Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

You can now pay for entry at the Qantas Heathrow Terminal 3 airport lounge

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

According to Executive Traveller, Qantas has opened its very good Heathrow Terminal 3 lounge (review here) to paying customers.

You do not need to be flying Qantas, oneworld or any particular cabin class: it is open to anyone passing through the terminal.

It costs £55 which is, needless to say, a lot. Despite its reputation as one of the best lounges in Heathrow you may baulk at the cost.

Qantas lounge hEATHROW

Apparently, Qantas is treating this as a trial. The lounge remains empty for most of the afternoon, since Qantas only flies from London at midday and just after 8pm. There is a good six hour slot between these two flights where one flight has departed and passengers for the second have not yet arrived.

£55 is a little steep compared to the No1 Lounge (review here) and the Club Aspire lounge (review here), where £20-£25 can often get you access if you find the right deal.  That said, it is an impressive space.

My bigger question is over how Qantas intends to market it.  It can’t promote it to its own passengers who don’t have access, since the lounge is already busy over those periods.  It has no easy way of reaching other passengers flying out of Terminal 3 – short of sticking a big sign on the door saying ‘come on it, it’s only £55’ ….

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

oneworld alliance partners

Comments (96)

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

  • Neil Donoghue says:
    30 Oct30 October 11:38

    Has anyone had any luck using the Wheely promotion more than twice on their Amex cards? I was going to give it a try this afternoon and see what happens

    • Dev says:
      30 Oct30 October 11:49

      Yes. Worked fine on my BAPP. Two trips to LHR and £25 refund received for each on my online statement. Takes 4-5 days.

      • Dev says:
        30 Oct30 October 11:50

        Apologies I just realised that you said more than twice! No I didn’t do that but might give it a go next week before the offer ends.

        • Neil Donoghue says:
          30 Oct30 October 12:47

          Cheers Dev, I will let you know tomorrow! The offer worked fine for me as well but I didn’t receive any email to say the offer triggered

    • Louise says:
      30 Oct30 October 18:10

      No joy here, I got the two lots of £25 cash backs but the third time I used it nothing 🙁 oh well!

      • Neil Donoghue says:
        30 Oct30 October 21:27

        Thanks Louise! Used it tonight and the charge has gone through…Let’s see if I get the £25 back

  • xcalx says:
    30 Oct30 October 12:34

    OT Monese card

    Am I right in thinking that the £5000 monthly limit relates to pay point transactions only and PO transactions have no limit per month just the £500 at any one time.
    From Monese TCs

    Cash top-up via Post Office Per transaction £5 £500 £5 £500 £5 £500

    Cash top-up via PayPoint Per transaction n/a £249 n/a £249 n/a £249
    Per day n/a £500 n/a £500 n/a £500
    Per week n/a £2,500 n/a £2,500 n/a £2,500
    Per month (30 days) n/a £5,000 n/a £5,000 n/a £5,000

    Thanks

  • Nick says:
    30 Oct30 October 12:52

    They currently charge BA $80 for every entrant travelling on a BA flight – and that’s at oneworld ‘mates’ rates’. In this context, £55 is a bargain!

  • Philip says:
    30 Oct30 October 14:04

    Re the Accor offer – “In theory, this promo is only valid if you were emailed it directly by Accor.”

    I didn’t get an email and when I tried registering I got the message “Unfortunately, your status does not qualify you for this offer”, and I’ve got Gold status!

  • Darren says:
    30 Oct30 October 14:29

    OT,

    When booking a 241 from the UK to Hong Kong what is the best sequence to save on the charges?
    Outbound online and then call for the return?

    Thanks

    • E says:
      30 Oct30 October 15:33

      Won’t save on the charges that way. You’ll get charged the same if you book both out and back together or one outbound then later one return. You’ll only save if you use the 241 solely for the outbound then book the return as a separate ticket using twice the avios and not linked to the 241.

      • happeemonkee says:
        30 Oct30 October 16:06

        That’s not correct. If you book the outbound only using the 241, you can book the inbound seperately to make use of the lower charges ex HK and phone BA and ask to apply the voucher to the return. You’ll then get 50% of your Avios back. I did this a couple of weeks ago.

        • Darren says:
          30 Oct30 October 16:47

          Ah, I see. Thanks very much.

          • Michael C says:
            30 Oct30 October 18:56

            Yep, did this for a March trip: out to Osaka with the voucher. Reserved the return from HKG with Avios, then rang and the reservations were “linked” and half the Avios returned, no problem.

  • claire says:
    30 Oct30 October 15:28

    O/T Re curve card and ATM withdrawals. I have the basic blue card with a £500 monthly limit for foreign transactions. Does anyone know if the £200 ATM withdrawal limit per month is separate or would be part of this £500 limit. thanks Claire

    • Mr. AC says:
      31 Oct31 October 07:28

      It’s separate unless you’re doing an ATM withdrawal that involves a FX conversion (e.g. Euros from an ATM where the underlying card is in pounds).

  • Daniel says:
    30 Oct30 October 18:27

    Somewhat OT but lounge related. Just got refused into Gatwick No1 Lounge in the South Terminal 30 mins ago, They said: “We are not accepting priority pass at the moment but Club Aspire will let you in.” Bearing in mind this is end of October and Gatwick is pretty much at its quietest time of the year! Very interesting given that they usually say – “We are at capacity at the moment but come back at X time”.

    Anyone have idea what’s going on here?

  • Scallder says:
    30 Oct30 October 19:21

    OT – Nectar double up. You can do vouchers on the app in store through the app but they’re limiting it this year to £100 voucher max this year per account (last year was £200 per account). Hugely annoying as across 2 accounts had been lining up £400 of purchases …grrrrr

    • BJ says:
      30 Oct30 October 19:54

      It wasn’t even £200 in practice last year, store staff seemed to have no way of know if you had already converted £200 and would issue more.

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!