Published: 24 July 2026
This page is part of our Airport Travel Hub, which brings together all our guides to making your journey through the airport easier.
How to Get Airport Lounge Access for Just £21
Airport lounges are one of the easiest ways to make travelling more enjoyable, offering complimentary food and drinks, comfortable seating and a quieter place to relax or work before your flight.
While some travellers gain access through business class tickets, airline status or lounge memberships, everyone else is often faced with paying £30–£50 per person for a single visit.
Fortunately, there’s a little-known workaround. By combining the free Club Avolta loyalty scheme with DragonPass, it’s currently possible to access many of the UK’s best airport lounges for around £21 per visit which we believe is currently the cheapest way to get UK airport lounge access.
We compared this offer against the normal pre-booked prices at 44 UK airport lounges and found average savings of 49%, with some lounges as much as 63% cheaper.
What is Club Avolta?
Club Avolta is the loyalty scheme for World Duty Free stores, which are found in the majority of UK airports. It is free to join and gives members discounts on duty free and airport purchases. Check out our article here.
In addition to the discounts on food and duty free, Club Avolta members can currently get lounge access for $28 per visit which currently works out at £21 a time.
What is DragonPass?
DragonPass is a lounge & airport membership scheme that works with lounges in over 700 airports around the world. These include virtually all UK airports that have a lounge and more than 100 airports in the rest of Europe.
Lounge access is available at the following UK airports: Aberdeen, Belfast City, Belfast International, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, City of Derry, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Humberside, Inverness, Isle of Man, Jersey, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, London Gatwick (North & South terminals), London Heathrow (Terminals 2, 3, 4 & 5), London Luton, London Southend, London Stansted, Manchester (Terminals 2 & 3), Newcastle, Norwich, Southampton and Teesside.
See here for a full list of UK lounges that can be accessed with DragonPass. Note that the AeroSpas at Birmingham, London City and London Gatwick are not included in this offer.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Install the Club Avolta App on your phone and register an account
- Search for your local airport, click My Rewards, scroll down to Travel and click on Discount on Airport Lounges
- Click Register for DragonPass and you will receive an email with your membership number and activation code
- Download the DragonPass app and enter the membership details you were sent on email. You will need to also register an account with DragonPass if you do not already have one.
How do I book a lounge visit on the DragonPass app?
You can search on the DragonPass app for the available lounges at your chosen airport. Select your preferred lounge and book your walk in access. If you do not have enough lounge entry entitlements, you can purchase the ones you need at that time.
Note the website states that the price is $31 (as does the Club Avolta App) and states that you can only purchase 3 passes a year. However the price on the DragonPass app is $28 per visit and it looks like you can buy as many passes as you need.
Can I pre-book to reserve a space in the lounge?
Yes, you can guarantee your place in the lounge at some airports by pre-booking via the DragonPass app. Reservations cost around £6 per entry.
This is available at Birmingham (No1 Lounge, Aspire Lounge South), London Gatwick North (No1 Lounge, My Lounge, Plaza Premium), London Gatwick South (No1 Lounge, My Lounge), London Heathrow Terminal 2 (No1 Lounge, Plaza Premium), London Heathrow Terminal 3 (No1 Lounge, Plaza Premium arrivals), London Heathrow Terminal 4 (Blush Lounge by Plaza Premium, Plaza Premium), London London Heathrow Terminal 5 (Plaza Premium), London Luton (My Lounge), Manchester Terminal 2 (Escape Lounge, Aspire Lounge) and Manchester Terminal 3 (Escape Lounge, Aspire Lounge). See here for more details
What if the lounge is full when I turn up?
There may be an alternative option as many large airports have more than one lounge on Dragonpass but lounges generally also operate a waiting list when they are full.
Alternatively, entries are valid for 12 months so you can use the entry on your next visit, or if you prefer, you can ask for your money back. The DragonPass website says: “if you’ve purchased additional lounge visits and haven’t used them and your membership is still valid, you can request a refund by contacting our Customer Support Team”
If you are travelling during peak summer and are concerned about the lounge being full, our advice would be to go to the reception when you get through security, check that they have space and then book your entry passes on the DragonPass app.
Are there any extra charges with DragonPass?
The Clubrooms at Birmingham, Gatwick North and Gatwick South are at the premium end of the lounge scale. An additional £15 is payable for each entry for these lounges only, however at all 3 airports, there are at least 2 other lounges available on DragonPass so the Clubrooms should be just seen as premium alternative option.
Is this offer better than booking elsewhere?
We checked the pre-booked entry price for 44 different UK lounges, all on the same date – many lounge prices are dynamic and change with demand.
Across all airports, the average pre-booked entry price was £40.94, making the £21 Club Avolta/Dragonpass deal 49% lower.
It was cheaper to use this offer in 43 of the 44 lounges, with savings ranging from 63% at the Plaza Premium lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5 to 24% at the Executive Lounge at Norwich.
The only slight risk with DragonPass is that you do not necessarily have a guaranteed reservation and the lounge could be full when you arrive at the airport.
The one place you should definitely not use this offer is the Amelia Earhart Lounge at City of Derry Airport in Northern Ireland. Lounge entry is only £18.50 in advance (or £20 for a walk-up), which we believe to be the cheapest in the UK.
Is using Club Avolta the Cheapest Way to Book Airport Lounges?
If you don’t already receive airport lounge access through a premium credit card, airline status or business class ticket, this is cheapest way we have found to enjoy airport lounges.
Our research showed an average saving of 49% compared with booking directly, with the deal working out cheaper at 43 of the 44 lounges we checked. Even after adding the optional reservation fee where available, you’ll often still pay significantly less than booking through the lounge itself.
The only real downside is that, unless you pay to reserve your place, entry is subject to availability (although that also goes for the majority of other lounge users too). However, many lounges operate waiting lists, unused entries remain valid for 12 months, and unused lounge visits can usually be refunded while your membership remains active.
If you’re planning to use an airport lounge even once this year, it’s well worth downloading the free Club Avolta app before you travel. Spending a couple of minutes setting up your account could easily save enough to pay for a meal or a round of drinks at the airport.
