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Review: the Yorkshire, White Rose and 1432 Runway Club lounges at Leeds Bradford Airport

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This is our review of the Yorkshire, White Rose and 1432 Runway Club (renamed Aero Club since this review was originally published) lounges at Leeds Bradford Airport.

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

We recently asked for your help in completing our series of UK lounge reviews for airports that we are unlikely to fly from. The three lounges at Leeds Bradford Airport were missing, and reader James has very kindly let us tick off all of them at once.  We can now find out which is the best lounge at Leeds Bradford Airport.

Leeds Bradford Airport terminal

The Yorkshire, White Rose and 1432 Runway Club lounges are all owned by the airport.  There are no airline-run lounges and nothing from No 1 Lounges, Aspire or Plaza Premium.

Over to James:

“Leeds Bradford Airport recently moved their lounges to a new location and expended the options.  There are now three lounges, each with different levels of comfort and service. Depending on your access method, you will be directed to either The Yorkshire Lounge, The White Rose Lounge, or The 1432 Runway Club. You’ll find the entrance to the lounge “complex” near gates 4 & 5.

Leeds Bradford Airport Lounges

All lounges are open from 05:00 to 20:00, with a three hour maximum stay.

In general:

  • The Yorkshire Lounge is aimed at leisure passengers
  • The White Rose is aimed business passengers
  • 1432 Runway Club is their premium lounge

For brevity, I’ll use the abbreviations YL, WR and 1432 throughout the rest of this article.

Leeds Bradford lounge access rules

All three lounges offer paid access and the rates are ~£5 less when booked in advance via Lounge Pass. Booking ahead also guarantees entry, whereas walk-up entry is subject to availability. Advance purchase is available until the day before arrival; if you forget to pre-book early enough and you’ll pay extra for walk-up access (like I did… doh)

The advance rates are £25.95 for the Yorkshire Lounge, £30.95 for the White Rose and £35.95 for the 1432 Runway Club.

Since there are no third party or airline-run lounges, passengers with airline status or travelling on a business class ticket are directed to one of two lounges. British Airways and KLM use the White Rose Lounge whilst Aer Lingus and Flybe offer access to the Yorkshire Lounge.

You can also access one or more of the lounges with Priority Pass, DragonPass, Institute of Directors membership and Amex Gold‘s Lounge Club. Annoyingly, the airport’s website doesn’t mention Lounge Club, so I didn’t take my membership card with me and paid the full price.  All four passes offer access into the Yorkshire Lounge, whilst the White Rose lounge is only open to Priority Pass and Lounge Club holders.

It’s possible to upgrade from YL / WR to 1432 for £10 on the day, subject to availability. The airport’s website only mentions the upgrade option in respect to customers with access via their airline but the staff on reception told me this is also available to those entering on a lounge membership.  I wasn’t able to verify this myself.

Facilities and service

One immediate benefit over the old location is that all three lounges now offer natural light and apron / runway views (1432 and WR more than YL). The lounge complex also has its own toilets, so you no longer have to use the main terminal facilities.

The differences between the three lounges are style and design, service, food and beverage options, and the views.

The Yorkshire Lounge

The cheapest and most basic of their lounges is also the largest of the three. Despite this, it has the smallest window, with somewhat restricted apron and runway views: the jet bridge for gate 5 obscures the view.

Leeds Bradford Airport Yorkshire Lounge seating

Alcoholic drinks are served from a staffed bar, as was the case in the old “leisure” lounge. There aren’t any premium spirits available.

Leeds Bradford Airport Yorkshire Lounge bar

The food selection at the time of my visit (just before midday on a quiet Friday) was quiche, salad, pasta salad and a few jacket potatoes, as well as crisps, cakes, and biscuits.

Leeds Bradford Airport Yorkshire Lounge buffet

The White Rose Lounge

The White Rose is their “middle tier” lounge. The differences between the Yorkshire and the White Rose are significantly better views and slightly more stylish furniture. The food and beverage options seem wider than the Yorkshire, although, as I visited the lounges on different days and at slightly different times, that may not be the case.

Leeds Bradford Airport White Rose Lounge seating

and

Leeds Bradford Airport White Rose Lounge food

Reader Rachel, who uses the White Rose Lounge on a regular basis, is far less excited the food and sent HfP a couple of recent pictures of her own – make up your own mind.  See:

Leeds Bradford Airport White Rose lounge

and

Leeds Bradford Airport white rose lounge review

As for me, I did like the large and very striking image of the Yorkshire Dales that completely fills the end wall:

Leeds Bradford Airport White Rose Lounge seating

1432 Runway Club Lounge

This is the airport’s premium lounge. It offers the best views ….

Leeds Bradford Airport 1432 Runway Club seating

…. as well as table service (the lounge hosts were really friendly and efficient), more stylish furniture, premium spirits (all drinks self-serve), and a better buffet, which includes cold cuts and pork pie:

Leeds Bradford Airport 1432 Runway Club cold meats

and

Leeds Bradford Airport 1432 Runway Club spirits

The most significant difference is cooked-to-order food options. But don’t get too excited: this is no Virgin Clubhouse. I didn’t find the options especially inspiring.

From opening until 11am the lounge serves cooked-to-order full English. From 11am until close, the lounge menu consists of jacket potatoes, soup of the day, a variety of paninis / toasties, a hot turkey roll or turkey served in a Yorkshire pudding with gravy and a jacket potato as well as a daily special.

At the time of my visit I was the only passenger in the lounge. Despite this, the food service was a little slow as the chef was on a break.  I ordered a ham and cheese panini and it was on a par with what I’d expect at a Starbucks or Costa Coffee.

Leeds Bradford Airport 1432 Runway Club panini

Conclusion

The three new airport lounges at Leeds Bradford Airport are not life-changing, but they do the job.

I’d say it’s worth paying the £10 upgrade for the 1432 lounge if you’ve already had free entry to the more basic lounges. It’s more comfortable and stylish, has slightly better food and drinks, and the service is good. I didn’t have chance to sample the cooked-to-order breakfast, but the lunchtime / dinner options were disappointing. They could easily improve the appeal of the 1432 by a slightly more imaginative menu, which would really differentiate it from the other two lounge offerings.”

Thanks James.  You can access selected lounges at Leeds Bradford Airport for free with a Priority Pass (which comes free with American Express Platinum, or you can buy one separately), as well as the DragonPass and Lounge Club card (two free entry vouchers with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold).

As we noted in the main review, all lounge passes offer access into the Yorkshire Lounge, whilst the White Rose lounge is only open to Priority Pass and Lounge Club holders.  There is no way to get free entry to the 1432 Runway Club – you need to pay the £10 supplement.

You can find out more about the lounges, and pre-book entry, on the airport website here.


Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

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.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

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.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

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

Comments (37)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Barnaby100 says:

    We need a readers photo page! I have deleted most of my pictures recently but I still have a good sample of the actual offer in the white rose across the past 12 months.

  • Gaill says:

    Sounds like reviewers helping out HFP need to be more experienced lounge users to generate more incisive and bold reviews.

    • Rob says:

      I think is one place where she Business Traveller experience Mon-Thu is not the leisure traveller experience Fri-Sun …

      I know James, he is definitely not short of lounge experience!

      • Barnaby100 says:

        I go in most weeks. It would be possible to experience a quiet calm lounge on consecutive visits. . I am not sure the food offer is ever acceptable. Since the morning BA moved earlier the experience has got worse as I think they amalgamate the lounges first thing and so there are groups of big drinkers (silver surfer not youngsters). Middle of the day when the reviewer visited is the calmest times. I appreciate reviews from a range of contributors.

  • TheKiteMan says:

    Re: upgrading from WR to 1432, so when entering WR with a PP I’ve asked a few times about paying to upgrade, has always been refused, with reason given was due to it being busy. It didn’t look that busy when I passed it, I kinda think they didn’t want new entrants to close it down sooner. This was at 5pm ish, my flight was at 8.

    • TheKiteMan says:

      Oh and still a two flights to depart LBA latest at 2055 but kicked out of the lounge at 2000hrs as it was closing!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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