UK-based members will qualify for some of these, but there is no harm filling in the form.

Clearly, as long as Regus is willing to accept applications for the Avis offer from the UK, signing up via Avis Preferred for free is the easiest thing to do.

If you have Virgin status, you should apply via that route as you receive the ‘unlimited visits’ Gold card rather than the ’15 visits’ Preferred version.

If you have BA or oneworld status then this won’t be of any interest to you as you have Terminal 5 lounge access.  For the status-less, especially business travellers who need to work before their flights, this is definitely worth looking at.

The Heathrow press release on the opening is here.


Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2024)

Here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

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 Eurostar, Lufthansa and Delta Air Lines lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four 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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 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.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.

Comments (26)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • James_G says:

    Any idea what the policy is with guests? Will my wife need to sign up for membership too or can I just usher her in with me?

    • Raffles says:

      If youn have a Gold (unlimited visits) then guest are £15. Not sure if Preferred cards are different given the 15 visits cap.

  • john says:

    So I have the mail with a temporary card. It says I have ‘two complimentary business lounge guest passes’ Does that mean I can only use T5 twice?

    • Raffles says:

      No, a guest pass means you can bring someone else with you.

  • Sean says:

    The Toulouse airport lounge “La croix du Sud” also has a Regus logo on the list of card holders that can access it, I didn’t have my card on me and the person at the reception didn’t know about it, so she couldn’t tell me the conditions, but it should be possible.

  • David says:

    There are links out there that anyone can use to obtain a Gold card, no affiliation necessary, some creative Google searching will get you there.

  • Jim says:

    This looks interesting to me. It seems I qualify by Avis preferred. I cannot find out how much it would cost after the 12 months. On the Regus website it does not mention preferred. Gold level is shown as £39 per month. Would this be what I would get offered 12 months later?

    • Rob says:

      Free Gold cards never expire, at least my free one never has, which is a good reason for going the Virgin route if you can. Not sure about Preferred.

      If they want to charge after the first year, just apply for another free card with a different address.

      • Trevor says:

        Having followed David’s advice above, I did some googling and there are a few offers out there, some for 6 months Gold, a couple for 12 months, but nothing seems to suggest that it’ll be free for life. Think your card is a keeper!

      • Johnny5a says:

        I’ve been told mine (stupidly I made an enquiry) will expire in the summer …

  • simon says:

    Got my preffered membership – thanks for the top tip

  • RogerWilco says:

    At least in FI if you have a Diners club card, you can also get a Regus Gold card

  • Olybeast says:

    Sounds good. 🙂 thanks raffles. No free alcohol though so I’ll be sticking with BA lounges lol

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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