An amazing deal when you use DragonPass at the DIH Ahlan First Class lounge in Dubai

Reader Greg dropped me a note to highlight a great deal he found in Dubai.

The new Concourse D, used by British Airways and most other long-haul airlines not called Emirates, has a lot of lounges, including the DIH Ahlan First Class Lounge.

As the name suggests, the DIH Ahlan First Class Lounge is aimed at First Class passengers on airlines who do not have their own Dubai lounge.  Air France and Singapore Airlines use it for their First Class customers.  For some odd reason, it also accepts the DragonPass lounge card – but not Priority Pass or Lounge Club.

This is not your typical 3rd party lounge as you imagine, being aimed at First Class passengers.  It has a la carte restaurant dining, it has free-flow Moet & Chandon champagne and it has (reportedly) an amazing whisky collection.  If you are into aviation you will also be obsessed by the 6-screen FlightRadar24 display.

A full review of the lounge can be found here (external link).

If you don’t have DragonPass via your Barclays current account, this HfP article shows ways of buying a one-off DragonPass access voucher cheaply.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (March 2023)

As a reminder, here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a 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 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta Air Lines and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

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

Until 30th March 2023, the sign up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to 120,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. T&C apply, see the application forms for details.

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 £20.  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.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network.  Guests are charged at £20 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

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