One of the nice benefits of the American Express Platinum card is the American Express Priority Pass benefit. Â All platinum cards have free Priority Pass Select membership, which gives each cardholder access to over 700Â Priority Pass airport lounges. Â This was a benefit that I plan to take advantage of when planning my European lounge strategy.
How to use the American Express Priority Pass Platinum card benefit
The one very important thing to know is that YOU CANNOT JUST SHOW UP TO A PRIORITY PASS LOUNGE WITH YOUR AMERICAN EXPRESS PLATINUM CARD AND EXPECT TO GET IN! (bolded and shouted for emphasis!)
You must sign up for your Priority Pass Amex benefit, and you do that on the American Express website.
After you sign up with your Amex Platinum card username and password, you will fill out some basic information, and that’s it – your Priority Pass select membership information will be mailed to you within 10-14 business days.
Once you get your Priority Pass card, THAT is the card that you will take with you and show at the airport lounges.
Do authorized users get the American Express Priority Pass benefit?
One of the nice things about the American Express Platinum card is the ability for authorized users to share in all of the benefits. Â I signed up for the Ameriprise version of the American Express Platinum card back in my May 2015 credit card churn, which has no annual fee for the first year for the main user nor any of the authorized users.
Authorized users ARE eligible for the Priority Pass American Express benefit, but you can’t sign up online. Â Instead you have to call in:
- 800-525-3355 if you have the regular American Express Platinum card
- 800-492-8468 if you have a business American Express Platinum card
Since my wife is actually the main cardholder on the account, I am an authorized user. Â So where “she” was able to sign up online, I had to call in, which I did yesterday. Â It was super easy – after giving the agent my card number and information, he signed me up for my American Express Priority Pass benefit right on the phone, and my card will be mailed out to me
Here’s Carolyn at The Club in ATL – one of the Amex Priority Pass lounges
What is the Amex Priority Pass guest benefit?
Some of the cards that give lounge access also allow you to bring in guests for free. Â For the American Express Priority Pass select benefit, you do NOT get to bring in guests. Â Or rather, you CAN, but it costs a $27 fee per Priority Pass guest (something I generally would NOT recommend paying). Â When Carolyn and I go to Europe next month, we will just both bring our cards to get us both in.
Note that if you forget your Priority Pass select card, you may be able to call in to get access – see How to access Priority Pass lounges with no card
Have you used the American Express Priority Pass benefit of your American Express Platinum card? Â Any tips or tricks? Â Share in the comments
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Yet to find any airports I go to that I can use this. Or at least in the wing Im in, or a layover long enough to be worth it.
We’ve used it at The Club in ATL in Atlanta, and we have plans to use this as part of our European Lounge strategy for our upcoming trip, but we’ll see how it goes!
I’ve found priority pass to be pretty basic. Are there any particularly nice ones out there?
The citi prestige card gets two companions complimentary access with their version of the priority pass. Not sure why Amex will not allow that .
Yes! I agree – that would be nice
I used Priority Pass Select at the Tahiti FAAA Airport. While we waited for the flight home, it was nice to have access to the Lounge. The lounge was comfortable, with ample beverages, TVs, reading material and some snacks. It’s not a big deal, but it was nice.
Right – I agree with you. The Priority Pass lounges are never going to be the over the top Emirates first class lounge, but for a place to relax a bit and get a bit of a snack, they can be good
I like the hokey questions bloggers ask at the end of posts to generate comments. 🙂
LOL.
I just tried to use my priority pass select card (Amex benefit) at a Delta club room in the Minneapolis airport and was told they no longer accept it ! instead they asked for my Amex platinum card and Delta boarding pass. I’ll see if I get charged for my visit. What good is this priority feature if places like Delta can just freely decide they no longer want to accept it ? ! ! What a joke…Any body else have this issue ?
I’ve never had that problem, but I have had no problems accessing Delta SkyClubs (CVG and MSP) by showing my Amex Platinum card and Delta boarding pass, as you describe. I’m not sure (one way or the other) if any Delta SkyClubs offer Priority Pass access – you should be able to check at http://www.prioritypass.com
I was told that I could not obtain a secondary Priority Pass. My husband is the primary, however, my friend was able to secure a Priority Pass being the secondary on their account. I will attempt again to get the Priority Pass for myself, because my husband and I do not alway fly together.
I often fly trans-atlantic and trans-pacific, and I have found the Priority Pass Card to be very useful – in fact, one of the best benefits of my Amex premium card.
YVR, SEA, LHR, FRA, MUC, VIE, IST, ICN and NRT plus many others. Usually I find multiple choices of a place to get a comfortable seat, something to eat, very decent wi-fi, and sometimes a shower; all in a space that is quieter and calmer than the main concourse. It always improves my travel experience.