Airport Lounge Membership Comparison

Who doesn’t love an airport lounge? A little oasis of calm and comfort amid the noise and bustle of an airport.

Airport lounges are a way to upgrade my flying experience, much appreciated given I am a nervous flyer anyway. I also use them to catch up on work and make better use of my time.

This airport lounge membership comparison compares the main airport lounge pass schemes.

Read on to find which scheme is the best airport lounge membership for you based on your travel plans.

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Airport Lounge Membership Comparison

Table of Contents

Here’s a table with a quick overview.

	Standard Membership Cost per visit	Standard Plus or Preferential Membership Cost per visit	Prestige Cost per visit	Find Out More
Priority Pass	8 visits = £32.62	10 visits = £22.90 16 visits = £23.31	18 visits = £23.27 24 = £17.45	Priority Pass
Priority Pass With Discount	8 visits = £30	10 visits = £18.30 16 visits = £20.43	18 visits = £20.94 24 = £15.70	Priority Pass
Dragon Pass	8 visits = £25.56	10 visits = £16.70 16 visits = £17.75	18 visits = £14.88 24 visits = £11.16	Dragon Pass
Lounge Pass	Pay as You Go From £17 per visit			Lounge Pass

Quick Comparison of Airport Lounge Access Costs

Quick Summary

Dragon Pass is best if you wish to choose a membership option based purely on the airport lounge access price.
Priority Pass is the best airport lounge pass for the number of lounges you can use. It’s best if you plan to use No1 Lounges as you can prebook for a small fee. It is also the best option if you plan to use other membership services such as transfers, meal deals, and car hire. They also have 24-hour support.

Best Airport Lounge Membership

1. Airport Lounge Membership Comparison – Membership Schemes

What’s the Best Airport Lounge Membership?

The best is one that provides the most lounge access for the lowest price based on your travel plans and frequency of use. Generally speaking, if you are going to use a lounge more than 6-10 times a year a membership plan will be cheaper than paying as you go

Airport lounge membership schemes can be a great value way to access airport lounges.

The best lounge access membership scheme for you depends on when, where, and how often you plan to use airport lounges.

Other factors include whether you will be regularly travelling with guests.

airport lounge membership schemes membership schemes

Best Airport Lounge Pass

2. Airport Lounge Membership Comparison – Priority Pass

One of the most popular airport lounge membership schemes
StandardPlus plan works out to £22.90 per visit based on 10 visits
My special discount rates means that Standard Plus works out to £18.30 per visit based on 10 visits

Priority Pass is probably the most widely known of the airport lounge membership schemes.

Members can access over 1600 lounges in 600 cities, across 148 countries!

Priority Pass has three membership levels;

Standard Membership

£69 per year and each lounge visit whether for the member or guest is £24 per person. This is ideal if you plan to use a lounge around 6 times or less per year.
(Special discount rate £48 per year)
6 visits per year = £35.50 per visit
8 visits per year = £32.62 per visit
10 visits per year = StandardPlus is a better option

Standard Plus Membership
£229 per year and includes 10 lounge visits for the member, with guest visits £24 per person. Every visit over 10 is charged at £24 for the member.
(Special discount rate £183 per year)
10 visits per year = £22.90 per visit (with discount rate £18.30 per visit)
12 visits per year = £23.08 per visit (with discount rate £19.25 per visit )
14 visits per year = £23.21 per visit (with discount rate £19.92 per visit)
16 visits per year = £23.31 per visit (with discount rate £20.43 per visit)

Prestige Membership
£419 per year includes unlimited visits for the member with guest visits charged at £24. For heavy usage, this can be the best value.
(Special discount rate £377 per year)
18 visits per year = £23.27 per visit (with discount rate £20.94 per visit)
20 visits per year = £20.95 (with discount rate £18.85 per visit)
22 visits per year = £19 per visit (with discount rate £17.13 per visit)
24 visits per year = £17.45 (with discount rate £15.70 per visit)

Membership can be accessed online and there is a membership card as well as a digital app with a digital membership.

This is handy for contactless travel.

Priority Pass has a great choice of lounges.

Benefits include member discounts at airports, for shopping outside of the lounges for example.

If you want a more detailed review of Priority Pass then check out my review of Priority Pass Membership UK and all its features.

Airport Lounge Access – Airport Lounge Membership Comparison

3. Dragon Pass

Competitive pricing makes Dragon Pass a great option
Discounts for meals at airport restaurants
Preferential Membership £16.70 per visit based on 10 visits
Can buy single-visit passes through Dragon Pass on the website as well

Dragon Pass members can access 1300 lounges all over the world.

Membership is accessed online through their app.

Standard Membership
£68 per year with 1 free visit for the member, then additional visits and guest visits charged at £19.50 per each
6 visits per year = £27.58 per visit
8 visits per year = £25.56 per visit
10 visits per year = £24.35 per visit

Preferential Membership
£128 per year with 8 included visits, guest and additional visits charged at £19.50 each
10 visits per year = £16.70 per visit
12 visits per year = £17.16 per visit
14 visits per year = £20.28 per visit
16 visits per year = £17.75 per visit

Prestige Membership
£268 per year with unlimited visits for the member and all guest visits are charged at £19.50 per person
18 visits per year = £14.88 per visit
20 visits per year = £13.40 per visit
22 visits per year = £12.18 per visit
24 visits per year = £11.16 per visit

Best Airport Lounge Membership – Airport Lounge Membership Comparison

4. Dragon Pass (Free Membership)

There is a little trick that can help you save the cost of a Dragon Pass membership meaning you can just buy the lounge access directly.

Simply sign up for a free account at Regus (an office workspace company) and you get free Dragon Pass membership.

Before you visit the airport lounge you need to have purchased a one time lounge access through the app.

Access is charged at £24 per airport lounge visit.

Here is all the information about how the scheme works from Dragon Pass.

Airport Lounge Membership Comparison

5. Aspire and Swissport

Aspire membership doesn’t look like it’s returning on sale anytime soon.

Having said membership would come back on sale in 2023 its now 2024 and membership still isn’t available.

Aspire have access to lounges across the UK and in some European countries as follows;

Belfast
Birmingham
Bristol
Edinburgh
Humberside
Glasgow
Inverness
London
Gatwick
London Heathrow Terminal 3
Liverpool
Luton
Manchester
Calgary International
Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Copenhagen
Helsinki Vaanta
Amsterdam Schiphol (26 & 41)

There is access to Heathrow Terminal 5 but only with a Platinum Annual Membership which gives access to more European countries

You can book lounge access online through Aspire with lounge access costing around £25 per person.

They also have two membership schemes;

Aspire and Swissport Lounge Membership – for access to lounges above £259.99 which includes unlimited visits for the member and 1 guest (Please note annual memberships are currently off sale but hopefully returning in 2024.)

Platinum Plus Lounge Membership – £399.99 which includes all lounges above plus London Heathrow Terminal 5 plus Cologne, Dublin, Faro, Geneva, Graz, Helsinki, Larnaca, Sofia, Zurich, Dubai, Kigali, Kingston, Montego Bay, Nairobi (Please note annual memberships currently off sale but hopefully returning in 2024)

Best Airport Lounge Pass

6. LoungePass

A good option for occasional airport lounge access

LoungePass is an online directory of airport lounges that you can book at a discounted price.

It has over 650 lounges at 350 airports worldwide.

Prices are from £17 per person per lounge. This varies depending on the location.

They have access to 45 lounges in the UK.

They also offer non-lounge options such as meal deals at airport restaurants.

Best Airport Lounge Membership

7. LoungeBuddy

A good option for finding out if you can access airport lounges through your flight tickets or other membership

LoungeBuddy has an online site where you can book lounge access.

You need to book for each time you want to use a lounge.

Costs are from £20 per person per visit, depending on lounge location.

Use of the Number 1 Lounge in Gatwick Airport is from £40 per person.

It also has an app where you can enter details of your airline ticket, membership schemes etc and it will let you know if you are eligible to use any airport lounges.

Airport Lounge Membership Comparison

8. Bank Account & Credit Card Scheme Memberships

You can get access to airport lounges as part of your credit card.

Finder has an easy comparison of airport lounge access cards.

The top one currently is American Express Preferred Rewards which offers two free visits per year.

However, for it to be worthwhile you would need to clear all spending before getting charged interest.

Airport Lounge Membership Comparison

9. Airport Lounge Membership Comparison – Conclusion

Airport Lounge Membership is generally a better value option if using lounges more than 6 times per year
If basing your buying decision purely on price Dragon Pass offers the cheapest airport lounge access. Check lounge coverage though as some areas there are fewer lounges to choose from.
Priority Pass is the best option if you want the biggest selection of lounges, 24 hour customer support (plus multi language support), guaranteed entry for small booking fee at busiest lounges and other membership benefits such as transfers.

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Airport Lounge Membership Comparison

Airport Lounge Membership Comparison FAQs

Which Is The Best Airport Lounge Card?

The best airport lounge card is the one that offers the best value for you given the number of times you plan to use it and where you plan to use it. Check out my quick quiz (at the top of this page) which will tell you which option is the best for you based on your individual requirements.

Is It Worth Paying For An Airport Lounge?

It is well worth paying for an airport lounge if you intend to use all of it’s facilities. An airport lounge generally includes free snacks and drinks, upgraded WIFI, more comfortable seating, toilets, and a quieter environment than the airport main building. If you value these things then yes an airport lounge is worth paying for.

How Long Can I Stay in An Airport Lounge?

Generally, the maximum stay is 3 hours. If you are buying a one-time pass online some schemes only allow a 2 hour visit. If your flight is delayed you can stay in the lounge until your flight departs.

How Do You Become a Member of An Airport Lounge?

You can either buy access on a pay-as-you-go basis – either through the airport or online via sites such as Holidayextras. For more regular use you can join a membership scheme such as Priority Pass or Lounge Pass which gives you discounted lounge access. Another option is if you have a travel credit card where one of the benefits gives you lounge access.

Airport Lounge Membership Comparison Pros and Cons

Pros

Airport lounge membership can offer good value if you are using lounges more than 6-8 times a year
Membership schemes generally have a large selection of lounges available to choose from
Being a member of a scheme means you don’t have to book and pay in advance. This gives you the flexibility to use a lounge when suits you.

Cons

At busy times some lounges restrict access to lounges to only those that have booked directly. This means that occasionally you might not get access to a lounge.

Airport Lounge Membership Comparison Video