No1 Lounges increases its reservation fee for Priority Pass airport lounge card holders
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No1 Lounges has increased its reservation fee from £5 to £6.
There is, however, still an option for getting it for £5 as I will show you.
The majority of No1 Lounges locations, which include My Lounge and Clubrooms, are part of lounge card schemes such as Priority Pass (currently 10% off), Lounge Club, DragonPass and LoungeKey.
Our main Priority Pass review is here if you don’t know anything about it.
The problem is that No1 Lounges are a victim of their own success. At peak times, especially at London Gatwick, is has become very difficult to get in as a ‘walk up’ guest. A lot of airlines have taken to using No1 for their premium passengers, which means that the space available for lounge card scheme guests is reduced.
To get around this problem, No1 Lounges allows you to reserve a slot. This guarantees that you will get entry on the day.
The fee for this is now £6. To be fair to No1, your £6 also gets you Fast Track Security at Gatwick, Birmingham and Edinburgh which makes it better value.
Whether it is worth paying £6 is up to you. People who have paid cash for a Priority Pass are understandably aggrieved to be asked for extra money. People who receive a Priority Pass card via American Express Platinum or a Lounge Club card via Amex Gold (2 free passes) may see it differently.
I am assuming that overcrowding at Gatwick South has dropped sharply since the new Club Aspire lounge (review here) opened last year, and promptly won our ‘Best Independent Airport Lounge 2019’ award. You can also still claim £15 credit at The Grain Store cafe.
Gatwick North also has other Priority Pass options (Aspire, My Lounge) and does Heathrow Terminal 3 (Club Aspire).
You can reserve No1 Lounge access for £6 via their website here.
However …. if you have a Priority Pass, you can still reserve for just £5 via this page of the No1 website. I’m not sure how long it will remain at £5 via this link, however.
How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (March 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.
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive a huge 120,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Platinum by 9th April 2024. You receive 80,000 points for spending £12,000 within 90 days and a further 40,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
American Express Business Platinum
Crazy 120,000 points bonus (to 9th April) 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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