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British Airways and Priority Pass lounge issues in Amsterdam

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The British Airways lounge at Amsterdam Schiphol was closed during the pandemic.

(Given the number of flights from Amsterdam each day, it does make you wonder if British Airways intends to close all of its non-London short haul lounges as the leases come up for renewal. What is left now? Edinburgh, Glasgow, Geneva, Milan, Rome …. any others?)

When the British Airways lounge in Amsterdam closed, passengers were sent to the Aspire lounge next door. This resulted in the chaos that you would expect, since the Aspire lounge was already running at capacity much of the time.

British Airways and Priority Pass lounge issues in Amsterdam

The Aspire lounge is undertaking substantial building work. The good news is that there was talk of knocking through into the old British Airways space which should help relieve capacity issues. Whilst there is no guarantee that this will happen, it is hard to understand why it is planning a long closure if we were just talking about a coat of paint.

It isn’t exactly clear what is going with access:

  • the lounge is not bookable for cash for any future dates
  • the Priority Pass website still shows the lounge as open
  • the oneworld alliance lounge directory still shows the lounge as available but also says that BA passengers – and only BA passengers – can head to Cafe Flor where you will presumably get some freebies in return for showing your boarding pass

Hopefully we should get some clarity over the next few days.


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.

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