Guide To Priority Pass Airport Lounges (Is This The Best Credit Card Benefit?)

I have written before (many times) about how our family uses Priority Pass as a way to make traveling through airports a bit nicer and more relaxing. But I realized that I had never before written a comprehensive Priority Pass guide, with details on how it works, what cards offer the benefit, and how to access airport lounges with your Priority Pass membership. I understand that for many people, many of the things in this Priority Pass guide may be obvious, but hopefully it can help some people. As I thought about it, I tried to rank where a Priority Pass membership might fall on the list of the best credit card benefits out there, and I think that at least for me, it’s at the top. It’s certainly the one that we USE the most

Guide To Priority Pass – What Is Priority Pass?

Priority Pass is a membership service that provides access to over 1600 airport lounges and other experiences. While there are other non-lounge experiences (including restaurants, spas and other experiences), the vast majority of Priority Pass locations are airport lounges.

Priority Pass has 3 different membership tiers that you can purchase.

What Is Priority Pass Select Membership?

However, they also have a 4th tier called Priority Pass Select, which is “designed for customers who receive their membership through a US Financial Institution”. This is the membership that I have always had and probably the one that most people reading this site are most interested in.

The benefits with your Priority Pass Select membership will vary based on the credit card that you have that offers membership.

What Credit Cards Offer Priority Pass Membership?

Many credit cards offer Priority Pass Select membership. Usually these are “luxury” cards with annual fees of several hundred dollars, but there are a few options that give limited Priority Pass access with lower annual fees. Here are a few of the credit cards that offer Priority Pass Select membership:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve®
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
• Capital One Venture X Business
• The Platinum Card® from American Express
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
• Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
• Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Elite credit card
• U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card
• Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card

This is not an exhaustive list, but does cover many of the most popular cards. Priority Pass Select is also available on some legacy cards that are no longer available for new signups.

How Does Priority Pass Work?

While it is common for the Priority Pass Select membership that comes with these credit cards to offer unlimited access plus two guests, it does vary depending on the card that you have. Check with your card issuer to see how Priority Pass works for your specific card. When you arrive at a participating airport lounge, just show them your card and boarding pass, and they will check you in. Some Priority Pass lounges have capacity constraints at certain times of day, so you may have to sign up to a wait list before you can enter the lounge.

Using Priority Pass Without A Card

It used to be that having your physical Priority Pass card was needed to access lounges. In fact, back in 2015, I had a brief moment of panic when I realized that we had forgotten our Priority Pass card before setting off on a Europe trip. But we were able to call Priority Pass and access Priority Pass lounges without a card by calling into Priority Pass to get our card number. Now it’s even easier, as you can download the Priority Pass app and use that to enter airport lounges.

Priority Pass Guide – Can You Eat At Restaurants And Other Non-Lounges?

While most of the Priority Pass locations are airport lounges, Priority Pass has also partnered with some airport restaurants, spas and other locations. Many Priority Pass memberships allow you to spend up to $28 (not including tip!) at these restaurants.  I have used the Priority Pass restaurant benefit several times, such as at the Cadillac Mexican Kitchen and Tequila bar in Houston / IAH and several PDX / Portland Airport Restaurants.

However, most Priority Pass Select memberships on the major credit cards no longer offer this restaurant benefit. Instead, your Priority Pass membership if you have a card from most (all?) Chase, Amex or Capital One cards only applies to actual lounges. It was a fun ride while it lasted… 🙂

Priority Pass Restrictions

Along with the restriction that some cards put on using your Priority Pass for restaurants and other non-lounge experiences, some lounges place additional Priority Pass restrictions. In some cases, it’s an airline lounge (such as the Air France Lounge at Chicago / O’Hare ORD) that offers access to Priority Pass guests most of the time but reserves space for its premium cabin and elite passengers at the times of day that they have flights departing or arriving.

Another case was the Club Mobay Lounge in Montego Bay, Jamaica. They SAY they are a Priority Pass lounge but in reality they continued to turn me (and every other Priority Pass guest) away for hours while letting in the people who had paid for their “premium” immigration service

(SEE ALSO: Club Mobay: Priority Pass MBJ review (don’t expect to get in))

Another Priority Pass restriction comes with the Chase Sapphire lounges. These Chase Sapphire lounges are presented by The Club and are nominally part of Priority Pass, but unless you have a premium Chase card (such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve), your Priority Pass membership is only good for one annual visit. So I use my annual visit to the Chase Sapphire Lounge Boston when I take my annual trip to Boston for the MIT Mystery Hunt.

Some Of The Best (And Worst) Priority Pass Lounges

I have been to tens if not hundreds of different Priority Pass lounges over the past decade or so, and here’s a few of the best and worst locations. I find most Priority Pass lounges in the United States to be very similar and not very inspiring. They are

Best Priority Pass lounges

Here are a few of what I think of as the best Priority Pass lounges. Some of them I have been to personally, others I am rating based on others’ opinions

• Chase Sapphire Lounge Boston (and all the Chase Sapphire lounges). They are definitely a cut above most Priority Pass locations, but as I mentioned, unless you have a premium Chase card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you’ll only get 1 visit per year.
• SkyTeam Lounge at Vancouver (YVR)
• Turkish Airlines Lounge at Bangkok (BKK)
• Turkish Airlines Lounge at Washington Dulles (IAD)
• IGA Lounge, Istanbul Airport (IST)
• Plaza Premium Lounge, Orlando (MCO)

Worst Priority Pass lounges

By far the worst Priority Pass lounge I have ever been to personally is the IASS Hawaii Lounge in Terminal 2 of the Honolulu airport (HNL). It’s out of the way, it offers no food (just coffee and soda) and it’s fairly small. We only stayed about 5 minutes. I hope Capital One enjoyed paying $28 times 7 (or whatever the reimbursement rate is) for our 7 cans of soda…

In the comments of that post, people also suggested the following as the worst Priority Pass lounge locations

• Premier Club in OGG (Maui) – I actually TRIED to visit that one when we were there but the lounge was closed that day (?!?!!?!?)
• IASS lounges at Tokyo Narita
• Colorado Springs Airport Priority Pass Lounge
• Swissport Chicago / ORD
• Sala VP lounge in Cartagena
• Pearl lounge in Marrakech
• Air India Taj Mahal lounge in JFK Terminal 4

The Bottom Line – How To Use Priority Pass

One of my favorite credit card benefits is a Priority Pass Select membership. It’s one of the reasons that I think the Capital One Venture X card is the best luxury credit card. Not only do you get a Priority Pass Select membership, but you can also add up to 4 authorized users who can get themselves plus 2 people in as well. To enter Priority Pass lounges, just show your Priority Pass card (either the physical card or the app) and your boarding pass. Different credit cards have different access policies – the one that is most common is yourself plus 2 guests (that’s how it works on my Venture X card). While many Priority Pass lounges are not amazing, most of them have a bit of food and drink and a comfortable place to sit with wifi while you wait for your flight.

Do you have a Priority Pass membership? Any additional tips to add? Leave them in the comments below

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