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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)

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  • Richard T says:

    Is there a lounge that BA passengers can use at Berlin Brandenburg?

    • Rob says:

      The Tempelhof Lounge. Situation is dire at BER – there’s not even a Priority Pass lounge.

    • ChrisC says:

      Yes but it’s in the Schengen area near gate A20 so once you’re through security and in the departures hall don’t go up a level to the C/D gates and clear passport control into the non schengen area as yo won’t be able to access it.

      • Andi says:

        Yes and there’s an empty dedicated passport control through the back of the lounge so you don’t need to go through into non-schengen until the last minute. Good views of the runway from the lounge though – floor to ceiling windows etc.

  • Dominic Barrington says:

    I flew through AMS in May and breakfasted in the Aspire Lounge. Frankly, I thought it was fine. It is light and spacious, and was not crowded when I was there. Indeed, I rather suspect that to some extent it mirrors the now closed BA lounge, given they are adjacent. While I agree that a BA-owned/managed lounge with BA staff has to be preferable, the AMS Aspire was one of the better non-BA lounges I have experienced since the pandemic.

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

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