Plaza Premium lounge reopens at London Heathrow Terminal 5

There is some good news for anyone travelling through Heathrow Terminal 5 in the next few weeks.

The Plaza Premium lounge, which is by far the best of the two independent lounges in the terminal, has just reopened. The website states opening hours of 6am to 5pm.

Our last review of Plaza Premium Heathrow Terminal 5 is here.

The only snag is that the lounge does not accept Priority Pass or Lounge Club cards. It does accept DragonPass.

It also accepts American Express Platinum charge cards. Whilst the Priority Pass that comes with Platinum will not get you in, you WILL get in by showing The Platinum Card itself. This is due to a separate global deal that Amex has with Plaza Premium.

If you don’t have any of these cards, you can also book a slot for cash via the Plaza Premium website here.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (March 2023)

As a reminder, here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a 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 Plaza Premium, Delta Air Lines and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

Until 30th March 2023, the sign up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to 120,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. T&C apply, see the application forms for details.

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 £20.  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.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network.  Guests are charged at £20 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.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.