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How does the Priority Pass airport lounge card work?

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What is Priority Pass? Is Priority Pass worth the money? How can you get one for free?

We mention the Priority Pass airport lounge card quite a bit on Head for Points, but we very rarely go into the nuts and bolts for new readers about how it works.

Today I want to review Priority Pass in detail by showing you:

  • the different types of Priority Pass available
  • which UK airport lounges are part of the scheme

You can find out more, and buy a Priority Pass, on its website here.

Is Priority Pass worth the money?

What is Priority Pass?

Priority Pass is a card membership scheme which gives you access to 1,400 airport lounges worldwide. 

A full list of UK airport lounges which accept Priority Pass is at the bottom of this article. There are only a handful of independent (non-airline run) UK airport lounges which do not take part.

Priority Pass lounges are generally independently owned, not airline owned.  In the UK they tend to be run by brands such as No1 Lounges, Plaza Premium and Aspire or directly by the airport.

There are many places where a Priority Pass gets you access to an ‘official’ airline run lounge. In the US, for example, Virgin Atlantic lets cardholders use its lounges during the day as Virgin Atlantic flights tend to be in the evenings.

Priority Pass is owned by a UK-based group called Collinson.  Collinson also owns a number of insurance businesses and a major loyalty consultancy, and runs the online shopping portals for many hospitality groups including BA and Virgin Atlantic.

Priority Pass offers restaurant and ‘airport experiences’ too

Priority Pass also has deals with selected airport restaurants and other service providers.

Some airport restaurants will offer a £18 credit against a meal if you show a Priority Pass. There are also deals for free treatments with some airport spas or free visits to airport gaming centres.

These offers are NOT available to you if your Priority Pass comes free with an American Express card. Cards provided by other banks such as HSBC do provide restaurant credits.

If you bought your Priority Pass for cash, the £18 restaurant credits are a terrible deal. You are likely to have paid more than £18 per card use based on the number of visits included.

The Vienna Lounge at Vienna Airport

What do the airport lounges offer?

Facilities vary by lounge, as does the quality and scale of those facilities.

As a minimum, you should expect comfortable seating, free wi-fi, free drinks (usually including alcohol, premium drinks may be chargeable) and free snacks.  In the better lounges you will find a full buffet with hot and cold food and showers.

Above is a picture of the buffet at the Vienna Lounge at Vienna Airport which recently won the Priority Pass ‘Lounge of the Year’ award (click to enlarge). The photo below is also from the Vienna Lounge.

Are you guaranteed entry to a lounge?

In theory, you can just turn up at a participating airport lounge, have your Priority Pass card or app scanned, and you will be allowed in.

You can visit multiple lounges on the same day if you wish if you are in an airport which has multiple options.

Some lounges in major UK airports become full at peak times and will not accept ‘walk up’ Priority Pass guests. However, you can now pay a £6 per person fee to reserve a slot in most UK Priority Pass lounges. This will guarantee you entry when you arrive.

You can book a reservation via the Priority Pass app or, for No1 Lounge / My Lounge / Clubrooms / Club Aspire, via this website.

Review: the Vienna Lounge at Vienna Airport

What are the different types of Priority Pass membership?

Priority Pass has three different levels of paid membership as you can see on its website here.

Here are the tiers:

  • Standard membership (£69) – no free visits included, you and your guests pay £24 each time
  • Standard Plus membership (£229) – 10 free visits then £24 for every additional visit or for every guest visit
  • Prestige membership (£419) – all your visits are free, your guests pay £24 each time

When there is an additional charge indicated, you do NOT pay this to the lounge on the day you fly.

What happens is that, when you enter a lounge, your Priority Pass card is swiped and the number of guests marked down.  If payment is required, your stored credit card is charged by Priority Pass at a later time.  No money changes hands in the airport.

Which Priority Pass membership tier is best?

There is no ‘right’ answer here.  It depends on how often you fly and whether you are using airports which have lounges which accept Priority Pass.  You can search the Priority Pass website by airport to find participating lounges.

The Standard Plus membership is the most attractive option for most people.   As long as you hit 10 visits within your membership year, you will only be paying £22.90 each time.  My personal value benchmark is how much a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine would cost in a terminal restaurant versus the lounge access cost – so £22.90 seems OK to me.

It is possible that the Prestige card could be a better deal, but you need to do the maths.  You would need to do 18 lounge visits per year before the Prestige card became better value than Standard Plus.

Standard membership is not huge attractive.  If you made seven or more lounge visits per year you would be better off with Standard Plus.  If you are doing fewer than seven lounge visits, the ‘cost per visit’ of the Standard plan would be so high – given the £69 flat fee and the £24 payment per visit – that I doubt you would be getting value for money.

How does Priority Pass work?

Does Priority Pass have an app?

Yes, and it is a good one, allowing you to easily find participating lounges.

Priority Pass has a digital membership card inside the app which saves you from carrying your plastic card with you.

Can I get a Priority Pass via a UK credit card?

This is the interesting bit.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with TWO free Priority Pass cards.  One is in your name, and one is in the name of whoever you give your supplementary Platinum card to.

Each Priority Pass card admits two people to a lounge for free.  This means that, if you travel with your partner and your partner is your nominated supplementary Platinum cardholder, you can get four people into a lounge between you.

I will repeat this point because it is a little odd:

  • you CANNOT buy a Priority Pass direct from the company which lets you bring in a guest for free, but
  • you CAN get a free Priority Pass via American Express Platinum which does give you one free guest on every visit!

American Express Platinum also comes with other lounge benefits.  You can access Delta airport lounges when flying Delta, selected Lufthansa lounges when flying Lufthansa and, more usefully for UK residents, you can access Eurostar lounges for free. American Express also has its own ‘Centurion’ airport lounges in selected airports, although Heathrow Terminal 3 is the only UK site.

The Platinum Card is not cheap but comes with a LOT of travel benefits.  There is also a fat sign-up bonus for new cardholders.

You can find out more in our American Express Platinum review here.  You can apply for The Platinum Card here.

If you are a small business owner, the same rules apply to American Express Business Platinum.

You can find out more in our American Express Business Platinum review here. You can apply for American Express Business Platinum here.

airport lounge access with Amex Gold

Get four free airport lounge visits with ‘free for a year’ Amex Gold

If you are a light traveller, you might find American Express Preferred Rewards Gold a better deal.

For a start, this card is FREE for your first year but comes with four free Priority Pass airport lounge visits. You can either use these all for yourself across four visits or for you plus three guests for one visit (or, of course, you plus one guest over two visits).

You can four additional free lounge visits each year if you keep the card, albeit there is a £195 annual fee from Year 2. Lounge visits above your four free ones are charged at £24 which is usually a big saving on booking directly with the lounge.

Other options which come with a Priority Pass or its competitor DragonPass include:

  • HSBC Premier credit cards (free entry for World Elite, £24 for the free card)
  • Lloyds Bank World Elite Mastercard
  • NatWest Black current accounts

Conclusion

If you are fed up of sitting in airport terminals but do not have airline status or do not fly Business Class, Priority Pass is the easiest way to access airport lounges across the world.

You need to think carefully about which of the three membership tiers is best for you.  If you always travel with your partner, you may find The Platinum Card from American Express to be a cheaper option.

Of course, you can’t beat the four free airport lounge visits which come with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold, especially as your first year is free.

You can find out more about Priority Pass, and buy one, on their website here.

Appendix – Which UK airport lounges are in Priority Pass?

Here is the full list of UK airport lounges which accept Priority Pass, along with links to our reviews.  There are another 1,400 lounges outside the UK too.

We have NOT listed restaurants at UK airports which give a £18 meal credit to anyone who does not get their Priority Pass from American Express. However, you can find the list in this article.

The Platinum Card from American Express

Bonus: 80,000 points
SPECIAL OFFER

Read our full review

Other information:

  • Two Priority Pass cards, each allowing two people into 1,400 airport lounges
  • Elite status in four major hotel loyalty programmes
  • Comprehensive travel insurance
  • £400 per year of restaurant credit (T&C apply)
  • £50 per half year of Harvey Nichols credit (ends June 2025)
  • Annual fee: £650

Representative 694.9% APR variable based on an assumed £1,200 credit limit and £650 annual fee. Interest rate on purchases 30.0% APR variable.

Apply here
See if you qualify for the 80,000 points sign-up bonus +

You will receive 80,000 American Express Membership Rewards points as a sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card if you spend £10,000 within six months of signing up.

This is a special offer which runs to 27th May 2025.  The standard bonus is 50,000 Membership Rewards points.

Membership Rewards points are hugely flexible.  You can transfer them into Avios, Virgin Points or other airlines (usually at 1:1) or into various hotels schemes, into Club Eurostar or use them for shopping vouchers.

This is the ONLY personal American Express card where you still qualify for the bonus if you already hold a British Airways American Express card.

To qualify for the bonus, you must NOT, currently or in the previous 24 months, have held any other personal American Express card which earns Membership Rewards points.  This includes The Platinum Card and Preferred Rewards Gold.

You are OK if you had a supplementary card on someone else’s American Express account.

You are OK if, currently or in the previous 24 months, you have held any other American Express card, including the British Airways, Marriott and Nectar cards.

For clarity, you can still apply for The Platinum Card even if you do not qualify for the bonus.  You would still benefit from the long list of other benefits.

Learn more about the card benefits +

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with an unrivalled list of benefits for the keen traveller.

Your personal travel patterns will determine which of these is the most valuable.  The key benefits are:

Full comprehensive travel insurance for you, your family and the family of your supplementary cardholder, subject to enrolment

Two Priority Pass cards, each of which allows the holder and a guest unlimited free access to 1,400 airport lounges

Elite status in four major hotel loyalty schemes: Marriott Bonvoy (Gold), Hilton Honors (Gold), Radisson Rewards (Premium), MeliaRewards (Gold)

Access to Eurostar lounges, irrespective of travel class

£200 per year to spend in over 170 UK restaurants (£100 per half year)

£200 per year to spend in over 1,500 international restaurants (£100 per half year)

£50 to spend at Harvey Nichols, instore or online (£50 per half year, this benefit ends on 30th June 2025)

You need a minimum personal income of £35,000 to apply for the card.

American Express Business Platinum

Bonus: 50,000 Membership Rewards points

Read our full review

Other information:

  • Get £200 per year to spend at Amex Travel
  • Two Priority Pass cards, each allowing two people into 1,400 airport lounges
  • Elite status in four major hotel loyalty programmes
  • Get £150 per year to spend at Dell
  • Get £300 per year to spend at job ads site Indeed
  • Comprehensive travel insurance
  • Annual fee: £650
  • T&C apply, 18+, subject to status

This is a charge card, not a credit card. You must clear your balance in full each month.  Annual fee £650.

Apply here
See if you qualify for the 50,000 points sign-up bonus +

You will receive a sign-up bonus of 50,000 American Express Membership Rewards points if you spend £6,000 in your first three months.

Membership Rewards points are hugely flexible.  You can transfer them into Avios, Virgin Points or other airlines (at 1:1) or into various hotels schemes, into Club Eurostar or use them for shopping vouchers.

There are no longer any rules on qualifying for the sign-up offer on this card, subject to hitting the spend target.  If you are accepted and spend the required amount you will receive the bonus, irrespective of what other cards you hold or have recently held.

Learn more about the card benefits +

American Express Business Platinum comes with an unrivalled list of benefits for the keen traveller.

Your personal travel patterns will determine which of these is the most valuable.  The key benefits are:

£200 of Amex Travel credit per membership year

Full comprehensive travel insurance for you, your family and the family of up to five complimentary cardholders, subject to enrolment

Two Priority Pass cards, each of which allows the holder and a guest unlimited free access to 1,400 airport lounges

Elite status in four major hotel loyalty schemes: Marriott Bonvoy (Gold), Hilton Honors (Gold), Radisson Rewards (Premium), MeliaRewards (Gold)

Other benefits include:

£150 of Dell statement credit per year – you receive £75 credit on Dell purchases betweeen January and June and £75 credit on purchases between July and December

£300 of credit to run job advertisements at indeed.com (£75 per quarter)

Digital subscription to The Times and The Sunday Times, worth over £300

You need a minimum personal income of £35,000 to apply for the card.

Terms and conditions apply to all card benefits.

Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Platinum card

Comments (91)

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

  • cats_are_best says:
    4 May4 May 08:10

    In the last few years the ACE lounge has gone from no access issues (whether PP or BAEC) to so full that BA CE pax are turned away. I get there ASAP after check-in, as the ‘full’ sigh goes up not long after BA check-in opens.

    I’d assume the same may become more common at other ‘holiday airport’ small lounges.

  • Paul says:
    4 May4 May 08:16

    The Lomond lounge in Glasgow does not accept walk-ins period! Nor do they take kids under 16 (there is an explanation on their web site) Advance booking is required of at least 3 hours and then there is a £16 per person charge. It’s a nice lounge but never is it worth £16 a pop let alone £30.
    In my experience space is available on the 2nd Tuesday after the total blue moon solar eclipse.
    As a platinum card holder of nearly 2 decades I could count my use of priority pass on the fingers of both hands and with one exception (Hanoi) they have been underwhelming. Non-the-less I wouldn’t leave home without it. Nor there’s a tag line!

  • Gordon says:
    4 May4 May 08:45

    Just as a note, if anyone has the free Barclaycard , you can purchase £18.50 via dragon pass for access also.

    • David says:
      4 May4 May 10:29

      Are you sure it’s not just for the Plus card.

      • Gordon says:
        4 May4 May 10:55

        Apologies, yes you are correct,I need another shot of caffeine.

  • Malcolm says:
    4 May4 May 08:49

    Interesting re pre-booking becoming mandatory. So a family of four that would cost a minimum of £24 for each visit. On top of the platinum card fee – starts to be an expensive option and makes the platinum card far less attractive.

    • David says:
      4 May4 May 10:33

      Escape Lounge at STN last two visits turned up without booking. First was wait time 1h reality 30m. Second visit was wait 3h reality 35m so it seems the £6 entry is money making exercise.

      • BBbetter says:
        4 May4 May 12:42

        So you were loitering around for 35 mins checking the status every few mins, just so you can grab devour cheap food in a hurry before the gates open?
        All this to avoid paying a few quid and deny yourself an hour or two of peaceful and comfortable seating.

  • Bernard says:
    4 May4 May 08:54

    I think the article might be better described as Priority Pass with Amex.

    It seems to totally ignore except a slight mention the HSBC World Elite PP benefits. If as you say, PP becomes pointless for Amex in the U.K., the alternative benefits and £15 credits become very valuable instead.

    You could argue already they are a more pleasant and relaxing experience than being cramped into a lounge full of drunk package holidaymakers.

    • Nico says:
      4 May4 May 09:14

      At STN last weekend, lounge was full, they told me 2h wait, in reality got a text after 30mins that it was fine to enter, but in the meantime I ended up using HSBC £15 credit at a restaurant for a burger, which was quite good. If you don’t drink restaurants are very good options.

      LGW is usually fine for access, LHR T5 the worst.

    • Tim says:
      4 May4 May 11:43

      I doubt HSBC and Lloyds offer referral income to the site in the same way AMEX does 😉 . If this isn’t the reason, the Lloyds Elite in particular extremely good for the monthly charge and should be discussed at at least the same level as AMEX in this sort of article. And the lounge practices on pre-booking are to be exposed and shamed, not called a benefit both for the operators and passengers. Because very clearly passengers don’t get a benefit from an extra charge. This all seems too cozy, more of a sales pitch for Amex than what you would expect from an advice site.

      • HampshireHog says:
        4 May4 May 11:56

        Perhaps a separate article covering other.bank cards lounge access would set the record right ?

      • BBbetter says:
        4 May4 May 12:48

        The Lloyd’s card is a one trick pony though.

        • HampshireHog says:
          4 May4 May 14:47

          No, free fast track too and all for £15 per month for two pax

      • Rob says:
        4 May4 May 13:01

        Of course the fee is a benefit. It allows you to get in at the expense of someone else.

        It’s like Uber surge pricing. Would you a) ban it knowing you’ll have a 20% chance of getting a ride in the rain or b) embrace it and know you have a 100% chance of getting that ride?

        I paid Uber £20 once to take me and my little ‘un a mile to school in the thunderstorm from hell. Worth every penny.

        • HampshireHog says:
          4 May4 May 14:54

          But when it’s not raining I don’t want to have to pay extra which would be the equivalent of round the clock reservation fees

          • Rob says:
            4 May4 May 15:57

            I’ve been talking to Amex about the idea of giving an annual Plat credit to offset fees. Might happen.

        • Tim says:
          4 May4 May 22:14

          It’s not a benefit. It’s a charge for something that was previously free. Your argument holds a small amount of water at very busy times, but it is utterly bereft of fluid if there are mandatory surcharges for “reservations” at quiet periods. It’s a pure money grab by operators. Which is fine, it’s their business, but tell it like it is. I don’t mind so much if I’m paying £15 a month on a Lloyds card and getting restaurant credits and fast track too, but someone paying more than 3x that on AMEX might start feeling a little disgruntled.

      • Shazza12 says:
        4 May4 May 16:10

        If buying PP Prestige via Accor you can get 10% discount and 1500 points.

  • Sam says:
    4 May4 May 09:13

    Too many people have access these PP lounges.
    Pre-booking charges, being turned away and asked to scan a qr code to join a virtual queue. And these are supposed to be places to relax!

    Think airport lounge and the words peace, tranquility, exclusivity used to spring to mind.
    I really don’t know what these lounges represent nowadays.
    Personally if it’s not an airline lounge, I don’t see the point.

    The On the Beach advert just optimises it – lounge access bundled into low cost holiday packages.

    • Throwawayname says:
      4 May4 May 09:56

      Never had any issues walking past the unfortunate PP members and getting into the lounge with a boarding pass carrying the *G designation- if anything, one could argue the lounge experience in mediocre facilities like Aspire at BHX is made just about worthwhile exactly because of the capacity controls! The mere existence of an airline lounge isn’t any guarantee of quality either- e.g. the windowless basement LH one at CDG feels like a detention area with a small buffet that’s been hastily prepared for the detainees. I wouldn’t pay for any of the current PP options, but including the base level membership and allowing you to pay a reasonable amount per entry (though £24 is pushing it when it comes to Aspire etc) is an interesting perk for a credit card. Even without the credit cards, lounges take up expensive real estate, and an airport from where most flights are single class will need to find ways to attract non-premium pax to ensure they don’t end up getting replaced by even more retail.

  • John says:
    4 May4 May 09:47

    The STN lounge is always a bit of a “bun fight” at 4am, and the quality and selection of food has decreased slowly over the past year. Had a reservation for 2 pax last week, and was pushed past by up to 10 people who were walk in prior to getting a table.

  • numpty says:
    4 May4 May 10:26

    For PP cards that have the restaurant credit isn’t that best strategy to go use the £15 credit at somewhere serving half decent food, then afterwards move onto the lounge for a drink and a seat?

    With the HSBC card, the instructions used to say to hand over the credit card and tell them its a PP card to avoid being charged, but the digital PP card works – unless anyone had other experience?

    • Tim says:
      4 May4 May 11:46

      I’m BA GGL and I always use my PP in the Grain Store before going to the BA lounge if it’s breakfast time – the food is loads better. The no frills breakfast and an americano with milk is a couple of quid more than the limit. My PP is very useful on LCC but the lounges in the UK are pretty grotty anyway. I usually get in at my typical travel times.

      • Rob says:
        4 May4 May 12:58

        Grain Store closes for good tomorrow.

        • PB884 says:
          4 May4 May 14:31

          Just a 2 week re-fit I thought?

          • HampshireHog says:
            4 May4 May 14:49

            Reopens as a lounge for Prince Andrew’s family I heard

          • Rob says:
            4 May4 May 15:36

            Comments yesterday on here were that it was being refurbed into a Pizza Express.

          • David says:
            4 May4 May 17:13

            Pizza Express

        • Jane says:
          4 May4 May 15:47

          Oh fiddlesticks! I was relying on Grain Store to get a breakfast for a family of 4 with Amex Platinum ahead of an 0625 flight in July. I didn’t mind paying the £6 pre-booking fee when it included Fast Track, but now not so much.

          Is that 100% that it is closing for good?

          • Rob says:
            4 May4 May 16:01

            No. PPass says it is shut for 2 weeks. It was posted on here yesterday that the staff are saying it will become a Pizza Express but not official.

          • Iain says:
            4 May4 May 17:33

            Confirmed. I received an email response saying they were reopening on 20th as Pizza Express. Sigh.

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