Heathrow T5 Lounges - Plaza Premium or Club Aspire

[SuperSue77]

I’m flying out of T5 at the end of July with my family and we have DragonPass passes for a lounge before our flight, either Plaza Premium or Club Aspire. i believe both are pretty naff but wondered if anyone had any experience and could advise which one might suits us best?

We are my husband, me and our 3 teenagers, one of whom is autistic and doesn’t like being around too many people (I know this can’t be avoided at an airport on a Saturday in late July - but one lounge might be less crowded than the other.)
A view of the runaway is a major attraction and my husband and I enjoy a glass or two of sparkling - this was included in the price of the lounge we used in Gatwick last year but not sure that is the case for either of these?

Any advice anyone?

I've only tried Aspire, also peak season last summer and I wish I could be more positive..... but it was such a disappointment. Absolutely packed and only just managed to find seats for 2 of us, you'd have had no chance for 5. There were a lot of working people on laptops who looked like they were settled in for the day.

I thought the runway view selling point was a con because there are good views from lots of public areas at T5.

Food and drink were nice but not much choice. I enjoyed a few glasses of wine but can't recall if there was any sparkling.

Aspire are generally poor in my experience, so I’d be tempted to try the other one by default. Last time I was in one, in Gatwick, they were out of glasses and the toilets were shut, meaning a lengthy return to the main concourse every time. And the food was awful. They are also always rammed.

Both are pretty poor and unless you pay (might be £5 a head I can’t remember) you’re not guaranteed to get in at all if it’s busy.

Everytime I’ve been in it’s been a struggle to find a seat. The only reason we keep using them is because it means we don’t need to pay for food!

To be honest that’s my experience of any airport lounges, we get Dragon Pass through our bank, I wouldn’t pay money to sit in any of them. The Virgin Upper Class lounge in San Francisco was pretty good to be fair.

Sorry - wish I had something more positive to say!

Thanks for your comments. I mentioned it to my husband this morning (I’d not given it any thought until last night!) and he said T5 is so good there is no need to go in a terminal, but like @GutsyShark we get the passes through our bank so thought we may as well use them.
Every holiday so far with the kids we have flown from Gatwick and it has been horrendous. The first year we went in the Aspire lounge, the next year we didn’t and tried to find a seat in Weatherspoons (please don’t judge us!) and that was quite horrendous too, so the year after we went back to Aspire and it was better than the previous year.

We would prebook and it won’t cost us any more as it’s included in our travel insurance package with our bank, so might just book anyway and then pop out into the main concourse if preferable. Just to decide which one to book! Sounds like Plaza Premium is being suggested as the better option.

So many people get passes through banks now so they’re usually so busy and hard to get seats. The food isn’t good and facilities are poor. On a busy July weekend it’s not going to be much better than being in the main airport areas. The only lounges worth going to really are the airlines own business and first class lounges.

What time of day is the flight? Lounges tend to quieten down by about 5/6pm.

I suppose you can always leave if it is rammed.

The alternative is to hunker down in a pricier eatery. I think you could see the runway from Gordon Ramsay's restaurant.

Aspire lounges are shit. To be fair, in T5, even the British Airways lounges are awful - overcrowded and dated. I would head to one of the restaurants instead.

Agree that Aspire is crap. We used it last year. Poor food and so crowded that we would have been better off in a normal restaurant.

Unless you'd plan to really make the most of the drink offer, I'll also suggest a residency at one of the nicer restaurants would be a better experience, even if not making the most of your Dragon Pass.

Hmm we went to Aspire- it was horrid! I was so jealous of the people eating in normal restaurants … they have some lovely restaurants. There was no space at Aspire, the food is crap - drink is fine but just wine beer nothing fancy. It’s crammed… run a mile.

Both shit - the BA lounge wasn't bad

But you can only get into the airline lounges with the right level of access or ticket. So not an option for most.

We paid for lounges on flights from T5 last Nov - the Plaza Premium. As 5 adults it wasn't cheap.
Absolutely horrible. Jam packed, no seats, very few food choices (we didn't bother), mob scene to get a drink
We walked straight back out
Went to Giraffe where we paid the usual astronomical price but had a quieter experience with table service and food of our choice.
Lounges are a swizz.

We used the Plaza Premium just 5 days ago and it was awful. Paid £85 for 2 adults. Arrived around 10am. No food was out which we thought was down to a breakfast/lunch hour crossover but when food was put out it was quite dismal.
Drinks wise, a couple of fridges of soft drinks and a bar with awful service serving a limited selection of lagers and warm wine.
Regretted spending the money on it.
Flying out of T5 next month and have already decided not to bother with either lounge. Just not worth it.
Other LHR terminals have better lounges but T5 is definitely lacking!

As I mentioned below I've done them all - I thought the BA one was good - but then again you have to be flying BA premium to get it as far as I'm aware or have a BA credit card -don't think its one you can buy into - consequently it was way less packed and food and drink were actually pretty nice - we got upgraded for free for flight to Athens- it was my husbands 60th too so was a lovely treat - especially as we got really nice meal and drinks on flight too