No priority for Priority Pass holders

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    Gilbert777
    Participant

    The priority pass is a complete oxymoron. I was refused entry to several lounges at Gatwick and Heathrow because of capacity problems.

    Prioritypass holders have no priority at all. No 1 Lounge said I could pre-book but they didn’t tell me the £5 booking fee required. I complained to Prioritypass and they didn’t want to know.

    I complained to American Express Platinum Card, who issued me the Priority pass as part of the card benefits, and they refunded me the £5. I have requested AE to drop Prioritypass and deal with airline lounges directly.


    SimonS1
    Participant

    I’ve just cancelled mine at renewal as well.

    The Gatwick North situation means PP holders are being forced out and another time I tried to use it in Lusaka the lounge was closed.

    Poor value for money so I gave it up.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    Cancelled PP last year and told Collinson Group why.

    Waste of money, at present.

    When the next recession hits and the longes are less occupied, may be worth it, once more.


    PeterCoultas
    Participant

    Platinum Amex + Priority deal has been good for me – no props with access but maybe my flights were better timed


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    @Gilbert777 – I sincerely hope Amex did not listen to your request that they drop PP.

    I agree the London airports provide a challenge. Pat of the reason at the moment is Gatwick lounge is giving up space for BA card holders and the Heathrow lounge is simply too small to allow for the needs of all the card holders.

    Amex + PP have been a massive value for me…


    TheRealBabushka
    Participant

    Isn’t it common knowledge that Priority Pass is a sub-standard product? Any airline-run lounge associated with Priority Pass has the distinction of being a rubbish lounge.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    @TheRealBabushka

    I agree Priority Pass lounges are sub standard to a lot of the main airline lounges. However, when flying on an airline without status and the alternative is a heaving terminal area with lots of noise and little private space, all of a sudden Priority Pass lounges become a haven…


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    “Isn’t it common knowledge that Priority Pass is a sub-standard product?”

    Not necessarily so, there are some excellent contract lounges, (including, but not limited to) Malta International Airport, #1 at Heathrow T3, the contract lounges at DXB concourse D (which are better than the dedicated BA lounge, in my view), the Aspire lounges at MAN beat the BA lounges in terms of food provision.

    At some airports, all the lounges are awful, including the contracts – e.g. TUN – horrible!

    Where PP seems to be weak is that the contract lounges prefer to accept the most cold hard cash when busy and direct bookings would appear to give them more of this, so PP holders get the raw end of the deal.


    Tim2soza
    Participant

    Mixed experience. Excellent lounge in Luton but Edinburgh lounge closes at 8:30pm which was useless for a 9:30pm flight.


    lesmclaren
    Participant

    I agree with Martyn Sinclair – in general terms PP has been a good haven when flying with a personal “non status” carrier and one of the benefits that makes the AMEX Platinum fee tolerable.
    However I have found some annoying gaps in their coverage, my local airport is OSL [ a major airport in Scandinavia and due to expand by ~ 40% in 2017] yet PP have continually refused to participate in the OSL lounge program despite many requests from the OSL managment to PP to be a member. The excellent staff in the OSL Lounge have told me for several years that they get multiple PP members a day astounded that this lounge is not part of the PP offering. I have written to PP several times but just get fobbed of with a standard “corporate” reply!


    NTarrant
    Participant

    Gave up on PP a couple of years ago. No particular problems with access, but administration very poor. No response to requested change of plan


    stevescoots
    Participant

    Still have it as comes with my Amex, useful in Asia and have used it twice in past 4 days however in Europe and US too many holes in use


    TheRealBabushka
    Participant

    @MartynSinclair,

    I agree with you to an extent.

    The key here is the frequency of using airlines, where one does not have lounge access.

    PP makes sense only when you are unable to build critical mass with one alliance and are forced to travel in Y on multiple airlines. The cost savings of a PP membership is only evident with significant travel in such situations.

    For the odd trip, most airports that provide a PP facility also provides a PAYG lounge (more often it is the same PP lounge!).


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    TheRealBabushka – 03/06/2016 06:28 BST

    As a frequent loco flyer, I appreciate my lounge card and currently use Dragonpass, which I find much better administrated than PP.

    Still occasionally get denied entry (e.g. when Liverpool FC took over the entire lounge at LPL for a trip) – I was delighted when they got knocked out and it was karma for all of the pax who were turned away quite smugly that day. Football clubs and airports should arrange proper VIP rooms, not just close the lounge that the normal people use 🙂

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