Review: the 1903 lounge at Bristol Airport

This is our review of the 1903 lounge at Bristol Airport.

At the time this review was written, it was known as the AspirePlus lounge.  It was rebranded to 1903 in May 2023, with the Aspire lounge next door rebranded as Escape.  The rest of this review refers to the lounge as AspirePlus.

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

Our first volunteer reviewer was Colin who kindly sent in this review of the AspirePlus lounge at Bristol Airport:

“The AspirePlus Lounge at Bristol Airport is opposite the regular Aspire Lounge. None of the main cards – Priority Pass, DragonPass or Lounge Club list the AspirePlus lounge, only the regular Aspire Lounge.

I had a free pass courtesy of LoungeBuddy, who were keen to get a review, and my wife got in with a DragonPass card and a £10 supplement. I assume this deal also works for Priority Pass and Lounge Club.  You can also buy day passes via Lounge Pass.

The lounge was fairly newly I think and not many people could have used any lounge cards. The receptionist really struggled to know what to do with my card.

Seating was very comfortable and stylish, particularly the loungers (a sort of high-backed chaise longue),

….. and many chairs had USB points and / or mains sockets.

Both hot and cold food was served.  The hot seemed better than the normal Aspire fare.  I normally go for No1 Traveller lounges as their food options used to be better, though recently the menu seems to have been downgraded.

The lounge’s own blurb says they serve premium wines, suggesting they might be better than in standard Aspire lounges. Whether that is the case I can’t say, as the wines were only on a service basis and I can’t remember them making a big thing of the labels.

This may not be universal but one plus for Aspire lounges, just based on visits at Stansted and Bristol is that toilets are located in the lounge, so you don’t have to wander off to find an airport toilet.

On the other hand, all the newspapers and magazines are plastered with ‘Do not remove’ stickers. (No1 Traveller in comparison seems to be pretty relaxed about taking them on-board your flight.) There’s nothing worse than being called for your flight halfway through an interesting article, never to discover how it ends!

Conclusion

The main reasons to use the AspirePlus lounge in Bristol are that it should be quieter and does not admit children, so singles and couples can have a more peaceful time.

The ‘no children’ policy is displayed on the front desk, but you might not easily spot it on their website where it’s tucked in the ‘Further Lounge Information’.

As you can see from the photos, there were only a couple of other people in the lounge when I visited on a late afternoon. In comparison the Aspire lounge opposite was packed.

If you’ve got a longer stopover this might be worth a visit. For a quick drink and nibbles the regular lounge is perfectly adequate.”

Thanks Colin.  If you want to book a space in the Bristol AspirePlus lounge in advance, you can do it on the Lounge Pass website 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.