✈ Airport Lounge Pass Membership Vs. Pay As You Go

Are you considering an airport lounge pass?

Not sure whether it is good value?

Don’t worry! This article will help you decide if an airport lounge pass membership is right for you.

Priority Pass is one of the largest airport lounge pass membership schemes and has the largest number of lounges available for members to use.

Access to Airport Lounges

Accessing Lounges with A Membership Pass

Before we jump into comparing prices there are a couple of things to know about accessing airport lounges;

• Some lounges restrict access to airport lounge pass scheme members to certain times of the day, generally off-peak periods. This is because they can sell their space at peak times for peak prices to other users, or take bookings directly.
• It is not always clear if this is the case at an airport lounge which can be frustrating.
• You generally cannot access the lounge more than 3 hours before your flight time. For example, if you are flying at 12 noon you generally can’t access the lounge before 9 am. This is usually to help the airport lounges manage the number of people using the lounge at any one time.
• One of the good points about using an airport lounge is that you can carry on using the lounge if your flight is delayed. This makes dealing with a delay a bit easier to bear.

Airport Lounge Pass

Which Lounge To Compare?

To compare a membership scheme such as Priority Pass with pay-as-you-go access it is easier to use the same airport lounge for ease of comparison.

One of the most popular lounges in the UK is the No 1. Lounge in Gatwick’s South Terminal, so we will use that as our comparison.

Airport Lounge Pass

Costs to Access the Number 1 Lounge, Gatwick

Here are the prices for the different ways you can pay to access the Number 1 Lounge at Gatwick (South Terminal).

• If space is available you can pay at the door, without the need to book in advance. The cost is £40 per visit. (3 hours)
• You can book online through Gatwick Airport/No1 Lounges. The cost is £32 per visit. (3 hours)
• You can book online through Holidayextras. The cost is £24 per visit (2 hours)
• You can use Priority Pass. The cost is £24 per visit after you have paid a one-off joining fee of £69 for a Standard membership. Standard Plus membership is £229 per year and includes 10 visits.

Airport Lounge Pass

How Does Membership Compare With Cheapest Access Prices?

Now, this comparison is a little unfair on Priority Pass because generally, people that have an airport lounge pass are visiting more than one airport and more than one airport lounge.

However, the overall approach kind of works the same.

As a general rule, you can say that if you are using lounges 6 times or more per year then a Priority Pass should provide a saving compared to pay-as-you-go access.

However, that depends on where you are travelling to and from and who you are travelling with. Check out cheap airport lounges to find out the best option for you based on your travel plans.

Airport Lounge Pass

Pay as You Go Compared to Different Membership Levels

If you are travelling more regularly then you need to consider whether pay-as-you-go access is the better option by comparing this to a different Priority Pass membership level.

We’ve already compared the price of pay-as-you-go access and standard membership.

For more frequent travel let’s look at pay-as-you-go airport lounge access and Standard Plus membership.

Priority Pass Standard Plus Membership

Priority Pass Standard Plus membership is £229 and this gives 10 free visits with members and guests paying £24 thereafter.

This makes the cost per visit for 10 visits £22.90 per visit.

Priority Pass Standard Plus membership is £183 with my special discount rate.

This makes the cost per visit for 10 visits £18.30 per visit.

Paying at the door for 10 visits at No 1 Lounge would come to £400 in total (3 hour visit)

Booking online at Gatwick No 1 Lounge for 10 visits would come to £320 in total (3 hour visit)

Booking at Holidayextras for 10 visits would come to £240 in total (2 hour visit)

	Cost for 10 Visits
Priority Pass Standard Plus Membership	£229
Priority Pass Standard Plus with Discount	£183
No 1 Lounges Booking Direct	£400
Gatwick No 1 Lounge Visits	£320
Holidayextras (2 hour visits)	£240

If using an airport lounge more than 7 times or more a year, then Priority Pass Standard Plus membership is cheaper than pay-as-you-go access.

Priority Pass Prestige Membership

Prestige Membership which costs £419 per year. This gives unlimited membership for the member each year. Guests are still charged at £24 per visit.

The cost per visit for 15 visits with Prestige Membership is £27.90 per visit

Prestige Membership with my special discount is £377 per year.

The cost per visit for 15 visits with this discount is £25.13 per visit.

Paying at the door for 15 visits would cost £600 in total

Booking online at Gatwick No. 1 Lounge for 15 visits would cost £480

Booking online at Holidayextras for 15 visits would cost £360

	Cost for 15 Visits
Priority Pass Prestige Membership	£419
Prestige Membership with Discount	£377
No 1 Lounges Booking Direct	£480
Booking Online	£600
Holidayextras (2 hour visits)	£360

Airport Lounge Pass – Conclusion

• Airport lounge pass membership is worth considering if using lounges more than 6 times a year
• Priority Pass Standard Plus membership is a great value option if used more than 6 times a year, and definitely above 8-10
• Priority Pass Prestige Membership is a great value option if you plan to use lounges more than 15-17 times a year

Further Reading

If you have found this Airport Lounge Pass article useful you might also like;

• Dragon Pass vs Priority Pass
• Lounge Pass vs Priority Pass
• Are Airport Lounges Worth It?

Find out more on my Airport Lounges page

Further Reading