I just got a note from Priority Pass that they are raising their fees to $32 starting October 1st. Here’s the relevant portion of the announcement
On the 1st October 2018 we will be increasing the fee for chargeable lounge visits to US$32 per visit per person. Any complimentary visits included as a part of your membership will not be affected by this fee increase.
It has been over 10 years since we have increased our visit fees and during this time we have done all we can to absorb the rising costs of providing airport lounge access to our Members. We have unfortunately reached the point where we need to make an adjustment to our prices to maintain the quality offering of Priority Pass.
1 thing this announcement is NOT
My first thought upon hearing the announcement that the amount that we got for the “lounges” that are restaurants was going up to $32.
For example, at the Timberline Lounge in Denver, you get $28 per person per visit that you can spend on anything. So I thought THAT was going up to $32. (It’s not :-D)
(Still just $28 at the Timberline which is more than enough)
And the other thing this announcement isn’t
My next thought was that this was going to affect Priority Pass memberships where you get free entry. It also doesn’t do that – if you get in to Priority Pass lounges for free though your card / membership, you will continue to get in for free. These are mostly on premium cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, American Express Platinum, Citi Prestige, etc.
(SEE ALSO: Comparing Priority Pass guest policy for AMEX, Chase, and Citi)
Even cards like the American Express Hilton Business card and the Hilton Ascend card get 10 free visits per year with a $95 annual fee (compare these offers for up to 100,000 Hilton points as a welcome offer)
This fee increase only applies to cards where you get a Priority Pass membership where you still have to pay for each visit, like the no fee Hilton card.
So at the end of the day, this seems like NBD – I would not recommend EVER paying even $28 for access to a Priority Pass lounge, much less $32. In fact, I can’t think of a Priority Pass lounge that I would spend more than $5 to enter (unless maybe it’s one of the restaurants at a time when I was hungry?).
If you’ve been to a PP lounge worth $32, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
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Oman Air lounge at BKK is great and definitely worth paying 5 USD. Not sure about 28 USD though.
For me what came to mind with the price change was that this would impact how much ADDITIONAL guests (like beyond 2 for my Amex Platinum). I wasn’t thinking about folks with the more limited membership type.
NBD indeed. (I had to think though what NBD was 🙂 )
What was a BD though was our recent visit to the mentioned “Timberline” at DEN. (We’ve been known to change our airport routing via Denver just to dine there. Alas, this time we changed our routine up, didn’t go for the big steaks but instead tried an appetizer and something different on the sides. For the appetizer, the Steak Quesadilla was visually appealing, but the “seared” steak within had not been well trimmed — too much unpleasant gristle. NBD to some. Wife much liked her trout with exotic veggies. I was disappointed in my “fire burger” (which actually was rather bland). For a side, I asked for maca cheese — thinking that at a fine establishment like “The Timberline,” I’d get a dish with their own variation on this Jeffersonian (sic) classic. Alas, waiter came out with a bowl no doubt from an instant Kraft mac’a cheese box. Appalling. Now that’s a BD. 😉