Ahhh vacations. It always seems like when you pack for a vacation, no matter how many lists you make, no how careful you are checking off your list, inevitably something gets left behind. When packing for our recent trip to Europe, what got left behind was Carolyn’s Priority Pass lounge access card!

2015 Europe Trip Report

Now, in my defense, I should say that I DID bring 2 Priority Pass cards

It just so turns out that they were both in my name!!! Why do I have 2 Priority Pass cards? Well…. I’m not sure actually 😛 I know that I signed up for one as an authorized user on the American Express Platinum card that Carolyn got recently

How to get Priority Pass lounge access without a card

When I first realized my mistake, I was devastated. I had written before about how having lounge access was an integral part of keeping food costs down and most of the airport lounges we were planning on accessing were ones that required a Priority Pass membership. Only our over-water flights were in Business Class (granting lounge access) – all of our flights within Europe were in Economy class, and without any kind of airline status, our flights would get us no airline lounge access

I was first afraid that I had somehow signed myself up twice and Carolyn didn’t have a Priority Pass card at all, but a quick call to Priority Pass confirmed that she did in fact have an account

Priority Pass lounge access without a card – showing your account number

First I called the Priority Pass number on the back of the card

855-241-9239

After speaking to the agent, I gave her my wife’s name and address, and after confirming a few other details, the agent confirmed that Carolyn DID in fact have an account. She did also ask for the last 4 digits of her American Express Platinum card, which luckily I had with us (since that got us into the Delta SkyClub at CVG!)

After confirming all of the details, she read off Carolyn’s Priority Pass account number and expiration date, which I wrote down.

The Priority Pass agent did warn me that they have a “strict” no card, no access policy, so it would be up to the individual contracted lounges whether or not we were granted Priority Pass lounge access without a card. I put “strict” in quotation marks since, as I suspected, I didn’t seem to have a problem at any of the lounges we went to.

Did it work to get us Priority Pass lounge access with no physical card?

As I alluded to, it didn’t seem to matter that Carolyn didn’t have a physical card. At each lounge, I would tell the agent that my wife had forgotten her Priority Pass card but we had callen to get her account number, and here it was (written down on a piece of paper). Each time, the agent took the paper, input the numbers, and had her sign for access.

Here were the lounges I visited – not one of them denied us access:

Air France lounge at BOS – my review
Aspire lounge at BHD (Belfast City)
Aspire lounge in London (LHR Terminal 5)
Salon Azur lounge at NCE (Nice)
Avia lounge at FCO (Rome)

While some of those lounges were better than others, it was nice to get a little bit of a break from the airport and relax with food and wi-fi and a comfortable place to sit

What has been your experience? Have you ever tried to get into a Priority Pass airport lounge without a card? Did it work?

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10 Comments

Jonathan on September 23, 2015 at 10:23 pm

Yes. We were in Montego Bay and both my wife and I didn’t have our cards. But they did allow us to look up our account numbers and exp date on the internet and we were able to get in! I’m just glad I remembered our login info
- pointswithacrew on September 23, 2015 at 10:25 pm
  
  Awesome! I was nervous at first after the Priority Pass phone agent stressed their “strict” no card, no access policy but it seems to be pretty straightforward for lounges
Mike on September 24, 2015 at 12:17 am

Do yourself a favor and sign up for 1Password. You can easily keep your account details and access it on your phone, ipad or computer.
Brandon on September 24, 2015 at 8:19 am

Great info! Wish I had known this was possible when my last flight was delayed by 3 hours and I didn’t have my card with me!
- pointswithacrew on September 24, 2015 at 8:32 am
  
  Glad it was helpful – now you know for next time!
Paul on September 24, 2015 at 12:11 pm

Can you use a friend’s Priority Pass card? Do you need to submit an ID with your card for access?
- pointswithacrew on September 25, 2015 at 2:08 am
  
  You are definitely not SUPPOSED to use a friend’s card. From what I recall, they did not ask for ID, though at some lounges they also scanned our boarding passes (I don’t know if they cross-checked names or not). I don’t remember having to show ID besides the Priority Pass card and (at some lounges) a boarding pass
- Rachel on September 25, 2015 at 2:58 am
  
  I’m not sure about Priority Pass lounges since they all are operated by different organizations, but American’s policy seems to be that you have to provide either an ID or boarding pass that matches the name on your membership card.
Ben E on September 28, 2015 at 8:04 am

Bangkok lounge wouldn’t let us in without cards. I had my number on my phone, and my friend had his priority pass credit card (Dubai) but no card. For both of us, we had to call Priority Pass home office on our own phones and get them to email the lounge to confirm our details before they let us in. Took about 25 minutes in total (including the initial ‘this is ridiculous’ argument/fight) and was a bit rubbish when we got in anyway!
Patricio on August 15, 2017 at 6:57 am

Just got knocked back at the copa club lounge in Medellin (MDE) Airport. I’d forgotten my card on this trip and every other lounge that I’d encountered has allowed me access by manually entering my membership number and expiry date. Staff at MDE refused to accept this. It was 5am and they barely had a soul in the lounge. Frustrating. Also, as a Chase Sapphire Reserve customer, I don’t have the scan pass on the app which is a pain in the a$$ in situations like this.