Which British Airways European lounges are open?

During the pandemic, British Airways has been quietly cutting lounge access at many of its European destinations. This has not been well communicated to customers who often did not find out until they were turned away at the lounge door.

Most of the lounges used by British Airways are still open, so anyone with a Priority Pass can usually still get access. Some HfP readers have been frustrated to see Iberia passengers getting access whilst BA passengers do not.

There is no proof that these cancellations are permanent. We have already seen BA adding back lounge access at domestic airports such as Jersey as travel has picked up. Bologna has returned to the list in the last couple of days, for example.

The latest official position can be found by checking the oneworld alliance lounge access page here. When looking up a lounge you need to look for British Airways to be listed under the ‘Airlines’ heading.

Flyertalk has also put together a crowd sourced list of which BA lounges are currently open. You can find it in this thread in the wiki part at the top. You will also find information there on lounges outside the UK, but treat the oneworld website as the most accurate source.

As of last night, the oneworld website showed that the following European airports had lounges which were accepting British Airways passengers:

• Alicante
• Athens
• Barcelona
• Berlin
• Bologna
• Brussels
• Copenhagen
• Frankfurt (JAL flight days only)
• Gibraltar
• Gran Canaria
• Ibiza
• Istanbul
• Lanzarote
• Larnaca
• Lisbon
• Ljubljana
• Madrid
• Malaga
• Malta
• Moscow
• Nice
• Palma
• Prague
• Reykjavik
• Sofia
• Split
• Tenerife
• Thessaloniki
• Tirana
• Valenica
• Venice
• Warsaw
• Zagreb
• Zurich

There may be other lounges which have begun to accept BA passengers again but which have not been picked up yet. Check the oneworld website link above for the official line and please post in the comments if you spot any.

The ‘open’ list is slightly eclectic – Spain-heavy, probably due to the Iberia relationship, with some huge omissions. The one I use the most – Hamburg – is gone, for example, although Priority Pass remains valid.

If you want to secure lounge access for an upcoming trip, you can get a Priority Pass for free with the American Express Platinum card. Both the main cardholder and one supplementary cardholder receive a Priority Pass, and each card admits two people for free.

This means that you can get a family of four people into a lounge for free, as many times as you want if both the main and supplementary cardholder are travelling together. There is NO LIMIT to the number of lounge visits you can make for free.  Our full review of Amex Platinum is here.

You can also get a ‘two free visits’ Priority Pass if you apply for American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. As Amex Gold is free for the first year, this is an easy way of getting totally free airport lounge access for a couple. Further visits after the first two free ones are charged at £20. The Amex Gold route is by far the easiest option for a one-off trip.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

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.

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.