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Bits: Qatar Airways confirms Dublin launch, Plaza Premium confirms Heathrow T5 lounge

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News in brief:

Qatar Airways confirms Dublin route launch

Qatar Airways has finally committed to a date for the launch of its Dublin route.

Services will start on 12th June.  It will use a Boeing 787 Dreamliner which means that you will get the newest version of Qatar’s impressive business class seat as pictured below.

You can read my review of Qatar’s 787 business class seat here.

The service will run daily as follows:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday 
Dublin to Doha  QR18  departs: 15:25 arrives 00:40+1
Doha to Dublin  QR17  departs: 07:20 arrives: 13:20

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
Dublin to Doha  QR20  departs: 08:50 arrives: 18:05
Doha to Dublin  QR19  departs: 01:25 arrives: 07:25

With no Air Passenger Duty to pay out of Dublin, there are likely to be some excellent opportunities here for good deals for UK residents.

Qatar 787 350 business class

Plaza Premium re-confirms Heathrow Terminal 5 lounge

Back in February I ran an exclusive HfP story about the planned Plaza Premium lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5.  This was an exciting project because:

a) the two existing Plaza Premium departure lounges in Terminal 2 and Terminal 4 are excellent

b) they participate in Priority Pass and Lounge Club

c) the only existing independent lounge in Terminal 5, Aspire, is woefully small

The story then went quiet.  This was not surprising since projects at Heathrow have a habit of slipping massively behind schedule as the Cathay Pacific lounge relaunch showed.

In a recent interview with Business Traveller, the Plaza Premium CEO shone some light on the project.  The Terminal 5 is now due to open in the second half of 2017 with 156 seats, lower than originally planned.  I still have no idea where it is meant to be!

Before that we can expect a Terminal 3 arrivals lounge (January) and a Terminal 4 arrivals lounge (Q1 2017) although I would take these timings with a pinch of salt.

Details of all of the Heathrow Plaza Premium lounges are here.

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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

Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (68)

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

  • Johnt says:
    7 Dec7 December 10:57

    Great do. Definitely one to repeat. Thanks.

  • Mark LLL says:
    7 Dec7 December 11:06

    QR Qmiles conversions to Accor. That’s Interesting.
    Thank you for posting that, Brian.

    Glad to hear the HfP party went well. Fingers crossed I will be able to attend next time.

  • Andrew says:
    7 Dec7 December 11:08

    The QR B787 doesn’t have the latest version of the business class seat – that is on the A350.

    • Scott says:
      7 Dec7 December 11:10

      It is virtually the same seat….

      • danksy says:
        7 Dec7 December 12:11

        I thought the seats were good, but I actually preferred the seats on the 777 (complete with massage/vibrate function).

        When I flew OSL to BKK last week they ran out of champagne, Rose champagne and Chardonnay… I complained and got an apology but nothing else… not the experience I expected from my first business class flight with QR!

        • Andrew says:
          7 Dec7 December 12:51

          The business class offering seems to have been subject to some cuts in the last 6 months. The business lounge in Doha no longer offers a la carte dining – just buffet; and overnights to Europe ex-DOH only offer a light 2 course meal and not a full 3 course on board.

          • North says:
            7 Dec7 December 20:47

            The QR business lounge in Doha was offering a la carte as recently as 15th November when we went through so if that’s changed it must have been in the last 2-3 weeks? The restaurant upstairs doesn’t do it but the one downstairs at the back does.

  • Nate1309 says:
    7 Dec7 December 11:25

    O/T I have my email from AerClub today. I have registered. But I did have to log in to Avios.com first to change my password to contain a capital letter. One it is all set up your login for avios.com and Aerclub are exactly the same – ie username and password, and all your avios balance+statement shows in aerclub.

    • Cate says:
      7 Dec7 December 14:29

      We had the invites to. Not sure we should be giving out passwords so easily so leaving it for a while.

      • michael says:
        7 Dec7 December 17:21

        That’s a good point – I signed up but ever thought of that and am a bit concerned now I gave my password out. That seems a fairly strong security flaw

    • Rich says:
      7 Dec7 December 17:14

      I clicked through on the link in the email, and signed up, but haven’t received the 250 points. Hopefully they will appear at some point.

  • Richard says:
    7 Dec7 December 12:28

    OT – does anyone know if close my BAPP should I wait until all avios have been transferred to my BAEC? Or can I close the BAPP and then the avios will just transfer over whenever the final statement is issued?

    • Genghis says:
      7 Dec7 December 13:34

      T&Cs not too clear. I always wait for them to transfer before closing.

    • AndyR says:
      7 Dec7 December 14:49

      I would defo wait if u have a lot of Avios to transfer. When I cancelled I had 10k Avios and they didn’t automatically transfer. I had to keep chasing them. Was a hassle but I eventually got them 2 months later.

      • Richard says:
        7 Dec7 December 15:43

        Thanks both, I think I’ll wait for them to transfer

      • Liz says:
        7 Dec7 December 17:50

        We are in this boat – phoned to cancel hubbys account and was told they would transfer automatically as our normal transfer date was within 30 days – transfer date been and gone and no points transferred – phoned Amex to be told BAEC rejected the transfer and the pts are in limbo – request to transfer has been done again but still not received – will need to keep chasing – we were told we would definitely get the points. Nothing is ever straightforward in this game!

  • the real harry says:
    7 Dec7 December 17:59

    O/T Tesco points
    TDXR-FVGR gives you 500 points on a Direct order – generic code – demonstrated – but doesn’t work on all a/cs
    = 1200 Avios

  • nick says:
    7 Dec7 December 18:01

    OT: whats the deal with all these shops listed on the Amex Shop Small promo, simply not accepting amex at all.

    Do amex have an official response or reason for this? Its incredibly frustrating

    • the real harry says:
      7 Dec7 December 18:32

      They probably theoretically can accept Amex – though shop may not have set the till/ payment parameters to accept it – or they may have a mgt policy of not accepting Amex (the old high fees) even though the till can handle it.

      I guess Amex have a list of shops where they think Amex is accepted and have included them in Shop Small, presumably without the shop knowing anything about it.

      OTOH I have been buying my stamps in shops I used LY, even though they are not on the map this year – all working fine so far.

      • the real harry says:
        7 Dec7 December 18:40

        oh and the official Amex response is: sorry about that, here’s your £5 🙂

  • vol says:
    7 Dec7 December 19:18

    It was a fantastic night – Rob & Anika you did a superb job of everything. Melia Hotel: definitely on my list as a venue 😀

    • the real harry says:
      7 Dec7 December 19:41

      What was it like with the introductions?

      I imagine: Hi, my name’s Rodney Patterson-Smythe-FitzPatrick – er, Genghis!

      • Genghis says:
        7 Dec7 December 20:26

        I wasn’t Genghis last night…

        • the real harry says:
          7 Dec7 December 20:43

          I guess I wouldn’t have been harry in case I got a punch in the face 🙂

      • Waribai says:
        7 Dec7 December 21:04

        Personally, I found the introductions easy with the help of the constant supply of alcohol!

        • Rob says:
          7 Dec7 December 21:50

          ‘Where are going?’ ‘Where have you been recently?’

          The two fool-proof opening lines at any frequent flyer event ….

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

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