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Bits: new BA Corsica route bookable, photos and access rules for Plaza Premium T5 lounge

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News in brief:

New BA route to Figari, Corsica now bookable

I mentioned yesterday that Alex Cruz, BA CEO, announced a new route to Figari in Corsica (picture below) in his speech at World Travel Market on Monday.

This flight is now bookable on ba.com, either for cash or Avios.

Flights will operate once per week, on Sundays, from 25th March to 21st October.

Flights depart Heathrow at 12.05, arriving at 15.30.  The return flight leaves Figari at 16.15, arriving in Heathrow at 17.40.

Plaza Premium Lounge Heathrow Terminal 5

Access information for new Plaza Premium Terminal 5 lounge

Yesterday I wrote about the opening of the new Plaza Premium lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 which promises to massively improve the British Airways travelling experience for anyone travelling in Economy who has no BA status.

I wasn’t sure yesterday if the lounge was accepting Priority Pass or Lounge Club.  Historically there has been a lag of a few weeks between the opening of a Plaza Premium lounge and its acceptance of these cards.

Reader feedback yesterday is that neither Priority Pass or Lounge Club are accepted at the moment.

American Express Platinum IS accepted, due to the exclusive Plaza Premium deal with Amex.  This includes a guest.

DragonPass is accepted – see their website here.  You are only likely to have one of these if you are a Barclays current account holder opted into the travel pack add-on.

Lounge Key (issued with World Elite Mastercards) does not yet list it on their website.  As Lounge Key is owned by Priority Pass, I am guessing it will not yet get you in.

And, of course, you can use good old money on the door.

Here are some publicity photographs for the lounge.  There is an official press event at the end of the month and we will do a full review at that point.

Plaza Premium Lounge Heathrow Terminal 5

and

Plaza Premium Lounge Heathrow Terminal 5

and

Plaza Premium Lounge Heathrow Terminal 5

You can find out more, and book access, on the Plaza Premium 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.

Category

American Express Platinum card, British Airways and Avios

Comments (66)

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

  • Gin and Tonic Please says:
    8 Nov8 November 08:31

    OT: Had a few new Amex Offers appear on my cards this morning:

    £50 off £250 at Hilton
    £100 off £250 at Royal lancaster Hotel
    £10 off £30 at Addison Lee
    5% off £30 at Addison Lee (multiple use)
    £25 off £100 at Majestic Wines (voucher code)

    • KevMc says:
      8 Nov8 November 18:29

      I have added the Hilton offer. Does anyone know if buying a £250 Hilton gift card would trigger this? Do gift card purchases go through as Hilton, or are they supplied by a 3rd party issuer?

      • Alan says:
        8 Nov8 November 18:50

        Website ones are 3rd party

      • fivebobbill says:
        8 Nov8 November 19:17

        If you read the terms of the offer, there is a specific list of the hotels the offer can be applied to… AND you must settle up with the Amex Platinum at checkout!

        Not as good a deal as it first appears

        • CV3V says:
          8 Nov8 November 20:27

          indeed, only valid on a list of hotels in uk and europe. Was in the process of booking a hotel in Vietnam when i decided to read the terms and conditions!

        • Rob says:
          8 Nov8 November 21:42

          Yes, the 3% FX is a net loss – but you’re still up and for work stays the 3% is not your problem.

    • jason says:
      8 Nov8 November 20:38

      Am i right in assuming its cumulative spend? I assume its any spend ie restaurant / bar etc…will count?

  • Gavin Tiffin says:
    8 Nov8 November 08:44

    If any use to people, Clydesdale Bank gave me 6 free Annual Dragon Passes with my account, for no extra cost, came with free travel insurance etc as well.

  • Ash says:
    8 Nov8 November 08:49

    One thing I don’t like about the Aspire lounge in T5 is it’s ‘openess’, you get a lot of background noise from the humdrum of the airport. Seems like Plaza Prem is also quite open so it’ll be interesting to see hiw it compares.

    • Karen robertson says:
      8 Nov8 November 11:35

      It’s very quiet – no noise other than some of the louder planes taking off

  • James says:
    8 Nov8 November 10:57

    I dont know if anyone can help or has a similar problem but I am not seeing images in either posts of the email for the last week or so. Its not affecting any other websites I use and I can see ad’s on the site itself so I wondered if anyone had any tips as to what it might be? I switched ISP a couple of weeks ago so not sure if that is the issue?

    Any help greatly appreciated as want to see the pics of the new PP T5.

  • Karen robertson says:
    8 Nov8 November 11:20

    Currently in the Plaza lounge – great view of end of runway, good breakfast although bread rolls a little hard as left in hot place (not stale just too hard to eat), loved the sausages which whilst cheap were very tasty. Hardly anyone in here which is great! They did take my Amex Platinum and inspect it and asked me if it was a UK issued card so I guess they would notice if you used an expired card. Will definitely be using again if not traveling business class.

    • Rob says:
      8 Nov8 November 12:46

      Expired, yes. Cancelled, no 🙂

      • CV3V says:
        8 Nov8 November 16:31

        They dont swipe the Amex card then?

        • Rob says:
          8 Nov8 November 18:34

          For what purpose? Eurostar doesn’t.

          I suppose …. as they have a payment machine (which Eurostar lounges don’t) they could swipe them to check they were valid. If they start getting suspicious about cancelled cards it might happen. I’m sure someone who has got in via this method can enlighten us to the process, as I won’t be back at Heathrow until the New Year if I’m lucky.

        • the real harry1 says:
          8 Nov8 November 19:14

          they need a mechanism to evidence the visit & claim payment from Amex

  • Karen robertson says:
    8 Nov8 November 11:32

    Further comments
    Great selection of Twinings teas – coffee allegedly good too according to husband
    Cubicle seats look a little odd but are really very comfortable
    Four other people in lounge – all are asleep!

  • Karen robertson says:
    8 Nov8 November 11:54

    Lunch buffet has just appeared and food looks really good – chicken tikka masala and rice, spaghetti and meatballs, veggie lasagne, chicken wings, Rosemary potatoes and salady stuff. All looks fresh and hot! Would eat it but too full from eating too many sausages earlier! At least I won’t need an M&S sarnie on the plane!

    • Fraser says:
      8 Nov8 November 12:49

      I just popped in to the Plaza Premium Lounge at T5 to check it out. Only had about 15 mins before my connecting flight so I literally went in just to have a look and a coffee.

      The staff were very friendly and attentive. They almost seemed disappointed that I didn’t want lunch and encouraged me to sit anywhere, but I explained I was just stopping for a few minutes. They showed me the different seating areas, and with all except the “restaurant style” table area having UK and USB power (why not international sockets?) this is a massive improvement on trying to find a seat with a power socket in the BA lounges.

      Nice proper bar area (again an improvement) and all looks up to their usual standard. VERY bright with the corner positioning. They don’t seem to know if/when they’ll take Priority Pass, so that’s a bonus for Amex Plat cardholders whether you have BA status (95% of T5 customers? ) or not.

      Entry is just by showing your card and they fill out a paper log book (not sure that’s great for privacy tbf), and also took a photocopy of my boarding card (how does that work with a phone?).

      They only had about 10 or 11 customers according to the chap helping me, which considering everyone else seemed to be staff, I assume meant SO FAR TODAY?! So do pop along when you can – they’ll be happy to see you!!

  • Alan says:
    8 Nov8 November 23:43

    Bits OT – had an email from Small Luxury Hotels – they seem to be now processing the transition to their new programme and have put me at ‘Inspired’ level despite no previous stays (although I think I did originally sign up via Amex Plat).

    “The Club of SLH has been transformed into a brand new loyalty programme, INVITED! We’ve moved you across to our new programme, which now makes you an Inspired member”

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