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The Marco Polo Club lounge at Venice Airport joins Priority Pass

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The Marco Polo Club airport lounge at Venice has (re)joined Priority Pass.

I have used this lounge numerous times as a British Airways status cardholder.  The main benefit is the size – it is big.  That said, I always found it fairly crowded in peak season because some US airlines run long-haul flights to Venice with a lot of premium passengers. 

The decor is poor and food limited, although one comment  below suggests things have changed since I was last there in August.

It is also available to anyone with a free Lounge Club pass from their American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card or a Mastercard World Elite LoungeKey pass.  You can get two free Priority Pass cards, each admitting two people to a participating lounge, with the American Express Platinum charge card.


Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

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.

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.

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:

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.

Comments (98)

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

  • Chris Palmer says:

    The Marco Polo lounge used to be on the Priority Pass network a year or more ago, wasn’t it? Then it was unexpectedly pulled. I am a reasonably regular visitor to VCE, so glad it is back. I noticed the change a few days ago.

  • AndyW says:

    Sorry for the OT, question on Marriott status. If I gain Gold status through platinum card (SPG match) how long does this last, would I lose it at the start of next year?

  • TomL says:

    OT: curve card cash withdrawals abroad

    If I take out cash abroad with curve, and use the Lloyds card with 0%FX as my set card. Can I take out up to £200 equivalent for just free? Or is it 1% as abroad?

    And Lloyds won’t charge interest on the cash withdrawal as it is done via Curve?

    Thanks for any advice offered.

    • Anna says:

      I think Curve charge you for cash withdrawals abroad, best check the Ts & Cs closely!

    • Alex W says:

      If you set the card currency as the local currency then there are no Curve fees as curve has not done a currency conversion.

      Just checked the list and most currencies seem to be available in the curve app now unless you are going somewhere obscure!

      • Alex W says:

        And no Lloyd’s won’t charge interest as it is charged as a purchase not a cash advance.

      • AndyR says:

        Is there a withdrawal limit if you do this?

        • John says:

          It’s your Curve cash limit. After £200 or equivalent per month, Curve has cash withdrawal fees.

  • JPa says:

    OT: The spend £500 get £50 back Amex TripAdvisor Rentals.

    It says that the payment must be made by the 31st March, but for stays up until the end of September. I have never used Tripadvisor rentals but it looks like for future bookings in the summer you can only pay the deposit now, not the full amount. So it looks like only the deposits would then count towards the £500 spend not the full price of the stay.

    Does anyone else have any experience with this offer that is on a lot of the amex card? And if my assessment is correct (therefore making the offer pretty useless, as it also isn’t supposed to work for rentals in the next 14 days either – although that is probably a rule that is not really enforced knowing amex).

  • simon says:

    You need to travel with a child to get the discount with the F&F railcard. Looks like just adults won’t be able to get the cheaper ticket.

  • Lee says:

    OT – taxes and fees question for first time BA rewards tickets booking
    I’m looking to book an open jaw ticket from London to New Delhi in plus then Hong Kong to London in biz for 2 adults and 1 child. As you can’t check on BA website for open jaw, I just presume that taxes and fees would be total of 2 one-way ticket (£877+£83). However, BA told me the total of taxes and fees will be nearly £1500. Was there any more surcharges for return ticket? Any suggestions will be helpful, thanks!

    • Genghis says:

      Are you using a 241? If so, as a back of the fag packet calculation, get the return price for DEL and HKG and find the mean. If not, book as singles.

      • Lee says:

        Thanks Genghis, we are using 241 and just try to take advantage of low fee from Hong Kong.

        • AndyW says:

          If you are using a two for one, then your return does not benefit from the low charges on the HK leg. Has to be a separate ticket for that I believe.

        • AndyR says:

          That’s right it won’t work if you book a return. Has to be a one way flight from HKG to get low taxes.

        • Lee says:

          Thanks Andy and Andy, seems I would have to pay the higher taxes.

  • Guy H says:

    OT: Hi – planning on using my BA 241 voucher next year and looking to book the outbound flight prior to the return being on sale as suggested on here.

    With regards to the taxes, when adding the return flight at a later date, would the additional taxes due equal the same as what I would have paid if booking the return at the same time? – ie. I won’t be worse off compared to waiting and booking both flights together.

    Thanks!

    • Genghis says:

      Yes – IME the taxes charged when you add the return are trued up to what it would have cost you for a return in the first place. Though there was a comment yesterday noting that single taxes were charged (i.e. advantageous for Hong Kong, not New York).

    • Craig Strickland says:

      Correct, if I remember correctly they refund the booked outbound, hold that flight and then book the return.

      • Guy H says:

        Thanks both, appreciate it.

        As Genghus noted, 2x one way taxes to the US and back was more than what the return would have been so was a bit concerned – good to know that BA will recalculate the taxes as if it were a return in the first place.

      • Annabelle says:

        Looking as using my voucher for USA flights next year – if you book outbound 2-4-1 booking online and then the return on line at midnight T-355 – will the calling uk BA call centre in the morning correct the taxes as if it were a return booking ( and refund half the avios of course )? Was reading the thread on FT last night and it seemed as though the call centre only refunded the avios and left the taxes making it almost like two separate bookings! Thanks for your help

        • Genghis says:

          I did this last year for South Africa. Booked both online at midnight. Called BA in the morning. Was warned that seats might not go back into reward inventory. I accepted. 5 mins later all sorted on one ticket. Avios were almost instantly refunded (so I paid return of 1 person). Taxes weren’t taken as the booking goes for manual ticketing. As I wanted to hit a credit card bonus, I contacted the BA twitter team and arranged for payment to actually be taken. I’d do this again if needed

  • mark2 says:

    Glad to here that Marco Polo lounge has been improved; we used it about 18 months ago and the food was poor but the place itself as good I thought.
    Of more concern was the very long walk from the airport to and from the buses/taxis in very hot sun. Could I have avoided that?

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