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. 

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

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.

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