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London Stansted reopens Fast Track passport control and The Escape Lounge

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If you are flying into London Stansted in the near future, you may be keen to hear that the Fast Track lane at passport control re-opens on 27th July.

The cost is £7 per person.

I would normally consider such a service to be poor value for money, especially as it is possible that you could walk into the arrivals hall to find no queue at all.

Stansted reopens Fast Track passport control and lounge

In the current circumstances, however, it may be £7 well spent. If there is a risk of facing a 2-3 hour wait to get through passport control, which is not unlikely once Amber List travel resumes next Monday, it could be a good investment. I will be flying into Stansted on the 27th July, as it happens, so I may well give this a go.

Fast Track passport control at Stansted can be booked here.

The Escape Lounge is also reopening

An extra piece of good news from Stansted is that The Escape Lounge is scheduled to reopen next Tuesday.

The lounge website here is accepting bookings. You can also use Priority Pass or other lounge club cards.

Our latest review of The Escape Lounge is here. It isn’t the greatest lounge in the world, but Stansted’s main concourse isn’t hugely enticing either.

Cash bookings, from £19.99, can be made here.

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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

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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

General

Comments (23)

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

  • DaveP says:
    13 Jul13 July 06:06

    Can you use Billhop for paying HMRC a CGT liability (or part of it)? I appreciate the 2.95% charge may be high on such a payment but might be worth it to reach a spending target. Would using BA Amex through Billhop get you Avios?

  • Ryan says:
    13 Jul13 July 06:38

    Perhaps it may change in the very near future, but the F&B offering at Stansted just now is even less appealing. We were there last week, and many units remain
    closed including The Windmill (Wetherspoon), Joe and the Juice & The Camden Bar

    • Memesweeper says:
      13 Jul13 July 08:29

      Even at its peak the F&B in the lounge was abysmal. I can’t imagine it’s improved.

  • Waribai says:
    13 Jul13 July 07:15

    The fast track at LHR T5 used to be only for non-UK passport holders. Is it still the case?

    I am trying to think of ways to avoid the 2-3 hour wait with the kids this summer and we are both silver card holders. So, I thought that might be one way round it!

    • Arnie says:
      13 Jul13 July 09:50

      You could use City Airport and on the way back book the private jest terminal it works like a dream. But of course limited destinations unless you transit in Europe.

      • Rob says:
        13 Jul13 July 10:00

        There is no-one arriving into City anyway. I was first off the plane from Gibraltar and literally the only passenger in the airport when I was through passport control (which took 30 seconds).

  • Yorkieflyer says:
    13 Jul13 July 08:05

    Escape lounges can’t be pre booked when using PP

  • Yorkieflyer says:
    13 Jul13 July 08:07

    I wonder whether MAN passport fast track will be opening?

  • Greg Caplan says:
    13 Jul13 July 08:18

    The other way for an SME to get Amex MR points on HMRC payments (PAYE, VAT and Corp Tax) is via Amex fx payments. Despite the fx name you CAN make payments to UK entities for a fee on a sliding scale of 1.0 to 1.25%. The payment comes via DD from your business bank acct, and deposits 1:1 MR points to your Amex card of choice once a month. It needs setting up in advance though.

    • Colin JE says:
      13 Jul13 July 09:15

      This sounds like a cracking method Greg. Perhaps Rob can do a separate article on how this works, but in the meantime can you give a few pointers? I’ve got a £4k target with Amex for a Plat upgrade and would like to advance pay my tax at HMRC. Your method sounds cheaper.

      • Jonathan says:
        13 Jul13 July 09:34

        Doesn’t help with card bonus targets as you have to pay Amex via BACS as I understand it.

      • Rob says:
        13 Jul13 July 10:02

        Er, no, because Amex takes the money from your bank account. It never goes near your card.

      • Greg Caplan says:
        13 Jul13 July 21:24

        As Rob says, this won’t help you with your card target as it takes the money by BACS, but you can certainly earn a lot of MR points with it.

  • J says:
    13 Jul13 July 10:03

    The last time we flew from Stansted we arrived at the airport over 2 1/2 hours before the flight and still ended up being the plonkers who only board when everyone else is strapped in (bag drop and security both took over an hour). If I ever return, £7 each is a no brainer.

    • Rob says:
      13 Jul13 July 10:19

      £7 is for passport control WHEN YOU RETURN, not fly out.

      • Sam G says:
        13 Jul13 July 11:48

        They sell that as well, including an “premium route to departures” add on for a further 3 quid !

  • r* says:
    13 Jul13 July 10:30

    Does anyone know if theres any advantage to going to the ryanair checkin desk so they can do whatever covid checks they need to do before going to security or would that not save any time at the gate? Someone suggested a few days ago about doing that for ej I think.

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

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