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The Plaza Premium Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 2 is currently one of the more important lounges in the airport because as far as I can tell, it’s the only lounge open in Terminal 2. Virgin Atlantic and Delta are currently directing their premium passengers to the Plaza Premium Lounge while they wait to return to their home in T3, and with none of the Star Alliance lounges open, the Plaza Premium Lounge is the fallback option for just about everyone else traveling out of T2.
Location
The lounge is located on Level 4 of Heathrow Terminal 2, one level below where passengers pass through security. If you don’t know the terminal particularly well, the lounge can be a little tricky to find so here’s how to get to it:
- When you clear security use one of the sets of escalators that you’ll find on this level to go down to Level 4 (where you’ll find most of the terminal’s shops and eateries).
- Once on Level 4, look for the airline service desks which you’ll find on the opposite side of this level to the airport apron.
- To the right of these desks is a passageway and it’s this passageway that leads to the Plaza Premium Lounge.
Who has access
- Priority Pass members – The Plaza Premium Lounge at Heathrow T2 is a member of the Priority Pass network, so anyone who purchases a Priority Pass membership or who holds a credit card that offer Priority Pass membership as a benefit (e.g. card_name, card_name, and card_name)
- Paying Customers – Starting from £45.00 for single visits, but multi-visit passes are also available for purchase for Plaza Premium Lounges around the world.
Note: The lounge is currently open between 05:00 and 21:30 daily.
The lounge
The first area of the lounge that guests enter is a small seating area where the main bar is positioned.
Prior to 17 May, the lounge was prohibited from serving alcohol by the UK’s lockdown rules, but the alcoholic beverage service is now back up and running.
On one side, the lounge has a small dining area that is adjacent to the beverage station (self-service) and the food service area which, thanks to COVID regulations, is currently counter service only (no buffet).
The menus are limited, so no one should be expecting a feast during their visit…
…but despite not being visually attractive, the chicken cacciatore that I sampled on my lunchtime visit turned out to be quite nice.
As far as seating options go, the lounge has a few.
One end of the lounge (the end near the washrooms and the (closed) showers) offers guests a choice of single-person booths…
….armchairs…
…and the occasional high table:
At the other end of the lounge (the end adjacent to the dining area), there are more armchairs…
…a few private booths…
…and a seating area that appears to be reserved for larger groups:
The wi-fi in the lounge seemed fine. I didn’t try to stream any movies or shows but for the work I was doing on the blog (which included uploading a large number of images), the upload speeds were ok.
The lounge is also well served for power outlets, although visitors should be aware that they’re mostly UK-style 3-pin sockets (there are a few USB sockets too) so guests from the US, Europe, and further afield will probably need to make sure they have an adapter with them if they’re to be able to charge their larger devices.
It’s also probably worth noting that even if your devices come with UK-style 3-pin plugs, it may still be worth bringing an adapter along.
On my last visit, I noticed that because the outlets are placed quite close to the surface of the high tables, it’s impossible to plug in a device that comes with a sizeable power brick (like a MacBook).
Fortunately, a multi-country adapter can solve this issue.
Overall opinion
The Plaza Premium Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 2 is a perfectly acceptable 3rd party lounge, and that’s just as well because it’s the only T2 lounge that appears to be open right now.
Yes, the food options are hardly varied or stellar (that’s probably the lounge’s biggest weak spot) but the decor is quite nice, the seats are comfortable, the staff members seem friendly and the biggest trick that the lounge manages to pull off is that it somehow tricks you into forgetting that there are no windows to the outside. Ordinarily, I find 3rd party lounges with no natural light to be dingy and claustrophobic, but this Plaza Premium lounge somehow manages not to do that and that’s very good news.
Overall, this clearly isn’t a lounge that’s at the same level as some of the bigger airline lounges that you’ll find at Heathrow T2, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that as 3rd party lounges go, this one is not bad at all.
[…] check-in was non-existent, so I was soon heading through airport security and on my way to the Terminal 2 Plaza Premium Lounge (none of the Star Alliance lounges were open at this […]