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Big lounge shake-up for Heathrow Terminal 3 coming in 2025

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As we have been teasing in recent weeks, there will be a big shake-up of the independent airport lounges in Heathrow Terminal 3 in 2025.

As well as impacting those who use a Priority Pass or DragonPass card for lounge access, it will also impact premium passengers flying from T3 who cannot use one of the current airline lounges.

This includes SkyTeam elite members, apart from Air France, KLM and Delta elites, who are flying with Virgin Atlantic in economy or Premium and who are blocked from accessing the Virgin Clubhouse lounge.

Big lounge shake-up for Heathrow Terminal 3 coming in 2025

What is happening at Terminal 3?

It is a three pronged approach, outlined in detail here:

  • the existing Club Aspire lounge will be totally refurbished to become a Scandi-inspired My Lounge
  • the No1 Lounge will shrink marginally, mainly (I think) by losing the now-closed shower, spa and bedroom area
  • a new premium Clubrooms lounge will be built in the space given up by No1 Lounge

The winners here are likely to be passengers with those airlines which decide to sign a deal with Clubrooms to admit their customers. Whilst you can access Clubrooms with a Priority Pass or DragonPass card, it usually requires a £15 cash supplement and few people bother.

The new Clubrooms lounge will:

offer an exclusive and refined pre-flight experience. A key highlight of the new Clubrooms space will be the creation of an ‘orangery’—a light, bright, and airy space featuring abundant greenery, offering a calming, nature-inspired environment for guests to relax before their flights.

It will cover 4,200 sq ft and will have 116 seats. This will be additional capacity for Terminal 3, since I believe that no seats are being lost from No1.

As for the new My Lounge:

This reimagined lounge will cater to the growing demand for flexible, informal lounging, offering a fun, laid-back vibe in a Scandinavian-inspired loft style setting. The atmosphere will be lively and energetic, with a focus on creating a space where guests can enjoy themselves, whether they’re recharging after a busy day or simply looking for a relaxed space to pass the time before take-off. It’s all about freedom, fun, and a refreshing change of pace before the flight. 

In terms of timing, the work will be done in phases with the entire project completed by ‘late Summer’. We already know that Club Aspire is due to close on 27th February and re-open on 16th May.

You can find out more about the changes on the No1 Lounges website here.

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Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

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

Here are the six options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

Your best value option (but no points):

The cheapest route to a Priority Pass airport lounge card is via the Lloyds Bank World Elite Mastercard.

The credit card has a fee of £15 per month, and comes with a Priority Pass which gives unlimited free access for the cardholder. If you add a free supplementary cardholder, they will also receive unlimited free access.

Unlike the version of Priority Pass you receive with American Express, the Lloyds Bank version also lets you access £18 airport restaurant credits.

Even better, the credit card has 0% FX fees and comes with 0.5% cashback. Full details are in my Lloyds Bank World Elite Mastercard review.

Lloyds Bank World Elite Mastercard

A Priority Pass, 0% FX fees and up to 1% cashback for £15 per month Read our full review

Lounge access via American Express cards:

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 in-depth review of The Platinum Card from American Express 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

The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card 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 Credit Card review here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

Lounge access via HSBC Premier credit cards (Premier account holders only):

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 The American Express Business Platinum Card which has the same lounge benefits as the personal Platinum card:

The American Express Business Platinum Card

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 (44)

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

  • The real Swiss Tony says:
    29 Nov29 November 06:59

    Cool update. 116 seems like a lot of seats for a Clubrooms which is comparatively labour intensive to run (at least they are in BHX & LGW) because nearly everything is table service. Wonder if there will be some change there?

    • Andrew J says:
      29 Nov29 November 07:17

      Or just really slow service.

      • Lumma says:
        29 Nov29 November 18:50

        Only ever used a clubroom once, booked it because of the reviews on here (Luton) and found it rediculous trying to get a drink. Won’t give you more than one alcoholic drink at a time (only asked as it was taking so long to get served). Server was spending most of his time with two couples who seemed like they wanted to get smashed.

  • Andrew J says:
    29 Nov29 November 07:18

    I was worried by the headline that it related to the OW lounges!

    • The Original David says:
      29 Nov29 November 07:54

      Quite! Nothing to see here…

      The bit I’m interested in is the rumoured Qantas F lounge that is meant to be on the way, but not heard any updates for a while…

      • Rhys says:
        29 Nov29 November 08:41

        Having spoken to other people in the lounge business, it very much seems like that may have been announced without any firm plans in place. Not clear where that would be.

        • Michael Jennings says:
          29 Nov29 November 09:30

          It seems logical that they would launch it at the same time that they launch their direct A350 services to Sydney, and they still seem to be a couple of years off.

          • Rhys says:
            29 Nov29 November 10:03

            It would, but aviation timing rarely works that way! It’s not as if they don’t already have First Class passengers in London. The A380s have F.

        • john says:
          29 Nov29 November 09:48

          They could split the current qantas lounge into upstairs / downstairs to do this presumably?

          • Rhys says:
            29 Nov29 November 10:01

            That’s not what it sounded like when they announced it, and wouldn’t help with capacity issues

          • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
            29 Nov29 November 11:59

            I CBA to look but I recall the HfP article about the expansion said it would be built onto the roof of T3.

          • Rhys says:
            29 Nov29 November 12:00

            I think that was more speculation than confirmed, although I believe that’s how Emirates got its lounge.

    • The real Swiss Tony says:
      29 Nov29 November 08:08

      If my last experience at Gatwick was anything to go by, I can’t imagine it’s possible to go any slower, especially if you’re charging the best part of £50 a pop to get in.

  • chris w says:
    29 Nov29 November 08:29

    If the quality of the Terminal 3 (or 5) Aspire Lounge is not motivation to earn BA Silver status I don’t know what is

  • NFH says:
    29 Nov29 November 08:31

    On the subject of LHR-T3 lounges, which is better – the BA lounge or the American Express Centurion lounge? The reason I ask is that our BA flight was moved from T5 to T3, and I haven’t used BA’s T3 lounge for years.

    • NFH says:
      29 Nov29 November 08:42

      Thanks PeteM. That’s very helpful. I hadn’t considered those other Oneworld lounges.

    • Andrew J says:
      29 Nov29 November 08:44

      None of those lounges. Qantas or Cathay are where you want to go, avoid AA and BA.

    • chris w says:
      29 Nov29 November 09:09

      Cathay or Centurion would get my vote. I don’t think the Qantas lounge is quite as amazing as everybody says it is, especially when there is a QF flight leaving

      • JDB says:
        29 Nov29 November 09:38

        Yes, I’m not sure why QF is so popular, save maybe for the immaculate loos and good coffee. The buffet breakfast before the restaurant opens is sub-BA. The squid that is apparently a signature dish is available at M&S so, to misquote the Michelin guide, ne vaut pas le détour.

        The good thing about the BA lounge is that since the received wisdom is ABBA, it’s pleasingly quiet and actually the food isn’t half as bad as some people like to make out.

        • Phillip says:
          29 Nov29 November 09:48

          I will fully admit to preferring CX or QF over BA but I completely agree, the BA lounge gets an unfair bashing in my opinion. I don’t think it’s as bad as people make it out to be.

          • John says:
            29 Nov29 November 10:52

            You are forced to use BA lounges whenever you fly from T5, so when you fly from T3 you may as well try something different, is my view.

          • Lady London says:
            1 Dec1 December 12:39

            Early mornings on some days I do recall really liking the soggy BA Lounge bacon rolls and thinking that uf it was a bit later in the day the selection of alcohol was reslly quite OK.

            Nothing wrong with tbe QF lounge but it feels cold and sad if you’re not there when they’re actually serving you meals as the buffet is poor even in the gaps in the day when they leave that.

            CX is OK especially when open for noodles but otherwise it’s more about the space thsn the food.

            I’ve always thought the AA lounge had showers but only been in there quicly for jellybeans.

        • Rhys says:
          29 Nov29 November 10:02

          The Qantas lounge is good in the evenings when they have the dining room open. Otherwise the buffet is poor.

        • LittleNick says:
          29 Nov29 November 20:36

          Agreed JDB, the BA F lounge at T3 was practically empty at midday last time I was there about a month ago. And they have reinstated QR code food ordering in the normal area (non-CCR) section, presumably to compete with the other lounges as it’s not available in T5 but is in T3. The BA buffet is better than the QF buffet if the main restaurant is closed

    • Can2 says:
      29 Nov29 November 09:11

      “Lounge hop” next time to see it yourself.
      Cathay is liked by many here , but I never enjoyed it there for example. YMMV.

      • Phillip says:
        29 Nov29 November 09:51

        I think that’s the difference – if you are just passing through with a bit of time before a flight, and you hit any of the lounges at a busy time they can all be unpleasant. If you’ve got time on your hands to lounge hop you get to see the lounges at their best – for example spending time on a lounger by the window in the CX lounge is very nice but not guaranteed.

    • LukeLukeLukeLuke says:
      29 Nov29 November 12:08

      I liked the BA T3 lounge. Thought the Qantas was very poor (food was dreadful). And have found the Amex Centurion to be great. Cathay turned me away.

      I’d happily use the BA (the food was good, with a large selection) and revert to the Centurion if BA is busy.

      • Luca M says:
        29 Nov29 November 16:26

        my typical lounge hop when flying solo or as a couple from T3, having both BA status and Amex Platinum, is to visit the Qantas Lounge for a late breakfast and a signature cocktail, then Cathay for teh dim sum and some champagne, and finally a final cocktail at the Centurion Lounge before getting to the gate. If flying with the whole family of 5, then it is straight into the Centurion Lounge.

  • Phillip says:
    29 Nov29 November 09:46

    Slightly related – it was interesting to see this week as I was passing through T3 that Finnair’s designated lounge is no longer Cathay but Qantas, while only China Airlines is officially designated to use the Cathay lounge. Obviously irrelevant if you have status etc.

    • daveinitalia says:
      29 Nov29 November 10:42

      Doesn’t matter whether you access by status or class of service, if travelling business class you can access any oneworld operated business class lounge

      • Phillip says:
        29 Nov29 November 11:59

        Mind you, as I typed it, I thought – not irrelevant because Cathay does turn non-Cathay and previously non-Finnair customers away when at capacity. So now that will include Finnair customers. If not flying Cathay or China Airlines they have been known to turn you away.

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
        29 Nov29 November 12:10

        Until there are capacity restrictions applied and they can then say “sorry only QF and AY passengers at the moment”

        It was known for the CX lounge, at certain times and days, to restrict access only to the listed airlines – CX and AY – and could turn passengers from other airlines away.

        @Philip – reflected on the OW lounge database as well.

        Likely connected to the additional AY flights to HEL and CX finding it hard to accommodate the AY loads especially in the morning where there are now two departures 30 mins apart at around 10am.

        • sigma421 says:
          29 Nov29 November 12:16

          I got knocked back from the Qantas lounge when on a BA flight in the evening a few months back.

        • Nick says:
          29 Nov29 November 13:06

          The point about being the ‘designated’ lounge is that they won’t turn those customers away even if it’s busy, only ones using the oneworld ‘any lounge’ rule to access.

  • JimBurgessHill says:
    29 Nov29 November 10:37

    Talking of independent lounges….
    Do we know if the ‘Amex Plat pre-book selected UK lounges for free’ benefit is being extended beyond 31st Dec?

    We’ve found it fantastic at LGW given that Clubrooms are included. With eight free pre-books (as supplementary holder also gets four) I reckon we’ve had around £250 worth of value (based on six visits that would have cost £42 pp had we paid cash) this year. Still got two of the eight credits to go but will forfeit those as not flying before year end!

    • The real Swiss Tony says:
      29 Nov29 November 11:09

      Interested to know if this is being extended too, but I suspect your maths is off. Surely as the AMEX card fee is a sunk cost, the maximum benefit is you save the £15 uplift, so have had £90 worth of value?

      I certainly wouldn’t pay £42 to visit the Clubrooms.

      • Lady London says:
        1 Dec1 December 12:45

        Surprisingly there are other optins at LGW, tyicslly with very early opening hours, that are s better use of £42 if you ŕeally must spend it.

        Current walk-up lounge prices are reslly taking the p. generally.

    • Can2 says:
      29 Nov29 November 17:27

      Club rooms are available I guess only if you book it well ahead of time

  • Richard says:
    29 Nov29 November 11:47

    Hmmm… “be lively and energetic, with a focus on creating a space where guests can enjoy themselves, whether they’re recharging after a busy day or simply looking for a relaxed space ”

    I am not sure it would be relaxing in an energetic space…. although I suppose it depends on the people present.

  • apbj says:
    29 Nov29 November 20:41

    “Lively” and “fun” sound like the equivalent at LGW which is like a Slug & Lettuce… very Hunsnet and full of people getting smashed. Not a place to get any work done, for those of us who still do that.

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