Word has it, although I haven’t seen any photographs yet, that the Plaza Premium lounge opened in Heathrow Terminal 5 yesterday afternoon.
This was odd timing, given that every travel journalist in London was down at Excel for World Travel Market, where Plaza Premium wasn’t even exhibiting.
I hope to get a few photos for tomorrow. If you are there today, please send a couple of pics to rob at headforpoints.co.uk.
It isn’t clear if it is accepting Priority Pass and Lounge Club already. Some other Plaza Premium lounges at Heathrow have seen short delays before they were accepted. However, you will definitely get in by showing an American Express Platinum charge card due to the global deal they have with Plaza Premium.
This is what the website has to say:
“In an ideal location overlooking the runway, Plaza Premium Lounge Terminal 5 Departures is the perfect setting for both business and leisure passengers.
The luxurious space is open to all travellers and features an abundance of comfortable seating away from the hustle and bustle of Terminal 5. The lounge boasts freshly prepared seasonal food, a fully serviced bar with a wide variety of drinks, unlimited high speed Wi-fi, shower facilities to refresh and reinvigorate before flying and international newspapers and magazines. Experience a new way to travel at Plaza Premium Lounge, Terminal 5 Departures.
Level 2, Terminal 5 Departures, London Heathrow Airport (Next to Gate A7)
Opening Hours
05:00 – 22:00 daily”
Full details are on the Plaza Premium website here.
About Head for Points
Will I be able to book 6 hrs of my stay there.? I have a 10hr haul at Heathrow?izzat
Leave the terminal – why would you want to stay at Heathrow for 10 hours is beyond me. Unless of course you are unable to enter due to Passport/Visa restrictions.
They did not check my boarding pass when using my complimentary lounge passes from AmEx gold. So you could hide in there for a long time but 10h is a long time anywhere.
Ha, I’ve spent 9 hours at Cathay Pacific First Class lounge at T3 few weeks ago, did a lots of work on my computer, and it was amazing. Better there than in the office
presumably your office doesn’t bring you a glass of Baron de Rothschild Brut every 20 mins?
that’s probably only available at GS these days!
Lol. I collected my Blanc de Blancs the other day.
don’t tell me I hit the nail on the head 🙂
🙂
O/T Bits: Last year I raised a MCOL with BA for 72 hours delayed baggage – which they failed to return to us, and the baggage was damaged and pilfered. Court date finally set for this Friday – all our statements sent across to BA/Court (received aggressive statements on BA solicitors!!) and they’ve followed up the filing procedure. Looks like they won’t settle as it’s 3 days away?! Thoughts …
how much is the claim for? was the luggage delayed to your home destination (or away from home?)? pls square the contradiction: if they failed to return the luggage to you, is it still missing?/ how do you know it is damaged & pilfered? what did you lose?
Hi All,
Sorry for the late response so will reply to all here …
@RH1 it involves three passengers so claim is for over £3k and luggage was delayed away from home – had a connecting flight via Madrid (which was also delayed) but BA outbound metal. They had purposely overbooked flights and denied boarding for some passengers and didn’t load a majority of baggage on board. Apparently they had been doing for some time as other customers were turning up days later to check if their luggage had arrived. The luggage finally turned up over 3 days later with 6 trips twice daily back and forth to the airport to check for their arrival as they refused deliver it to our place of residence. It was then we discovered not only was our baggage delayed, but also damaged and items had been stolen from inside.
@TripRep We’re representing ourselves so no solicitors involved via MCOL. Claiming on EC261 and Montreal Convention on delayed baggage. BA’s general conditions contradict itself so much on timings, rendering it also in our favour.
@Talay & @Leo Thank you both so much for your insight much appreciated.
OK I get it. I think you will have to prove actual costs and losses. So reasonable essential items – you were away from home – to allow you survive for 3 days are allowable, best with receipts. You should be able to win the argument for damaged bags and stolen items, proof needed. BA won’t accept responsibility for consequential losses (other than having to buy essential items). If they refused to deliver to you – which is pretty awful, last time we had a delayed bag it got couriered to us (to our place abroad) – then you have a pretty good argument for cost of transport to retrieve. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to it, but they might argue you should just have waited & telephoned rather than make repeat trips. Pretty sure they will resist any claims for inconvenience & your time going backwards & forwards – but you could claim an hourly rate for preparing your legal case, I think the going rate if you did it yourself is a measly £10/hr but you could try higher as I think they are likely to offer you a settlement if your evidence of costs & losses is good. Good luck – let us know!
Thank you again for your response below Harry!! 🙂
Han, interested in this, what law or ompensation rights are your solicitors arguing the case on?
Not that I’ll be claiming anything, but BA misplaced one of bags enroute to the Maldives, delayed for 2.5 days, thankfully not damaged or looted..
* compensation
Last couple of MCOL cases I’ve instigated (not BA incidentally) were settled on the Friday before a Monday appointment with the court. One before that was just hours before documents needed to be exchanged and thus I pretty much knew the phone would be ringing as I had not received anything !
They can leave it until past the very last hour IMHO.
I would guess that your case is not a priority for BA legal although they have obviously bothered to respond. They may well have a system in place where very minor (to them) claims are not even looked at until say 48 hours before a hearing. So an offer to settle would normally I would have though be very late. I don’t work for BA so obviously speculation.
Let us know the update after today if it has got that far! Good luck!
0535 and the lounge is firmly closed … sadly.
If just showing your plat charge card is enough, does that mean you can still get in for free after cancelling your card by holding on to it?
Thats what I was thinking. How will they check?
Would work, but only at Plaza Premium facilities.
Interesting. Last time I was at PP T3 Arrivals, they had to swipe the card and enterer the details into a system. I presumed that system was linked to an AMEX database at some point, as some people with AMEX Platinum were denied (due to country issuing the card I I think).
Is flashing your platinum card enough for a guest entry too? Or do you need one in each person’s name?
Not sure. The Plaza Network home page has a link re the Amex deal so I would check there.
This is from the Amex T&Cs:
“Platinum basic and Supplementary Cardmembers are entitled to complimentary access to the Plaza Premium lounges. The Platinum Cardmember may bring up to one guest into the lounge at no additional cost. All lounge access fees for additional guest visits will be charged directly to the Platinum Cardmember’s Card, and at the prevailing retail rate, per person, per visit. Lounge access to infants under two years of age is complimentary. To access the Plaza Premium lounges, the Platinum Cardmember must present the agent with the following upon each visit: his or her valid Card and upon request, same-day or following day boarding pass on any carrier and a government-issued I.D. Failure to present this documentation may result in access being denied.”
I’ve got quite a long wait at T5 for a connection to MAN in a couple of weeks. I’ve got a gold Amex with unused lounge passes – will they be valid in the new Plaza Premium lounge?
see article – ie nobody knows yet
There was a poster above who appeared to have used it, but it was somewhat unclear, hence the question!
Rob says in the article above that its not clear yet.
It was a key Q of his back in July…
https://www.headforpoints.com/2017/07/18/comparing-uk-lounge-networks-of-priority-pass-lounge-club-and-loungekey/#comment-268578
How long is a long wait? As long as it was the final sector of the return journey, I’d be tempted to leg it to Euston or Reading for the train or check for a £1 car hire deal.
Hi,
I’m flying out of T5 on the 24th, have emailed Lounge Club posing this question to them. I will feedback when they get back to me.
Chris
Anna, just in case you don’t know. Assuming the T5 lounge does accept Lounge Club, although you get Lounge Club membership with Amex Gold, you can’t actually gain access to the lounges by showing your Amex Gold card, you have to present them with the actual Lounge Club card to get in.
Amex Platinum is different
Hi Anna, just had the following back –
“Thank you for your email.
At the moment we are unable to confirm if the new Plaza Premium lounge at Heathrow international airport, terminal 5 will be part of the Lounge Club program.
We are looking for opportunities to expand our program in both new and existing locations and can view updates of lounges on our website http://www.loungeclub.com or alternatively download our App through your Smartphone.
If we can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us on UK +44 (0)20 8827 0089. Phone lines are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Kind Regards,”
Boo! Thanks for letting us know. Is there a decent alternative worth using 2 passes for? Though I might try and get us on an earlier connection as we should only have hand luggage, don’t fancy the train or hire car and have spent avios and fees on the connecting flights already!
I’ll be using the Aspire lounge at T5, this will be my first use of that lounge but I’ve heard some pretty negative things about it. Maybe others on here may be able to give feedback from experience?
I’ve been in the T5 Aspire Lounge last winter, coming home and connecting long haul so got in there at breakfast time (using Lounge Club). First impressions was that it was very cramped, a long narrow space, so much so, that once inside it was quite difficult to pass anyone coming in the opposite direction if you or they were carrying food. I can see the place getting full quickly even at non peak times, and when I was leaving (around 9.30am, there was already a lengthy queue at the door.
Also bear in mind the toilets are outside the lounge in the terminal building.
That said, there was an ample spread of breakfast food available, bacon, sausages, eggs etc, along with the other usual fare.
I didn’t have any alcohol given the time of day, but there seemed to be a plentiful supply of that as well.
I’ve seen a few iffy reviews about the lounge also, but maybe now they no longer have a monopoly it’ll push them to get their act together. Up until now it was better than nothing.
** Do I recollect reading an article by Rob some time ago that Aspire were looking to expand upstairs…?
Just to add to the above, although the Aspire Lounge isn’t the best, it’s not the worst I’ve been in either by a very long stretch. I’m back in T5 this Saturday, and if the Plaza Premium still hasn’t opened I’ll happily go back to Aspire.
A definite candidate for worst would be Venice PP lounge. It’s outside security, no food/snacks, very limited soft drinks (supplied only upon request), basically just some seating with WiFi! Wish they offered restaurant credit instead.
Dragon Pass is accepted as it is on the Dragon Pass website
@Mozzauk do you know of any good deals for DragonPass?
is Priority Pass as well as Dragonpass, overkill ? would you only need one, or both>?
DragonPass seems to go places Priority Pass doesn’t and I am considering whether to renew my Priority Pass
Stealing TRH1’s line here but the Barclays Travel + pack? Min 6 months at £15.50 = £93 for 6 lounge vouchers. Also travel insurance for those months.
and RAC breakdown insurance
the best bit is: you can use 1 or all of your DP passes at the same time, so suits families
“The luxurious space is open to all travellers and features an abundance of comfortable seating away from the hustle and bustle of the BA Lounge”
Fixed it for you. 🙂
Which will be fully packed in no time. It’s right by the typically domestic gates. If it doesn’t stop taking PP or Dragonpass sooner rather than later I’d be very surprised indeed. Also: it is a 5 minute walk across T5 from GF. However often the MAN, EDI and NCL flights claim they are on time when they are not at all. So: instead of leaving GF 5 minutes before 20 minutes before flight, why not leave GF 15 minutes before 20 minutes before flight, and pop into PlazaPremium using PriorityPass or DragonPass for 10 minutes+ actual time to boarding?. Plus all the travellers who could use BA Galleries but will use PlazaPremium instead? Time will tell but i’m pretty sure it will get pretty packed pretty quickly.
They are not accepting Priority Pass, just tried this afternoon.
Boo! Looks like it is Amex Plat only then.
At least a rare extra benefit for Plat! May check it out later this month en route to gate (gotta make use of First Wing entry initially!)
OT as no bits. Any trick to adding Nectar card (comes up with error) as Membership Awards partner to get rid of points I can’t transfer anywhere?
no trick needed – if you don’t fancy doing it online, phone them & they’ll add it for you
Thanks it won;t accept my nectar number though for some reason. Shows error like SPG (which needs zero’s)
Ah you don’t need spaces and don’t need the 9826300 it has accepted it now
If you’ve had a previous Amex card linked to your Nectar card CS needs to remove the link from the old card first then they can add it to your new card.
Entered today and told it’s never going to accept priority pass just Amex platinum. Very quiet with a good bar.
Interesting! Certainly a way of keep a cap on demand. Look forward to trying it out next month 🙂
Plaza Premium has a history of not taking PP on Day 1 but finally coming round. However …. £40 cash on the door is 3x what PP would pay so there could be a strategy to get 30 cash guests over 90 PP guests ….
I am meeting Mrs Song, the founders wife, on Wed so I can ask 🙂
you reckon Amex is paying much more than £15?
I get a feeling the Amex deal will be a flat fee which covers cross-promotion etc. Why bother otherwise, given that Amex Plat has a Priority Pass and Amex is already paying Priority Pass less than £15?
Yes, great lounge, very friendly service, great food and bar, nice little workstations designed like a business class cubicle with desk, light, USB and power sockets. Got in with Amex Platinum (no sign of Priority Pass access yet); much needed in a terminal where the only alternative, if you’re not a One World Elite cardholder, is the cramped overcrowded corridor otherwise known as the Aspire Lounge 🙂
Trying to book my mum into the Plaza Premium T5 lounge (she has no status, PP or Lounge Club type cards & is going traveller to Oslo) but cannot for the life of me see this lounge on their own website to book, can only see their other LHR lounges :-/
Showers are not open yet and I get a feeling they are keeping it low key for a while. Official media launch is not for another 2-3 weeks.
Book her into the Aspire Lounge, they are open and much more on the ball.
Sitting in the new lounge now. Empty. About 10 people in here. They swiped my Amex and the receipt mentions 3 hours use.
Amazing how it can be classed as open. I arrived to discover that the advertised showers were not available because they were still “under construction”. I asked for the manager, apparently there was no manager, nor was there any supervisor available. I won’t be using them again.