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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.


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.

Comments (82)

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

  • Ant says:

    Hi, is it possible to hold both the Gold and the Green card? I already have the Gold card but want to get the Green one to upgrade to Platinum.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    T&C’s seem pretty clear It’s included with clubrooms Lounge bookings it’s extra if it’s one of the other no.1 brands.

    Across all airports. Gatwick £5 and BHX/EDi – £2

  • TP says:

    OT – Has anyone tried paying for fuel at Morrison’s with one of their plastic gift cards in the last 1-2 days?

    I filled up at my local on Monday and then tried again today – Same member of staff but not possible today.

    • Andy says:

      Did they not know how to use a plastic gift card? Most staff don’t know how to use them. They need to push the “morrisons gift card” button on their screen, then scan it. None have been trained to accept them

      • TGLoyalty says:

        Considering it’s a member of staff that took it a few days back lack of training wouldn’t explain it.

        Though some people have a habit of making up their own rules.

        • Andy says:

          Indeed…I tried a couple of days ago and had no issues although member of staff had never seen one before

  • Dan says:

    Overcrowding in Gatwick South has definitely not been eradicated. At times, you will still get refused from both Club Aspire and No1 and this is during off peak periods. The true test will be this summer when Gatwick gets a lot busier. Club Aspire was opened in Autumn last year so this will be the first summer the lounge will see.

  • Roger says:

    Currently at Heathrow – System issues with complete chaos at T5.
    computer system does not work so manual boarding pass check.

  • Benilyn says:

    OT: VA free credit card statement came through, points capped at 0.75pts * credit limit. Bit annoyed as I never got an email / letter about points getting capped…
    I guess it is what it is…

    • Dan says:

      If you’ve been following HfP you would have seen Rob’s on this…

      • Benilyn says:

        I have seen this, I was just holding a small hope given I didn’t get the email or letter I may have been excluded…

        • Lady London says:

          It’s a significant negative change to your ts and c’s so if you’re comfortable putting your head above the parapet go for it, ask them innocently why then when they explain be adamant you weren’t notified and the required.notice period should apply

          Onus is on them to prove you received notice not on you to prove you didn’t.

    • bob says:

      I guess it depends how much you are missing and how much you put through Revoult?

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

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