Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

And the Priority Pass ‘Lounge of the Year 2018’ award nearly goes to …. Aberdeen Airport

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Airport lounge network Priority Pass has unveiled the winners of its ‘Airport Lounge of the Year 2018’ awards.

Whilst it is easy to take such awards with a pinch of salt, the fact that the Priority Pass awards are based on 52,000 reviews from cardholders does give them some credibility.

The global winner for 2018 was Sala VIP Internacional at Quito International Airport in Ecuador.

To quote:

Sala VIP Internacional put the customer experience at the heart of their recent lounge expansion and pride themselves on offering services that will cater to everyone’s needs. One of the main highlights of this lounge is the outdoor terrace with panoramic views of the city, providing a space that captures the light and colour of Ecuador’s vibrant capital.

The lounge is fitted out with ample seating and distinguished locally sourced furnishings, providing a luxurious and cultural feel. The lounge menu, designed by renowned local chef Andrés Miño, includes international and Ecuadorian cuisine, and guests can enjoy a variety of wines from the lounge’s private cellar, while watching Quito’s beautiful sunsets. This modern and elegant lounge is open around the clock and features private working spaces, dedicated sleeping areas, a massage room, and showers for guests to refresh themselves before a long flight or during a layover.

More relevant to HfP readers are the European winners.

The overall European winner was the Primeclass Riga Business Lounge at Terminal E at Riga International Airport, Latvia.

The good news is that the European runner-up award was the little-known Northern Lights Executive Lounge in Aberdeen.

I am very pleased about this.  I reviewed the Northern Lights lounge in May 2018 – see here – and was very impressed.  It was actually the best lounge, adjusting for the airport it was in, that I visited last year and it is great to see it getting broader recognition.

As I wrote last May:

“a lot of small clever ideas come together to create something impressive”

The Northern Lights lounge can be accessed by Priority Pass unsurprisingly (buy one, or free with American Express Platinum), Lounge Club (free with American Express Gold) and all other major lounge pass networks. It also hosts premium cabin passengers on certain airlines who do not have their own lounge.

If you want to book in advance and will be paying cash, you can book on the Aberdeen Airport website here.

Northern Lights lounge Aberdeen

The other Priority Pass lounge winners

Here are the winners of the other awards:

Africa & Middle East

  • Regional Winner: Ahlan Lounge at B, Terminal 3, Concourse B, Dubai International Airport, United Arab Emirates
  • Highly Commended: Marhaba Lounge, Terminal 3, Concourse A, Dubai International Airport, United Arab Emirates

Asia Pacific

  • Regional Winner: Miracle First Class Lounge, International Concourse D, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand
  • Highly Commended: SATS Premier Lounge, Terminal 3, Singapore Changi International Airport, Singapore

North America

  • Regional Winner: Lounge 19, Terminal 1, Mexico City Benito Juarez International Airport, Mexico
  • Highly Commended: The Club MCO, Terminal B, Concourse 4, Orlando FL International Airport, United States

Latin America and The Caribbean

  • Highly Commended: Eldorado Lounge, Terminal 1, Bogota El Dorado International Airport, Colombia

It is worth noting that, if you’re in Dubai, you can access the Ahlan First Class lounge in Terminal 3 Concourse D – which is better than the Ahlan lounge which won the award – via DragonPass.

This lounge is used by a lot of airlines for their First Class passengers and has free flowing champagne and a la carte dining.  You can read more about that in this HfP article.  It does not accept Priority Pass unfortunately.

If you have been to any of the lounges above, please let us have your thoughts in the comments below.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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.

Category

General

Comments (35)

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

  • G says:
    26 Mar26 March 06:58

    Primeclass lounge in Muscat has to be worth a shout. They have 8 rooms that can be booked out on Priority Pass for a maximum of 6 hours. Great for an overnight layover.

  • SammyJ says:
    26 Mar26 March 07:39

    Can anyone advise whether I’m likely to get access to the LHR T5 Plaza Premium for 4 people with a Dragonpass? It would be 2pm-ish on May bank holiday Monday- not sure if that’s a busy or quiet time? I’m so used to being turned away at London airports!

    • Polly says:
      26 Mar26 March 07:56

      Is it not possible to pre reserve like priority pass? It’s annoying having to precook, but at least you get to use your pass. With the PP again, turn Away’s are more and more frequent, so they stress this £5 reserve fee..sucks…

      On lounges, Prague, Dublin, Bordeaux all awful. No hot food, floppy rolls or sandwiches. PP should have minimum standards at least, that each lounge should adhere to.

      • Rob says:
        26 Mar26 March 07:58

        Plaza was always totally empty until they did the tie-up with NatWest. Now less so. However 2pm is not exactly peak so you should be OK.

        • Graham Walsh says:
          26 Mar26 March 08:56

          I still prefer it in there to the BA lounges. However no chicken wings last week, but the Green Thai curry was very nice.

        • Leo says:
          26 Mar26 March 12:09

          Just out of interest – what’s the Aspire like in T5 these days? I use the PP with Amex so I’ve never tried the Aspire.

          • Alan says:
            26 Mar26 March 12:58

            Was appalling when I last tried it. Queued out the door, almost no seats and poor food. The Edinburgh one is far better in comparison!

    • Nathan says:
      26 Mar26 March 08:59

      2pm-ish may be OK, I was in on Friday from 1-3 and it was only half full. That said, it is quite small and the seating very much geared to solo travellers. The food, best non-F in T5?, and the view of the planes make it worth the attempt though IMHO.

  • Matt B says:
    26 Mar26 March 08:00

    Slightly OT but lounge related – I have ‘acheived’ platinum status via ebookers and so have 2 free lounge passes through lounge buddy. However for the life of me cannot see how I can redeem them! Can anyone help?

  • Bootlace says:
    26 Mar26 March 08:42

    Bravo Aberdeen, great food, very homely (for a lounge) and a very impressive whisky wall.

  • Graham Walsh says:
    26 Mar26 March 08:54

    Can’t remember which lounges I’ve been to in DXB. Would have been PP where VS or Emirates fly out of. Don’t remember any of them being memorable. Plus it’s usually early in the morning for flying back to the UK so all breakfast stuff.

  • Nathan says:
    26 Mar26 March 09:14

    I’d give an honourable mention to the ‘Airport World Lounge’ lounge at MUC, it’s modern, clean, spacious and split over two floors, the food is above average, beverages of std premium brands, free-flowing local bubbly, and it’s opposit the BA gates in T1 too. The reviews of the BA Galleries lounge, humourously bad, meant we didn’t even think of seeking it out.

    On the downside, despite Munich gathering Best Airport accolades, the passport control on departure (why??) was of Stansted level efficiency. Added to which, premium passengers were ‘fast tracked’ past a closed window and expected to push in at the head of a very long queue of economy customers! It was a bit awkward but I thought it hilarious given the number of British and Irish tutters in the queue, the sharp-elbowed Romanian grandma directly behind, but soon in front, made me laugh audibly, which probably endeared me even less to the queue members 🙂

    • Lumma says:
      26 Mar26 March 15:25

      There’s no BA lounge in Munich any more. The world lounge is for BA premium customers now

  • Doug M says:
    26 Mar26 March 09:46

    I did LHR-MIA with Virgin last year, and was impressed with the Virgin Clubhouse in Heathrow. However the Delta lounge in MIA was rubbish. Small space and huge queue to get in, which I eventually ignored, as clearly the entry staff were fully occupied rebooking people. No meaningful food. I’d say if you average the two lounges, either end, you’re far better off with BA/AA than Virgin for all the general love affair with the Clubhouse.

  • J says:
    26 Mar26 March 10:04

    I think when you say take it with a pinch of salt, that should be a bucket of salt. On my recent visit to SATS Premier Lounge, Terminal 3, Singapore Changi International Airport recently, it was appalling…. dirty and no food replenishment. Qatar use it and even the check in lady was embarrassed to say it was being used and said it was only slightly better than Dnata T3 in Changi which they used before which was shocking. It would be interesting to see how many votes a lounge needs to get Highly Commended?

    • Gail says:
      26 Mar26 March 22:43

      Ditto re Changi lounge. A complete joke. Changi gets such good publicity but I found it to be a small low quality shopping mall with nothing to offer besides hype.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!