Luton Airport to get two new lounges, but loses the Aspire lounge

London Luton Airport is in dire need of additional lounge capacity, and it looks like it will be getting it next year.

No1 Lounges has announced it is taking over the existing Aspire Lounge as well as the former Clubrooms lounge, which has not re-opened since the pandemic. They will be rebranded as MyLounge and No1 Lounge respectively.

No1 Lounges is owned by Swissport and Collinson. These two companies also jointly own the Club Aspire brand, whilst Swissport wholly owns Aspire. Apparently No1 won a competitive tender for the contract, which means it presumably beat its 50% shareholder’s solo bid!

The Aspire Lounge was last refurbished in late 2020, so it seems odd that Collinson and Swissport have decided that it would be better off with another new look under a different brand.

Goodbye Aspire, hello MyLounge

The new MyLounge will take over the larger Aspire space, which has room for 155 guests. MyLounge is the ‘value’ brand from No1 and tends to feature a smaller selection of food and drink than you’d find in a No1 Lounge.

Given that Luton is a low-cost airport, it makes sense to open a larger space for MyLounge – although MyLounge isn’t exactly cheap these days if you pay to get in, priced at ‘from’ £30. Pre-pandemic you could buy access for £15 during promotions.

That said, Aspire (which is closer to No1 in terms of standards) never had any problems attracting custom and was often oversubscribed. When I tried to get in on Monday with my Priority Pass I was turned away.

The new No1 Lounge will take over the former Clubrooms lounge which we reviewed in 2019 just after it opened. This is smaller, with capacity for 70 people, and has remained dormant since it closed.

The No1 Lounge is scheduled to open at the end of the year, with working starting any day now. It’s not clear how much of a refurbishment this will get given that the Clubrooms space is likely to still be in fairly good condition.

Work on MyLounge is due to begin after that and “should be ready” by summer 2024, although lounge projects are rarely on time due to the logistics of building airside. According to the press release, this includes a “complete refurbishment” so it is likely that the Aspire will close for several months before the MyLounge opens in its place.

If that’s the case, the lounge situation at Luton Airport is going to be very crowded in the first few months of next year. Only the 70-seat No1 Lounge will be open with about half the capacity of the existing Aspire lounge. On the upside, you should be able to pay the £6 reservation fee to guarantee a slot in the No1 Lounge via Priority Pass.

We will, of course, take a look at both on your behalf when they open.

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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.

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 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.

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