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The Club Aspire airport lounge in London Gatwick’s South Terminal is finally open

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According to a press release I got on Friday, the long-awaited Club Aspire lounge at Gatwick South (the British Airways terminal) was due to open at midday yesterday.

This lounge has suffered from excessive delays – it was due in early 2019.  It is taking over about 2/3rd of the old Virgin Atlantic lounge – the other 1/3rd became MyLounge, which has been open for months and which we reviewed here.

Club Aspire lounge Gatwick South now open

This is a much needed lounge.  If you can access the British Airways lounges then you’re fine (see my review here of the EXCELLENT new BA Gatwick lounge complex).  If you are relying on Priority Pass etc, your only option has been the No 1 Lounge (reviewed here).  The problem is that No 1 Lounge runs to 100% capacity most of the time and you are unlikely to get in unless you pay £5 to reserve a slot.

Priority Pass seems to be deliberately not working with Gatwick South’s MyLounge.  Collinson, the company behind Priority Pass, is also a 50% shareholder in Club Aspire lounges and probably wants to drive traffic there.

If we’re lucky, the Priority Pass crisis at Gatwick South is now over.

But what’s it like?  Good question.  All we know is:

“The lounge is split into three main zones: a business area with workstations; a quiet lounge and rest area with an amazing view of the runway; and a dining area next to the servery and bar. Travellers have access to a seasonal self-serve buffet selection of hot and cold food; an extensive range of non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks; charging points; complimentary newspapers and magazines; and unlimited WiFi to stay connected.”

I intend to check it out in the next couple of weeks and will report back.

In the meantime, you can find full details, and book places for cash, on the Aspire website here.  The website says it opens tomorrow, but apparently it is open today.

Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2024)

Here are the four 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 1,300 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

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit 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 – 20,000 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 £195 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 huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients 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 (116)

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

  • Jovanna says:
    29 Sep29 September 05:24

    I was looking at the IC Phuket last weekend and I priced up a 5 night stay. The ‘Stay In The Moment’ rate was available but when I went to book on Tuesday it wasn’t there as an option. I didn’t see the rate again yesterday, when I did book.

    I booked 3 nights using the rate ‘Extend A Night On Us’ and 2 nights under their ‘Launch Package’. It worked out only a few quid more than the Stay In The Moment rate. Both the rates that I booked include breakfast and one has a 40000 THB restaurant, bar or spa credit.

    • John says:
      29 Sep29 September 05:55

      Are you sure about that last figure?

    • BJ says:
      29 Sep29 September 06:08

      Remember you will have 17% tax and service charge to apply locally. And I don’t know if they are still at it, but it used to be IHG hotels in Thailand would hit customers with additional person charges starting with the second person. This was actually shown in the rate rules but easily missed as here we are so used to booking a room for 2 and the price being quoted being the total for max 2 or up to 4.

      • Jovanna says:
        29 Sep29 September 08:28

        Yes, a zero needs knocking off!

        When I checked the total (and not just the rate), it included 10% additional charges per night not shown in the rate and an additional tax of 8.7%. The overall total was £16 more compared to the overall total of Stay In The Moment.

        The rate rules say maximum number of persons per room allowed – 3 person max. I can’t see anything else.

  • BJ says:
    29 Sep29 September 05:57

    With too many fake status holders flying economy, and everybody from bloggers to groupon and MLewis promoting them, lounges have largely become unpleasant experiences. Much better these days to sit in an empty gate area with a sandwich and a drink at times in many airports.

    • Benylin says:
      29 Sep29 September 10:11

      What’s a fake status holder?

      • BJ says:
        29 Sep29 September 11:07

        Somebody (like me sometimes) who gets status by doing little or nothing to earn it.

        • Peter K says:
          29 Sep29 September 13:26

          How do you get fake airline status which seems to be what you are suggesting? Surely you have to buy tickets thus it’s not fake status!

          • BJ says:
            29 Sep29 September 18:36

            Just meant people getting status simply, through likes of cheap Qatar flight or hotel status match as oppised toghe hard way of frequent flights or stays.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            29 Sep29 September 22:33

            But it’s not fake it’s just playing the game

            Also let’s be honest what’s the harm if they aren’t frequent fliers or stayers they won’t be there taking the benefits.

  • Bebo says:
    29 Sep29 September 07:54

    What on earth is Marriott bonvoy UK number. They listed a 00800 1927 1927 number which my mobile doesn’t seem to connect to. Found an 0207 number which doesn’t work. Am I being unreasonable wanting a UK number for a company operating in the UK grr

    • Colin MacKinnon says:
      29 Sep29 September 08:16

      No. It is a disgrace that a company the size of Marriott doesn’t have a local number for the UK.

    • BJ says:
      29 Sep29 September 08:20

      0207 012 7312

    • RussellH says:
      29 Sep29 September 10:17

      Website says 00800 2282 1000. I just phoned it – it goes through to “Marriott Bonvoy Elite Service”. I did not take it any further., so no idea if it actually connects to the Cork office just as 020 7012 7312 has done for years. They must have just dropped this number very recently it is not that long since I last used it.
      PS (In complete telephone numbering pedant mode) – there are no 0207 (or 0208 or 0203) phone numbers. They are 020 numbers – London, like Coventry, Cardiff, Northern Ireland, Portsmouth and Southampton – has 8 figure numbers starting with 3, 7 or 8. If you are dialling within London you do not need the 020, but you do need the 3, 7 or 8, as they are an intrinsic part of the number!

    • Nick_C says:
      29 Sep29 September 11:34

      00800 numbers are international freephone. But they are only free from landlines!

    • John says:
      29 Sep29 September 12:05

      00800 is “international freephone”. You can connect to it using Skype (might need to set it to USA)

    • Waddle says:
      29 Sep29 September 13:35

      Try 020 3564 6335?

  • AndyGWP says:
    29 Sep29 September 08:00

    Shoestring – MoreThan has landed for me today – thank you

    • BJ says:
      29 Sep29 September 08:26

      If you are over 50, there is also a couple of cheap £100+ options to be had from each of the two biggest over 50 providers. Direct though, not at the place you are just referring to.

    • Alex M says:
      29 Sep29 September 13:36

      For how many months did you have to pay direct debit before getting this result?

      • AndyGWP says:
        29 Sep29 September 13:52

        I had my (calendar) reminder to cancel it in July – I left it running though (but will cancel shortly!)

        • Alex M says:
          29 Sep29 September 14:28

          And when did you start paying? I started in may and the status on the dashboard is “payout – 36 weeks”. Does it really take 9 months?

          • Anna says:
            29 Sep29 September 15:50

            I am wondering that as well! I know they don’t want people cancelling policies but it does seem excessive. I had a payout from an annual motor insurance police within days.

          • AndyGWP says:
            29 Sep29 September 15:50

            Took out policy Jan… 1st payment was in Feb

  • Roger says:
    29 Sep29 September 08:14

    Has anyone seen Europcar £1 offer from Airport to Cities / Town?
    I can only find it to airport, not from airport.

    • Shoestring says:
      29 Sep29 September 08:44

      You’ll have to be more specific as to what your starting point is & where you want to go. There are plenty of routes which are *not* to LHR or Gatwick

      eg Guildford or London Edgware to Luton Airport/ Birmingham Airport

      Simple enough to get public transport from the airport into Luton or B’ham town centre or environs

      • Shoestring says:
        29 Sep29 September 08:55

        and HertzOne is doing a few non-London-centric £1 deals such as Newcastle to Birmingham/ Manchester/ Stansted

    • Genghis says:
      29 Sep29 September 09:41

      Isn’t the whole point of this deal for punters to drive cars back to the airport that the co would otherwise have to do themselves?

    • Charlieface says:
      29 Sep29 September 10:08

      See also https://www.driiveme.co.uk/

    • RussellH says:
      29 Sep29 September 10:18

      Surely the whole point of the £1 offers is to get cars back to an airport from the wilds of wherever?

  • ELT says:
    29 Sep29 September 08:49

    O//T BA meals allowance on cancelled flights.
    Yesterday Shoestring said £25 per meal.
    Fraid not.
    BA paid our hotel in full . Marriott gave breakfast free on a special promo but bill made clear the cost for their tax purposes.
    So BA took that amount (around £20) as part of our £25 PER DAY meal allowance.
    I queried with BA and they said if we had been able to fly at midday they would have given us up to up to the £25 just for brekkie but tough luck that we needed to find all meals for 2 days in an expensive place.
    Do people think it.s worth pursuing?
    Thanks

    • Shoestring says:
      29 Sep29 September 09:04

      I get a lot of my information from this thread https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1948451-2019-ba-compensation-thread-your-guide-regulation-ec261-2004-a-77.html – where you’ll find very compo-knowledgeable frequent flyers – you could try asking your question there.

      It’s not reasonable to expect somebody stuck in a hotel or airport for 24hrs to survive on £25/ day for 3 meals.

      The EC261 regulations don’t specify an upper £ limit or any guidance, ie the only thing that matters in law with your duty of care claim is to be reasonable.

      BA compo CS agents are trained to knock back claims as much as possible, so if you get a first or second refusal, you should always challenge it and insist on getting any justified refund of duty of care expenses or flight compo. If you have spent (say) £20 on breakfast and £25 on lunch – and duty of care applies – I can pretty much guarantee BA will refund this if you took it to MCOL (it wouldn’t go that far as BA would always pay up if threatened by MCOL).

      • Sussex Bantam says:
        29 Sep29 September 10:26

        Shoestring is correct (as usual). The Airline has a duty of care to you – the £25 per day figure is one made up by BA to answer questions from pax about how much they can spend.

        You have a responsibility to act reasonably so no slap-up 7 course meals but if BA put you in a hotel it is perfectly reasonable to eat your meals in that hotel. BA might not agree in the first instance but no court would find against you.

        • Lady London says:
          29 Sep29 September 12:03

          All you have to provide is you paid the reasonable cost in that location for any mealtime you were délayée though plus reasonable nonalcoholic refreshments.

          If they put you in a hotel then of course you would eat there and cost should be taken as reasonable. After all it was BA’s flight change that pût you there in thé first place.

          For a fact, £25 would be hard to stick to at Heathrow or Gatwick if 3 meals are part if your delay.

          Look online at thé various menus or photo them in your phone as évidence of comparative charging.

          If hotel has no other food outlets near walking distance then that strengthens your case (not that it needed strengthening). Otherwise i think they should be made to pay your transport to and from reasonable meals as well. But i dont think that is in the regulations.

          Dont let BA bully you with their automatically forthcoming first refusals. BA took away part of your holiday or inconvenienced you in your business trip. Do what’s reasonable and go to money claim if you have to.

          • Shoestring says:
            29 Sep29 September 12:33

            yep if breakfast in the hotel is an automatic £20, try asking them how you’re supposed to survive on £5 for lunch & dinner???!!! 🙂

          • Lady London says:
            29 Sep29 September 13:07

            Exactly. The response from BA assumes the poster is an idiot. The poster is not an idiot and has the support of EU261. Dont let yourself be “bullied by BA”. If you do have to threaten mcol remind them that they will be paying your fee to file the claim plus 8% statutory interest from 1 week after your last expense incurred.

            To accelerate this either get 3 refusals from them, or say you are going to mcol so request them to state in writing this is their final answer. Évidence of 3 refusals should be enough. But for refinement, if they havent provide an email that this is their final answer, just send them an email headed ” Letter before Action” and lay out the mcol intention and costs above giving 14 days for the money to reach your account otherwise you will file an mcol.

            Personally i’d be annoyed enough to do this for a différence of £20 or £30 as they will end up paying all your costs plus think of how many people British Airways is getting away with lying to, wearing down and bullying.

    • ELT says:
      29 Sep29 September 14:26

      Thanks everyone, I will pursue.
      Tho to be honest we were quite happy with extending our trip for the 2 extra strike days.

  • Jerry says:
    29 Sep29 September 09:10

    OT – Amazon assistant £5 offer
    Had this installed for a week and a credit offer has never been seen in the app. Is there something special I need to do to receive this?
    Guru Shoestring?

    • Shoestring says:
      29 Sep29 September 09:28

      It only worked (the £5 desktop app) in 4/8 of our 8 Amazon family accounts. (All 8 are genuine family members.)

      However, the other 4 qualified for the £10 mobile app offer. Both are apparently for first time installations, though I’m pretty sure it was second time around for some of our a/cs. So we got £60.

      With the £5 desktop app offer, all you can do is install it and wait a few days, check daily. With the £10 mobile app offer, you can immediately check eligibility, google [hukd By signing into the Amazon App for the first time between 18th September 2019 and 31st December 2019] and hit Get deal

    • avstar says:
      29 Sep29 September 10:25

      assuming you have triggered the promo by checking in over 5 different days – the promo will be auotmatically applied to your next order sold and fulfilled by amazon (ignore what the assistant says about waiting for promo to be addingin 48 hrs). you seee see for yourself by taking a suitable basket to the payment stage in checkout

  • xcalx says:
    29 Sep29 September 10:03

    OT Monese card.

    Saw in the comments someone mention a free trial for the £14.95 plan. Is this still available, also if I choose this plan is there a minimum term I have to keep it.

    Thanks.

    • Mark2 says:
      29 Sep29 September 11:04

      I used ‘1MONTHFREE’ or ‘ONEMONTHFREE’ and then reverted to basic at the end.
      But I found it so useful that I now pay £14.95 most months.

      • BJ says:
        29 Sep29 September 11:12

        So you’re getting no grief from Brighton despite the warnings from others on Thursday?

        • DANIEL MACDONALD says:
          29 Sep29 September 11:30

          Warnings?

        • rams1981 says:
          29 Sep29 September 11:59

          I’ve just used it for the first month after reading mark2 (I think) post about it a month or so ago. As a premium. I was referred so got £15 from Monese so for me felt like a free trial.

          I topped it up at post office (up to £500 per visit) and co-op (generally £200 plus any little items I needed) and all seems to have gone through fine without query YET. Need to revert to free plan now as I’ll be away for 2 weeks in October but when I’m back will go back to premium for another month.

        • Mark2 says:
          29 Sep29 September 17:35

          Brighton see Coop, Post Office etc. They do not know that you are loading Monese.

      • xcalx says:
        29 Sep29 September 12:11

        Thanks, that was the answer I was hoping for. Will change to £14.95 for a month, then I am away for 3 weeks then hopefully back onto it.

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