Amex Is Opening a Second Centurion Lounge at Heathrow - This Time in Terminal 5

American Express is opening a second Centurion Lounge at Heathrow - and this time it is going where most of us actually fly from: Terminal 5. Amex confirmed the news today in a press release sent to Smart With Points. The new lounge will be more than 9,000 sq ft, it will sit on Concourse A near gates A1-A7, and it is due to open in 2028.

WHAT // Amex says the new lounge will be more than 9,000 sq ft, with its usual Centurion line-up: food and drink, comfortable seating, dedicated work areas and a VIP area. The design will take its cue from London and the River Thames. The existing Terminal 3 lounge opened in October 2021 at roughly 7,000 sq ft, so the T5 lounge will be around 30% larger. It joins a network of 33 Centurion Lounges worldwide, which grew last month when Amex opened its lounge at Amsterdam Schiphol.

WHY IT MATTERS // Terminal 5 is British Airways' Heathrow home (Iberia flies from there too). Today, an Amex Platinum holder flying from T5 gets two third-party lounges: Plaza Premium (near gate A7) and Club Aspire (near gate A18). The T3 Centurion Lounge is only open to passengers departing from T3, so if you fly BA from T5 in economy and without status, you have never had an Amex-run lounge on your doorstep. From 2028 you will. In Amex's own words, T5 is "a terminal we know they travel through regularly" - and that is a direct pitch at BA flyers.

Amex says the lounge will be open to Platinum and Centurion cardmembers and their eligible guests. That includes UK cardholders on both the personal Platinum Card and the Business Platinum Card. Guest allowances depend on which card you hold, so check your own card's terms before you plan a group visit.

The normal Centurion rules, as set out on Amex's UK lounge page, should apply: you can get in within 3 hours of your flight, with your card, photo ID and a boarding pass for a same-day departure on any airline, in any cabin. That last part is the big one. The cheapest BA hand-baggage-only economy fare counts just as much as a Club World ticket.

If you are weighing up a Platinum card, you can see the current Amex Platinum welcome offer here. If you run a business, the Amex Business Platinum (the card I hold) gets you the same Centurion access.

The obvious catch is time. Lounge projects slip: Amex first announced the T3 lounge in December 2018 with a 2019 opening, and it finally opened in October 2021 (the pandemic did not help). I would treat "2028" as a target, not a promise.

T5 will also look very different by then. British Airways has just confirmed a brand-new lounge at the T5 C gates, due by the end of 2028, and says it will redesign every lounge it runs at Heathrow over the coming years. So the Centurion Lounge may arrive into a T5 with much better BA lounges than today.

And card benefits change. Amex Platinum holders only just lost access to Lufthansa lounges. No one can say what the Platinum card will look like, or cost, in 2028.

I hold the Amex Business Platinum and BA Silver, so at T5 I can already use the BA Galleries Club lounges. For me, a T5 Centurion Lounge is a nice extra option rather than a game changer.

But I think this is much bigger news for a lot of you. Plenty of readers fly BA short-haul from T5 in economy, with no status, and pay for a Platinum card mainly for the travel benefits. Right now, those benefits at T5 come down to two third-party lounges. A purpose-built lounge, run by Amex, a short walk from the A gates, is a real step up.

It is also an interesting change of strategy. When Amex picked T3 for its first Heathrow lounge, the logic was the mix of airlines there, rather than going head to head with BA in its home terminal. Opening in T5 now is a direct pitch at BA flyers - and it lands the same week BA set out its own lounge overhaul. Competition for your pre-flight glass of fizz is only a good thing.

My one worry is space. The T3 lounge is regularly described in reviews as busy, and T5 is BA's hub with far more passengers. 9,000 sq ft sounds big, but I will want to see how it copes at 7am on a Friday.

This is good news, but it is news for 2028. Nobody needs to do anything today. If you already hold a Platinum card and fly from T5, you have something to look forward to. If you are deciding whether the card is worth £650 a year, leave this lounge out of the maths for now.

I'll update this piece when Amex gives a firmer opening date. You can also follow along on Instagram.

That's all from me for now. Any questions, just hit reply - I read every email.

Safe travels,
Jack