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London Heathrow Plaza Premium Lounge, Terminal 4 Review

The Plaza Premium Lounge in London Heathrow Terminal 4 is an excellent lounge. It’s a classy and bright space. It has high quality food, lots of seating and a separate bar area. It is a great place to kick back before your flight.

Best of all, there’s a number of ways to enter the lounge. You don’t need to be flying in business class. You can get access with an AMEX Platinum Card. You can even pay for entry.

I was in the lounge at 6.30am, and was pretty tired. However, I made sure to take loads of photos – as always. Each photo in the article can be clicked – to pop out to a slideshow.

What I liked

  • Large space
  • Large windows and lots of natural light
  • Cook to order items available
  • Breakfast buffet was decent
  • Large bar area, separate to main lounge
  • Well designed space

What can be improved

  • They could cook the buffet with more flavour

The Access Requirements

There are a number of ways to access the lounge. I got access with my American Express Platinum Card.

You can also pay for entry. This is worth it if you plan to drink a lot of alcohol.

The Lounge

Although the lounge is not as big as the Skyteam Lounge, I really liked the space. On the right side of the entrance, is the main lounge area with buffet, floor to ceiling windows and lots of seating. On the left hand side of the entrance is the segregated bar area.

There was a range of seating in the main area including restaurant style table and chairs, lounge chairs, and large square table.

As is common with many Plaza Premium Lounges around the world, they had put a lot of effort into the decoration of the lounge – which I appreciate. I really enjoyed the decoration in the lounge and thought it was very classy. They made use of exposed wood flooring and a lot of grey seating. The highlight was the large square table with a designer tree in the centre of it – check out the photo in the above slideshow.

Design is something I really appreciate – I put a lot of effort into the design of this site, and I hope you like it! The great thing about airline lounges, is that you get taken away from the madness of the terminal building and can enjoy a little piece of luxury. A well designed lounge helps to enhance that feeling of luxury.

The Food

I was there at 6.30am, during the breakfast service. The main area of the lounge has a buffet counter to one side. The buffet contained standard English breakfast items. In addition, there was a small menu with cook to order items. The lounge had the following items:

  • Cook to order eggs and veggie sausages
  • Sausages
  • Scrambled Eggs
  • Mushrooms
  • Baked Beans
  • Roast Potatoes
  • Poha (Indian dish – flattened rice)
  • Yogurt
  • Fruit
  • Cereals
  • Teas and coffees


I had some cooked to order veggie sausages, mushrooms and roast potatoes. I enjoyed the veggie sausages, but the other items from the buffet were lacking in flavour. I would say that it was the equivalent to the breakfast at a 4* hotel. This is pretty good for a contract lounge

The drinks

The lounge has a separate bar area, and it is really rather classy. There is no natural light in the bar area - they have some nice mood lighting and wooden flooring to create an upmarket feel. As it was 7am, I decided against a drink (those days are long gone!), but I did take a look around and snap some photos.

I took photos of the drinks menu. It contained premium spirits that were chargeable. I assume that all other items (beers, house spirits etc.) were complimentary.

The Gulf Air Lounge is also in Heathrow Terminal 4. It also has a beautiful manned bar - in the centre of the lounge. That lounge is impressive. It’s well designed and has sweeping runway views. My review has a stunning shot of a Gulf Air Dreamliner!

The Business model of contract lounges

Unlike airline lounges, you don't need to be traveling in business class or have airline status to access the Heathrow Plaza Premium Lounge, T4. You can pay for entry, but most people will use a priority pass membership to come in. Each time you use the lounge, priority pass will reimburse the lounge a set fee.

Historically, contract lounges have had a bad reputation. Often these lounges are in the darkest corner of the terminal - think food in a packet and cheep beer. There is a reason for this. Airlines invest in their lounges to drive business to their premium cabins. However, as contract lounges have a fixed payment structure, there is not a lot of incentive for them to invest large sums into them.

This trend has changed in recent years, and places like London Heathrow now have a number of good options. Heathrow has a large number of travellers who have high expectations. Also, most terminals have more than 1 contract lounge. This combination has driven up the standard of contract lounges at the airport.

Conclusion

The Heathrow Plaza Premium Lounge in Terminal 4 is an excellent contract lounge. It is large and bright, with good food, charming decor and lots of seating. It is not a destination lounge, but is a great place to spend an hour or two before your flight.

Plaza Premium also have an arrivals lounge in Heathrow Terminal 4. It’s pretty good. Small but mighty! There’s an excellent selection of a la carte dishes to choose from. The food is restaurant quality and the alcohol is complimentary.

Plaza Premium have a departures lounge in Heathrow Terminal 2. It’s often rated as the best contract lounge in the world! I don’t actually agree with that, but the lounge is very good. It has a beautiful bar. However, there’s no natural light. Also, the roast potatoes were bland!

One of the best value airport hotels at Heathrow is the Ibis Styles. I paid £66 for a family room. The hotel is located on Bath Road, where most Heathrow hotels are. The décor was modern and fresh.

 

 

Debbie Kimber

Bathrooms were disgusting, The in side of the lounge was disgusting it was dirty and the food was terrible,they lounge had hardly anything left to eat. I have picture of this location it’s a disgusting I would recommend people stay far away and not use it. Staff are rude and need to go to school on service to the public. This lounge has no idea on how to run or service people. We paid 38 .00 pounds each my husband and I and would like my money back.

September 2, 2023

Hieu Dao

The lounge is terrible from food quality to the toilets. I recommend not to use this one

January 1, 2024

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