A primer on credit card lounge access

Lounge access used to be something reserved only for premium cabin flyers or long suffering elites stuck in coach. But frequent-flyer targeting credit cards are changing that equation now by offering lounge memberships.

Lee Cardholder always cracks me up for some reason

The vast majority of card issuers partner with Priority Pass to provide lounge access to their cardholders. However, not all tie-ups are equal, as the table below shows

CardIncome ReqLounge NetworkFree Visits
Maybank Horizon Platinum$30KSelected lounges in SIN, KUL and HKG1 visit with min $1K spend in a single transaction within 3 months of travel
Diners Club Cards$30KParticipating lounges1 free visit between 1 Apr and 31 Mar of each year
Citibank PremierMiles Visa$30KPriority Pass2 per calendar yr
UOB JCB Card$30KSelected lounges2 per calendar yr (unlimited in Japan/Hawaii)
DBS Altitude Visa$30KPriority Pass2 per membership yr
BOC Visa Infinite$120KPlaza Premium2 per membership yr
SCB X Card$80KPriority Pass2 per membership year
CIMB Visa Infinite $120KDragon Pass 3 per membership yr*
SCB Priority Banking VI $30K (min AUM $200K)Priority Pass4 (AUM<$200K), 24 (AUM>$200K) per membership yr Unlimited for Priority Private + Private Banking with 1 guest
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend$50KSelected lounges4 per membership yr
UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card$150KDragon Pass4 per membership yr
SCB Visa Infinite$150KPriority Pass6 per membership yr
UOB Lady's Solitaire Metal Card$120KLounge Key6 per calendar yr*
ICBC Global Travel Mastercard/Horoscope/Chinese Zodiac/Unionpay Dual Currency$30KDragon Pass6 until 31 Dec 2020
Citi Prestige$120KPriority PassUnlimited (+1 guest)
OCBC VOYAGE$120KPlaza PremiumUnlimited (supp cardholder gets same benefit)
HSBC Visa Infinite$120KLounge KeyUnlimited (supp cardholder gets same benefit)
Maybank Visa Infinite $150KPriority PassUnlimited
AMEX Platinum Charge $200KPriority Pass, AMEX & Centurion lounges, Delta SkyClubs (when flying Delta)Unlimited (+1-2 guests, supp cardholders get same benefit, only first supp cardholder gets Priority Pass)

Surprisingly, the UOB PRVI Miles card does not seem to offer lounge access, which is pretty shocking for something marketed as a frequent flyer card. Instead, they offer 20% and 10% off Singapore/Malaysia and Global Plaza Premium Lounges. That’s just weak.

uobprvilounge

EDIT: KT has pointed out that the Altitude AMEX does not have a Priority Pass. I can’t explain why, but it appears from the site that that is indeed the case.

Citibank Prestige clearly has the best lounge policy- unlimited free visits for the cardholder + one guest. That’s almost unheard of as most of the other banks will charge you for guest visits. HSBC Visa Infinite and ANZ Travel Card also offer unlimited visits, but for the cardholder only.

The other thing you should note about your credit card lounge access is whether your bank tracks it by calendar year or membership year.

If your bank says that you get 3 free visits per calendar year, it means you get 3 free visits from 1 Jan -31 Dec each year. But your bank may say you get 3 free visits per membership year. In this case, if your Priority Pass membership starts 1 May, then you have 1 May to 30 April in the subsequent year to use the 3 visits. Don’t get caught out by this!

Are the lounges actually worth it?

The vast majority of Priority Pass lounges will be run by 3rd party contractors like Plaza Premium or the airport authority (although some airlines will also sell access to Priority Pass). Therefore the quality is highly variable.

For example, some of the refurbished Plaza Premium lounges are really nice. Here’s Hong Kong, for example-

photo credit: thedesignair.net
photo credit: thedesignair.net
photo credit: thedesignair.net

Or the Star Alliance lounge in Sao Paulo, also open to Priority Pass cardholders

And on the other extreme you will have some very, very miserable lounges. Lounges so miserable I can’t be bothered to add photos of them (I can think of a couple I’ve visited in China and India though…)

So some will be great (eg. Star Alliance Lounge Sao Paulo) with champagne, showers and will be a great place to spend a few hours, while others will be purely a touch and go experience.

The best precaution against wasting your limited lounge visits on a crappy lounge is to simply ask at the front desk whether you can have a quick look inside before you decide. I’ve never had anyone say no to this before.

Another thing to note are that some lounges may impose time limits in theory, though I’ve never seen these actively enforced (since it’s simply logistically too difficult to track who came in when).

Conclusion

Do you really need lounge access? Some airports are destinations in themselves and it would be a pity to lock yourself away in a corner the whole time and not explore.

But if you’re rushing some work, or if you’re in a dumpy airport, or if you’re empty inside and feel nice sitting in a slightly more exclusive place (guilty) then you should definitely see which of these cards you can make work for yourself.

 

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

Similar Articles

Comments

37 COMMENTS

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

37 Comments
Oldest
Newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Kt

Priority pass is only for dbs altitude Visa card and not the Amex version.

Love ur site Aaron

Louis

Allow me to refer you to the first post on http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/credit-cards-line-credit-facilities-243/complimentary-lounge-access-cards-inc-priority-pass-4845642.html – some non-PP cards (though much more limited) you might want to add for completeness (as well as the AmEx Platinum Card). =D

w4rd

Nice summary. One more I remember is AMEX Krisflyer Ascend which comes with 4 Plaza Premium lounge vouchers.

https://www.americanexpress.com/sg/content/singapore-airlines-krisflyer-ascend-credit-card/

June

How does one benefit from owning multiple cards if each card has a tie up with priority pass? Eg. If i own an Altitude card visa, does it mean that I get another 2 free entry if I also have citibank premiermiles?

Spinn3rX

UOB JCB card has unlimited lounge access in Asia (eg. Plaza Premium Lounge in HK!). Only thing is you can’t use the lounge in the card issued country (i.e. SG in our case). Still a good one if you frequently travel around Asia I suppose?

Jey

OCBC Voyage has an unlimited complimentary visits to PPL till end Sep 16. Details here: http://www.ocbc.com/assets/pdf/cards/voyage_ppl_tc%202016.pdf

Hawaii

Some relevant info for supplementary card holders: Lounge benefits like Priority Pass usually only goes to Principal cardholders, but HSBC Visa Infinite does extend Priority Pass (unlimited) to supplementary cardholders.

Am not sure about other cards.

w4rd

This is stretching it a bit, but DBS Treasures gets you and a guest unlimited access to KrisFlyer Gold lounge
http://www.dbs.com.sg/treasures/travel-privileges-krisflyer.page

If the Gold lounge is a bit common for you (and it is a bit), DBS Treasures Private Client has it’s own lounges at Changi.
http://www.dbs.com.sg/treasures-private-client/privileges/asia-treasures.page

anon

the DBS lounge is great though, much better than SKL at least in terms of food IMO, although many may not appreciate the lack of showers.

Daniel

Maybank visa infinite also has lounge access but not sure if it’s unlimited or not.

anon

The citi Prestige has PP that has guesting privileges, but the Ultima that costs 10 times as much doesn’t. its a bit ridiculous, but i guess many of you would consider paying that much for a CC absurd anyway.

JT

they probably go on the assumption that if you hold the Ultima, you are flying nothing less than biz class, and the PPL access (or lack of) becomes a non-issue.

A

Question: What happens if you cancel the credit card linked to the priority pass? Would you still be able to use it?

Anonymous

great work! but i wish to add SCB has two VI now. One new VI and one old Priority Banking VI which if i am not wrong still has unlimited lounge access – https://www.sc.com/sg/priority/visa-infinite.html

JT

Honestly, I don’t get the attraction of the PP lounges.

The only differences it has over pacing outside with the herds are pre-packed sandwiches, no-other-choice-so-got-to-eat dishes and some drinks. Moreover, PPL access is so ubiquitous that you are often tussling for the last chair and rummaging over dehydrated meat and vegetable scraps.

In all fairness, the same could be said for Krisflyer Gold lounge.

Kylie

You can also download the app and set up various accounts on it. I have two accounts in the same app and you can switch btw the accounts. Depending on the account, you can also use the digital card on the phone and load it up to your apple wallet.

Max

Just to addon… Prestige also provide Jetquay now which is a major plus on top of the unlimited lounge access!

https://www.citibank.com.sg/prestige/terms-benefits.html

[…] details of every lounge you have access to, including several at Changi. Milelion has a great primer on all the ways to get lounge access via credit cards in […]

[…] the best thing about the lounge is that it accepts Priority Pass so holders of many credit cards can gain access for free when travelling budget or […]

Peter

I was wondering – is there any way to pre-determine in advance which boarding the gate the plane is going to be at in the airport other than knowing it only upon arrival at the airport when your boarding pass is printed?

I understand that gate allocation may usually done last minute, but any sort of advance information (even if it is 1 to 2 hours before arriving at the airport) would be useful to plan as to which is the nearest/best lounge to visit and wait prior to boarding.

lalaisgongon

Just a note, HSBC Vi SUB card gets unlimited pp as well! its as close to unlimited guest i guess?

A

Hey Aaron

Would you happen to know if ur plane departs from say terminal 2, how do u visit a lounge in terminal 1? Are they connected?
If not, how does it work? You pass the gate, then exit again later and take the Sky train to terminal 2??

Phil

Its easy at Changi, there is a skytrain airside so no need to go through immigration or security.

I have flown Malaysian a few time from T2 but happily trekked over to T1 to visit the rather good Qantas lounge. The lounge dragons always give me a bemused smile. 🙂

A

Thanks! So if I wanna check out the lounge in t1, do I pass immigration at t1 then take the airside train to t2? Or do I pass immigration in t2 and take the train to t1?

lifeonthego_k

You have to go through immigration in the terminal from which your flight departs and then take the airside train to go to the other terminals. I’ve also done this numerous times.

A

Thank u for the valuable info guys!

J Thong

Hi Aaron
I have several PP membership cards. Do you know can only the named member printed on the card use it or can I also use one of my extra card with my name to admit a guest?

CREDIT CARD SIGN UP BONUSES

Advertisment

Featured Deals

Advertisment

Follow us

7,110FansLike
10,408FollowersFollow

TAGS