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Plaza Premium Lounge Heathrow Terminal Four

by ychxk | Oct 22, 2018 | Trip Reports & Reviews, UK

Plaza Premium lounge is located above the Qatar lounge at Heathrow terminal four close to gate 1 and covers 8500 square feet!

It’s nice to see an independent option available more and more at Heathrow; the relatively new Plaza Premium lounge give this option now in terminal four. It’s my favorite refuge at Heathrow as Qatar sees fit to ignore oneworld status passengers and not let them use it’s lounge below!

The lounge has several sections with a large dining area to the right of reception with plenty of seating and good views of the runway as well as some booths to work or relax in. To the left of reception are the showers and toilets which were both clean and spacious, perfect for a shower before a long haul flights. Also to the left is the bar area which is suitably dark and relaxing. There’s also some darkened relaxation chairs to put your feet up before the flight. There are also three private resting suites if you prefer something a bit more private.

Food

I’ve visited the lounge both at breakfast and also in the evening and found the range of food to be between good and excellent. There’s a good selection of fruit, cold cuts and yoghurts in the chiller in the morning then salads in the evening. There’s always a range of hot items, with English breakfast available and cooked to order eggs as well as a variety of hot cuisine available at other times. What I particularly like is that there’s always a meal available, unlike some airline lounges which ration food to a meal time; looking at you BA. It’s a particularly good choice if you fancy a cooked English breakfast before departure, though when we visited we did have to prompt the chef to replace the bacon and sausages.

Power & Wifi

There’s plenty of power sockets in the lounge as well as it’s own Wifi network independent of the airport. No excuse not to download a movie for the flight or get some work done!

Cost

The lounge is included in many credit card programs and priority pass. If you aren’t entitled to a free visit then a 2 hours visit will cost you $49.

Overall

In summary this is a smart, clean nice to have lounge option in terminal 4. The only criticism I would have after a few visits is that the staff are not particularly friendly or welcoming. A minor criticism which won’t spoil your visit.

Buffet

Cold Drinks

Counter with charging points

English Breakfast

Seating pod with desk and power

Cooked to order eggs

Cold breakfast selection

Plaza Premium Lounge Seating Heathrow

Plaza Premium Lounge Hong Kong Gate 40

by ychxk | Dec 3, 2017 | Airlines, Hong Kong

The Plaza Premium lounge is the second lounge in Hong Kong airport, the first located near Gate five close to immigration. This lounge is perfect if your flight departs from one of the gates at the transit stop.

Food from Buffet at Plaza Premium

The lounge itself is pretty big but the restaurant area gets pretty packed at peak hours and it can be hard to find a table. There’s a good variety of food for a credit card lounge with Western choices such as meatballs, rice, salad bar as well as cakes and desserts. There’s also a noodle bar and Asian favourites as well on the hot buffet. The food was fresh and reasonably tasty. I’d class it as decent quality canteen food, nothing special but good for a bite before your flight.

View from Dining area across apron

There’s a great view across the apron of the gates and one of the runways, perfect for some plane spotting while you dine. One of the hidden gems is the lounge to the right of the dining area along the corridor. It features some comfy armchairs along with at seat power at every seat which are both worldwide plug compatible and have USB outlets built in. It’s a much more relaxing area than the dining area or the lounge to the left of the entrance. There’s not much food in this area, just some snacks and a coffee machine and drinks fridge.

On the left of the entrance is counter style seating which is perfect for a quick drink and some work on your laptop or tablet. Further to the left Is another quiet seating area with some seating pods. When I visited many people were using these to take a nap but they seem to be more designed for work. Since I last visited a free months ago the lounge had expanded and the area with the pods used to be separated as an airline invitation only section. This has now moved further back and is separated by a rope area, presumably used for airlines that don’t have their own lounge in Hong Kong.

Beer Machine

Although the lounge advertises a bar on the Premium Plaza website we couldn’t find this. Possibly it’s part of the airline lounge only section. There was however a very interesting looking beer machine that fills the glass from the bottom. Unfortunately by the time I found the machine there wasn’t time to try it out before the flight departed.

The lounge isn’t signposted so follow the signs from the first transit stop at gate 40 towards the Emirates lounge. It’s located up the escalator from the departures level on the opposite side from Emirates.

Overall it’s a decent lounge choice if you have access with a credit card or priority pass. However the rate of HK$580 for access for 2 hours isn’t particularly great value. Hong Kong isn’t a bad airport to hang out while waiting for your flight with free wifi in every area of the airport so it may make more sense to grab a proper meal at one of the many restaurants then chill out by your gate.