2022 Edition: Best Credit Cards for Airport Lounge Access

With travel picking up again and airports getting busier, it’s time to take an updated look at which credit cards offer the best lounge access perks. 

Once the exclusive domain of First and Business Class passengers, airport lounges can now be accessed through lounge club memberships available on even the most basic of credit cards. Passengers flying out of Changi Airport, for example, can visit a total of six lounges across Terminals 1 and 3. 

Which credit cards grant airport lounge access?

Here’s a summary of which credit cards grant airport lounge access, the network they use, and how many free visits you’re entitled to. 

Card	Lounge Network	Free Visits (Per Year)
		Principal	Supp.
Income Requirement S$30K
Maybank Horizon Platinum	Selected lounges in SIN, KUL, HKG	Spend S$1K in single trxn within 3 months prior to travel
Diners Club Cards	Diners Network	1*	N/A
Citi PremierMiles	Priority Pass	2*	N/A
DBS Altitude Visa	Priority Pass	2	N/A
Income Requirement S$50-80K
SCB X Card	Priority Pass	2	N/A
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend	Plaza Premium	4	N/A
Income Requirement ≥S$120K
CIMB Visa Infinite	DragonPass	3	N/A
UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card	DragonPass	4	N/A
SCB Visa Infinite	Priority Pass	6	N/A
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Metal Card	LoungeKey	6*	6*
OCBC VOYAGE	Plaza Premium	∞	∞
HSBC Visa Infinite	LoungeKey	∞	∞
Maybank Visa Infinite	Priority Pass	∞	N/A
Citi Prestige	Priority Pass	∞ + 1 guest	N/A
AMEX Platinum Charge	Priority Pass, Plaza Premium, AMEX & Centurion Lounges, Delta SkyClubs	∞ + 1-2 guests	∞ + 1-2 guests
Priority Banking Customers
OCBC Premier Visa Infinite	Plaza Premium	2	2
SCB Priority Banking VI	Priority Pass	24^	N/A
All caps refer to membership year, with the exception of those marked with *, which follow calendar year ^With min. AUM S$200K. If AUM falls under S$200K, then 4 visits

Here’s the main changes since last year’s article:

• The Bank of China Visa Infinite no longer offers lounge access
• It’s unclear at the moment whether ICBC has extended their impressive DragonPass offer, which gives ICBC Horoscope, Chinese Zodiac, Global Travel Mastercard, and UnionPay Dual Currency cardholders six complimentary visits per calendar year. At the moment, the landing page shows the offer has expired, but it could simply be that they haven’t got around to updating it.

2021 was a bad year for Priority Pass and LoungeKey members, as Plaza Premium announced its divorce from the two networks (and cozied up with DragonPass). This leaves them facing gaps in airports where Plaza Premium was the only lounge operator. 

Thanks to the breakup, Priority Pass members no longer have lounge access in airports like:

• Brisbane (restaurant amenity available)
• Cebu
• Hong Kong (restaurant amenity available)
• Hyderabad
• Kuching
• Langkawi
• London Heathrow Terminal 2 (where SIA operates out of; restaurant amenity available)
• Penang
• Phnom Penh (restaurant amenity available)
• Siem Reap

However, DragonPass members are unaffected, which arguably makes DragonPass the membership of choice at the moment (since they have access to most of the lounges that Priority Pass/LoungeKey members have, plus Plaza Premium). 

Here’s a few things to consider when choosing a credit card for lounge access. 

(1) Not all lounge networks are made equal

The main lounge networks used by credit cards are Priority Pass, DragonPass, LoungeKey and Plaza Premium.

Network	Size	Other Perks
	1,300 lounges	F&B dining credits at selected airport restaurants Sleep pods and nap rooms at selected airports
	1,200 lounges	Lounge access at 60 railway stations in China Discounts/free set meals at selected airport restaurants
	1,150 lounges	Dining offers at selected airport restaurants
	180+ lounges

Priority Pass has historically been the largest network, but that title may be under threat with the loss of Plaza Premium (the website still claims to have 1,300+ lounges, same as before).

To bolster their value proposition in airports where they have no lounge agreements, Priority Pass has added alternative amenities like F&B credit (usually US$28 in the US and A$36 in Australia), or access to sleep pods in Dubai or nap rooms in selected US airports.

Do note that Priority Pass memberships issued by American Express no longer cover non-lounge experiences, so you’ll be billed separately if you use your Priority Pass for these.

DragonPass is a China-based lounge network that has more than 1,200 lounges, including some at railway stations in China. Members can also redeem free meals at certain airport restaurants (e.g. The Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck at Changi Terminal 3), or even things like complimentary massages. 

Lounge Key (owned by Collinson Group, which also owns Priority Pass) has 1,150 lounges worldwide, and partners with Mastercard to offer eligible cardholders lounge access during flight delays. Members will also have access to special dining offers at selected airport restaurants. 

Plaza Premium has a much smaller network of 180+ own-branded and third-party managed lounges worldwide. While its footprint is small, Plaza Premium lounges tend to be much higher quality than the average contract lounge, and in some airports (e.g. Penang and Langkawi), Plaza Premium is the only lounge operator. 

Plaza Premium has announced a strategic tie-up with DragonPass, which means that cardholders with Plaza Premium lounge entitlements will be able to access the DragonPass global network “in the near future”. 

Plaza Premium also has a chain of Plaza Premium First lounges, which offer an experience that could rival that of some First Class airline lounges. These require an upcharge, but you might find the experience very much worth it. 

(2) Lounge visit entitlements stack across cards

Lounge allowances are tied to each card, so you can stack free visits across multiple cards. 

In other words, if I get two free Priority Pass visits from the DBS Altitude Visa and two free Priority Pass visits from the Citi PremierMiles Card, I have four free Priority Pass visits in total.

(3) If you want unlimited visits, be prepared to pay an annual fee

Cards which offer annual fee waivers (e.g DBS Altitude Visa) also offer limited lounge visits. If you want a card with unlimited lounge access, you need to look at those in the $120K segment, where annual fees are mandatory (with some very limited exceptions).

An exception is the Maybank Visa Infinite, which comes with an unlimited visit Priority Pass and waives the first year’s S$600 annual fee. Subsequently, you can enjoy a fee waiver when you spend at least S$60,000 in a membership year.

(4) Visit entitlements follow membership year (with some exceptions)

Free visit entitlements are typically refreshed based on membership year (i.e. the date when you got your lounge membership). For example, if your Priority Pass was approved on 1 April, your free visits will be tracked from 1 April to 31 March of the following year. 

However, there are a handful of cards which track entitlements by the calendar year (i.e. 1 January to 31 December). Be sure to check the wording, or you might get charged unwittingly.

(5) Guest fees and supplementary card entitlements

Some high-end cards like the Citi Prestige or AMEX Platinum Charge allow you to bring a guest for free. 

On most other cards, you’ll either have to pay out of pocket or use one of your free visit entitlements. For example bringing three guests with you on your UOB Visa Infinite Metal’s DragonPass would exhaust your four visit allowance.

The policy on children is more nebulous and varies by lounge. Some will turn a blind eye, others will insist on charging you. In general, infants under the age of 2 will be admitted for free.

Supplementary cardholders are generally not entitled to any free lounge visits. The exceptions:

• AMEX Platinum Charge: All supplementary cardholders enjoy the same visit and guest entitlements as the principal cardholder (only the first supplementary cardholder gets a Priority Pass)
• HSBC Visa Infinite: Up to five supplementary cardholders also get an unlimited visit LoungeKey
• OCBC Premier Banking Visa Infinite: Supplementary cardholders enjoy the same lounge entitlements as principal cardholder
• OCBC VOYAGE: Supplementary cardholders enjoy the same lounge entitlements as principal cardholder
• UOB Lady’s Solitaire Metal Card: Supplementary cardholders enjoy the same lounge entitlements as principal cardholder

Conclusion

The quality of airport lounges can be extremely variable, especially in the post-COVID era where amenities may be scaled back significantly. The best precaution against wasting your free visit on a crappy lounge is to simply ask whether you can have a quick look inside before deciding.

Here’s some things to look out for when surveying a lounge:

• How plentiful are power outlets and USB charging ports?
• What’s the quality of the F&B selection (especially alcohol!) like?
• Are there shower rooms, and do they look decent?
• Does the lounge have productivity pods or workstations?
• Is there a napping area, or better yet, nap rooms?

In theory, some lounges do impose time limits on visits, but I’ve never seen this actively enforced because of the difficulty tracking who came in when. If lounges do enforce time limits, they usually base it on time of departure (e.g. if your flight departs at 9 p.m and the restriction is 3 hours per visit, they won’t let you in before 6 p.m).

Hopefully 2022 will offer many more opportunities to go lounge hopping!