The Cardiff Airport lounge has pulled out of Priority Pass and Lounge Club
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The 51 Degrees lounge at Cardiff Airport has withdrawn from Priority Pass, Lounge Club and Mastercard’s LoungeKey – the three airport lounge schemes runs by Collinson.
This was effective as of 1st October.
DragonPass, which is not part of the Collinson empire, is not impacted. The airport website does say, however, that “only bookings made via Cardiff Airport guarantee access to the lounge – access with Dragonpass is subject to availability.”
It isn’t clear why this happened. One possibility is that the daily Qatar Airways service, which departs at 4pm and so requires lounge space between the usually off-peak hours of 1pm and 4pm, has led to overcrowding. It may, of course, also have been due to a falling out with Collinson over money.
We have an updated reader review of the Cardiff Airport lounge ready to go which we will hopefully run next weekend. It seems that fewer of you will now get a chance to try it out, however.
The airport lounge page of the Cardiff Airport website is here, although it doesn’t add much to what I wrote above.
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.
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