Last Updated on 25 August 2025 by Dan Wilderness
Hello everyone! You may have found yourself wondering if an airport lounge is worth it as travelling at an UK airport has become increasingly busy, and faced with a lack of space and limited food options. Today we’re going to take a look at airport lounges, and review if they are worth paying for or not!
What types of airport lounge are available?
There are a few different types of Airport Lounges out there, and each of them have different entry criteria to get in. Let’s take a whirl around them.
Airline Airport Lounges
The pinnacle of the Airport Lounge world tends to be the lounges which are owned by the Airlines themselves.
These are really designed for the higher ticket passenger (First or business, although Premium can qualify if going to Japan) flying with either that company or who have joint loyalty status with one of their partner networks.
These lounges tend to be absolutely excellent as the airlines want to back as a high end customer. I’ve been fortunate enough to fly Upper Class with Virgin Atlantic and once got the mythical complimentary to BA Club World. In each case, I had a couple of cocktails, breakfast and dinner in the lounge and generally relaxed before my flight.
I particularly liked the Virgin Atlantic one in Terminal 3, where I played some classic arcade games, watched some live sport on a cinema screen and even got a complimentary massage before my flight.
Unfortunately, this isn’t one where you can buy your way in without a high-end ticket. You’ll need either that, or to be at the higher end of loyalty status in that airline or it’s partners loyalty scheme.
For the main UK airlines, that means Virgin Flying Club Gold, or BA Executive Club Silver status.
Credit Card Airport Lounges
These are much more common in the US, but there’s an American Express Centurion Lounge at Heathrow, which is pretty full-service and considered on par with the Airline Lounges above.
Access to this lounge is also very exclusive – you’ll need the American Express Platinum Card, which is a whopping £650 a year to get access.
There are a number of other credit cards out there with provide lounge access at part of the deal – however in practice these will largely fall into the pay-to-use category below (the card provider simply effectively covers the access fee for you via a network membership).
Pay-to-Use Airport Lounges
The other type of lounge, and where the rest of this article will focus on is the pay for use airport lounges.
There are two ways you can get into these:
Either if they have availability, you can book in advance or pay at the door. (Booking in advance would be cheaper, and we recommend Holiday Extras for this).
Or
If you’re a regular flyer, you can join a membership to a airport lounge network. With these you’ll pay an annual fee to access lounges worldwide. Examples include and x (Note: Access to these is included with certain credit cards, so it’s worth checking).
However, what you’ll get with the Pay to Use lounges is much more variable than the airline lounges.
Whilst there will of course be somewhere quieter to sit that the main airport, there’s much more variability in what these will offer. Free alcohol and food isn’t always provided, and the worst of the lounges are literally just a quieter room with some slightly nicer chairs!
Some pay lounges do also have restrictions on how long before your flight you can enter, or restrict children so remember to check this as well if important to you.
How much does a pay to use Airport Lounge cost?
You’ll largely find options between £30-£50 per person booked in advance. Usually (but not always) higher costs is correlated with more aminities and inclusions.
What UK Airport Lounges are worth it?
So on the easy point, it’s pretty clear that the direct airline and credit card ones are generally worth it and likely included for you already if you qualify – so the question becomes about the pay-to-use ones.
We’ve highlighted a bunch of the best UK Airport l it really pays to do a google about specific lounges at the airport to find if they offer services you want to use – if you’re not bother about food, don’t pay for it! (Another reason we like Holiday Extras for booking lounges is that they are clear on inclusion/exclusions and show review scoring from their users)
However some are just flat out bad value, and I’ve found more misses than hits with the pay lounges when travelling.
What are the best pay UK Airport Lounges?
Of the paid-for lounges, we’ve done a quick review to identify those which were scoring more highly (which isn’t to say high) in satisfaction reviews as a start point for investigations. We can’t cover every UK airport, but we’ve tried to cover the larger ones.
London Heathrow Airport
Highest rated Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 2: Plaza Premium T2 Departures – 7.8/10
Highest rated Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3: Club Aspire Terminal 3 – 7.4/10
Highest rated Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 4: Plaza Premium T4 Departures – 7.4/10
London Gatwick Airport
Highest rated Lounge at Gatwick North Terminal: Clubrooms North – 8.2/10
Highest rated Lounge at Gatwick South Terminal: My Lounge South – 7.8/10
Stansted Airport
Highest Rated Lounge at Stansted Airport: Escape Lounge – 8.4/10
Luton Airport
Highest Rated Lounge at Luton Airport: No.1 Lounge – Not fully rated at time of writing
Edinburgh Airport
Highest Rated Lounge at Edinburgh Airport: Aspire Lounge (There are two, one by Gate 4 and one by Gate 16) – both rated 8.4/10
Birmingham Airport
No lounge at Birmingham Airport had a high enough rating to recommend at time of writing.
Manchester Airport
Highest Rated Lounge at Manchester Terminal 1: Escape Lounge T1 – 8.1/10
Highest Rated Lounge at Manchester Terminal 2: 1903 Lounge T2 – 8.2/10
Highest Rated Lounge at Manchester Terminal 3: Escape Lounge T3 – 8.6/10
Can I pay for an Airport Lounge on the day?
You can but it’s subject to availability – if they’re full you may find you get turned away.
As you’ll pay the most expensive price this way we do recommend booking in advance directly or with Holiday Extras, as you’ll save money even booking the day before.
Is an Airport Lounge worth it?
An Airport Lounge is a nice-to-have extra, but we’d suggest treating it as a luxury add on and not setting your expectations too high (unless you’re in an airline lounge, which generally are excellent).
It’s worth thinking about what you want from your lounge experience – if you’re really after some food or drink, it may be worth pricing these against what’s available in the terminal elsewhere. If you really value some peace, or a space well set up for working then a lounge really begins to have significantly more value.
Any questions?
We’d absolutely love to hear about your airport lounge experiences, and you’ve had any particularly good or bad experiences in any! Just leave us a note in the comments below.
And if you rather like the idea of everything being included after you’ve paid for it, you might be interested in our guide if if an all-inclusive holiday is worth it!
And that’s it!
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