This is the other contract launch over here in Heathrow Terminal 5. I was flying out of here, which is the main BA terminal. Since my visit, there is another Plaza Premium Lounge and even a PP restaurant that you can choose to visit as well. I have heard about this place a couple of times. It is quite renowned. I am unsure if it is in a good way. The lounge apparently even has a pre-booked function, which caught my interest. I at first thought it would be cool since some PP lounges can get really full and at capacity, such as the SATS one in Singapore. Upon looking further, for pre-booking, it will incur an additional charge in addition to your entrance fee. That lost my interest real fast. Let’s see how it is.

Access Requirements

The Club Aspire Lounge is open from 5am to 9pm daily. You can access this lounge through a lounge program membership, such as Priority Pass. I have an unlimited Priority Pass through my UOB Reserve Card or my Citi Prestige Credit Card, which provides me with 12 yearly visits. I access the lounge primarily using these two cards. A standard entrance will cost 35USD. Typical guest entitlements follow. You can also pre-book the lounge via the PP app, although at an additional cost. 

Arrival & Location

The lounge is located next to Gate A18 in the main terminal area. For those flying out from the satellite area, you will have to head to the lounge before heading over. This makes it slightly inconvenient. The lounge is located at the far end. This is easy to spot. I got here at around 8.30am. There was a queue forming outside the lounge, with separate lines for guests with bookings and guests without bookings. There was a wait for those without. It’s really so crowded here that I don’t think that this will be an enjoyable one. It’s so bad to the point that the staff had to come out and announce that there are no available tables and everyone will have to share. The walk-in prices start from 51 Pounds! Ridiculous! If you do not have a lounge pass and would like to grab some food and drinks, you should be better off in the general terminal area.  

 

Definitely not very smooth, and we had to wait in line for quite some time. There is nothing premium about this lounge. They have a firm three-hour access time from your flight departure time. There are so many customers being turned away and time being wasted with ineligible customers trying their luck. I don’t see any purpose in booking it as well. You are still allowed to enter, but there is no secured seating for you. This meant that you are just pre-booking to guarantee access and getting access to a priority queue. 

Club Aspire Lounge 

The lounge is on the smaller side, and it seems to be just craved out around the corridor. It does come with great tarmac views of the surrounding area. You can see the nice BA planes. It is pretty simple here, with seating scattered around, with both high-top seating and low dining tables. There are also some chairs and couches here for lounging. I did like it that they had plenty of power outlets available within reach. Wi-Fi is also available.

At the other end of the lounge, there is an area that is cordoned off. This is perhaps reserved for those who paid for entrance or for airline customers.

Food and Drinks

I got here during breakfast; the food and drinks were rather standard. There are some continental options like yogurt, cold cuts and then typical English breakfast selections like hash brown, bacon, scrambled eggs, beans and pastries. You have some coffee machines, teas and juices. They are neither delicious nor memorable. It is nice to have access to prevent spending on overpriced items at the airport, but that is about it. 

Conclusion

I hope that things are better now with the addition of the Plaza Premium and the PP Restaurant. There is a huge demand for contract lounges in T3. This is definitely one of the craziest I have encountered for Contract Lounges. It kind of defeats the purpose. If I did not want to grab a bite and review it, I would have given it a skip. While pre-reserving access is a way, I am not really open to paying extra for it. I also get that plans change often, and if you do not turn up, the lounge provider might be at a loss. Perhaps they could just chalk off one entry when you do pre-reserve and not turn up. That is better than paying extra. There are also no toilets and showers, which further reduces the usefulness. The only reason that you should be here is just to grab some affordable food and drinks when you have an unlimited access contract lounge pass. This is not one that you should be splurging your limited funds on or paying money for. Definitely not £50