Review: the My Lounge airport lounge at London Gatwick’s South Terminal

This is our review of My Lounge at London Gatwick’s South terminal.

This is part of our series of reviews of airport lounges across the UK. You see all of the reviews here.

This article is the start of a four part series following my trip to Oslo last week on Norse Atlantic. The rest of the coverage will appear over the next few days.

The My Lounge at Gatwick South takes up the rear part of what used to be the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse. The other half became the Club Aspire lounge at Gatwick South, which we reviewed here, albeit that lounge remains closed.

My Lounge is a brand owned by SwissportALD (a joint venture between Airport Dimensions and Swissport) which also runs the No1 Lounge, Clubrooms and Club Aspire lounge brands – although, confusingly, not the Aspire brand which is solely controlled by Swissport.

Access to all of the lounges at Gatwick South is on the same level as security.  Whilst most passengers will take the escalators down to the main concourse level, there is an access corridor to the left – see my photo below – which takes you to all the lounges. Do not go down the escalators.

A couple of photographs in this review are from our previous review in 2019. It was very busy when I was there last week and I couldn’t get some of the shots I wanted.

My Lounge is reached through a further corridor and you finally end up here:

To ensure I got in, I paid £6 to guarantee entry with my Priority Pass via this page of the No1 Lounges website. The lady in front of me was desperate for a cigarette and had been attracted by the ‘outdoor terrace’ which is mentioned on the lounge signage – she ended up paying £35 to stand outside for a smoke.

My Lounge is the cheapest of No1 Lounges brands but that doesn’t mean that the company has cut costs on the design.  It looks trendy although the light levels are quite low.

It is not huge, but an effort has been made to partition it into a variety of ‘rooms’. There is one geared for children with a video games console, table football and some play items:

There is also an outdoor terrace, although it is very small and doesn’t overlook anything.  It does allow smoking, and I got to see a number of BA tailfins all lined up:

Whilst the main lounge area has large windows, the views from the lounge are towards jetbridges:

There is quite a lot of dining space, which was not heavily used. You’ve got these small tables plus a bar counter (not pictured):

…. and then a large wooden dining table with yellow chairs, which is very much a statement piece:

The dining area is flanked on one side by the buffet:

The buffet doesn’t have a huge amount of choice, but it was enough. I was there during breakfast. Off to the side was a separate area with cornflakes and bran flakes. The main buffet was offering the usual cooked options – here is part of it (the far left is potato):

I thought this honeycomb was a classy touch:

There is also a pancake machine to keep the kids entertained.

The ‘wine on ice’ feature is still there – totally unnecessary, as there are multiple fridges available, but it looks good:

If you want anything sparkling you will need to pay extra for it – £12.99 for a bottle of prosecco and ‘from £28’ for champagne. These certainly aren’t ludicrous prices but if I’d paid £35 on the door to get in I may be a bit annoyed.

Wi-fi was good, even out on the terrace.

The lounge has been stripped of all newspapers and magazines although you are given log-in details for PressReader if you want to download something. The airport itself went back to giving out free newspapers and magazines months ago and you will pass multiple racks of free Financial Times, New York Times, The Sun and Daily Mail on the way to your gate.

Conclusion

I like the My Lounge concept and I think this lounge works well.  The variety of seating, the outdoor terrace and the games room are good touches.

Whilst it is nowhere near as big as the No1, and on paper has far fewer facilities, it served me well. I had a quick breakfast at one of the tables, and then took a glass of wine out onto the terrace where I did some work. That was all I wanted to do and the lounge did the job.

You can argue whether it is ‘right’ that you should need to pay £6 to guarantee your entry when using a Priority Pass card, but I found it worthwhile. Remember that your £6 reservation fee includes fast track security at Gatwick which was, at 9.45am on a Wednesday, genuinely fast – I had just three people queuing in front of me.

If you don’t have a Priority Pass or similar lounge club card, access costs from £30 when booked in advance here.

The main My Lounge Gatwick South website is here. The reservation page for Priority Pass cardholders is here.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (January 2024)

Here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta Air Lines and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.