Review: the refurbished Aspire Lounge at Belfast City Airport, used by BA

This is our review of the Aspire Lounge at George Best Belfast City Airport.

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

In May I was in Newcastle for the official launch of the new Aspire lounge complex. I was very impressed by what I saw, so I thought it was time to take a look at the other big Aspire project in recent months – the extended and refurbished lounge at Belfast City Airport.

The Aspire lounge at Belfast has a complex recent history.

In March 2020, days before the first lockdown, British Airways handed over management of its own lounge at Belfast City to Aspire. Aspire already had its own lounge next door, and it’s unclear whether the original plan was to combine the lounges to create a bigger space. In the end covid got in the way and Aspire moved over to the old BA space.

During 2023, Aspire launched a plan to merge both spaces into one brand new lounge. It was an ambitious (£1.2m) project for a small airport, but the finished product looks great.

The key benefit for British Airways travellers – who use this lounge, along with Priority Pass and ‘pay as you go’ customers – is that it offers direct boarding via Gate 4, which is still used by all of the mainline (non-Cityflyer) British Airways flights. There is no need to leave the lounge and re-enter the main terminal area.

Where is the Aspire Lounge at Belfast City Airport?

It’s very easy to find – it’s just on the left as you exit duty free, right by Gate 4. The entrance is at the end of a small corridor which separates Caffe Nero from Starbucks.

The first thing you notice on entering is that this is a big space. The architects have done a clever job of breaking it up into a number of zones, and it doesn’t feel cavernous at all.

This photo is taken at the top end, nearest the entrance:

The key selling point, as you can see, is the floor to ceiling windows which run entirely down the right-hand side of the lounge. You get a great view over the runway, although there’s not a huge amount of activity at Belfast City!

This is taken from half way down, looking in the other direction:

On your left as you enter is this smart kitchen area:

There is a lot of good stuff here, and a lot of thought has gone into the details such as this brass rack of wine glasses and bottles:

There were six bottle of white and rose wine on ice with a similar number of bottles of red available. There was an iPad-driven orange juice vending machine. There was a soda fountain for cola etc.

In the fridge you have bottled beers (Tiger, Heineken) plus cans of Guinness. Spirits include Bacardi, Cointreau, Bushmills whisky and Gordon’s gin.

Spin around and you have two food service islands.

There was a good mix of items out:

• hot food, which was chicken curry (or bean alternative) with rice and naan bread when I was there

• cold options including ham and cheese cuts

• sweets including caramel squares and an almond sponge cake, as well as a pancake machine!

• snacks including a large selection of Tayto crisps and a large bowl of fresh fruit

• pastries including small croissants, danish pastries and pain au chocolat as well as a large selection of bread

It was surprisingly impressive for a regional airport lounge.

Drinks are supplied via two coffee machines. There is also a wide selection of teas available (camomile, green, Earl Grey, decaf, Irish, berry and traditional).

Paid food is also available. You could order a pizza and a bottle of prosecco for £22, with additional pizzas available for £5. This was the only paid-for item which was being promoted – you weren’t even offered the choice of having the pizza or prosecco on their own!

If I’m honest, the one jarring note in the lounge was a 6 foot high poster promoting this deal, which was sat next to an equally tall LED screen which seemed to serve no real purpose. It was advertising lounge facilities (which you could clearly see around you) and how to get in (bit late for that, as you’re already inside!).

The lounge seats 178 people. If you want somewhere quiet to work, you can grab one of these booths at the back:

…. although I was happy enough on a long wooden hot-desking table.

There is also a very small private room with a door if you need to make or take a call.

The lounge also has a signature ‘A wall’ which is both smart and a good way of breaking up the long room:

This small mural is at the top end, next to the door which is used to board BA mainline flights:

Conclusion

This is a very impressive lounge for a regional airport, and the people of Belfast (and their visitors) are lucky to have it.

It’s obviously hard to go wrong when you’ve got such a light-filled space showing off the runway and the hills beyond, but Aspire’s new design style looks great wherever it is rolled out. It’s a massive improvement on what was here before. The ability to board British Airways flights directly from the lounge is the icing on the cake.

There are two ways to get access to the Aspire lounge at Belfast City Airport if you are not flying BA in Business or have BA status. One option is to book ahead on the Lounge Pass website here, with headline prices starting from £39.99 per person. This guarantees you a spot at your booked time.

The alternative is to use a lounge membership program such as Priority Pass or DragonPass, both of which are accepted at the Belfast City Aspire lounge. Standard Priority Pass membership is currently £69 per year or you can get it for free via the following credit cards:

• The American Express Platinum Card with Priority Pass membership with unlimited lounge visits for you and one guest at 1,400+ lounges globally
• The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card comes with a FREE four-visit Priority Pass membership – and Amex Gold is free for the first year too
• The HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard comes with a Priority Pass card, and offers unlimited lounge visits, although you will be charged for bringing in guests

Using a Priority Pass membership doesn’t guarantee you entry, but the lounge was very lightly used on Wednesday afternoon when I was there.

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