Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

News: big Avios / Kaligo promo tomorrow, the bizarre Priority Pass vending machine at City

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News in brief:

Exclusive Kaligo.com Avios offer coming

If you are looking to make some hotel bookings at the moment, I strongly recommend waiting until tomorrow.  We will be launching an EXCLUSIVE Avios promotion in association with hotel booking site Kaligo.com.

You will be able to earn up to 10,000 bonus Avios on your forthcoming stays.

Visit HfP tomorrow to find out the full details.

London City has a Priority Pass vending machine …. but no lounge

Reader Tony sent me the photo below of a Priority Pass vending machine!

Yes, it is odd.  Is there really a market for a machine vending £69 – £233 Priority Pass airport lounge membership cards?

What is really bizarre is where he found this machine.

London City Airport.

The airport with no lounge unless you pay to use the lounge in the Private Jet Centre next door which we reviewed here.  It isn’t in Priority Pass anyway.  There could be a few confused / annoyed Priority Pass customers out there.


Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (November 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.

You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up 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 £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

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.

Comments (59)

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

  • Cate says:

    They recently also had a stay two nights get third night free offer.

  • David says:

    OT – BA LGW Lounge. I may well have missed this somewhere along the line, but when did the champagne become serve yourself? I’m here now and the member of staff looked at me in horror when I asked for some, not realising it was there for the taking!

    • Stu N says:

      Months ago, bottles sitting in the coolers with the white wine. It’s an anomoly in the lounge network as everywhere else you have to ask for it.

      • Alex Sm says:

        As recently as last March you still had to ask for it. This was in the new lounge already

  • BlueHorizonUK says:

    OT – Amex Platinum benefits.

    Trying to sign up my partner to the platinum benefits (SPG etc) but for the life of me I cant see where I can do this. When I log into the site and choose enrolment it only gives the option for me and not the additional cardholder. If I log in as the additional cardholder it defaults back to me again.

    Using Safari on Mac if this makes any difference.

    • Rob says:

      They’ve changed the system to make it more stupid. Your partner now needs to create their own Amex account for their supp card. Once this is done they can log in at americanexpress.co.uk/platinum and order their supp cards.

  • Rob says:

    Yes, onto this!

  • Mark1980 says:

    OT but my father-in-law is still stuck on the tarmac at Manchester Airport when he should have taken off for a flight to Spain this morning. Will he be eligible for EU261 or does this count as an extraordinary event? Thanks.

  • Steve says:

    Does anyone know how (or if I can) book a reward/Avios flight to arrive and depart from two distinct US cities/locations?

    It’s possible that I am being thick but I can’t see that this is doable via ba.com or Avios……

    Thanks

    • Rob says:

      You need to call. You could book it as 2 x one ways but the taxes (when flying to NA) cost more than a return.

  • @mkcol says:

    OT: The Mothership was due to fly with DY today EDI-OSL. Despite the airport being open the flight was cancelled. The aircraft was due in from New York Stewart, but that rotation yesterday & overnight last night was cancelled.
    Can DY deny EU261 compo?
    Does anyone know where on their site to claim it, as it’s not overly clear when I’ve had a poke around.

    • Rob says:

      I doubt it would be tough to blame it on the weather. Even if the airport was open flow would have been reduced I assume.

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

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