Think of airport lounges and you might think of an elite space that only people travelling on first class or business class flights can enjoy. While this may be true for the more exclusive airport lounges, such as The Concorde Room from British Airways at London Heathrow Terminal 5, there are plenty of other luxurious airport lounges that you can enjoy for a small fee.
You know me, I love to combine travel with my mission to save money on absolutely every purchase that I make. Knowing how to save money on just about anything is something of a super power of mine (if I may blow my own trumpet!). I’ve got quite a few tips and tricks to help you find discounted airport lounges so you can enjoy a nice relaxing start to your holiday or business trip.
I’m a big fan of saving money at the airport and saving money in general to be honest with you! Being able to relax in discounted airport lounges gets my holiday or business trip off to the best start by feeling refreshed, chilled out and ready to avoid the wildly overpriced Pringles onboard the plane thanks to already eaten before my flight!
Travel is one of my favourite things to do and I’ve been making more of a conscious effort to enjoy it as much as possible. In the last year, I’ve been lucky enough to travel to some stunning places including Italy, Croatia, Switzerland, South Africa, Singapore and even Australia twice to spend time with my brother who lives there.
I’m excited to share with you how you can get access to discounted airport lounges. I’m a self-professed deals expert and I absolutely love doing lots of my own research on a topic to make sure I’ve got the absolute best tips and tricks to share with you.
You don’t have to be loaded to be able to enjoy a relaxed start to your travelling (I’m certainly not!). The average airport lounge access starts from around £35 – £40, and discounted airport lounges can be found even cheaper if you use some of my handy tips.
Discounted airport lounges often will give you access to free food and drink, showers, TVs, workspace or even just a comfy place to sit and quietly charge your phone while you wait for your flight if you want to escape the hustle and bustle of the departures lounge. They often have runway views too so you can plane spot if that’s your thing – who doesn’t love that?!
Some airport lounges come with more premium facilities at an extra charge, such as massages, sleep pods or hair salons, so you can use the wait time for a little self-care to get your trip off to a relaxing start or just to tick some jobs off your to-do list before you switch off for a few days.
How to get access to discounted airport lounges
Book in advance
If you drop into an airport lounge on a whim without booking in advance, you’re likely going to pay upwards of £45 for access to lounges such as those from No1 Lounges or Club Aspire.
When I did a comparison, with No1 Lounges, with just 1 day’s notice and with 1 month’s notice, the difference in price was as high as £10, dropping from £48 with 1 day’s notice to £38 with 1 month’s notice, based on visiting on the same weekday and same time.
A similar search with Escape Lounge found that pre-booking with 1 day’s notice, or 1 month’s notice, was the same price. Pre-booking was £34.99 while the walk-up price on the day was £49.
Even if you’re short on time or notice, you can still make a considerable saving just for booking at least 1 day in advance. The savings are typically at least 10% but as with Escape Lounge, the savings can be as much as almost 30% per person. That’s a big saving, so book in advance!
Sign up for newsletter access
Many companies will incentivise you to sign up to their newsletter and this is a great way to access discounted airport lounges. (Psst! Is this a good time to plug my own newsletter where you can get weekly deals and freebies? Go on, you should sign up for free).
No1 Lounges offer a promotion where you can save 10% off your next lounge visit when you join their mailing list.
Stansted Airport will send you an exclusive discount code which can save you up to 15% off entry to their Escape Lounge when you sign up for their mailing list.
You’ll find that many airports have a newsletter now so it can be worth signing up a month or so before you travel to see if there are any special offers, promotions or discount codes that you can benefit from.
Use credit card rewards
American Express Gold Card members can enjoy a variety of benefits, including four complimentary lounge visits per year. You can also gain access to discounted airport lounges for your guests too at a special rate.
There are over 1300 lounges at airports around the world and you can search the full list of participating discounted airport lounges using the lounge finder from American Express.
Other credit cards offer lounges too, for example the Capital On Tap Business Credit Card. The Pro tier of this card offers unlimited access to an impressive 1600 airport lounges for the main card holder, plus two free passes for your guests per year too. The card has other travel benefits too such as Radisson Rewards VIP Status, uncapped 1% cashback on all transactions and the option to convert your cashback into Avios. You can get £75 welcome bonus when you click here and apply for a Capital On Tap card and complete your first transaction.
Always make sure you pay your credit card in full each month to avoid wiping out the benefit of any rewards you earn by having to make interest payments.
Check your packaged bank account rewards
As well as getting yourself access to discounted airport lounges there are quite a few packaged bank accounts that come with free airport lounge access. These bank accounts do come with a monthly fee, but depending on how many rewards they offer you may be able to use these perks to your benefit.
These three options below have quite a high earning/savings threshold to qualify so scroll to the next section if they’re not relevant as I have more tips for you below.
Royal Bank of Scotland – Premier Reward Black Account – £36 per month
Perks include worldwide family travel insurance, access to 1,100+ airport lounges, 24/7 concierge service, UK and European car breakdown cover, £9 a month back on two direct debits and more.
Selected lounges will allow you to pre-book access for just £5, which is great as it guarantees you a place when you arrive and helps you gain access to discounted airport lounges as well.
To sign-up for this account you’re going to need a minimum of £100k sole income, £120k joint income, a mortgage borrowing of at least £500k or at least £100k in savings or investments – so this is quite an exclusive one!
Natwest – Premier Reward Black Account – £36 per month
Perks include worldwide travel insurance, UK & European AA car breakdown cover, worldwide airport lounge access, mobile phone insurance, discounted cinema tickets, no non-Sterling Transaction Fees when using your debit card abroad and more.
Again, selected lounges will allow you to pre-book access for just £5 via the DragonPass app, which guarantees you access and helps you gain access to discounted airport lounges as well. £5 is well worth it!
To sign-up for this account you’re going to need a minimum of £100k sole income, £120k joint income, a mortgage borrowing of at least £500k, or at least £100k in savings or investments – much the same as the RBS offering.
HSBC – Premier Bank Account – £0 per month (totally free!)
Perks include HSBC Premier Worldwide Travel Insurance, airport lounge access with a Premier World Elite Mastercard, access to a range of health services including digital GP appointments, mental health support, and preferential terms on a range of products and services.
You’re going to need to meet eligibility criteria for this bank account. You’ll need at least £100k of individual annual income, savings or investments of at least £100,000, or International Premier status from HSBC.
Use your Monzo account
Monzo Max account holders can use LoungeKey to get access to discounted airport lounges and pay a flat fee of £24 per visit. With the average lounge access costing £40-£45 per person this is a great saving.
For a flat fee of just £24, you’ll be able to gain access to more than 1000 different airport lounges around the world. This means no matter where you’re travelling you should be able to find a lounge to relax in before your flight.
Monzo Max starts from £17 a month but comes with a range of perks including worldwide travel insurance, phone insurance, UK & Europe RAC breakdown cover, boosted interest rates on instant access savings, discount investment fees and much more.
If you’ve not got Monzo yet, you can get a mystery bonus of £10, £20 or £50 when you download the Monzo app, sign up for an account and use Monzo to pay for something within 30 days. Let me know what bonus you get when you sign up to Monzo with this link.
Use your frequent flyer status
If you’re a frequent flyer, and use an airlines loyalty club, such as the Executive Club from British Airways, then you can gain access to selected airport lounges.
British Airways customers flying in Club World (what they call business class) or First Class always receive lounge access but there are a variety of ways that Silver, Gold, Emerald and Sapphire level members can gain lounge access.
Join the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
If you’re flying with Virgin Atlantic and sign up for their Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, you can make the most of your pre-flight time by booking access to discounted airport lounges at Heathrow, Gatwick, and Birmingham from just £30. You can even enjoy a complimentary glass of champagne for every adult on your booking too. This offer is exclusive to those travelling with Virgin.
This offer applies to Clubrooms at Gatwick and Birmingham, No1 Lounges at Birmingham, Gatwick, and Heathrow, My Lounge at Gatwick, and Club Aspire lounges at Gatwick and Heathrow. Prices vary from £30 – £42.
You’ll need your membership number when you make a booking but it doesn’t cost you any loyalty points to access these discounted airport lounges – you just need the free membership.
If you get a chance to visit the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at Heathrow, I highly recommend it! You need to be flying Upper Class to get access. It’s the best lounge I’ve experienced so far – the vibe, the seating, the range of food and service were all fantastic!
Sign up for a Priority Pass
If you travel frequently, and love an airport lounge, then you can sign up to Priority Pass and always get access to discounted airport lounges.
Priority Pass offers three different membership options:
- Standard – £69 per year, discounted to £44 for new members.
- Standard Plus – £229 per year, discounted to £206 for new members.
- Prestige – £419 per year, discounted to £377 for new members.
Signing up for Standard membership grants you access to 1,600+ discounted airport lounges worldwide for a flat fee of £24 per visit. You can also bring a guest for £24 per visit.
If you’re a semi-regular traveller, and love the convenience of an airport lounge, then the Standard Plus membership might be a good bet. Your first 10 visits each year are free then you’ll pay a flat fee of £24 per visit. You can also bring a guest for £24 per visit.
If access to discounted airport lounges isn’t your cup of tea, but you travel often, then the Prestige membership will give you a year of access to airport lounges for free. If you’re visiting airport lounges at least 12-15 times per year this could be a good option. You can also bring a guest for £24 per visit.
Sign up for an annual pass
You can get access to discounted airport lounges with annual passes. You’d need to be visiting airport lounges quite frequently to get the most value from this, and prices typically range from £260 up to £400, but if you’re flying regularly and love a lounge then these can be worth exploring.
The Aspire Lounges Membership is one of the best offerings for annual passes. It’s truly unlimited, with no usage cap or restrictions, allows you to stay in the lounge if your flight is delayed (as mine almost always is!), you can bring a friend for free and the membership grants you access to lounges in a variety of UK airports including Birmingham, Edinburgh, Humberside, Inverness, Liverpool John Lennon, London Luton, Manchester (T1 & T2), and more.
Dragonpass is another great annual pass, with three different membership options:
- Classic – £68 per year.
- Preferential – £168 per year.
- Prestige – £379 per year.
Opting for Classic membership grants you access to 1,300+ discounted airport lounges worldwide for a flat fee of £24 per visit. You can also bring a guest for £24 per visit. Your first visit is included within the membership fee.
Semi-regular travellers may want to opt for the Preferential membership. Your first 8 lounge visits per year are free then you’ll pay a flat fee of £24 per visit. You can also bring a guest for £24 per visit.
The Prestige membership comes with unlimited free lounge access for the duration of your membership, and guests can accompany you for the flat fee of £24 per visit.
Personally if I was opting for a pass for discounted airport lounges I’d want one that allowed pre-booking, as airport lounges can be quite busy, especially if a bunch of flights get delayed in one go, and it would be frustrating to have an unlimited membership and be unable to access the lounge on the day.
Ask for a freebie
I love a nice freebie (who doesn’t?!) and share them weekly in my Chloe’s Deal Club newsletter. If you’re a freebie fan and have bags of confidence then it can be worth asking at the check-in desk to see if they have any spare lounge passes.
You’ll likely have more success asking for free lounge passes than asking for airline upgrades, but if you’re travelling on your own you’ll be more likely to get a positive result. I’m a firm believer that if you don’t ask, you don’t get, right?!
Additionally, if you’re booking a holiday through a travel agent it’s worth asking them if they can throw in some free lounge passes for you. This worked for me most times when I used to book package holidays through travel agents.
Gaining access to discounted airport lounges is just one of the ways that I like to get my holiday started right while saving money and having a relaxing start to our trips.
If you’re looking for a more luxurious start to your holiday be sure to check out my tips and tricks for finding cheaper business class flights. I’ve been able to save thousands of pounds by using this business class flight hack.