Excellent Groupon deal – a cheap way to use Plaza Premium lounge in Terminal 5

A very interesting Groupon deal has come up which will get you into the new Plaza Premium lounge in BA’s Heathrow Terminal 5 for just £19, and just £16 for further visits.

Let’s take a step back first for some background …..

If you do not have airline status or are not travelling in Business or First Class, the only way to get airport lounge access (without paying steep walk-up prices) is via membership of a lounge club.

The three major lounge access cards are:

Priority Pass (buy outright here via a generous Black Friday discount or free with Amex Platinum)

Lounge Club (two free visits per year for Amex Preferred Rewards Gold cardholders) and

LoungeKey (for MasterCard World Elite cardholders, eg HSBC Premier World Elite)

These are all owned by the same company, Collinson Latitude.  Whilst there are some differences between the lounges available across the three Collinson Latitude products, the similarities are far greater.

DragonPass is the only independent group offering airport lounge access cards.  It is not connected with Collinson.  This has allowed it to cut some interesting deals which are not available with the three Collinson products.

Here are some interesting London examples which are NOT available with Priority Pass or Lounge Club:

Exclusive DragonPass offers at Heathrow:

In Terminal 5 and Terminal 2, you can use the Regus Express business centre lounge in Arrivals

In Terminal 5, you can use the new Plaza Premium departures lounge 

In Terminal 3, you can use the No 1 Lounge in departures (this is in Priority Pass but not Lounge Club)

You get dining discounts – but no freebies – at The Prince of Wales (T4), Giraffe (T3, T5), Comptoir Libonais (T4), The Curator (T3), Apostrophe (T4), Wonder Tree (T2), Market Gardener (T3)

Exclusive DragonPass offers at Gatwick:

In South Terminal, you can use the Regus Express business centre lounge in Arrivals

You can get dining discounts – but no freebies – at Nicholas Culpepper (North), Giraffe (South), Garfunkels (North), Wonder Tree (South), Apostrophe (South), Eat (North), Armadillo (North), Shake-a-Hula (North), Comptoir Libonais (North), Joe’s Coffee House (South)

Obviously DragonPass will also get you into most of the ‘usual suspect’ lounges which Priority Pass can also access such as Aspire and No 1 Lounges sites.

You can search the DragonPass lounge directory here.

What does a DragonPass card cost?

The standard prices for a DragonPass card are listed here (toggle to £ in the menu bar):

£68 gets you one lounge visit, with future visits and guests charged at £16

£128 gets you eight lounge visits, with future visits and guests charged at £16

£268 gets you unlimited lounge visits, with guests charged at £16

However, at the moment there is a very attractive deal available via Groupon.

The Groupon deal – save 57%

Click here for the offer.

Via Groupon, you can buy a 1-year DragonPass card for just £29 instead of £68.

If you do not have a Groupon account already, code NEW50 should take a further £10 off if this is your first order, taking your cost down to just £19.

This includes your first lounge visit for free.  Future visits plus guests, as per the above, will be charged at £16.

This is an excellent way of accessing the very impressive new Plaza Premium lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 (see our coverage here and here and here.)   This lounge charges £40 on the door and the only other way in at present is by showing an American Express Platinum charge card.  It does NOT take Priority Pass, Lounge Club or LoungeKey.

Even if you only planned to make one visit to Plaza Premium in Terminal 5, this is £11 cheaper (£21 cheaper if you use the NEW50 code) than paying £40 on the door.  Future visits will save you £24 each time.  Given the cost of food and drink in the terminal, you won’t struggle to get £16 of value from a visit to Plaza Premium Terminal 5.

It is worth nothing that the lounge is incredibly quiet.  I have never seen a report which said it had more than 10 guests.  Unless it starts to accept Priority Pass, or until American Express starts to promote it to Platinum cardholders, I expect it to remain a haven of solitude!

If you want to buy, the Groupon link for a cheap DragonPass is here. 

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (December 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 1,500 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card from American Express is increased to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 80,000 Avios! The spend requirement is changed to £10,000 in six months for this offer. Click here to apply.

You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

Huge 80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Avios. 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

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 £290 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 good package, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

Got a small business?

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum which has the same lounge benefits as the personal Platinum card:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

You should also consider the Capital on Tap Pro Visa credit card, which has a lower fee and also comes with Radison Rewards VIP status:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th December 2024, there are EXCLUSIVE sign-up offers for our readers on the two Capital on Tap small business Visa cards. You can earn 20,000 points on the Business Rewards card and 30,000 points on the new Pro card. Click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

30,000 points (TO 9TH DECEMBER) plus good benefits 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.