Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The Aspire lounge in London Gatwick’s North Terminal to close for refurbishment

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Aspire has announced that its lounge in Gatwick North will close on 26th February for refurbishment.  It will re-open under the Club Aspire format in May.

This is the oldest Aspire lounge in the portfolio, albeit only 6 years old, so the company clearly believes it is due a revamp.

Aspire lounge Birmingham entrance

This closure will put additional pressure on the No 1 Lounge (reviewed here) and My Lounge (reviewed here). 

If you are planning to visit Gatwick North – the easyJet terminal – with a Priority Pass or Lounge Club card you may want to consider paying £5 per person via this link to reserve a spot and guarantee admission, as well as getting Fast Track Security.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2025)

Here are the five 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.

You can apply here.

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.

The Platinum Card from American Express

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 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.

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, as well as a Priority Pass for airport lounge access, also comes with Radison Rewards VIP hotel status:

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) 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.

Category

General

Comments (128)

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

  • Stu N says:
    13 Feb13 February 08:56

    OT: Have a JFK trip booked for end of year, currently on 777 both ways (every single flight on our outbound was a 777 which is unusual). As the route is notorious for 747777 swaps I’d like to keep a close eye on it. Is it just down to checking MMB periodically or any smart ideas since the demise of MyFlights?

    • Darren says:
      13 Feb13 February 09:41

      Snap, just booked on 777 yesterday. I’d be interested in replies.

    • John W says:
      13 Feb13 February 15:53

      Hi Stu ,
      One suggestiion could be Expert Flyer. you can enter your dates of travel and flight number and the software provides the seat map along with any vacant seats / Booked seats
      http://www.expertflyer.com/
      Free trial allows X number of searches per day

      • Stu N says:
        13 Feb13 February 22:37

        Thanks, will give that a go. Nothing seems to compare with ease of use of MyFlights, I happily paid for Gold for months covering “valuable” flights. Such a shame there was no way around GDPR for them.

  • rob says:
    13 Feb13 February 09:28

    HSBC World Elite 2nd year Fee Update.

    Realise a few of us have this and have had issues with the T’s & C’s; HSBC have written to me that as a goodwill gesture if I change to the standard premier mastercard they will refund the £195 2nd year fee for the world elite and can keep the points.

    • Polly says:
      13 Feb13 February 13:27

      HSBC elite fee. Same with us. The issue was the points, you would lose them if you dropped down to free card even one day before the year was up. If you wait until that exact day of 1 year, you are charged the fee. It’s really a no win situation. The manager who dealt with mine agreed it was a mess. They are trying to clarify it.. They said most people don’t fight it. I told her we were used to exceptional cs from amex, and that amex wouldn’t hesitate one second to refund the fee and keep us a customer. And make sure we kept our points.
      Am now waiting for a BA bonus! Some hope.

      • Lady London says:
        13 Feb13 February 17:35

        @Polly very impressed with your brisk answer to HSBC above “we were used to exceptional cs from amex, and that amex wouldn’t hesitate one second to refund the fee and keep us a customer. And make sure we kept our points.”

        I have filed this for my own future use.
        Btw I think the World Elite MasterCard also has access to the excellent MasterCard hotel scheme? which the standard HSBC MasterCard won’t.

  • Davide says:
    13 Feb13 February 10:37

    Is the gold to plat link still working? If so could someone post for me?

  • Aliks says:
    13 Feb13 February 10:58

    I signed up for the Hilton challenge last year, but was underwhelmed by the US Hiltons I stayed at, so I didnt complete.

    Does anyone have any experience of repeating the challenge – will they offer the same deal again?

    • Pangolin says:
      13 Feb13 February 12:06

      US is probably the worst choice for testing out Hiltons as everyone and his dog are Diamonds there.

      AFAIK, Hilton is the one scheme that doesn’t specifically block people from repeating a status challenge (e.g. without a five year period), so no harm in trying.

  • The_real_a says:
    13 Feb13 February 11:12

    Lets hope for some club carlson pointd promotions! Always suprised there was never a points credit card in the uk for them (amex mr aside)

  • JamesB says:
    13 Feb13 February 11:26

    OT: Seems like Rob has gone on strike today!

  • Anna says:
    13 Feb13 February 11:56

    Formulating Plan B – coming home via the states but definitely not in WT! There are a few F redemption seats from US cities which would alleviate the trauma of extra connections. Is one allowed in the Concorde Room when one lands at LHR from an F journey?

    • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
      13 Feb13 February 12:00

      Only if connecting to another flight. There is a concord breakfast area in the arrivals lounge but I wouldn’t get too excited.

      • Anna says:
        13 Feb13 February 12:18

        We would be connecting to MAN, does that count?

        • Grimz says:
          13 Feb13 February 12:29

          Yes iv done that when connecting to ABZ

        • Stu N says:
          13 Feb13 February 12:40

          Yes – just hang onto your F boarding pass. You can also go landside and back into lounge complex via F Wing. It’s probably about the same time-wise as the flight connections route but a longer walk which I like to get legs moving and much quicker security. Plus it’s worth it for the novelty value of a nice check-in area and actual premium security!

      • Polly says:
        13 Feb13 February 13:21

        Actually, you can go into the arrivals lounge just landing in t5 off an F flight. You don’t need to be going onwards. The concord room is lovely for nice dining. And you can book in for a nice facial if there’s a slot. Go straight to the Lee is desk when you go into the arrivals lounge.

        • Lady London says:
          13 Feb13 February 17:40

          IIRC the arrivals lounge closes 2pm. Breakfast there quite good though.

  • MarkH says:
    13 Feb13 February 12:44

    OT as bits: am I right in thinking that when booking a BA reward flight to CPT (flying to JNB and connecting on ComAir) that my bags won’t be checked all the way through?

    I think I read on here a while ago that I would need to collect the bags and then go to a different terminal and drop the bag off/go through security etc again. If so, how much time do I need between the flights to do this?

    • Polly says:
      13 Feb13 February 13:18

      4 hours minimum

    • Rob says:
      13 Feb13 February 14:01

      Yes. Even if this wasn’t BA policy, though, you’d need to do it anyway due to SA customs.

    • MarkH says:
      13 Feb13 February 14:29

      Thanks Polly & Rob. Have booked the JNB flights on my 2-4-1 voucher (will be the first time in First!!) and will sort the connecting flights separately which will give greater flexibility with the itinerary.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!