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Aspire opens a second executive lounge at Birmingham Airport

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You might recall our review last year of the Aspire lounge at Birmingham Airport which a reader had sent us.  He liked the lounge but mentioned that it can get very busy and messy.

To tackle this issue Aspire has just opened a second lounge at Birmingham Airport: The Aspire Lounge Birmingham South, located by Gate 1.

We found a few pictures on Aspire’s Twitter feed:

new aspire lounge birmingham

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new aspire lounge birmingham

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new aspire lounge birmingham

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new aspire lounge birmingham

Looking at the pictures the lounge is bright, has very nice wooden flooring and a good amount of seating. If anyone happens to be at the lounge in the near future, we’d love to get a proper review to add to our UK airport lounge reviews collection (click here).

Opening hours are listed as 04:30 – 18:00 daily.

You can access the Aspire Lounge Birmingham South for free with a Priority Pass (which comes free with American Express Platinum, or you can buy one separately) or Lounge Club (two passes free with the free American Express Preferred Reward Gold).  Alternatively, you can pre-book for cash via the Aspire website (£25).


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.

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.

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.

Comments (13)

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

  • AspirationalFlyer says:

    After a recent BA flight delay I ended up spending several hours in the Birmingham Aspire Lounge. Very friendly staff and a generally good experience. Look forward to trying this in the next year or so. I wonder if you have BA status or are travelling in Club Europe you would have access to both or if they’d specify?

  • Simon says:

    There is also a No1 Clubrooms being built at Birmingham. Due to open in October.

    • Rob says:

      Thanks. Perhaps this will be for the airlines with a business cabin, given that Priority Pass excludes Clubrooms.

  • Nick says:

    I flying with BA this Saturday from Birmingham in Euro traveller but I have silver status – will I get access to this lounge ?

  • DerekH says:

    OT flying from Budapest in a couple pf weeks time and wondered which of the oneworld alliance lounges were worth using. Any information greatly received, thanks.

  • Chris L says:

    I was at BHX last week and spotted this too late to try it out annoyingly. I think it’s on the site of the former Flybe lounge. It’s in the area used by Flybe and Ryanair which is slightly separate from the rest of the terminal so a good option if flying with them. For all other airlines the No 1 is probably a better option.

  • Phil Huff says:

    I’ll be there early morning on the 12th, if nobody else has covered it by then.

    • Rob says:

      Thanks Phil. If you can do use a few pics and 3-4 paragraphs we’ll make it worth your while!

  • Rob says:

    I’m flying Club Europe with my family from BHX this weekend.

    Any suggestions on which lounge we can/should use?

    Thanks,
    Rob

    • Chris L says:

      I think the official BA lounge is Aspire – it’s nothing special. The older of the two Aspire lounges would be closer to your gate as the new one is in the ‘Gates 1-20′ area which is only used by Ryanair and Flybe. It’s probably less than 5 minutes’ walk between the two though. No 1 is a pleasant lounge – I was there last week – but I’m not sure that you’d get free access. It’s used by Qatar Airways for their flights, but I’m not sure if that means you can use it as a BA passenger.

  • Bigglesgirl says:

    I’ll be there on 24th Sept so will have a look as we’re flying with Flybe

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

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