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Review: the refurbished Aspire lounge at Liverpool John Lennon Airport

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This is a brief review of the refurbished Aspire lounge at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.  I won’t call it a full review because there isn’t much in the way of context for the pictures.

This is part of our series of reviews of airport lounges across the UK.  You see all of the reviews here.

18 months ago reader Bill wrote our original review of the Aspire Lounge at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.  The lounge reopened in July 2018 after a full refurbishment so Bill popped in briefly to take some photographs.

It is open from 4.30am until 8pm daily – note the fairly early closing time.

The Aspire Lounge at Liverpool Airport is located inside the departure lounge after security on the lower level. You pass it on the way to all gates so it can’t be missed.

These photographs run in order – imagine you are standing in the centre of the lounge and turning from left to right.  There is probably a clever way of editing them into a panorama but we don’t know how …..

This is not a huge facility by any means, but at the same time I have never heard any reports of it being very busy.

Aspire Lounge Liverpool Airport review

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Aspire Lounge Liverpool Airport review

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Aspire Lounge Liverpool Airport review

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Aspire Lounge Liverpool Airport review

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Aspire Lounge Liverpool Airport review

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Aspire Lounge Liverpool Airport review

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Aspire Lounge Liverpool Airport review

It is worth noting that the lounge offers what they call ‘light bites’ and small snacks, so don’t come here expecting a full meal.  There are no toilets in the lounge and you need to use those on the main concourse.

Despite these niggles, all in all this look like a surprisingly modern facility for a regional airport.

The new Aspire lounge at Liverpool Airport can be accessed by Priority Pass (buy one, or free with American Express Platinum), Lounge Club (two free lounge visits if you get the free – for the first year – American Express Gold) and all other major lounge pass networks.

You can book for cash via the Lounge Pass website here.


Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

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.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit 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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 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 £195 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 huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients 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.

Comments (23)

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

  • iain wilson says:

    your link at the top seems to take me back to the front page?

  • Len Orford says:

    Visited this lounge last week. Extremely impressed. Goes into the top 5 of my lounges visited, and I have visited a fair few.

    • Ken Middleton says:

      Not so. All the articles are lounge reviews.

    • Boris says:

      A fair few third party lounges? Proper frequent flyers – at least the ones that refuse to fly Ryanair – know that this could not possibly be in the top 50 or even 100 of lounges across the world. It might qualify for being best third party lounge in UK But will be spoiled by the Scouser element.

  • Bill says:

    Sorry I was in a rush and o literallyonly had time to take the photos. I don’t think the service offering has changed too much. It’s very bright in the lounge due to the low ceiling and LED lights. As you will see the bar is much bigger now.

  • Steven says:

    I have used this lounge recently and the service was really good. It’s a shame that from it’s current home you don’t get a direct view of the runway! Re food – Two hot meals (pasta/sauce/meat type) were avaliable and a soup.

  • Brian says:

    In its previous layout it was one of the better Aspire lounges, with a pretty decent offering. Although Rob mentions that only ‘light bites’ are available, I wouldn’t say it was any inferior to other Aspire lounges and much better than the Aspire at T1 in MAN, which I think is soulless, has far too many open spaces and generally wasted space. The coffee and food are pretty dire too.

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      Hard to think of a single thing that Manchester does better then Liverpool. ;o)

    • Andy says:

      Are you having a laugh? I love LPL airport as it is a breeze to fly through (The VIP Parking to express Security is the best arrangement of any airport I have ever seen short of the Virgin Chauffeur to the private departure and security area at LHR T3). This Lounge in its former guise was terrible and the issue was not the décor and furniture it was the limited poor quality booze selection at an attended bar (with perpetually grumpy staff), terrible food offering and generally crappy ambience.

      Despite having a an unlimited access PP I would always go to the bar (and there is a reasonable choice) and just buy a meal and decent drinks. I rather hope they have done more than just give the place a lick of paint and assembled a few Ikea flatpacks.

      Whilst I also hate MAN with a passion (most especially T3 at MAN) there is no way in which the LPL lounge is better than the Aspire at T1 which has great seating spaces and choices, a fairly decently staffed bar and reasonable food options. At MAN T1 though I tend to pick the Escape Lounge as an all round better choice despite the lack of runway views.

      • Mark1980 says:

        Hi Andy, do you ever have any issues getting access to either of the T1 lounges at MAN with a PP?

        • Andy says:

          I haven’t ever had that problem and usually I am in around peak times, I have had a few issues at T3 though at the Escape Lounge which I prefer to the BA Lounge when I am in T3.

  • Alex says:

    I just had a look at flying up there for Macca in December, but apparently there are no flights between London and Liverpool… Train it is. Are there any priority pass lounges at the station ? ;-D

    • Andy says:

      There is a Virgin Trains Lounge at Euston accessible to first class ticket holders which gives free drinks to Frequent First Class Travellers (who get a card), whilst Liverpool is one of the better VT Regional Lounges and has a decent snack selection (certainly better than that in the Aspire at LPL in my past experience), there is no bar.

  • S**mo says:

    OT/

    Just rung up to cancel my SPG Amex, was offered an 1 point per £1 spent for 3 months.
    Am I getting confused with this? or is that just really poor offer?

    Has the earning rate changed with the Marriott Merger?
    Was the original earn 1 per £1? moving to 3 per £1 after the merger?

    Have a £1k purchase to put through, but obviously would rather 3,000 extra instead of the 1,00 old rate.

    • Rob says:

      I guess they meant 3 points and the retention offer hasn’t been updated for the SPG / Marriott merge?

      • S**mo says:

        Apparently not – I will still only receive 1 point extra (so 4 points…)
        I don’t think this is correct but can’t argue with AMEX any longer….

        When does the new earning rate coming into force?

    • Crafty says:

      Which number did you ring? I phoned the number on the back of the card, at roughly 10am, and went through to somewhere abroad, where they told me there is no retention offer.

      Of course there may be no offer *for me*, but I suspect if I can force my call through to Brighton there may well be one…

      • S**mo says:

        Just the one from the website:

        Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card: 0800 917 8019
        (from abroad) +44 (0)1273 696 933

  • Mike Owen says:

    Those photos are clearly photoshopped. Where are all the drunken scousers queuing for their drinks?!?!

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