On Tuesday evening I was in Terminal 2 at Heathrow for the opening party for the Plaza Premium arrivals lounge.
(This is part of our series of reviews of airport lounges across the UK. You see all of the reviews here.)
This is the sister lounge to the classy Plaza Premium departures lounge in Terminal 2 which I have covered previously.
You can buy passes in advance via the Plaza Premium website.
The Terminal 2 arrivals lounge is interesting for a number of reasons:
it is the first independent arrivals lounge at Heathrow
it is the first arrivals lounge at Heathrow to accept Priority Pass or Lounge Club cards, or buy a pass at at their website
it is open from 5am to 10pm – unlike many arrivals lounges which close around 2pm (looking at you, BA)
It is situated directly next to the exit from the customs area in Terminal 2, directly opposite the walkway into the arrivals level from the car park, tube and Heathrow Express.
Plaza Premium has taken a different approach from its departure lounge. The main area comprises a bar with a tapas-style food offering as you can see in the photos above – one from the party and one PR photo.
This is a relatively modest space. The spa and shower area is huge in comparison. There are eight shower suites and a number of massage and spa suites – the massage suites can be converted into day rooms for sleeping. The quality of finish is very high and the spa uses organic, chemical free products from British brand ILA.
If you arriving into Terminal 2 on a Star Alliance flight it is worth a visit. If you are arriving into Terminal 1 or Terminal 3 then you can walk to the lounge via the underground circulation area where the trains are. If you are coming into Terminal 4 or Terminal 5, you would need to take the tube or train to the Heathrow 1-2-3 station.
Basic entrance is £25 including VAT. It is free if you have a Priority Pass card (another benefit of Amex Platinum, or you can buy one directly) or a Lounge Club card, which comes with Amex Gold. One off visits can be prebooked via the Plaza Premium website.
The shower rooms and spa treatments are charged separately if you pay on the door to enter. According to the comments below, anyone who use a Priority Pass card can use the showers free of charge.
A lounge coming to Terminal 5?
The speech from Mr Song Hoi-see, founder and CEO of Plaza Premium, contained an interesting titbit. As I have written before, Plaza Premium has a Terminal 4 departure lounge under construction which will open in the Spring.
He also revealed plans to open a Terminal 4 arrivals lounge. In addition, though, he said that the company was in discussions with Heathrow about opening lounges in Terminal 3 and Terminal 5.
A Plaza Premium departure lounge in Terminal 5 would be a major move. At the moment there is no third party lounge in Terminal 5. Whilst we are presumably looking a couple of years ahead, the idea of an independent lounge offering in Terminal 5 – especially if it is of the high standard of the Plaza Premium departure lounge in Terminal 2 – is exciting.
Delta arrivals lounge also open in Terminal 3
By coincidence, US airline Delta opened its invite-only arrivals lounge in Heathrow Terminal 3 on the same day. You can learn more about that in this Business Traveller article.
About Head for Points
I visited the plaza T2 departure lounge during a long layover last week, the staff gave me a very good deal on a day room on the door (was intending to use my lounge club card) and I have to say I was impressed, it really is of a high standard throughout!
To confirm: this lounge can be used by anyone coming into any Heathrow terminal? Do you have to be coming in on a longhaul flight? Would be useful for those coming in on shorthaul flights who have priority pass and want a drink or a bite before heading on.
Anyone can use it – I was told they expect quite a bit of custom from people waiting to meet people off flights, especially delayed ones
I cant help but wonder if this could be abused by the odd few. If you don’t need to be flying, couldn’t a Heathrow employee pay £250 for priority pass(or get an Amex Plat) and have their lunch in the lounge every day? Plaza premium might not care, as they get paid by priority pass, but priority pass might start to have a problem as they would presumably make a loss on that customer.
Guess if they see it start being abused, they could tighten up entry rules.
The arrival lounges in the past have all needed a boading pass of the same date
But they were free ones! Why should Plaza Premium care as long as Priority Pass is paying them?
Although …. I assume the booze served in an arrivals lounge is NOT duty free. This means that PP has far higher costs than in a departure lounge if people hit the booze …..
Great for those of us who choose not to live in the south-east province and wish to freshen-up before continuing our journeys by land..
If I’m not mistaken, PP holders used to be able to use the Air Canada arrivals lounge although U think there may have been some bizarre rule about the plane having to have landed at T3…
Interesting that Delta have done that, too – flew in with them earlier in the year and was given access to the Virgin revivals lounge.
Good news ….. One wonders if amex can and will be able to sustain the priority pass offer though if the number of lounges and cost of entry continues to rise.
As for T5 you can a move by BA to make status more difficult to achieve in the near future and reducing the need for galleries North. The savings would be huge and the area perfect for a 3rd party lounge.
So from the sounds of it you have to pay extra to use the showers? That’s quite disappointing if so, especially when they don’t cost any extra in the T2 airline Plaza Premium Lounge (I made use of them recently returning from Singapore waiting for my connecting flight with Little Red). I’d say a shower was a fairly key component of an arrivals lounge too!
I am not 100 per cent certain it is not included but they are priced separately on the list – unless that is the price if you just want a shower but not use the lounge facilities
Just went there yesterday evening, showers are included if on Priority Pass, it’s an extra £15 for pay on entry
Ah, excellent – thanks for clarifying! 🙂
Thanks Pierre, I will add that in
I do like the Plaza Premium in T2. Very nice 🙂 And the arrivals lounge will certainly be used.
However, if they can get a lounge into T5, I’ll be very impressed. My Cathay Pacific Gold must run out soon, and the BA lounge staff are always arsey about the fact my BA ticket has my BAEC number on and not my Cathay Pacific number
OT – Got an offer from IHG giving 100% bonus for purchasing points. I bought 60000+60000 points in their last promotion, can I buy another 60000+60000?
Seems so!
Thanks 🙂 Not sure if I will buy any though as I don’t have immediate plans coming up.
I got an email with meagre 25% bonus for purchasing points..
Will i get free access to the lounge arriving from BKK on Thai first? Or won’t they have any free access for premium customers?
Unless Thai does a deal with them, you won’t be getting in. You will need to pay or use a Priority Pass / Lounge Club card.
Visited the Premier Plaza in LHR T2 last week. I was impressed with the food at lunchtime and the overall presentation of the food. Staff were friendly and helpful. An relaxing lounge which is furnished to an high standard.
I look forward to one opening in T5!
If a high quality third party lounge opened at T5 that might give BA a kick up the proverbial as far as the Galleries lounges are concerned. Their “flagship” offering is frequently overcrowded and starting to get tatty (damaged fittings & furniture, broken departure screen – none of which is replaced/mended), and the food is the same old school dinner menu week in week out. Nice views of 09L/27R from Galleries North though….
Chemical free spa products would be……well, non-existent. Oh, this marketing hype!
Another OT IHG query. My Into the Nights offer was stay twice and get 25,000 points twice. I’ve stayed twice in the last month and have 2 more stays booked in the next 2 weeks, but nothing is showing on my ITN promotion page. How quickly should the stays actually appear? Should I query them yet? Points for both the completed stays have posted to my IHG account and both the upcoming reservations are showing.
There is a bit of a drag for them to hit ITN, I wouldn’t worry.
Thanks
Air Canada had an arrivals lounge which permitted access to PP members. With showers and a shirt ironing service!
It’s still there, but in T3 and only in the morning 🙂
I think it’s a Delta lounge now.
Looks like a nice way to burn the 2 free lounge club passes I struggle to use. Might also be a better alternative to the Gold Circle lounge when flying Little Red out of T2.
Plaza Premium is a lot better than Gold Circle, the only benefit of the latter is huge amounts of natural light.
confirmed free for priority pass holder with free shower drinks (Jack Daniels) and some food
nobody ask for flight ticket
I use bus to get here minutes 😉
How many free entries do you get with Barclays Airport Angels?
Looks like 6 lol
Even better when you got it for free 😉
Airport lounge access: Up to 6 visits every year, which can be shared with immediate family including children (1 adult must be a Barclays Airport Angel member) More than 6 visits will be charged at £15 per person per visit. A visit means 1 entry to an airport lounge per person