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British Airways closes its Amsterdam lounge

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I’m not sure if this was already officially confirmed or not, but London Air Travel (which seems to be written by a senior BA employee who has access to internal documents) has now reported the formal closure of the British Airways lounge in Amsterdam.

The closure was already informally announced. When the Singapore lounge reopened a few weeks ago, British Airways said that ‘all of our lounges are now open again’. Since Amsterdam was still closed at that point, the inference was clear.

British Airways closes its Amsterdam lounge

The British Airways lounge backs onto the Aspire lounge at Schiphol, so it is possible that the two will be knocked through to create a bigger space.

BA passengers have been using the Aspire lounge, which has effectively blocked this lounge for Priority Pass users since it is now at capacity for much of the day.

There are now just three British Airways lounges in Europe, at Geneva (review here), Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino.

Heaven knows what sort of strategy is at work here, especially as Amsterdam is one of the busiest British Airways destinations and it is up against KLM and its massive Crown Lounge, reviewed here.


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 (47)

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

  • Wally1976 says:

    Pedant alert – “There are now just three British Airways lounges in Europe” – surely the UK lounges are in Europe too!

  • JandeW says:

    Yet another reason for not using BA Club Europe on this routing, if you don’t have status.

    • ChrisC says:

      What?

      If you are in CE with no status then you still get access to the aspire lounge.

  • Charles Martel says:

    Any chance it becomes a shared Oneworld lounge for American, BA, Cathay, Finnair, and Qatar or has this idea been dropped?

    • Nick says:

      Finnair and Iberia would struggle, given they fly to Schengen destinations. Without then, the volume of flights falls significantly.

    • Marcw says:

      Problem wit oneworld in Europe is that Finnair and IB are in Schenghen. The whole oneworld business lounges, for a small alliance like oneworld, its very difficult.

  • Paul says:

    Moving passengers from their own lounges to third party lounges isn’t good for customers. Since BA shut the lounge in Manchester and pushed passengers to the airports Escape lounge, I’ve been denied entry a number of times due to the lounge reaching capacity. This has been when travelling in Club Europe or in economy just on status. Brushed off the first couple of times as maybe teething troubles but then complained to BA as it kept happening, to be told lounge access can’t be guaranteed etc etc. It’s not good enough.

    • Lady London says:

      BA needs to stop marketing lounges as provided for status and with Business Class tickets then, if this is going to continue.

      • meta says:

        Just take them to MCOL for breach of contract, even if it is for £30. I did once send LBA when refused access on CE ticket. We agreed that 2000 Avios was a good settlement.

        However, this was at the time when BA used to be very good at customer service and recovery. I remember the times when post-flight survey was sent after every flight. Whenever I filled and complained, I would almost immediately get a phone call from BA with an apology and some Avios thrown in.

  • T says:

    Do these companies not employ PMO these days?? I mean, every single release they do is absolute shambles in delivery! Surely a go live has” and it will work” set as an objective?

  • sxparkin says:

    Passed through the airport recently in last 2 weeks- the sign in the BA lounge alluded to ‘working to improve the lounge’ eg it was being refurbished – BA logos/signs etc were still there – may that has changed and it is now really closing ? The Aspire lounge was dreadful no seats, no one wearing a mask (personal choice I know), Priorty Pass folk being declined entry as per article, found a nice quiet spot in Starbucks downstairs with recliner seats overlooking the runway !

  • Dubious says:

    I don’t have an Amex Platinum, it my Amex Gold is showing minimum £100 spend get 12% off…at Swetty Betty…

  • Howard0181 says:

    We have two Platinum Business cards because we are both Over 70 and key issue is travel insurance. Was hoping the dining offer would launch on business Platinum!!

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

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