A joke for anyone who has ever used the Servisair lounge in Heathrow Terminal 1

If you have never been to the Servisair (eg Priority Pass etc) lounge in Heathrow Terminal 1 then you won’t understand the humour in this.  Anyone who has ever set foot in the Servisair lounge will smile though.

As I mentioned in my article on Aer Lingus on Thursday, I couldn’t use the new Aer Lingus lounge in Heathrow Terminal 2 last week because it had yet to open.

Instead, I was offered the chance to use the Servisair lounge in Terminal 1 instead.  I was given the following set of instructions:

Take the escalator, lift or stairs to gate level

Make your way through the Departures lounge towards Gate 16, past the Play Area which will be on your right hand side

Continue walking straight ahead, following the signs to Terminal 1, walking past the Special Assistance Area on your right hand side

At the end of the corridor take the lift or staircase down one level then turn left out of the door

At the double doors, take a right

Follow the signs to Terminal 1 departure lounge.  You will be walking in the opposite direction of the travelators.

Upon entering the departure lounge, at the end of the travelators you will WH Smith on your left hand side

Walk past WH Smith towards Hamley’s and Clarks

On your right hand side, you will see a staircase and lift. Use either to make your way to the Servisair lounge which is located on the first floor.

And then, after all that (and remember you have to come back again!) this is what you will find:

…. although, for the full Servisair experience, you need to imagine that every single seat is taken by a coach party that threw in access as part of a package tour.

I promise you, it’s not worth it ….

Luckily Aer Lingus was offering £20 food and drink vouchers as an alternative, so I popped into Caviar House and bought half a bottle of champagne to drink that evening.

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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.

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

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.

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.

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