Review: The Spitfire Lounge at Southampton Airport

This is our review of The Spitfire Lounge at Southampton Airport.

As part of my tour of Southampton Airport last week, I got to spend some time in The Spitfire Lounge. This is run by the airport directly and not contracted out.

This is part of our series of reviews of airport lounges across the UK. You see all of the reviews here.

The lounge was last refurbished in 2018 when it became The Spitfire Lounge, before that it was called the Breeze Priority Lounge. It will look familiar to anyone who has been to the Northern Lights lounge in Aberdeen as both airports, as well as Glasgow, are owned by the same group.

The lounge was very quiet when I arrived at 2pm. The first guests started arriving around 2:30pm, ready for the next bank of flights around 4pm.

Who can use The Spitfire Lounge?

A sign just outside the lounge lists eligible passengers. This includes:

• British Airways Silver / Gold cardholders, when flying BA
• British Airways Club Europe passengers

The lounge can also be accessed with Priority Pass and DragonPass.

When is it open?

For the first time in a long time, the lounge is now open daily. The current hours are:

• Sunday to Friday: 05:00 – 19.30
• Saturday: 05:00 – 17:00

Where is The Spitfire Lounge at Southampton Airport?

The Spitfire Lounge is about as far as you can get from the terminal gates. That’s ok, though, because the airport is tiny!

Once you exit duty free, follow the signs and head up the stairs:

On your way, you’ll pass a Costa Coffee with views of the runway and the airport restaurant called The Olive Tree.

Walk through the restaurant to the doors at the back, and keep following the corridor until you reach the entrance:

It’s not the most luxurious arrival as you have to walk through what appears to be a service corridor.

Inside The Spitfire Lounge

It’s a different story as soon as you step in, however. There is a person at the entrance to check your boarding pass or scan your Priority Pass / DragonPass.

Beyond this the lounge is split into two rooms which are roughly identical:

The lounge has seating for approximately 50 people, largely across groups of armchairs such as this:

and

As you can see, the skylight in the terminal building floods the lounge with light, although you only get views of baggage reclaim down below – perfect for some people watching!

The first ‘room’ features a small buffet serving snacks, hot and cold drinks and some alcohol.

There is also a staffed bar, should you want anything more than a beer or some wine.

The second ‘room’ is virtually identical, but is a bit quieter because it’s not near the entrance and doesn’t have a servery or bar.

Food and drink in The Spitfire Lounge

The Spitfire Lounge operates on a hybrid buffet-a la carte system. The buffet features simple snacks such as bowls of crisps, olives and muffins:

There is table service for everything else, including more substantial meals and drinks. There is a breakfast menu and a lunch/dinner menu, although in reality you can order from either.

The breakfast menu includes:

• Artisan bacon roll
• Artisan sausage roll
• Artisan vegan sausage roll
• Porridge

The lunch menu features:

• Soup of the day
• Macaroni cheese
• Chili Con Carne
• Vegan Penang curry

Although it was lunch time I went for the bacon roll. I was surprised by the size of it:

The bacon was excellent – fresh and crispy. The food is all made freshly next door, in the kitchen of The Olive Tree restaurant.

When it comes to drinks, wines, beer and basic spirits are included, although you’ll have to pay for a glass of prosecco or premium gin (from £5, according to the menu).

Conclusion

Let’s be honest: you don’t expect a small airport like this to have a lounge as good as The Spitfire Lounge. In fact, I’ve been to many larger airports with significantly worse (or smaller) facilities.

Whilst the range of food on offer isn’t huge, the fact that it is a la carte and freshly prepared gets a big thumbs up from me, and my bacon roll was excellent.

One thing to note is that there are not a huge number of power points to charge devices – something to be aware of should you need a top up.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (September 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 1,500 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.

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

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

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 £290 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.