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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:

Gold Guest List British Airways lounge guests

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

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 (April 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

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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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

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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.

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Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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

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 Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (201)

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

  • Andrew S says:

    O/T bits:

    I have an offer on my Amex Platinum charge card for shop small, 27/3/19 to 12/5/19. Spend £10 get £5 statement credit.

    Not on my Amex Platinum companion credit card.

    • Louise says:

      Nothing on my cards, strange if it’s starting today? Any link to map?

    • Shoestring says:

      interesting! not on my Gold yet & nothing on the Amex Shop Small site

      that’d be a nice 7 week availability as well – shame for those who have just cancelled cards for 2 years, though 🙂

      • The Original Nick says:

        I seem to have lost all my saved offers on all cards and only have one offer of refer friends. I’m sure I had around 30 saved offers.

    • BJ says:

      +1 but on my nectar card but none of the others.

      • paul says:

        i have it on 1 of 4 cards only, but annoyingly not on the one i need to spend on 🙂

      • Freddy says:

        Shop small is on my SPG but not on the wife’s gold card yet

      • Shoestring says:

        I’ve got a hunch they release these to cards in chunks of alphabet/ surname, so worth checking later. Not on our SPG either.

    • E says:

      On my husband’s Platinum but not my additional card on his account. Not on our BA or SPG cards either.

    • The Streets says:

      I have a feeling it’s on AMEX cards that have been open for more than 4+ months

      • Shoestring says:

        Gold is 16 months old – no offer though…infamy,infamy, Amex got it infamy 🙂

      • Chas says:

        Not on my (or Mrs) various BAPP, Gold or SPG cards, several of which have been open longer than 4+ months.

        @Shoestring – my surname is towards the beginning of the alphabet, so unless they are working backwards I’m not sure your hunch is correct.

      • Liz says:

        Not on our BAPP and SPG which I’ve held for months.

      • BJ says:

        I think they have likely gone to cards with little recent activity.

        • Liz says:

          Not that theory either – currently using the BAPP but not used the SPG for a couple of months – nowt on either! And I so love a good small shop promo!

    • The Streets says:

      The participating shops are anything but small! Nandos, Pret, Costa? All my usual local favourite Independent places aren’t showing this time.. most pubs are though!

      I wonder if i can visit different nandos and still get multiple half price chicken?

      • Shoestring says:

        it’s not once per offer type, but once per outlet – always was in the past – so yes, you can

        but does that mean you can see a map? in which case pls post link

        • Barry says:

          Terms say:
          Only one £5 statement credit per UK Card.

          Doesn’t look like this can be used multiple times.

        • Shoestring says:

          oh right, nothing to get too het up about then if they missed me out

        • The Streets says:

          Just spoken to AMEX and they tell me “The eligible merchants can be found on the Map and multiple charges can be made”.. only way to find out is to test it out!

        • Lumma says:

          Is that not just a map of everywhere that accepts amex?

    • Russ says:

      Others on our Gold CC:
      Radisson
      Emirates
      Jimmy Choo

    • LewisB says:

      My Beer54 offer was spend £24 and get £18 back. £24 is the cost of a case with delivery.

    • stevenhp1987 says:

      Not on any of mine or my wife’s supplementary cards 🙁

    • Alan says:

      Not on my Plat but now have Europcar/Hertz/Avis!

  • JP says:

    Is Do&Co on the Atlanta route?

  • Josh says:

    Does the Do&Co changes improve the First catering as well?

  • Callum says:

    Good, I can’t say I was a big fan of the last meals I got in Club World. Granted vegetarian isn’t generally very good anyway, but I think pasta in white sauce (not cheese – just plain white sauce) and garden peas for dinner, followed by a lump of unflavoured soggy tofu in an unbuttered white roll for breakfast is a bit ridiculous!

  • Chris Huggett says:

    5 guests ? So the already heaving BA lounge at T5 is going to become even more overcrowded! Soon it will be quieter in the main terminal.

    • Shoestring says:

      but it was already hard-tested a couple of times at peak holiday, so presumably there aren’t enough GGLs flying with 5 others to make a significant difference

    • Nick Burch says:

      GGL already get to give out 1 gold and 2 silver cards a year, so it must be fairly rare to be travelling with guests who you haven’t given your partner cards to!

      (Time it right and you can give out 2 gold and 4 silver effectively… nominate people just after a new membership year for them and they get 23.9 months!)

  • Peter says:

    Part pay instead of Pay pay at the top of the paragraph.

  • Chechire Pete says:

    Must be a reason why only GGL from the trials, as I got the targeted email many times last year as just Gold. Didn’t use it once however! Not sure what that told them and how they analysed the data.

  • Ian M says:

    Are all Club Europe routes Do&Co now? I’ve done Warsaw, Barcelona and Budapest in recent weeks and they were all Do&Co.

    • Matt says:

      Do&Co pudding or the whole meal?

      • AndyF says:

        I’ve recently come back form Rome (Two weeks ago) and they were using Do&Co desserts. Im not sure about the meal however.

      • Ian M says:

        Good question, certainly Do&Co pudding, but just thought in which case the whole meal must surely be Do&Co?

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