hack

EVERY traveller knows the main airport terminal is essentially a giant, chaotic waiting room where a sad sandwich and a pre-flight pint can set you back a small fortune.

But tucked away from the crowds is a world of plush sofas, Prosecco refills, buffet spreads and hot showers – and getting past the velvet rope is cheaper than you might think.

Claim 20% off Priority Pass membership

The trick to bypassing the terminal madness is a Priority Pass membership.

Once you’re signed up, you’ll get access to more than 1,900 premium airport lounges across the globe.

And right now, savvy Sun readers can bag 20 per cent off their first year by clicking here.

This includes major UK airports like London Heathrow, Gatwick, East Midlands, Manchester, and Birmingham. In fact, Priority Pass covers 85 per cent of the world’s top 100 airports.

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Instead of battling for a plug socket in a busy terminal, the smart holidaymakers are hiding out in spaces like the Aspire, No. 1, Skylife, and Escape lounges.

Inside these lounges you get access to food as well as alcoholic drinks, comfy seating, fast Wi-Fi and plenty of places to charge your devices.

But it’s far more than just filling your boots at the buffet. Depending on where you’re flying from, these spaces are kitted out with hot showers, exercise zones even nap pods to counter that gruelling early morning start.

And for even more pampering, at airports with Be Relax spas you can squeeze in a pre-flight massage or a fresh manicure, ready to show off on holiday.

And if that’s not enough, Priority Pass members also get free access to the WithU Fitness app.

The app normally costs £79.99 a year, and includes personalised audio coaching and workout programmes that you can take home with you.

Claim 20% off Priority Pass membership

A standard plan usually costs £69 a year, but drops to just £55 with our 20 per cent discount.

That works out to less than a fiver a month, coming in a £4.60.

After that, with a standard pass you pay a flat £24 entry fee each time you visit a lounge – giving you access to those all-you-can-eat buffets and free-flowing drinks.

Priority Pass members get access to:

• Complimentary food and drinks (including alcohol)
• Sleep pods to catch up on rest at selected locations
• Be Relax spa treatments (at participating airports)
• Bring along a guest (£24 Guest visit fee)
• Discounts on further airport dining and spa treatments
• The option to re-book selected lounges for a supplementary fee
• Free membership to the WithU Fitness app (worth £79.99 per year)

Claim 20% off Priority Pass membership

Prices correct at the time of publication.

AUTUMN is theme park season in my house, as the time between summer season and October half-term is quiet with no queues – and I know how to get great deals.

The key to keeping costs down is using a technique I call ‘hack stacking’, and it’s really easy for everyone to do.

The way it works it to combine different deals to get entry for the individuals in your party and maximise the benefits that come with each.

We’ve already enjoyed cheap trips to Warwick Castle and have already lined up visits to Drayton Manor, Alton Towers and Legoland Discovery Centre.

One deal to take advantage of is with Merlin which is currently running an annual pass deal that includes the rest of this year if you pay for 2027.

A gold pass includes car parking, so the £239 cost of one pass could be well worth it just for that if you go once a month plus a couple of extra visits in the summer as lots of the theme parks charge £13 a day for parking.

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The key to hack stacking is that not everyone uses the same deal to get in.

So someone else could use Tesco Clubcard vouchers or Nectar points to pay for individual entry and others could get parent and toddler tickets if you’ve got children the right age. 

It’s also important to keep an eye out for deals over the course of the year and work out how they could be combined to get the most bang for your buck.

In the spring, Merlin ran a stay and play deal that included annual passes if you booked an overnight stay at one of its parks.

That’s an amazing base for building your hack stacking on. I took two of my sons to stay overnight at Legoland Windsor in June for £270 and now the three of us can get free entry into multiple Merlin attractions until next summer.

If I add on a gold pass for my husband under the current 15 months for the price of 12 deal, I only have to find a final hack to get my third son a ticket to whichever attraction we plan to visit.

So for £510, split over two payments made six months apart, not only have I got annual passes plus car parking for four people, I’ve also enjoyed an overnight theme park stay and even got a little bit of cashback through Quidco.

I did much the same at Drayton Manor, starting with the tickets I claimed through the Sun Club earlier in the year and then using a Blue Light Card discount to buy more.

I could prebook two free tickets through my Sun Club membership over the summer and then buy two more for £20 each.

My final ticket to cover my family of five was £26 using our Blue Light Card and what’s great about this offer is that you can even book it on the day, saving almost £20 on the gate price.

Normally, Drayton Manor pricing is dynamic so it goes up the closer you get to the day of your visit, even if you’re booking online, whereas the Blue Light price is a flat rate.

We paid £66 for the five of us to visit Drayton Manor on a September weekend instead of £200 if we’d turned up and paid on the day.

You can even shave a couple of quid off the parking by prebooking that online too.

And if you visit during September, you get a return visit until the end of October included.

Teachers can get in free on October 3-4, so that’s something to consider if you work in a school.

My hack-stacking trick works at most theme parks as long as you take a bit of time to look at who you’re buying entry for and then work out how to combine deals.

We visited Pleasurewood Hills near Lowestoft, which has just been named theme park of the year, in April and there’s some great deals to be had for tickets there.

You can get a Blue Light discount, but it actually makes better financial sense to use a family ticket for four people for £70 or to buy early bird tickets at £16 each a month in advance.

People with local postcodes could get a reduced price ticket at the start of the season, so it’s worth keeping an eye out to see if that pops up again.

My final tip if you fancy giving hack stacking a go is to keep an eye on discount sites like Planet Offers, Groupon or Wowcher as you can make some great savings, as long as you read the small print to make sure what you’re buying is valid on the date you want to visit.

A family ticket on the Flamingo Land website costs £168 for four people, whereas it’s £98 for the same ticket on one of the discount sites.

And make sure you check rival sites too as there can be a big difference in what they are offering.

DITCH the rock-hard plastic airport seats and those wildly overpriced soggy meal deals – you don’t need to spend thousands on a first class plane ticket to kick off your next holiday in style.

Instead of stressing over departure boards and trying to find a seat in a packed terminal, you could be stretching out on a plush sofa in a private lounge before your next flight.

Save 20% on Priority Pass across 1,900+ airport lounges

Here you can tuck into a complimentary buffet, sip on free alcoholic beverages or even have a quick nap in a private sleep pod.

The secret to this pre-flight luxury is bagging a Priority Pass. Right now, Sun readers can slash 20% off the annual membership fee by clicking here.

Priority Pass members get access to over 1,900 airport lounges across the globe, including those in popular UK airports like London Heathrow, Gatwick, East Midlands, Manchester and Birmingham.

Lounges available depend on which airport you are flying from, but they include the luxurious Aspire Lounge with complimentary food and alcoholic drinks, as well as No. 1 Lounges, Skylife Lounge, Escape Lounges and more.

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A standard membership normally costs £69 a year, but our discount for Sun readers drops the price to just £55.

Once you have your pass, you simply pay £24 each time you want to visit a lounge.

And with all the complimentary food and free-flowing drink inside, you can easily make your money back with all your savings from skipping pricey terminal restaurants and bars.

Beyond the free food, the lounges offer high-speed Wi-Fi, plenty of charging points, comfy sofas and quiet zones.

Depending on the airport, you can even find dedicated workspaces, hot showers, and sleep pods to refresh yourself.

The VIP perks also extend beyond the lounge doors. Priority Pass members get access to Be Relax spa treatments, meaning you can treat yourself to a pre-flight massage or manicure at participating airports.

Save 20% on Priority Pass across 1,900+ airport lounges

You also get a brilliant freebie to use at home: complimentary access to the WithU Fitness app, which is normally worth £79.99.

The app creates you a personalised exercise program for the gym or home, complete with guided audio workouts coached by professionals.

So not only are you travelling well-fed and well-rested, but you’ve now got a fresh manicure to show off on holiday and a free workout program to take home and on your travels.

Does travelling in style get any better than this?

Save 20% on Priority Pass across 1,900+ airport lounges

Prices correct at the time of publication.