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British Airways lounge at Edinburgh Airport to close on Sunday for refurbishment

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The British Airways lounge upgrade programme, which has recently seen the Heathrow Terminal 5B lounge get an overhaul and new furniture added to Galleries First, is heading north.

The (surprisingly large) BA lounge at Edinburgh Airport will close on Sunday for three weeks for refurbishment.

This isn’t a bad lounge – the sheer size of it means that you can usually find somewhere quiet to sit and there is enough variety of furnishings to keep both business and leisure passengers happy.

Our 2022 review of the British Airways Edinburgh lounge is here – we might pop back after Christmas to see what is new.

British Airways could not confirm which lounge would be used as the alternative, although it appears to be the Aspire lounge by Gate 4, as this is currently unavailable for cash bookings. Our recent 2023 review of the Aspire lounge by Gate 4 (there are two Aspire lounges so make sure you head to the right one) is here.

If you have a Priority Pass airport lounge club card, I would recommend the Plaza Premium lounge (review here) instead which is a far more pleasant space.


Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2025)

Here are the five 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 1,500 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

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee 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 – 30,000 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 £290 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 good package, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

Got a small business?

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum which has the same lounge benefits as the personal Platinum card:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

You should also consider the Capital on Tap Pro Visa credit card which has a lower fee and, as well as a Priority Pass for airport lounge access, also comes with Radison Rewards VIP hotel status:

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits 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 (107)

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

  • Jill Kinkell says:

    Still waiting 3 weeks later after submission. Impatient, moi?!

  • Chris says:

    Surely BA would do themselves a favour if they responded to claimants and told them how long the waiting list is likely to be. The worst thing is thinking your claim is lost or ignored, etc, for week after week.
    Of course it would be much better if BA employed enough staff to deal with customer service issues in a timely manner. The company seems incapable of putting right their many failings which are obvious to all .

  • Paul says:

    My recent claim took 12 hours! I’ll count myself lucky.

  • dk says:

    Which is the best airline to fly from London to avoid bullshit like this? I’d rather have an inferior hard or soft product during my flight than having to deal with shit like this. Is Qatar airlines any good if things go wrong?

    • Rob says:

      You get nothing off Qatar for issues flying back as they are not an EU/UK airline. Would only pay when flying out of Europe.

  • Shaun says:

    BA lounge has gone downhill….staff used to be great, now average. Space was large but Fixtures are v tired & desperately need upgrading. Used on Thurs am and all coffee machines ‘broken’…..food not great…. I’m not hopeful for the other options given how busy they are now likely to be….

  • fresher says:

    Qantas LHR-PER 24 hour delay EU261 claim from early August 2022 finally settled in May 2023

  • Andrew J says:

    Flight in June, downgraded to Euro Traveller – still waiting for compensation.

  • AJA says:

    Part of the issue with delays in settling is that BA changed the system that handles the claims and now there are new reference numbers used. So potentially some claims might have fallen in the cracks.

    If you have a claim reference number you can query its progress via the chat bot. It may not make BA pay out sooner but at least you know it’s still in the system.

    Also the simpler and more concise the claim the easier it is for BA to deal with. Don’t use emotional language and don’t include unnecessary details.

    It is also often better to claim separately for compensation and make a second claim for expenses.

    Plus with downgrade reimbursement it helps to use the correct terminology – do not claim for downgrade compensation. Also depending upon the distance of the flight it sometimes makes more sense to claim some Avios rather than the cash.

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

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