DragonPass removes your ability to buy $10 airport lounge passes via RED by Dufry
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Back in January, we covered one of the most popular deals we have ever written about.
You could, by using a code to give yourself 30 days of trial Platinum membership in the RED by Dufry duty free loyalty scheme, order unlimited airport lounge passes for $10 (£7.80) each via DragonPass.
This included the Plaza Premium Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 which is NOT available via Priority Pass or Lounge Club. Even better, the passes were refundable if you ended up not using them.
One thing was not clear at the time. Your Platinum status in the RED by Dufry scheme was only valid for 30 days. What would happen at the end of that period? Would DragonPass remove your ability to buy $10 lounge passes or would it be valid for a year?
We now know the answer. If you log into your DragonPass account, you will see that you can no longer buy $10 lounge passes. You are now required to pay $27 per pass.
In some cases, $27 is still a decent deal – it is cheaper than booking Plaza Premium in Terminal 5 directly. It clearly isn’t the same as paying $10 though!
For clarity, the lounge passes you bought for $10 are still in your account and safe to use once travel resumes.
(EDIT: We have now got to the bottom of this. RED has cancelled the $10 lounge deal for Platinum members, whether on a free trial or having earned their status the hard way, and is making all members pay $27. This doesn’t make any difference to HfP readers but at least we now know why it happened.)
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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