Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

And the Priority Pass 2024 ‘Airport Lounge of the Year’ Excellence Awards go to ….

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

After a multi-year covid-induced hiatus, airport lounge network Priority Pass has brought back its ‘Airport Lounge of the Year’ awards and unveiled the 2024 winners.

Whilst it is easy to take such awards with a pinch of salt, the fact that the Priority Pass ones are based on reviews from cardholders does give them credibility.

The global winner this year is none other than the Vienna Lounge at Vienna Airport, which I reviewed last year.

The headline of my review was “Is this the best independent lounge in the world?” Clearly, my views are shared by Priority Pass users who, I am told, voted for the Vienna Lounge by a wide margin.

Priority Pass airport lounge of the year

To quote Priority Pass:

“Since being refurbished in 2022, the Vienna Lounge offers a great variety of amenities for solo travellers, families, and those flying for business. With its Viennese cafe offering sweet treats and a buffet, comfortable seating in natural lighting, workstations, a collection of art and views out onto the airport stands, corridors and runway. ”

Here is what I had to say in the conclusion of my review:

“It is hard to convey how impressive the Vienna Lounge is, although I have tried!

This is, fundamentally, the best independent airport lounge I have ever tried and I would be surprised if it isn’t one of the best globally. The quality of the finishes, the upkeep and the design is exceptional. It feels like it opened yesterday, despite having over 800,000 guests over the past year.

It is head-and-shoulders above the windowless Plaza Premium lounge at Heathrow T2, which has won top spot in the “World’s Best Independent Airline Lounge” awards for six years in a row.

If you are flying through Vienna Airport, I highly recommend you take a look.”

The award was handed over at a ceremony in Vienna last week, and Priority Pass invited me down to join them.

Here are the other regional winners:

Asia Pacific

  • Winner: Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club, Terminal 1, ‌Hong Kong International Airport, ‌Hong Kong
  • Highly Commended: Oriental Club Lounge, Terminal 2, ‌Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, ‌Taiwan

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Winner: Advantage VIP Lounge, Curitiba Afonso Pena International, Brazil
  • Highly Commended: Macondo Lounge, Barranquilla Ernesto Cortissoz International, Colombia

Middle East and Africa

  • Winner: Petra Lounge, Amman Queen Alia International Airport, Jordan
  • Highly Commended: Primeclass Lounge, Muscat International Airport, Oman (Rob was in this lounge last October and agrees with this award)
  • Highly Commended: Bidvest Premier Lounge, International Terminal A, Johannesburg O.R Tambo International, South Africa

North America

  • Winner: VIP Lounge Aguascalientes, Jesus Teran Peredo International, Mexico
  • Highly Commended: Escape Lounge, S Terminal A, Syracuse NY Hancock International, United States

The only other lounge on this list I have been to is the Marco Polo lounge in Venice. Whilst this is a lovely lounge, it doesn’t get close to the quality of the Vienna Lounge. Still, it is a deserved second place for this location.

Next time I am in Hong Kong I will have to check out the Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club, which won in the Asia Pacific category.

Pioneer of the Year

For the first time, Priority Pass has introduced two additional categories, one for lounges and one for lounge staff.

The first is ‘Pioneer of the Year’ for lounges which “champion unique and innovative services and solutions that help to improve the overall traveller experience.” There are four winners, one in each of the geographic regions:

  • Primeclass Lounge, Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport, Turkey   
  • AMAE Lounge, Argentina   
  • Hacienda Santa Lucia by The Grand Lounge Elite, Felipe Angeles International, Mexico  
  • Gameway, Terminal 3, Los Angeles CA – LAX International, United States  
  • The Coral Finest Business Class Lounge (Cocoon), International Concourse C, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand  

All Star of the Year

The third category rewards stand-out staff from lounges around the world, again with winners from each geographic locale. This is a lovely idea that recognises the hard work of many lounge staff.

Here are the winners:

  • Miss Phatsalawan Narapornkitirat, Miracle Lounge, Domestic Concourse D, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand 
  • Anita Ganska, Preludium Lounge, Terminal A, Warsaw Frederic Chopin, Poland  
  • Danielea Potes Flechas, W Premium – 5th Avenue, Terminal 3, Sao Paulo Guarulhos International, Brazil   
  • Ghulam Sarwar, The Lounge, Sharjah International, United Arab Emirates  
  • Silvia Villatoro, Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse, International Terminal A, San Francisco CA International, United States  

PS. If you are reading this but are not a regular Head for Points visitor, please consider signing up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters. They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and deals to improve how you travel. To sign up, visit this page of the site or click any of the ‘Subscribe’ links on this page. Thank you.

Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (January 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

50,000 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 – 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 £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.

Category

General

Comments (37)

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

  • John says:
    21 Apr21 April 08:27

    “Plaza Premium lounge at Heathrow T2, which has won top spot in the “World’s Best Independent Airline Lounge” awards for six years in a row.”

    Scratching my head, seriously. Whist it was OK before Covid, the food offering is now somewhere between bad school dinners and your worst all-inclusive nightmare.

    • tony says:
      21 Apr21 April 09:23

      Yep, only used that T2 lounge once back when Flybe were going to Guernsey and it was less than impressive. Think that was before they took PP as well – we had to use Amex platinum.

    • The Savage Squirrel says:
      21 Apr21 April 09:27

      Don’t forget that windowless bunker”feeling for the full experience.

  • Throwawayname says:
    21 Apr21 April 08:33

    The VCE lounge is very decent, but the Pau Casals (Schengen) lounge at BCN is on a different level.

    • Boaby says:
      21 Apr21 April 09:04

      The food is all cold in BCN, it doesn’t even come out hot.

    • daveinitalia says:
      21 Apr21 April 09:49

      I’m no fan of the VCE lounge, only been there in the morning and don’t like having to queue for a bottle of water.

  • Chris Jones says:
    21 Apr21 April 08:44

    I love this lounge and as I live in Austria I use it a lot.

  • Stuart says:
    21 Apr21 April 09:20

    From the previous article is says BA uses this lounge, however from the OneWorld lounge checker it says the Sky Lounge in terminal 3. Can anyone confirm?

    • SteveCroydon says:
      21 Apr21 April 11:16

      This is the link to Vienna Airport’s lounge page. Apparently BA still uses The Vienna Lounge.
      https://www.viennaairport.com/en/lounges

    • Scottpat78 says:
      21 Apr21 April 16:49

      We were there at the start of the Easter break. You do indeed use this lounge flying back to LHR.

      It is in the Schengen area though, so once you leave this lounge you go through passport control into the gates that BA uses for going back to UK / non Schengen. Took us 10 mins to get through.

      We don’t look for a lounge near to our departure gate as we had timed it well for the boarding to commence by the time we got through.

  • Tom R says:
    21 Apr21 April 09:40

    The fairly new Chase Sapphire lounge at BOS is by far the best one I’ve been in so far. Great cocktails and some really nice food options and a decent view over the apron. Granted you can only access once with PP without paying a fee.

    • Tom says:
      21 Apr21 April 11:48

      Interesting! First time I’ve come across this condition in a PP lounge.. I’m heading to BOS in Oct, might need to give this a try (not sure it’s worth paying the $150 to take 2 kids in though when we have access to the BA lounge…)

  • BBbetter says:
    21 Apr21 April 12:13

    “It is head-and-shoulders above the windowless Plaza Premium lounge at Heathrow T2, which has won top spot in the “World’s Best Independent Airline Lounge” awards for six years in a row.”

    I am not sure ‘windowless’ is such a drastic drawback. Sunlight is nice, but I would take predictable lighting anytime, especially when the purpose is to relax.

  • David says:
    21 Apr21 April 12:33

    The LATAM one at Bogota (used on IB J flights) was brilliant. Good selection of food. Orange juice machine, the ones that squeezes the actual orange down. Healthy corner. Very impressed. PP can go in but some time restrictions.

  • John says:
    21 Apr21 April 12:45

    The PP lounge at Ljubljana was among the better ones I’ve been in. Trolley case storage, outdoor terrace overlooking the apron, fresh salads, cheeses, pastries, cakes, Slovenian sparkling wine, clean loos, daylight.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 50,000 bonus points (worth 50,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 20,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!