If you’re looking for a credit card that offers lounge access, the good news is that there’s plenty of options in Singapore- more than two dozen, at last count.ย But what if you’re travelling with a companion who can’t get a card, like a retiree or young child? In that case, you might be wondering whether you can share your visits.
Now, it may seem intuitive that if you have ten lounge visit entitlements, it should make no difference whether you go by yourself ten times, or whether you go with a companion five times.
However, that’s not always how it works. Not every bank believes that sharing is caring, and if you’re not careful, you might end up with additional guest charges!
Which credit cards allow you to share lounge visits?
When it comes to sharing lounge visits, there are two possible scenarios:
- You have a card with a limited number of visits
- You have a card with an unlimited number of visits
At the risk of stating the obvious, your guest must be accompanied by you when visiting the lounge, so it’s not possible for to redeem a visit for a guest and only incur a single visit deduction.
For cards with limited visits
Principal cardholders of the following cards enjoy anywhere from 2-12 complimentary lounge visits per year.
Do note that the year can refer to calendar year (c. year in the table below), or membership year (m. year) of your lounge pass. Bank of China is an exception, tracking its allowances based on a year that runs from 1 November to 31 October.ย
Card | Lounge Visits | Shareable? |
AMEX HighFlyer Card | 2 M. Year |
Yes |
Citi PremierMiles | 2 C. Year |
Yes |
DBS Altitude Visa | 2 M. Year |
Yes |
OCBC Premier Visa Infinite | 2 M. Year |
No |
SCB Journey Card | 2 M. Year |
Yes |
CIMB Visa Infinite | 3 M. Year |
No |
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend | 4# M. Year |
Yes |
BOC Visa Infinite | 4 1 Nov to 31 Oct |
Yes |
HSBC TravelOne Card | 4 C. Year |
Yes |
Maybank Visa Infinite | 4 M. Year |
No |
UOB PRVI Miles | 4 C. Year |
No |
HSBC Premier Mastercard | 6* M. Year |
Yes |
SCB Visa Infinite | 6 M. Year |
Yes |
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Metal Card | 6 C. Year |
No |
DBS Vantage | 10 M. Year |
Yes |
SCB Priority Banking VI | 12^ M. Year |
Yes |
#Benefit discontinued from 1 Nov 24; existing lounge vouchers can be redeemed till 31 Dec 24 (SATS Premier Lounges) or 31 Mar 25 (Plaza Premium Lounges) *4 visits for HSBC Premier, 6 visits for HSBC Premier Elite ^12 visits with min. AUM S$200K, otherwise 2 visits |
In this segment, the cards you need to watch out for are the Maybank Visa Infinite, OCBC Premier Visa Infinite, UOB PRVI Miles, UOB Lady’s Solitaire Metal Card and CIMB Visa Infinite, all of which don’t allow lounge visits to be shared.
As a reminder, the HSBC TravelOne Card initially did not allow lounge visits to be shared, but reversed the policy from 17 October 2024.
For cards with unlimited visits
Principal cardholders of the following cards enjoy unlimited lounge access, but only some of them allow guests.
Card | Lounge Visits |
AMEX Platinum Charge |
โ + 1-2 guests (exact entitlement depends on lounge) |
DBS Insignia |
โ |
Citi ULTIMA |
โ |
UOB Reserve |
โ + 1 guest |
AMEX Centurion |
โ + 1-2 guests (exact entitlement depends on lounge) |
UOB VI Metal Card |
โ + 1 guest |
Citi Prestige |
โ + 1 guest |
HSBC Visa Infinite |
โ |
OCBC VOYAGE (all versions) |
โ |
You might be surprised to know that despite their four-digit annual fees, neither the Citi ULTIMA nor DBS Insignia Cards come with guesting privileges.ย On the other hand, the much-cheaper (relatively speaking) Citi Prestige and UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card each allow one guest to accompany the principal cardholder!
With regards to the AMEX Platinum Charge and AMEX Centurion Cards, one guest is permitted for Priority Pass and Plaza Premium lounges, and two guests are permitted for Centurion Lounges.
What about supplementary cardholders?
So far we’ve only focused on principal cardholders, but some cards extend lounge access to supplementary cardholders as well.
Therefore, even if your principal card doesn’t have guesting privileges, you might consider applying for a supplementary card for your frequent travel companion. This has the added benefit of enabling them to visit the lounge, even when you’re not travelling with them.ย
Card | Lounge Visits | Remarks |
AMEX Platinum Charge |
โ + 1-2 guests (exact entitlement depends on lounge) |
Only the first supp. cardholder receives Priority Pass membership |
Citi ULTIMA |
โ | Up to two supp. cardholders get lounge access |
UOB Reserve |
โ | Valid for all supp. cardholders |
AMEX Centurion |
โ + 1-2 guests, depending on lounge | Only the first supp. cardholder receives Priority Pass membership |
HSBC Visa Infinite |
โ | Up to five supp. cardholders get lounge access |
OCBC VOYAGE (all versions) |
2 visits | Lounge visits cannot be shared |
Two important things to note here:
- While principal UOB Reserve Cardholders enjoy unlimited visits with one guest, supplementary cardholders enjoy unlimited visits without the guest allowance
- While principal OCBC VOYAGE Cardholders enjoy unlimited visits, supplementary cardholders only receive two lounge visits (which cannot be shared)
Conclusion
If you often travel with companions who can’t get credit cards for lounge access, it’s good to have a card that lets you share your visits with them.
Fortunately, most cards allow for sharing- but a few are grinchy that way, so be careful!ย
Aaron – Maybank doesnโt allow sharing on that infinite Visa card with 4 visits a year. Or rather, it does but will charge you guest fee. I got charged earlier this year
thanks for the data point! have updated
ref: https://www.maybank2u.com.sg/iwov-resources/sg/pdf/faq/personal/cards/digital-priority-pass-membership-faq.pdf
HSBC has paused applications for the Visa Infinite card
Do we just show the credit card to enter or do we need to apply for priority pass for each cc?
Quick question, do we need to use the same credit card that is used for air ticket booking to enter the lounge?
Does the cards mentioned above that has sharing benefit allows for more than 1 guest? I.e. if I have a family of 4, all my 3 guests can use the complimentary visits?
as long as you can share, you can share as many as you wish. eg dbs vantage can bring family of 5 to the lounge twice.
I wasnโt allowed by SATs to bring both my 6yo twins into the lounge twice now, despite me having 3 sets of priority passes (unlimited for Amex charge, SC journey and citi premiere miles). They say it doesnโt matter how many different priority passes I own, I can only bring in 1 guest at a time
FYI – The UOB Ladyโs Solitaire Metal Card is not shareable for airport lounge visits, only for card holder. However, I think they should make it shareable.
thanks, have updated that
https://www.uob.com.sg/assets/pdfs/ls-metal-changes-in-benefit.pdf?
Could you help write an article comparing the cost of each free lounge visit against its card annual fee? Examples, X credit card offers Y free passes at $Z card annual fee. The normalized payable is $Z/Y per visit. For cards with unlimited visits, it’s just a matter of comparing the card annual fee vs Pass issuer’s annual fee (e.g. PP unlimited visit annual fee is USD469). Thanks.
What does it mean by membership year? If I join the priority pass in Nov24, will I get 4 new complimentary visits in 2025?
When it is possible to share, can i just use A card prioity pass for myself and B card priority pass for my parents? ie when sharing, must I use the same card before i bring guest.