The LoungeKey airport lounges you can enter with the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
The HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard is the most generous Visa or Mastercard available if you want to earn Avios. The earnings rate is great at 1 Avios per £1 spent.
We have a full review of the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard credit card which you can find here. Our article on the top 10 reasons to get the HSBC Premier World Elite card is here.
The official website for the card is at hsbc.co.uk as you can see here. The representative APR is 59.3% APR variable and 18.9% APR variable for purchases, based on an annual fee of £195 and a credit limit of £1,200.
To remind you of the points benefits, you get:
40,000 HSBC points (20,000 miles) for signing up and spending £2,000 within 3 months
40,000 HSBC points (20,000 miles) for spending £12,000 in your first 12 months
2 HSBC points (1 mile) for every £1 you spend – this makes it by far the best Avios Mastercard or Visa product
4 HSBC points (2 miles) for every £1 you spend outside the UK
You can take your ‘miles’ as either Avios, Cathay Pacific miles, Singapore Airlines miles or Etihad Guest miles.
If you collect Avios, you will be pleased to know that HSBC also runs 25% transfer bonuses, roughly once per year, from HSBC points into Avios.
What London airport lounges can I get into with a HSBC Premier World Elite credit card?
The HSBC Premier credit card also comes with airport lounge access.
This is via an exclusive Mastercard company called LoungeKey. You can access their special HSBC website here.
What is interesting about LoungeKey is that you simply show your World Elite Mastercard at the lounge door. There is no separate membership card. However, you must have registered your HSBC credit card via this link first.
No free guests are allowed. However, you can get a supplementary card for your HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard for a £60 annual fee and that person can then access lounges with that.
Across Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southend and Luton, you can access the following lounges:
Gatwick: No1 Lounge (North), My Lounge (North), Club Aspire (North), No 1 Lounge (South), Club Aspire (South), Grain Store Cafe & Bar (South, not a lounge but a restaurant where you get £15 credit!)
Luton: Aspire, Clubrooms (£10 surcharge on the door)
Southend: Skylife
Heathrow: Plaza Premium (T2 Arrivals, T2 Departures, T3 Arrivals, T4 Departures, T4 Arrivals), SkyTeam (T4), No1 Lounge (T3), Club Aspire (T3, T5)
Stansted: The Escape Lounge
LoungeKey has a better offering the Lounge Club, which comes with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. Of course, Amex Gold is FREE for the first year and comes with two FREE lounge passes per year, so in value for money terms it is a better product. Your Amex Gold lounge passes cannot be used Southend, the SkyTeam at Heathrow Terminal 4 or the No1 Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 lounges.
LoungeKey is indentical in scope, for the London airports, to what you can access with an expensive Priority Pass lounge card.
The full list of all UK lounges covered by Lounge Club and Priority Pass is here.
Is HSBC Premier World Elite better than Amex Platinum?
The HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard is not clearly better than American Express Platinum if you want a card with airport lounge access.
It is cheaper (£255 for the HSBC card with one supplementary card vs £575 for The Platinum Card) but the Amex Platinum package has FAR more benefits – Hilton Gold, Melia Gold, Radisson Gold, Shangri-La Jade, Marriott Gold, Eurostar lounge access etc etc (see my Amex Platinum review for details).
The choice really comes down to how much you value the additional Amex Platinum benefits on top of the airport lounge access.
PS. Here are links to our reviews of the lounges mentioned above:
Heathrow Terminal5: Aspire T5; Terminal 4: Plaza Premium T4, Plaza Premium T4 Arrivals, SkyTeam T4; Terminal 3: Club Aspire T3, No 1 Lounge T3, Plaza Premium T3 Arrivals; Terminal 2: Plaza Premium T2, Plaza Premium T2 #2, Plaza Premium T2 Arrivals
Gatwick North: No 1 Lounge North, My Lounge North, My Lounge North #2, Club Aspire South: Club Aspire, No 1 Lounges South, No 1 Lounges Clubrooms South
Luton: Clubrooms, Aspire Southend: SkyLife Stansted: Escape
PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.
Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 update
If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.
In 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.
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.
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.
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
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review
Earning miles and points from small business cards
If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:
American Express Business Platinum
50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Capital on Tap Pro Visa
10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review
Capital on Tap Visa
NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review
British Airways American Express Accelerating Business
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
