Plaza Premium introduces a Canadian Lounge Pass offering up to 10 visits and up to 50% off walk up fees

Plaza Premium has introduced a new lounge access pass for their Canadian lounges in Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg. The new PPL Pass Canada can be purchased with 5 or 10 visits that will save you up to 50% off the walk up rates for these lounges. 

First year free offer returns on the Brim World Elite Mastercard, new Plaza Premium 5 and 10 visit passes & four more confirmed Cobalt 5x multipliers

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your near daily dose of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. Today's update is brought to you by the HSBC High Rate Savings Account with which you can enjoy a total annual interest rate of up to 2.65% on new deposits± Click here to learn more about this offer

 
Brim Financial has brought back the first year free offer on their top end Brim World Elite Mastercard. This sees the first year annual fee of $199 being waived plus you can earn up to $500 worth of welcome bonuses from Brim partners. The card features a 2% cash back return on your first $25,000 spending each year and no foreign transaction fees. You can read our review of the card here or click here to apply for the card.

Big news! Visa Canada switching lounge access from Priority Pass to DragonPass (which means access to Plaza Premium lounges!)

 

Two weeks ago Rewards Canada broke the news of Mastercard Canada switching their business class lounge access membership program from LoungeKey to DragonPass and now we have learned Visa Canada will be doing the same! This appears to be the case for various Visa cards in Canada that provide lounge access, which are some Gold and Visa Infinite Cards and all Visa Infinite Privilege Cards. As of July 1, 2022 Visa Canada's new airport lounge program will be called  Visa Airport Companion (powered by DragonPass).

New Plaza Premium Americas Pass saves you up to 50% on business class lounge entry

Plaza Premium has introduced a new lounge access pass for their lounges in the Americas which includes those here in Canada. Via View from the Wing we learned this new pass can be purchased for US$59 and includes two lounge visits of three hours each in length. This is perfect for those who don't have lounge access via their credit card and also don't need Plaza Premium's global 2 lounge visit or higher pass.

Canadian Lounge Access

This pass will provide you with access to Plaza Premium Lounges (going West to East here) in Vancouver (4 lounges),  Edmonton (1 lounge), Winnipeg (1 lounge), Toronto (6 lounges) and Montreal (1 lounge). These include the new T3 lounge in YYZ, the pre-security concept lounge at YYZ and YUL's Air France Lounge.

Recommended reading: Rewards Canada's Guide to Business Class Lounge Access

Rest of Americas Lounge Access: 

Outside of Canada the pass is accepted at any Plaza Premium Lounge, Avianca Lounge, Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse operated by Plaza Premium Group and MERA Business Lounge in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, El Salvador and Colombia (excluding Argentina) 

Click here to see the entire list of lounges for this pass.

 

Costs, Savings & Points

The pass costs US$59 for two visits, which is $16 less than the global lounge two visit pass. However if you use promo code SPRING10​ you can save an additional 10% on the pass price making it only US$53.10. That works out to US$26.55 per visit or about C$34 per visit.  To book a 3 hour visit to any of these lounges on their own runs in the neighbourhood of C$60-$70 so you can see how this can be a worthwhile deal.

Even if you have a credit card with access you may want to look at this pass with the discount code for additional guest or family members as most lounge access programs charge US$32 per guest.

If you are a member of Plaza Premium's Smart Traveller program (it's free so you really should join) you will earn 150 Arrture points for each purchase of one of these passes.

The pass is valid for 12 months so do only buy it if you know you'll use up both visits in that time and it is also transferable/sharable. 

Click here for more details and/or to buy this pass. (and use promo code SPRING10​)

 

Images via Plaza Premium

January 10 Update: The new Toronto Plaza Premium lounge has a dedicated area for British Airways, Guide to Business Class Lounge Access updated & one new Amex Offer

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more.

Rewards Canada reader David posed a great question a few weeks back about the new Plaza Premium Landmark lounge at Toronto Pearson International:

BA has been using the PP T3 International Lounge since closing its own lounge, so is this still the case? If so, there was also a separate area for BA First passengers, is this also in the renovated lounge?

Rewards Canada's Guide to Business Class Lounge Access - Updated for 2022

The next long running Rewards Canada feature to get its yearly update and also be moved to the new format on our site is our Guide to Business Class Lounge Access. There weren't a ton of changes to this 8+ year old feature which looks at all the ways Canadians can access business class lounges at airports without having elite status or flying in business or first class.

Plaza Premium opens two new lounges at Toronto Pearson International Airport

 

This month saw third party business class lounge provider Plaza Premium open up two new lounges at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. One is a temporary lounge to cover for the renovation of an existing lounge and the other is their new flagship lounge in Canada called the Landmark lounge. This brings the company's total number of lounges in Canada to 14 including the recently opened Air France KLM lounge in Montreal plus one Wellbeing spa.

Air France KLM unveils their newly renovated business class lounge at Montreal's Trudeau International Airport

August 11th saw the opening of the newly renovated Air France business class lounge at Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport. The refreshed lounge near gate 57 in the international concourse is accessible to those flying in Business Class with Air France or KLM, to Flying Blue Gold and Platinum members, SkyTeam Elite Plus Members and drum roll please.... any one receiving or purchasing access via Plaza Premium! That's right the lounge is being operated by Plaza Premium so you can access the lounge without flying business class or having elite status!

Great news! Select Canadian Visa cards receive limited time Plaza Premium business class lounge access

 
That didn't take too long at all! Over the past few months we here at Rewards Canada have been providing you with coverage of how Priority Pass and LoungeKey would be losing access to all Plaza Premium lounges in Canada and how that affects some of our credit cards. And then only a few days ago we posed the question as to who would be the first Canadian card issuer to drop Priority Pass/LoungeKey and move to a different program like Dragon Pass. The great news is we have a partial answer to that question and it is not just one issuer but a select few that offer Visa cards. Before we give you the details let's give a big thanks to our reader Raffaele F. for alerting us to this news!

Reminder that all Canadian Plaza Premium lounges leave Priority Pass and LoungeKey tomorrow

 
A follow up here to the several posts we've already had on this topic as we wanted to remind our readers that as of tomorrow you will no longer be able to access the 13 Plaza Premium lounges in Canada with your Priority Pass or LoungeKey memberships. The lounges remain accessible by paying for access online withe Plaza Premium, at the lounge entrance, or by using another lounge access program such as Dragon Pass or American Express.

Sorry for the bad news - It is now confirmed that Canadian Plaza Premium lounges are leaving Priority Pass & LoungeKey

Back on April 15 we brought you the news that  Plaza Premium announced they were leaving the Priority Pass and LoungeKey airport access programs. What we didn't know then was how many of Plaza Premium's 120+ lounges from around the world were going to leave as there were some ongoing negotiations going on between Collinson Group (the operator of Priority Pass and LoungeKey) and Plaza Premium to keep some lounges as part the access programs. We now know that there will be 57 Plaza Premium lounges in total leaving Priority Pass and LoungeKey and us Canadian's are some of the worst hit. All Plaza Premium lounges in Canada will no longer be available via Priority Pass and LoungeKey as of July 1. 

Podcast Episode 79 - Converting the Air Canada Buddy Pass to Aeroplan Points & Plaza Premium Lounge set to leave Priority Pass & LoungeKey

In this episode we bring you the latest news surrounding the unadvertised option to convert Air Canada Buddy Passes received from several Aeroplan co-brand credit cards to Aeroplan points (it's good news!). Then we move into the not so good news of one of the largest third party airport lounge operators, Plaza Premium, deciding to leave the Priority Pass and LoungeKey lounge access programs

Click Here to download the podcast (mp3)

A look at the Canadian airport lounges that may be left for Priority Pass and LoungeKey come July

 
Last week we brought you the news that Plaza Premium airport lounges will be leaving the Priority Pass and LoungeKey access programs as of July 1. This doesn't mean that you can't access the lounges, you can but unless you get access from a card like the Platinum Card from American Express or are flying business or first class with an airline you won't get the discounted entry that Priority Pass and LoungeKey provide. So that begs the question that our Twitter follower Joshua asked:

And that's what we'll look at that in this post, what lounges will be left for members of Priority Pass and LoungeKey seeing that Plaza Premium operates the most third party lounges in Canada?

Major News: Priority Pass and LoungeKey losing access to most Plaza Premium lounges worldwide

 

Australia based Executive Traveller broke the news today that airport business class lounge provider Plaza Premium will be cutting ties with two of the biggest lounge access programs. As of July 1, 2021 members of Priority Pass and LoungeKey will no longer be able to access most Plaza Premium lounges worldwide. This change affects numerous lounges here at home as Plaza Premium operates 13 lounges with two in Edmonton, six in Toronto, four in Vancouver, and one in Winnipeg. There is word that some Plaza Premium lounges will remain part of those programs but they haven't been revealed yet. We'll have to keep our fingers crossed that some of the Canadian locations are part of that list.

Two Plaza Premium lounges have reopened at Vancouver International Airport

Yesterday we brought you the news that Air Canada will be re-opening one of their Maple Leaf lounges today in Toronto and others by Labour Day. They aren't alone in opening up, earlier this week Plaza Premium reopened two lounges in Vancouver.

We gave you th news on Twitter on Monday with our tweet detailing the July 20th update of our COVID-19 Resources pages but feel that this news warrants its own post.

It was actually this past Monday that Plaza Premium starting re-opening some lounges in their network of lounges around the world - well all of the ones that have opened are in Asia except for the two that opened in Vancouver! It appears that their lounge in Helsinki will open up on August 1. 

The two YVR lounges that are now open are the International Departure Lounge at Pier D which is only open Sundays from 10:30 to 2:30pm and the domestic lounge at Level 3, Domestic Departures, Pier C, near Gate C29. The domestic lounge is open daily from 7:00am to 3:00pm.

As you can see the hours are quite limited right now which makes sense given the volume of traffic that is being seen in airports at this time.

Plaza Premium has also implemented safety measures much like Air Canada is doing with their Maple Leaf lounges from social distancing, removal of reading materials to frequent sanitizing and now providing pre-portioned food instead of a self service buffets.

You can access the Plaza Premium lounges in Vancouver via a variety of methods including Priority Pass, credit card lounge access (Amex, Mastercard etc.) or you can book and pay for a visit online with Plaza Premium.

Recommended reading: Rewards Canada's Guide to Business Class Lounge Access

Plaza Premium Lounges revamps loyalty program - download the new Smart Traveller App by March 31 to receive 200 points + a 1st visit bonus

Late last year Plaza Premium - the Asia based business class lounge provided with airport lounges in 21 countries including Canada - decided to revamp their Arrture loyalty program. See our coverage of the old program here. The big change with the program is the name, gone is Arrture as it has been replaced with Smart Traveller. Much better in my opinion!

The points earning has been modified and is as follows now:

 The old program had a simple 2,000 points gets you one lounge visit. Now they have a few more redemption options. Ranging from 1,500 points to upgrade your lounge visit in Hong Kong to Plaza Premium First Lounge to 4,000 points for a three hour visit to a Plaza Premium Resting Suite. The main reward that most people will look for is simply a free lounge visit - that now costs 2,500 points, so it has gone up 25% in the new program.

With the launch of the revamped program you can get 200 points for free just by downloading the Smart Traveller app and this includes those who were already members of the Arrture program. Plus you can earn 100 bonus points your first visit until March 31, 2020.

Make sure that you do put your birthday in the app as well as any lounge entries made during the month of your birthday will earn double the points.

What's amazing about this program is that it doesn't matter what you use to access a Plaza Premium lounge - you'll receive the points regardless of your entry method. This means you can access the lounge with Priority Pass, American Express' Canadian Platinum Lounge benefit, LoungeKey, an airline's business/first class ticket, or any other program that has Plaza Premium lounges participating. Or you can just pay for access. Simply put, when you enter the lounge and use whatever method to access it, simply show them your membership via the app and you'll get the points per the chart above.

Here in Canada Plaza Premium has over a dozen lounges in Edmonton (2), Toronto (6 + 1 Spa), Winnipeg (1) and Vancouver (4). Costs for Plaza Premium Lounges in Canada are US$40 for 2 hours, US$48 for 3 hours and US$64 for 6 hours. Children aged 2-11 enjoy a 30%  discount.

Learn more about the Smart Traveller program here.

HT Executive Traveller

August 7 Update: Save 25% on companion fees at 7 Canadian Plaza Premium lounges, 4x Aeroplan Miles at Costco.ca & 9 new bonuses

Plaza Premium has a special offer running until the end of August where you can save 25% on lounge entry fees for any of travelling companions at 42 of their lounges worldwide. Seven of their Canadian lounges are included. Find out more here.

• Toronto Pearson International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic Departures, Terminal 3)
• Toronto Pearson International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (US Transborder, Terminal 3)
• Toronto Pearson International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (International Departures, Terminal 1)
• Vancouver International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic Departures)
• Vancouver International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (International Departures)
• Vancouver International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (Pier C, Domestic Departures)
• Vancouver International Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge (US Departures)

Aeroplan and Costco are once again offering up some bonus miles for shopping online at Costco.ca. You can earn 4x the miles when you register your Aeroplan number with Costco and use promo code AERO4 at check out. This offer coincides with their Back to School eStore event and runs until August 18. Find out more here.

Posts since our last update:

• Earn 5x Aeroplan Miles for Choice Hotels stays until September 30
  Offer details: 5x Aeroplan Miles for stays for stays at over 7,000 Choice Hotels worldwide. Full details & online…
• Hilton Asia Pacific 100th Anniversary Sale – Save up to 35% for stays through to February 2020
  Hilton Honors members can save up to 35% on stays at Hilton’s Asia Pacific locations with their 100th Anniversary…
• Aeroplan eStore Back to School event - Earn up to 7x miles for online shopping until August 18
  August is here and the three words that most kids dread have returned - Back to School! Yes it…

Travel Deals

Hilton Asia Pacific 100th Anniversary Sale – Save up to 20% for stays through to February 2020

Fly TAP Air Portugal from Toronto to Lisbon for as little C$315 one way !Find out more here.

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers

Air Canada Aeroplan
- 5x Aeroplan Miles for stays for stays at over 7,000 Choice Hotels worldwide. More...   Until Sep 30, 19

Marriott Bonvoy
- OFFER EXTENDED 3,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays on a Sunday night at the Renaissance Montreal Downtown Hotel.  More... Until Sep 30, 19

Other Bonus Offers

AeroMexico Club Premier
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Club Premier Points when you stay 2+ nights at Marriott Hotels & Resorts in Costa Rica. More...   Until Jan 31, 20

Le Club AccorHotels
- Earn up to 500 Bonus Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Armenia, Azerbajan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. More... Book by Aug 31 for stays until Sep 30, 19

Marriott Bonvoy
- 5,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays of 3+ nights at participating Marriott Hotels in Southern California. More... Until Sep 8, 19
- 5,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points for stays of 4 or more nights at the Westin Golf Resort & Spa, Playa Conchal. More... Until Sep 6, 19

SAS EuroBonus
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus EuroBonus Points when you refer people to the Avis Preferred program and those that are referred complete a 3 day Avis rentals of a Group C car or higher. More... Until Sep 30, 19

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Double ROP Miles and 2nd night free when you make a reservation for a 2-night stay (Dusit Best Available Rate) at any participating hotel of Dusit & Resorts. More... Book by Aug 31 for stays until Nov 30, 19

United MileagePlus
- 4x Mileage Plus Miles for stays for stays at over 7,000 Choice Hotels worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 19



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WestJet travellers can save 20% on Plaza Premium lounge fees

What happens if you are flying WestJet and don't have elite status with their Rewards program or don't have a credit card that offers access to business class lounges? Well the good news is that many airport business class lounges offer single entry rates where you can purchase one time entry into a lounge and you can get discounts off those single entry rates for showing your WestJet boarding pass(es). One of the better discounts is 20% off entry to the popular Plaza Premium lounges. Plaza Premium offers 12 lounges across Canada in four cities. Of those 12 WestJet boarding passes get the discount at 10 of them.

Edmonton International Airport

Plaza Premium Lounge (US Transborder) Read our review of this lounge here

Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic/International Departures)

Toronto Pearson International Airport

Plaza Premium Lounge (International Departures, Terminal 3)

Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic Departures, Terminal 3)

Plaza Premium Lounge (US Transborder, Terminal 3)

Vancouver International Airport

Plaza Premium Lounge (International Departures)

Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic Departures)

Plaza Premium Lounge (US Departures)

Plaza Premium Lounge (Domestic Departures Pier C)

Winnipeg Richardson International Airport

Plaza Premium Lounge (Near Gate 5, Departures)

Here are Plaza Premium's current single entry rates into their lounges in Canada:

Simply show your WestJet boarding pass to receive your 20% discount at any of the above lounges and save US$8 to US$12.80 per entry. You can also join Plaza Premium's Arrture loyalty program to earn points for future lounge visits passes.

Find out more about the WestJet Plaza Premium discount here!

Learn more about other single entry and yearly membership options in our Guide to Business Class lounge access