Save money on No1 airport lounges and get free champagne or Virgin miles too
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If you don’t have airport lounge access via your flight ticket, your elite status, via a Priority Pass card from American Express Platinum or via a Lounge Club card from American Express Gold, your best fall-back option is usually No1 Lounges.
No1 Lounges is the largest network of premium independent lounges in the UK. We have reviewed all of them in the past (click for the review):
- No1 Lounge Heathrow Terminal 3
- No1 Lounge Gatwick North
- My Lounge Gatwick North and #2
- Clubrooms Gatwick North
- No1 Lounge Gatwick South (photo below)
- Clubrooms Gatwick South
- No1 Lounge Birmingham
- No1 Lounge Edinburgh
All lounges include free hot food, free drinks (some premium food and drinks carries an extra charge), free newspapers and magazines and free wi-fi.
moneysavingexpert.com is running an exclusive discount code – with free champagne – for No1 Lounges this week as you may have seen in their weekly newsletter. However, this is not necessarily the best deal as I show below.
No1 Lounges has a generous tie-up with Virgin Flying Club. This allows you to buy access to their lounges at a discount and earn points in avios.com or Virgin Flying Club at the same time. Note that their previous Avios deal has now ended.
The moneysavingexpert offer:
moneysavingexpert is offering a saving of up to 20% PLUS a free glass of champagne per person.
Here is the pricing:
- Birmingham – £22 (was £26) PLUS free champagne & fast-track security
- Edinburgh – £22 (was £26) PLUS free champagne & fast-track security
- Gatwick North – £26 (was £32) PLUS free champagne & fast-track security
- Gatwick South – £26 (was £32) PLUS free champagne & fast-track security
- Heathrow Terminal 3 – £26 (was £32) PLUS free champagne
You can also book Gatwick’s Clubrooms for £36 per person (normally £45). These offer unlimited champagne, a la carte dining and premium security.
This offer must be booked by midnight on Thursday 10th May, for lounge visits up to 31st August.
You must book via this special page of the No1 site and use code MSESUMMER at check-out.
The Virgin Atlantic offer:
Virgin Flying Club offers a discount and, instead of a glass of free champagne, a chunk of miles instead. You also receive fast-track security at Birmingham, Edinburgh and Gatwick.
There is a tiered earning structure, per booking:
- 400 miles at Clubrooms
- 350 miles at No1 Lounges
- 200 miles at My Lounge
The special Virgin Flying Club pricing is:
- £25 – No1 Lounges
- £12 – My Lounge
- £35 – Clubrooms
You can only book the Virgin deal via this page of the No1 website.
Because the miles are awarded per booking, you should make a separate reservation for each person in your group.
Which deal is best?
If you are looking at Birmingham or Edinburgh, you are probably better off with the MSE deal. It is £3 cheaper and, whilst you miss out on 350 miles, you do gain a glass of champagne.
For the No1 Lounges and Clubrooms in London, there isn’t much in it. MSE costs £1 more than Virgin and comes with a glass of champagne. Virgin comes with 350 miles (400 for Clubrooms).
For the cheap and cheerful My Lounge at Gatwick North, the Virgin deal is your only option. £12, with 200 miles, is a very decent deal I think.
How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2024)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.
You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):
Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review
Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard
3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review
You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.
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
The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 Virgin Points.
The Platinum Card from American Express
40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.
American Express Business Platinum
40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points.
(Want to earn more Virgin Points? Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)
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