Amy Axworthy is a travel journalist and product reviewer. She was shortlisted for Best News Writer at the BSME Talent Awards in 2023 for uncovering consumer harm.
Priority Pass and Dragonpass memberships get you into independent airport lounges for free or at a discounted price, while also offering other benefits throughout the terminal. Lounges and perks are available at most UK airports and thousands more globally, regardless of which airline you're flying with.
Although these passes sometimes come as a benefit with certain premium bank accounts and credit cards, anyone can buy one.
However, although you can buy a pass that gives you unlimited access to lounges, it will cost at least £379 per person per year. The cheapest tiers aren't as generous; you may get one free entry into a lounge of your choice a year, but you have to pay £24 to £26 for subsequent visits. The second level of membership costs £168 to £229 for eight to 10 included entries a year.
On top of these costs, you have to pay a fee to pre-book a time slot, and guests travelling with you cost extra. A Priority Pass or Dragonpass can be worth buying if you're a frequent traveller and you normally pay full price for airport lounges on the door. But we've found better deals that are more practical for most holidaymakers.
Read on to find out exactly what's included in these airport lounge memberships and how much they cost. Plus, we share our top five tips for saving on your next lounge visit.
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A Priority Pass membership gives you complimentary or discounted access to more than 1,800 airport lounges worldwide. Its network includes 40 lounges from brands such as Aspire, No 1 and Escape, at 26 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, London Heathrow, London Luton, London Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Southampton and Teesside). Although this list has been known to change, sometimes depending on seasonal demand.
When you buy a yearly pass outright, you get extra perks beyond the lounges. At some airports, you'll get credit of around £18 instead of a lounge booking to spend at select airport restaurants, which is a good backup if the lounge is full. This is also handy at airports such as London City and Southend, which don't currently have participating lounges. However, it's only worth using if you have a mid or top-level membership with allocated 'free' visits left; you have to pay £24 to get the £18 restaurant credit, meaning you'll actually lose money. Separately, there may be percentage discounts on terminal eateries, massages, or gaming lounges that don't require the extra £24 fee.
There are different membership levels for Priority Pass, ranging from £69 to £419 per year. The higher the level, the more lounge visits you are entitled to without extra charges, and the cheapest option doesn't include any visits. However, whichever membership you have, to pre-book your slot and guarantee a space at busy times, you have to pay a small fee per person (typically £6).
The membership options aren't straightforward: the cheapest option essentially serves as a discount card for lounge entry rather than a free pass. Here's the full breakdown of Priority Pass prices and benefits as of May 2026:
| Membership Tier | Price per year | Number of visits included | Cost per extra visit | Pre-booking fee per visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | £69 | None | £24 per member or guest | Approximately £6 |
| Standard Plus | £229 | 10 per year | £24 per member or guest | Approximately £6 |
| Prestige | £419 | Unlimited | Free for members, £24 for guests | Approximately £6 |
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Dragonpass is very similar to the Priority Pass, but the initial membership costs are lower. You get access to more than 1,300 airport lounges with approximately 65 across the UK at 25 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 John Lennon, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, London Luton, London Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Southampton and Teesside).
Other benefits include discounted fast-track security, airport spa treatments and dining credits (approximately £18) or discounts to use if a lounge isn’t available or is full.
But like with Priority Pass, you have to exchange a free visit or pay £26 to get the £18 dining credit, so it's not worth doing with the cheapest membership.
Just like with a Priority Pass, there are different membership tiers and prices when buying a Dragonpass. But they are cheaper, and all tiers get at least one free lounge entry. It used to offer a top-tier option, most similar to the Priority Pass Prestige level with unlimited free visits, but this is currently unavailable to buy outright.
Here is the full breakdown of Priority Pass' prices and benefits as of May 2026:
| Membership Tier | Price per year | Number of visits included | Cost per extra visit | Pre-booking fee per visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic | £68 | 1 | £26 per member or guest | Approximately £6 |
| Preferential | £168 | 8 | £26 per member or guest | Approximately £6 |
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Priority Pass and Dragonpass are remarkably similar. When taking both physical lounges and dining perks into account, Priority Pass covers more UK airports, but the number of lounges and restaurants included in each terminal can vary. With both passes, the only way to guarantee entry at busy times is to pre-book your slot for a small fee. Since the memberships are so similar, Dragonpass is the better option for most because it has cheaper initial costs.
In our analysis of the best UK airport lounges, we've reported on how entry prices are increasing quickly – from an average of £25 in 2017 to now costing £42 per adult. A Priority Pass or Dragonpass may sound like an appealing way to get the price down, but when you dig down into the membership conditions, it's likely only giving you a worthwhile saving in specific circumstances. You must be a frequent traveller, often travelling on your own or with other members, so you don't foot the bill for guests.
The second tier of membership may be worth considering if you definitely plan to use your eight to ten included visits a year. This equates to around £21 (Dragon Pass) to £22.90 (Priority Pass) a visit – almost half the average cost we paid in our testing. Although it's worth noting that this doesn't include any extra fees you pay to pre-book a slot.
The cheapest memberships may sound tempting for those who travel less often, and after your single included visit with a Dragonpass Classic tier (£68), entry will cost £32 per person with a pre-booked slot.
But we found much cheaper deals when booking one-off via a discount booking site in May 2026. For example, a lounge at Manchester Airport costs £30.39 per person. Visiting three times would cost £91.17, whereas doing so via a Classic DragonPass would come to £132 – more than £40 more. In this case, a pass isn’t worth it.
There are ways to find better deals than committing to a membership, so find more tips for getting cheaper lounge entry below.
You don't always have to pay the standard entry fee for lounge access. As we showed above, websites such as Holiday Extras sometimes offer deals on lounge bookings, with discounts of 10% to 60%. Or you can get lounge access reduced when it's bundled in with other products, such as airport parking or express security. Blue Light card holders or charity workers can get discounts, too.
Many UK holidaymakers don't buy a Priority Pass or Dragonpass directly from the provider. Instead, it's usually a perk attached to a premium bank account or credit card that they already find is worthwhile to their lifestyle. These bank accounts include a monthly fee (typically £15 to £35), but it usually gives you the top tier of lounge pass and that isn't your only benefit. Extras such as travel insurance or breakdown cover are often included, too. There are also credit cards that offer these passes with similar monthly costs, such as an Amex Platinum, HSBC Premier World Elite, Lloyds Bank World Elite or NatWest Premier Black. For occasional travellers, some less premium accounts will give you a couple of free lounge visits a year, such as Amex Preferred Rewards Gold, which has no fee in its first year.
Some package holiday companies offer included or discounted airport lounge passes as part of your holiday booking. We've seen offers from Which? Recommended Providers Jet2 (Indulgent Escapes) and Kuoni, along with Expedia and several others. Doing this could save you more than £100 for a family of four to gain access.
You might find that you’re already entitled to get lounge deals through a company whose services you’re already paying for.
Some O2 and Virgin Media broadband customers can get lounge access for up to four people when their flight is delayed by one hour or more, as long as you register the flight at least two hours before the flight time.
A TravelZoo membership – one of our Which? Recommended Providers for deals sites and travel clubs – costs £30 a year and has a similar perk. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to register your flight with it at least 24 hours before.
Some lounges run their own promotions to tempt travellers. For example, Escape Lounges are available at Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Manchester and Stansted, and this company offers 15% off your first booking if you sign up to its newsletter.
