Plaza Premium lounge NOW OPEN in Heathrow Terminal 5

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

• Izzat dosani says:

  7 Nov7 November 05:10

  Will I be able to book 6 hrs of my stay there.? I have a 10hr haul at Heathrow?izzat

  • Ross says:

    7 Nov7 November 05:12

    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.

  • Frenske says:

    7 Nov7 November 05:38

    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.

    • Rashad says:

      7 Nov7 November 20:33

      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

      • the real harry1 says:

        7 Nov7 November 20:50

        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!

      • Genghis says:

        7 Nov7 November 21:29

        Lol. I collected my Blanc de Blancs the other day.

      • the real harry1 says:

        7 Nov7 November 21:33

        don’t tell me I hit the nail on the head 🙂

      • Genghis says:

        7 Nov7 November 21:37

        🙂

• Han says:

  7 Nov7 November 05:17

  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 …

  • the real harry1 says:

    7 Nov7 November 06:34

    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?

    • Han says:

      7 Nov7 November 18:12

      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.

      • the real harry1 says:

        7 Nov7 November 18:30

        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!

    • Han says:

      8 Nov8 November 10:27

      Thank you again for your response below Harry!! 🙂

  • TripRep says:

    7 Nov7 November 06:41

    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..

    • TripRep says:

      7 Nov7 November 06:42

      * compensation

  • Talay says:

    7 Nov7 November 07:28

    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.

  • Leo says:

    7 Nov7 November 08:53

    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.

  • PlaneSimple says:

    10 Nov10 November 04:13

    Let us know the update after today if it has got that far! Good luck!

• Jordan D says:

  7 Nov7 November 05:42

  0535 and the lounge is firmly closed … sadly.

• Alex says:

  7 Nov7 November 06:18

  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?

  • KP says:

    7 Nov7 November 06:48

    Thats what I was thinking. How will they check?

    • Rob says:

      7 Nov7 November 07:01

      Would work, but only at Plaza Premium facilities.

      • Simon Schus says:

        8 Nov8 November 02:22

        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).

• Charlie says:

  7 Nov7 November 07:09

  Is flashing your platinum card enough for a guest entry too? Or do you need one in each person’s name?

  • Rob says:

    7 Nov7 November 07:18

    Not sure. The Plaza Network home page has a link re the Amex deal so I would check there.

  • Klaus-Peter Dudas says:

    7 Nov7 November 07:31

    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.”

• Anna says:

  7 Nov7 November 07:26

  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?

  • the real harry1 says:

    7 Nov7 November 07:43

    see article – ie nobody knows yet

    • Anna says:

      7 Nov7 November 10:49

      There was a poster above who appeared to have used it, but it was somewhat unclear, hence the question!

  • TripRep says:

    7 Nov7 November 07:44

    Rob says in the article above that its not clear yet.

    It was a key Q of his back in July…
    https://headforpoints.com/2017/07/18/comparing-uk-lounge-networks-of-priority-pass-lounge-club-and-loungekey/#comment-268578

  • Andrew says:

    7 Nov7 November 09:09

    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.

  • Chris says:

    7 Nov7 November 10:19

    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

  • fivebobbill says:

    7 Nov7 November 10:35

    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

  • Anna says:

    7 Nov7 November 10:53

    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!

    • Chris says:

      7 Nov7 November 11:19

      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?

    • fivebobbill says:

      7 Nov7 November 13:49

      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…?

    • fivebobbill says:

      7 Nov7 November 13:56

      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.

      • Alan says:

        7 Nov7 November 17:54

        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.

• Mozzauk says:

  7 Nov7 November 08:23

  Dragon Pass is accepted as it is on the Dragon Pass website

  • Lady London says:

    7 Nov7 November 11:32

    @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

    • Genghis says:

      7 Nov7 November 11:36

      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.

      • the real harry1 says:

        7 Nov7 November 16:13

        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

• Oh! Matron! says:

  7 Nov7 November 08:32

  “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. 🙂

  • Tim says:

    7 Nov7 November 14:08

    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.

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