So I’ve rejoined Premium. I also have a Curve Metal which I use for the added protections/cashback and the other features.
I note that both say they’re Mastercard World Elite cards. My business card (also Monzo) says ‘World Business Debit’. Both cards also provide LoungeKey access.
The Monzo x LoungeKey website says £24 for discounted lounge access whereas I remember seeing somewhere it’s cited as £20??? Is there really a £4 difference between the two and if so why is this the case?
I’m also looking at going to AMS next week and saw that the BA Galleries Club lounge on the Monzo x LoungeKey website and wanted to clarify if you could actually get into airline lounges on a Monzo card/ if anyone’s experiences getting into this lounge has been particularly smooth with LoungeKey? Usually I’d get in flying Club Europe but sadly not this time! (EasyJet)
As for the World Elite… what does this actually mean in real terms/ do for us? I’ve seen that there’s a raft of different benefits and protections but it’s all offered on an issuer/bank by issuer/bank basis. Is there any instance, say where travelling, that the World Elite Debit would be treated differently.
I remember seeing somewhere that Revolut Metal cards were all World Elite but that in real world terms it didn’t mean sod all…
I was shocked too because aside from the exception such as Virgin (Atlantic and Australia) - I’ve never heard of paying to get into an airlines’ lounge!
And as you say… you still have to be flying with VS (albeit Premium) for paid access.
I don’t know if that still applies - the last few times I’ve flown I’ve just shown my Monzo card and both Escape and Aspire and had no problems.
In fact in September that’s how I noticed a bug where we weren’t charging people correctly. I reported it while on holiday, should have waited until I was back in the UK and I might have had free lounge access on the way back too
No1 lounges are evil. They failed to negotiate higher fee from the lounge access schemes (Priority pass, Lounge Key, etc) and charging a fee to “pre-book” a slot is their way around it. Thus yeah, No1 costs more on top of access key.
About airline lounges - from time to time individual airline lounges join the Priority Pass / Lounge Key / etc networks. I.e. sky team lounge in Heathrow (now closed), Swiss, united, SAS, KLM are all known to have been part of pay-to-access lounges.
Btw do note that one can buy i.e. priority pass membership direct if you need it. It might be more cost efficient than having a Premium banking card product.
The BA lounge in Amsterdam was outsourced a few years ago. While it remains BA branded, it is effectively now a third-party lounge that accepts a lot of the usual schemes.
Good info. I’ve just checked LongeKey - via Monzo Premium - and it gives the Terminal 1, Terminal 2 AND BA lounges at Schipol. Now planning to use the Premium offering there (if it actually stacks up!)
One of the most attractive benefits of my Max membership was discounted airport lounges. However, the reality is that LoungeKey doesn’t seem to actually be accepted anywhere - you just get told the lounge is full but when you check via direct website there are spaces. An example of this is Manchester - you can prebook but no matter what date you select, it says the lounge is full.
All of these lounge memberships only provide entry if capacity allows, and UK lounges are famously at (or beyond) capacity if you don’t travel off peak.
Lounges will have x% of their capacity open to LoungeKey/Priority Pass, etc members and the rest reserved to those who pay full price.
The capacity thing is bang on - which is why I usually just turn up and chance it. I don’t recall ever not being able to get into the lounge, although occasionally I’ve had to put my name on a list because it’s full. It’s never taken very long before the phone rings and there’s a space available.
With a WE card, you get President status or equivalent at the major car hire firms. This is very worthwhile and saved us around £1000 on a single three week holiday as it included 10000km Vs the usual 3000, 23c/km over that Vs 46c normally, £50 one way dropoff Vs £250 normally, free second driver, guaranteed upgrade, and a few other things.
You also get better offers on Mastercard’s priceless programme.
These are because it’s WE, they’re not tied to whatever the bank offers.
With regard to the pre-booking I don’t believe there is any % allocated at Manchester for lounge key as you can choose any future date and it always says the same thing.
I’ll just try on the day again and see how I get on.