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British Airways Gold Guest List members can now take five guests into airport lounges

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British Airways has announced that Gold Guest List members (see this article for how you get to become Gold Guest List) can permanently bring five guests into a lounge.

This has been trialled over recent school holiday periods and clearly went well.  It will not be a total free for all though:

all guests must be travelling on the same flight, but not necessarily the same booking

at busy periods you may be told to use Galleries Club instead of Galleries First

Gold Guest List British Airways lounge guests

it does not allow Concorde Room access

it only applies at British Airways lounges

it only applies when flying on BA and not a partner airline

the full party can use the First Wing in Terminal 5 but at all other departure points, including Heathrow T3 and Gatwick, additional guests must use the standard security line

It remains to be seen how much with leads to increased overcrowding.  During school holidays this benefit was generally used to bring in children, but with it opened up to a ‘year round’ benefit we may find more business travellers bringing in a group of colleagues.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (October 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

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

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (197)

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

  • HeathrowFlyer says:

    Current routes with Do&Co:
    ABV
    ACC
    AMM
    BEY
    CAI
    DME
    HKG
    JFK
    LOS
    NBO
    SVO
    TLV

    • HeathrowFlyer says:

      Ex-LHR, at least

      • illuminatus says:

        Hmm, not one but both Moscow airports there, some preferential treatment no less!

        • Alex Sm says:

          ‘Cause BA now sends one of its A321 services to SVO instead of DME. To get it covered either way. A long-haul a/c (B777 or B787) will still go to DME

    • Michael says:

      Any reason why those particular routes are selected? Just seem quite random. You think it would be a phased roll out over the US East coast routes first.

      • Alex Sm says:

        I think it’s because A321 fleet is still serviced differently within BA and it was easy to do it as a group rather than pick certain routes with mixed fleet

    • Graham Walsh says:

      I’m sure I had Do&Co coming back from AMS last week. It was the logo on a chocolate button on the dessert. Veg option was just a few leaves. Terrible. Pre Order looked like a nice plate of noodles.

  • Binks says:

    OT – I have just had the shop small offer come up for my platinum card. It starts today and Ryan through to early May. Longer than the two week December window. Ts&Cs state can only be used once per card – not sure what that means? Restricted to one shop small transaction per card or per merchant – language is confusing.

    “Only one £5 statement credit per UK Card.”

    Any thoughts?

    • Mark2 says:

      ‘One £5 statement credit per UK Card’ sounds very clear to me!

      • Binks says:

        Disappointing if that is the case …. was hoping for something similar the Dec offer – use across as many merchants as you want – limited to one merchant per card. Still can’t have everything.

  • fivebobbill says:

    O/T – A real shot in the dark here, has anybody stayed at the Doubletree Hilton in Minsk!?
    Have a 4 night stay coming up in June, haven’t booked a hotel yet, but most are fairly cheap.
    Doubletreee however isn’t, although it does get No 1 on Tripadvisor.
    I’m wondering if it’s worth the extra, and as a Gold HH Member, how I might expect to be treated re room upgrades, type of breakfast etc.
    My intention would be to pay for a standard room…

    • Pangolin says:

      I know Minsk and by common consensus that’s the best hotel in the city. I haven’t stayed there personally (just the Hampton and Renaissance) but next time I go I will definitely check it out.

      The Renaissance is nice but the location is much worse than the Double Tree, so for a first time visitor I think the Double Tree is a no-brainer.

      • fivebobbill says:

        Thanks for this Pangolin, any info at all on Minsk is very welcome!
        It’s actually a bit of a “lad’s away” trip this one, over to watch Northern Ireland play Belarus in the Euro’s, so fine dining etc won’t be a priority 🙂
        Other than bed and breakfast I can’t see us spending much time there, which is why I was looking for info on upgrade and brekkie possibilities.
        However the Doubletree location as you say looks a plus, close to the main sights etc, just hope there are a few pubs in the vicinity as well … 🙂
        All tips and pointers most welcome…

        • Pangolin says:

          Minsk is a fun place – some decent bars and restaurants and of course the prices are much lower than Western Europe (but still shockingly high for most Belarusians!). Just explore round the centre and see what takes your fancy.

          Also, when you arrive at the airport remember to pay at the separate kiosk for the medical insurance cover just before you present your passport (once you’ve gone through passport control it’s too late). It’s only about 3-4 euros but is super important to have if anything happens to you (take Euros in cash to pay as they don’t normally take cards). I got sick in Minsk once and a doctor had to be called out by the hotel – the insurance certificate saved me enormous trouble and meant I didn’t get billed any charges. Also, carry your passport at all times, rather than leave it in the hotel (driving licence definitely won’t suffice).

          Minsk itself is super safe and clean, with lots of gargantuan Soviet architecture for those Instagram pics. Belarusians are very different from Russians and Ukrainians, and they are famous for their love of civic order and devotion to cleanliness. They often seem more like Germans than anything else. What that means is be exceedingly careful not to cause a public nuisance or throw litter around, or act like a drunken thug (!). The police will leave you alone but if you give them any reason to get involved you will definitely regret it. One guy used the eternal flame of the WW2 monument to light a cigarette and got 2 years in prison for it!

          Try to use the Metro at least once also… and watch out for those Belarusian gals! 😀

        • fivebobbill says:

          Great info Pangolin lol, will save this and take it all on board…
          Looking forward to meeting all those ga…… monuments 🙂

        • Shoestring says:

          Yeah well watch out for the one where some amazing good-looking Belarusian…monument, far better than your station & far better than you ever…visited before in your life, finds you cool, sophisticated, funny, charming and wants to spend the evening drinking with you, though next let’s go to a really nice bar I know.

          Where buying a round of drinks will end up costing you $300-400 or more, enforced by some I-workout guy & his mate you really wouldn’t choose to mess with.

        • fivebobbill says:

          You obviously missed the bit where I said I was from Northern Ireland mate 😉

        • John says:

          That description of Belarusians sounds nothing like Germans!

      • fivebobbill says:

        Anyway, c’est la vie,,, so did you enjoy yourself otherwise? 🙂

        • fivebobbill says:

          Sorry Shoestring, that above post was supposed to be above yours.
          However, glad you lived to tell the tale, as they say over here… All part of your education mate 🙂
          Back to money then, is it to be the Belorussian Rouble or the Euro for beer Pangolin?

  • Mikeact says:

    OT/Bits. I’ve been out all day but I received an email overnight from United Airlines. Whilst this news probably won’t apply to the majority it may be interesting to some.
    Basically they are lowering the starting rate for domestic routes, not all, but many, starting at 5000 miles. Some are linked to specific credit cards, but most are open to all members. Some are also early or late departures which is to be expected.
    It may be interesting to see how this pans out…..will the competition sit up and take notice ?
    It’s certainly a bit of first to see an airline lowering redemption requirements, albeit by a small amount….at least I can get rid of my smallish amount some time.

    • marcw says:

      Delta does that already. Just booked JFK to SEA for 5000 skypesos.

      • Mikeact says:

        Lucky you. I’ve just looked on my Delta account for the same run I need to do next October. I can’t get below 10500 miles , plus €5.60. I still have a chunk of miles frozen in time for life, so I might try for a one way flat bed instead.

      • Mikeact says:

        Forgot to ask…can you elaborate a bit more…..booked through Delta…what day are you travelling ? Try as I may, I can’t find any oneway mileage deals at that level.

        • marcw says:

          Yes! No problem. I was looking for a redemption on Avios or Delta (MR transfer). What I noticed is that Delta – sicne they moved to a revenue based system- it is very dynamic. So one day was available, after 3 days no, then again it appeared. You have more chances getting a cheap redemption if you travel Tue-Wed-(Thu). I’m flying on the 26th April (fri) – but was lucky to get it. Now you can find for 6000 skymiles on the sema date, but for 6000. I think* your travel dates are too far ahead to get some cheap redemptions on delta.

        • marcw says:

          BTW, I booked this past monday, and transferred some MR points – the transfer was done very quick (log out and log in)

  • rams1981 says:

    OT any other options similar to revolut which offers credit card top up with no cash advance fees and ability to make bank transfers?

    Had my 5th revolut stop for checks and wonder st what point they’ll stop me using it.

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