Which British Airways European routes do not offer lounge access?

On Saturday we ran a review of the ANA lounge at Porto airport.  This is notable because – whilst it is the only lounge at Porto – British Airways refuses to pay for Club Europe or status passengers to use it.

(If you read HfP by email, you didn’t receive this review because I felt it was a bit of a niche topic to drop into 10,000 inboxes.  You can read the article here.)

Courtesy of Flyertalk, I have a list of all British Airways short-haul destinations which do not offer lounge access.  This is a great bit of crowd sourcing work from the FT community. Keep this list in mind next time you book a trip and are considering whether to upgrade to Club Europe or not.

These airports have no lounge at all so you can’t blame BA for not letting you in:

Bergen, Flesland Airport BGO

Biarritz-Anglet-Bayonne BIQ

Corfu / Ioannis Kapodistrias International Airport CFU

Chania International Airport CHQ

Chambery-Savoie CMF

Bergerac-Roumaniere EGC

Friedrichshafen FDH

Fuerteventura FUE

Grenoble-Isere GNB

Frederico Garcia Lorca GRX

Innsbruck INN (EDIT: a Priority Pass lounge opened 12/17)

Skiathos Island National JSI

Santorini JTR

Kos KGS

Kalamata KLX

Limoges LIG

Menorca MAH

San Javier MJV

Nantes Atlantique NTE

Asturias OVD

Pula PUY

Rotterdam RTM

Quimper-Cornouaille UIP

These airports have a lounge but BA refuses to pay for it:

You can use a Priority Pass instead at these airports:

Lanzarote ACE

Cagliari/Elmas CAG

Catania/Fontanarossa CTA

Madeira FNC

Heraklion International Nikos Kazantzakis HER

Humberside HUY

Ibiza IBZ

Mykonos JMK

John Paul II International Krakow-Balice KRK

Montpelier MPL

Olbia/Costa Smeralda OLB

Francisco de Sa Carneiro, Porto OPO

Palermo/Punta Raisi PMO (landside)

Thessaloniki Macedonia International SKG (as of 1st July 2017)

Split SPU

Sevilla SVQ

Rhodes – Diagoras International RHU

Tallinn TLL

These airport lounges only accepts cash and not Priority Pass / Lounge Club:

Brindisi/Casale BDS

Bordeaux-Merignac BOD

Bodrum – Milas Bodrum International BJV

Bari/Palese International BRI

Dalaman International DLM

London City Airport LCY (in the Private Jet Terminal)

Paphos International PFO

Stavanger, Sola SVG

These airports have lounges run by other airlines which BA cannot access:

Keflavik International KEF

Please bear in mind that this is crowd sourced list and 100% accuracy is not guaranteed – but it should be close enough.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 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

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

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

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

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

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.