Plaza Premium Lounge pre booking

[Michael_S]

I was at LHR t5 today. When I showed up at plaza premium lounge, there were 20-25 people waiting to get in. The receptionist said “pre booking only” otherwise 40-50 min wait time

First of all, is this a joke?

Second, and I’m not being sarcastic, who on earth pays before arriving at an airport to pre book a lounge? Part of the reason people pay for amex platinum is the lounge access. I’m aware of devaluation here for platinum holders when plaza premium started accepting priority pass, but it still seems ridiculous to me that people pay cash to book for at best 30-45 min stay at an overcrowded lounge with mediocre food options. I mean most of the time the lounge is not even that valuable when free. I might as well go to a quiet-ish terminal restaurant if I’m going to pay

Am I missing something? Is there a way to book this lounge without paying?

[PeteM]

This is entirely standard for UK pay-to-use lounges, discussed at length here and all other travel forums. There are times when the lounges are quieter and you can get in without pre-booking, but they are becoming rarer and rarer.

[Joe G]

I also have lounge access through Platinum and as a whole I think it’s an OK side perk. In the 2 years I’ve held the card I’ve not been too unlucky in terms of being turned away but I fly from Edinburgh mostly and I think the Plaza Premium there is one of the better lounges I’ve visited.

The thing I appreciate most about lounges is when they feel a bit more calm and serene than the general hustle and bustle of the airport, take that away and I don’t really see the value in the school canteen food, machine coffee and very basic alcohol options in a stressful environment and would also much prefer just to sit in a restaurant in the terminal so I agree I would definitely wonder why people would be paying full or even partial price for that experience. It would be interesting to know the proportion of people in the lounges who are actually paying.

[Rob]

I was talking to Aspire last night and they see 100% pre-booking as the future. They don’t see why you’d expect to just turn up and get in. It will require a bit of forced re-education but after a few months people would fall into line.

[BBbetter]

Dont forget to complain to Amex. You’ll receive some points as comp.

[BBbetter]

Rob Burgess wrote:

I was talking to Aspire last night and they see 100% pre-booking as the future. They don’t see why you’d expect to just turn up and get in. It will require a bit of forced re-education but after a few months people would fall into line.

The problem then would be identifying which lounges need to be booked (please avoid using the term ‘pre-booked’). Does it stop at just the UK lounges? What happens if lounges abroad adopt this approach and you find out late?

[NorthernLass]

@Michael_S – you should try getting in the MAN lounges without an advance booking! They actually have a prominent sign at reception telling you to basically get stuffed if you’re a Priority Pass or Lounge Key holder.

[ScubaScuba]

Flying from Gatwick North in a couple of weeks and hoping I can get into the Plaza Premium lounge without any issues using Amex Platinum…

I do often pre-book. For example I am flying from Gatwick North on a Saturday in the summer, we are a family of four with loads of hand luggage (basically maxed out EasyJet’s allowance to get our dive gear to Egypt) so the lounge gives us somewhere to pile the luggage in the corner for a hour or two. I would prefer the coffee and food options in the main terminal, but enjoy the slightly more relaxed atmosphere of the lounge. Worth paying a few pounds each to know we can get in, but would prefer if entry was guaranteed.

[brian]

Rob Burgess wrote:

I was talking to Aspire last night and they see 100% pre-booking as the future. They don’t see why you’d expect to just turn up and get in. It will require a bit of forced re-education but after a few months people would fall into line.

That’s concerning, it’s one thing implementing a pre-pay reservation system to sit alongside a queue to manage peak times when demand outstrips supply. It’s another thing when lounge operators are thinking that customers should not expect to have immediate access a lounge without an additional fee.

[Michael_S]

ScubaScuba wrote:

Flying from Gatwick North in a couple of weeks and hoping I can get into the Plaza Premium lounge without any issues using Amex Platinum…

I do often pre-book. For example I am flying from Gatwick North on a Saturday in the summer, we are a family of four with loads of hand luggage (basically maxed out EasyJet’s allowance to get our dive gear to Egypt) so the lounge gives us somewhere to pile the luggage in the corner for a hour or two. I would prefer the coffee and food options in the main terminal, but enjoy the slightly more relaxed atmosphere of the lounge. Worth paying a few pounds each to know we can get in, but would prefer if entry was guaranteed.

I guess that’s the main difference
I have no kids, my partner and I usually arrive airside 30-40 min before boarding time and we just have 2 carry on luggages. Sometimes we just get in the lounge to fill water bottles. Food in lounge is generally awful anyways (unless it’s United in T3 etc)

For those reasons – rather than paying for a lounge which may or may not be busy, i would just go to a quietish restaurant

Does complaining to amex work by the way?

[BajanNation]

I’m sure Aspire see pre-booking as the future. Additional revenue for them for doing diddly-squat.

Lounge access via Amex Platinum is the most significant benefit for many. If they fund the booking fee then great but otherwise this would be a serious devaluation.

[byronlewis]

I’m happy to pre-book my place in a lounge (for free), but i’m not paying for access already having paid for the Platinum card. There’s not much point in paying, you may as well use the main terminal facilities instead!

[BBbetter]

It’s amazing how many people don’t understand the concept of demand and supply.

[JDB]

byronlewis wrote:

I’m happy to pre-book my place in a lounge (for free), but i’m not paying for access already having paid for the Platinum card. There’s not much point in paying, you may as well use the main terminal facilities instead!

You aren’t paying to access the lounge, you are being asked to pay a very small sum to jump the queue then to access the lounge at no additional cost. Amex is quite clear in its marketing that access may be subject to availability or wait times.

I agree there’s not much point in paying for fancy cards that allow access to very unfancy/sub standard lounges but those fancy cards don’t and can’t promise that every lounge will always have availability whenever you turn up; how do you expect that to be possible?

[Economist_Nearby]

JDB wrote:

byronlewis wrote:

I’m happy to pre-book my place in a lounge (for free), but i’m not paying for access already having paid for the Platinum card. There’s not much point in paying, you may as well use the main terminal facilities instead!

You aren’t paying to access the lounge, you are being asked to pay a very small sum to jump the queue then to access the lounge at no additional cost. Amex is quite clear in its marketing that access may be subject to availability or wait times.

I agree there’s not much point in paying for fancy cards that allow access to very unfancy/sub standard lounges but those fancy cards don’t and can’t promise that every lounge will always have availability whenever you turn up; how do you expect that to be possible?

I’ve had a Platinum Amex for over 20 years, and up to now, every lounge I’ve tried to access has admitted me, together with my family, where they were travelling with me and eligible. That’s why I would expect it to be possible to get in, unless the lounge is unusually busy. It is a big change if you need to book, and it makes the card benefit worthless if you travel at short notice or often change flights. There is no need to be quite so abrupt with other posters.

[mindspit]

ScubaScuba wrote:

Flying from Gatwick North in a couple of weeks and hoping I can get into the Plaza Premium lounge without any issues using Amex Platinum…

I do often pre-book. For example I am flying from Gatwick North on a Saturday in the summer, we are a family of four with loads of hand luggage (basically maxed out EasyJet’s allowance to get our dive gear to Egypt) so the lounge gives us somewhere to pile the luggage in the corner for a hour or two. I would prefer the coffee and food options in the main terminal, but enjoy the slightly more relaxed atmosphere of the lounge. Worth paying a few pounds each to know we can get in, but would prefer if entry was guaranteed.

I always found Gatwick North and South to be good with access. There ~4 lounges available and if the first one is busy they have telephoned the others to see if there is space and reserved the space until we arrived. Dont forget if the lounges are full the resturants that offer the dining credit are usually accommodating.

[GibFlyer]

Flying CUN—LGW today and reading up on lounge options. Seems the Mera (Plaza Premium) is the only option past security. Also reading it’s very busy and can be 2-3hrs wait to get in.

I have no problem paying a small fee to reserve (a la No1 lounges) but don’t really want to pay for the full amount when I have Priority Pass and Platinum Amex.

Does anyone have the link and/or details on how to prebook please?

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

@BBBetter yes, let’s call it booking. What the hell is pre-booking. The only other time I’ve seen it in use was pre-covid when some pretentious London restaurants would “pre-charge” when making a table reservation. If I don’t get it back, it’s just a charge.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

“ It will require a bit of forced re-education but after a few months people would fall into line.”
Indeed it will require a bit of re-education on Amex’s part if they think Plat cardholders will tolerate a paltry 4 booking slots per year when booking is the norm.

[TGLoyalty]

100% pre booked for a fee with an Amex platinum they can go take a running jump!

[RonnieB]

Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

“ It will require a bit of forced re-education but after a few months people would fall into line.”
Indeed it will require a bit of re-education on Amex’s part if they think Plat cardholders will tolerate a paltry 4 booking slots per year when booking is the norm.

Why don’t you vent your anger at the lounges, it’s not Amex’s fault there is an undersupply and overcharging to access facilities you already paid for.

Maybe exercise a bit of consumer power and boycott those lounges that want everyone to pay to book.

[TGLoyalty]

Amex is a large customer of collision and Priority Pass are large customer of Aspire they should both be fighting for their customers.

Any product they sell is no longer lounge access card but rather a lounge entry discount card if you must pay to get into every lounge in the local network.

I completely understand supply and demand but in this case the products will no longer do what they advertise to do.

[alastairtravel]

The customer challenge with 100% prebook is the state of other areas of the airport. There have been plenty of times when I intended to go to a lounge but the state of check-in / security queues has meant I haven’t had time to get to the lounge.

[Professor Yaffle]

This is more Gatters than Heathrow, but the think that killed the PP lounges for me was when the likes of ‘On the Beach’ started bundling lounge access with their ‘premium’ (ie 4-star all inclusive) holidays. This massively increased demand for the lounges and also lowered the whole tone of the lounges – they used to be the refuge away from the tracksuit brigade, now you are better off in the terminals.

The Plaza lounge at T5 used to feel quite premium when it opened. On my last visit the quality of food had dropped to prison canteen levels, and the staff rude as hell – so I wont be rushing back. Thank God for (temporary) Silver status.

I basically value the PP card with Platinum as zero value these days.