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And the Priority Pass ‘Airport Lounge of the Year’ awards go to ….

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Airport lounge network Priority Pass has unveiled the winners of its ‘Airport Lounge of the Year’ awards.

Whilst it is easy to take such awards with a pinch of salt, the fact that the Priority Pass ones are based on reviews from cardholders does give them some credibility.

Priority Pass

The global winner for 2015 was the EuroAirport Skyview Lounge at Basel-Mulhouse Airport.  This is the same lounge that is used by British Airways and can also be accessed with the Lounge Club pass that comes free with the Amex Gold card.

To quote:

Located in the only bi-national airport in the world, the award winning 1,700 square meter lounge, which is owned by EuroAirport and operated by Swissport, combines the craftsmanship of Swiss and French architecture and design. Standout features include a unique vast glass dome that brings natural light into the heart of the lounge, a spacious terrace overlooking the airport runway and exotic palm trees that surround a tranquil pool of water. This helped the space stand out against over 850 other lounges in the Priority Pass network. The EuroAirport Skyview Lounge won the regional European Award in 2014, 2009, 2008 and 2005, the Global Award in 2012 and was also Highly Commended for the European Award in 2011 and 2010.

I have never been to this lounge, although – given all the prizes it has won – I may be missing out.

Basel Mulhouse airport lounge

Impressively, I have also failed to visit any of the regional winners except for the SWISS lounge in Zurich (which, to be honest, I was surprised to see on the Priority Pass list):

Asia Pacific:

Overall Winner: Louis Tavern CIP First Class Lounge at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International

Highly Commended: More Premium Lounge at Taipei Taoyuan International

Highly Commended: Asiana Business Lounge at Seoul Incheon International

North America:

Overall Winner: Salon VIP Lounge at Québec Jean Lesage International

Highly Commended: The Club at ATL at Atlanta GA International

Latin America & The Caribbean:

Overall Winner: Aeroportos VIP Club at Brasilia International

Highly Commended: Club Mobay at Montego Bay Sangster

Best Business Facilities:

Overall Winner: Wingtips Lounge at New York JFK International

Highly Commended: Swiss International Airlines Lounge at Zurich Airport

Best Quality of Refreshments:

Overall Winner: Dilmun Lounge at Bahrain International

Highly Commended: Plaza Premium Lounge at Vancouver International

Best Attitude and Service from Lounge Staff:

Winner: The Club at SJC at San Jose CA Mineta International

Highly Commended: Emperor Lounge at Auckland International

I’m not sure how the Plaza Premium lounge at Heathrow Terminal 2 or any of No 1 Traveller lounges failed to come 2nd – although I agree that none of them have the ‘wow’ factor of Basel-Mulhouse.  As you will see from my review of the Plaza Premium lounge in Heathrow Terminal 4 later this week, that is another impressive space which can be accessed via Priority Pass and Lounge Club.

If you have been to any of the lounges above, please let us have your thoughts in the comments below.

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Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2025)

Here are the five 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 1,500 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 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 £290 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 good package, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

Got a small business?

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum which has the same lounge benefits as the personal Platinum card:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

You should also consider the Capital on Tap Pro Visa credit card which has a lower fee and, as well as a Priority Pass for airport lounge access, also comes with Radison Rewards VIP hotel status:

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits 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.

Category

General

Comments (30)

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

  • Danksy says:
    9 Dec9 December 16:00

    It’s a shame they don’t have the worst lounges for Priority Pass.

    Barcelona (Terminal 1) would (I’m fairly sure) be up there … I was with a group of 4 others; so I agreed that I’d sign one person in and they split the entry price 3 ways…

    What a complete load of rubbish.

    Limited drinks – served by a stroppy barman who seemed intent that we wouldn’t get our money’s worth for the 1 hr that we were there! We only got 1 refill (small glasses too) in that time.

    Limited snacks (cheese and crackers only and not a good selection – it would comfortably fit on a couple of dinner plates for the whole lounge).

    Won’t be going back

    • harry says:
      9 Dec9 December 20:42

      I’d like an article on this lol.

      Most of the lounges I go in, they fall over themselves to give you booze (maybe not the very best/ premium, but otherwise you can have as much as you like of the acceptable stuff). And the snacks are OK as well.

      Once we get into cost control, sounds rubbish but we need to know!

  • VP says:
    9 Dec9 December 16:07

    I have visited only the Dilmun Lounge, Bahrain in this list. Funnily enough I was there during lunch time and thought I had the best lounge meal. It is heavily oriented towards Arabic and Indian food (which I love) so not everyone may share the same opinion. I was DENIED entry as BA Silver flying on Qatar and told that I should either be flying BA to gain access as BA elite or be a Qatar elite member. Luckily I had priority pass and gained access with that else I would have been really pissed off.

  • Lady London says:
    9 Dec9 December 16:19

    On the worst lounge list I think I’d put most of the French lounges I’ve been in . With the honorable exception of Cathay at Paris Charles de Gaulle, who are lovel, a nice environment to get some work done and have a snack. I haven’t sampled a couple of the newer lounges at Charles de Gaulle – mainly because I try to avoid that airport now. So if anyone likes a particular lounge at Charles de Gaulle, I’d like to hear.

  • Frances says:
    10 Dec10 December 07:04

    Who could tell me if my Air France Amex Gold gives me the right to use club lounges? Thanks for info.

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

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