Priority Pass and Plaza Premium kiss and make up – you can access Plaza lounges from today

The long running dispute between airport lounge card group Priority Pass, and leading independent airport lounge operator Plaza Premium, has been settled.

Starting today, you can access 63 Plaza Premium lounges with a Priority Pass or LoungeKey card.

This includes the Plaza Premium lounge at London Heathrow Terminal 5, which has never accepted Priority Pass in the past. Image below.

Whilst I don’t have any inside knowledge of the settlement, I do know that the original dispute centred around money. Primarily, it centred around the fees that Priority Pass paid to lounges which Plaza Premium felt were too low.

(You may remember that No1 Lounges also quit Priority Pass before the pandemic. It only returned when the company went into administration and was bought by a sister company of Priority Pass.)

Plaza Premium was happy working with DragonPass (which paid more) and American Express via The Platinum Card. It also felt that it could sell capacity itself, either via direct sales to customers or via deals with holiday companies and airlines.

It isn’t clear what has changed. One possibility is that Priority Pass was concerned to see DragonPass picking up contracts in the UK (eg NatWest Black, Barclaycard) due to DragonPass having a broader UK network. I can’t imagine that it hasn’t agreed to pay more per visit.

Whatever the reason, Plaza Premium and Priority Pass are now friends again.

Whilst this is good news for Priority Pass cardholders, it isn’t necessarily good news for American Express Platinum or DragonPass cardholders. Plaza Premium lounges, whilst never empty, were usually emptier than their Priority Pass-accepting equivalents. This will no longer be the case.

When are Plaza Premium lounges rejoining Priority Pass?

39 lounges go live TODAY, Tuesday 6th June.

The remaining 24 lounges go live on Tuesday 20th June.

Importantly, the lounges which go live today include all of the UK ones:

• Plaza Premium Heathrow Terminal 5, reviewed here

• Plaza Premium Heathrow Terminal 2, reviewed here, image above

• Plaza Premium Heathrow Terminal 4, reviewed here

• Blush by Plaza Premium Heathrow Terminal 4 (no HfP review yet)

• Plaza Premium Gatwick North, reviewed here

• Plaza Premium Edinburgh, reviewed here, image below

You can see a list of the 63 participating lounges, together with their entry date, on this page of the Priority Pass website.

Note that all of the Plaza Premium UK arrivals lounges are permanently closed.

How can you get a Priority Pass or LoungeKey card?

Here are four options to get a Priority Pass or LoungeKey airport lounge access card via a UK credit card.

Remember that Amex Gold is free for the first year and comes with four airport lounge passes.

You can see all 1,300 lounges available in the Priority Pass network on its website here.

Credit cards which give airport lounge access include:

• 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. Additional lounge visits are charged at £20.  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. You can apply here.

• The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder, allowing unlimited free visits. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

• If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead. Our American Express Business Platinum review is here and you can apply here.

• HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network (a slightly smaller version of the Priority Pass network).  Guests are charged at £20 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.

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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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (September 2023)

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 Plaza Premium, Delta Air Lines and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

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.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey 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.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.