How I keep track of multiple Priority Pass memberships

If you have multiple credit cards with lounge access, chances are you’re juggling multiple Priority Pass memberships too.

But not all Priority Pass memberships are equal. Some have unlimited visits, others cap you at a certain number. Some allow guests, others don’t. Some cover non-lounge experiences like restaurants and spas, others are lounge-only. Some track visits by membership year, others by calendar year.

Using the wrong card could be a costly mistake, as Priority Pass charges US$35 for every visit outside your allowance. Therefore, it’s good to have a system for managing them properly.

Managing physical Priority Pass cards

Physical Priority Pass cards are in the process of being phased out, but if you still have one, I sure hoped you labelled it the moment it arrived.

If not, there are several ways of identifying which credit card an unlabelled Priority Pass is associated with.

The first is to call up Priority Pass customer service, complete a verification exercise, and ask them who issued your card. There’s no Singapore number, unfortunately, so the Hong Kong office (+852 2866 1964 is your best bet.

The second is to try and register the unlabelled Priority Pass online. This requires two pieces of information:

1. The membership number (printed on the card)
2. The last four digits of the associated card or four digit validation code

You probably won’t have the four digit validation code anymore, but you’ll certainly have your credit card(s). There will likely be some guess and check as you cycle through the last four digits of possible cards, but eventually you’ll get it right.

Once activated, you’ll be able to see your plan under the “My Priority Pass” tab, and your utilisation under the “My visits” tab.

You will also be able to see when your membership refreshes, which should be another clue as to what card your Priority Pass is tied to (memberships from the Citi PremierMiles Card, Citi Prestige and UOB PRVI Miles Card reset every calendar year, while the rest follow membership year).

You might also be able to identify which bank your Priority Pass card comes from by looking at the membership number. From what I’ve read online, American Express Priority Passes start with 100/102/104/142, and here’s my own data points for the rest of my memberships. 

• My Standard Chartered Priority Pass starts with 110
• My DBS Priority Pass starts with 143
• My UOB Priority Pass starts with 119

Managing digital Priority Pass cards

Even if you don’t have any physical Priority Pass cards and have migrated fully to the Priority Pass app, you’ll soon realise one very annoying thing: it’s not possible to store multiple memberships under a single account.

Instead, you will need one account per membership, and each account requires its own username. For example, if you have three Priority Pass memberships, you need three usernames.

Memorising multiple usernames is a pain, so I suggest a simple heuristic to keep things manageable: your name, concatenated with the credit card. For example:

• aaronwongscbvi
• aaronwongcitiprestige
• aaronwongamexcenturion

Thankfully, you do not need multiple email addresses to manage multiple Priority Pass memberships. A given email address can “host” as many usernames as you want.

There are several workarounds to avoid the hassle of having to consistently having to switch between accounts on your Priority Pass app:

• If you install an app cloner, you can create multiple instances of the Priority Pass app, and tie each to one particular credit card
• If you have an iPhone, you can download each of your digital Priority Pass cards to your Apple Wallet
• If you have an Android phone, you can take a screenshot of each of your digital Priority Pass cards (the Priority Pass app does not support Google Wallet, sadly)

That said, if you download the digital card or take screenshots, you’ll run into the same issue you face with physical Priority Pass cards: how do you know which is which? In the case of screenshots, you can at least scribble something onto it and save it, but with the digital card, you might have to go back to the Priority Pass app and check the number.

At the very least, you should be using a password manager to store your various logins, to make life a little easier.

Priority Pass Access on Payment Card feature

All this confusion could be avoided if your credit card supports Priority Pass’ Access on Payment Card (AoPC) feature, which allows members to visit the lounge using their physical credit card. In that case, there’s no doubt as to which Priority Pass is tied to which card.

Unfortunately, AoPC has yet to be widely adopted, and at the time of writing is only available with the following cards in Singapore.

• HSBC Premier Mastercard
• HSBC Prive Card
• StanChart Beyond Card
• UOB PRVI Miles Mastercard
• UOB PRVI Miles Visa

For more on this feature, refer to the article below.

Which credit cards allow you to access Priority Pass lounges directly?

Which credit cards offer Priority Pass?

Here’s a rundown of which credit cards offer a Priority Pass membership in Singapore.

💳 Singapore Credit Cards with Priority Pass
Credit Card	Free Visits (Per Year)
	Main	Supp.
Citi PremierMiles Card Apply	2 Share	N/A
DBS Altitude Visa Apply	2 Share	N/A
StanChart Journey Card Apply	2 Share	N/A
Maybank Visa Infinite Apply	4 No Share	N/A
UOB PRVI Miles Card Apply AoPC*	4 No Share	N/A
StanChart Visa Infinite Apply	6 Share 1x Guest	N/A
DBS Vantage Apply	10 Share Multi Guest	N/A
StanChart Priority Banking Visa Infinite Apply	12^ Share 1x Guest	N/A
Citi Prestige Card Apply	12 Share Multi Guest	N/A
AMEX Platinum Charge Apply	∞ +1 guest	8 Max 1x supp. card
HSBC Premier Mastercard Apply AoPC	∞	∞ Max 3x supp. cards
StanChart Beyond Card Apply AoPC	∞	∞ Max 4x supp. cards
	Includes 6x guest limit per c. year, which is shared between principal and supp. cards
Citi ULTIMA Card	∞	∞ Max 2x supp. cards
UOB Reserve Card	∞ +1 guest	∞
HSBC Prive Card AoPC	∞	∞ Max 3x supp. cards
^With min. AUM S$200K. 2x visits if AUM <S$200K *AoPC for UOB PRVI Miles Visa and Mastercard only

Do remember that not all memberships are made equal. For example, the StanChart Visa Infinite and Priority Visa Infinite only allow members to bring a maximum of one guest per visit, while the Citi Prestige and DBS Vantage allow members to bring as many guests as their entitlements allow.

Also, the Priority Pass membership issued by American Express cards does not cover non-lounge experiences such as airport spas and restaurants.

How does DragonPass handle multiple memberships?

On the surface, the DragonPass setup is more complicated than Priority Pass because it has three different apps, and the correct app to use depends on where you got your membership from.

You only use the official DragonPass app if:

• You purchased a membership directly from DragonPass
• You’re using the OCBC VOYAGE or OCBC Premier Visa Infinite Card

Otherwise, you’ll be using either the Mastercard Travel Pass (for Mastercard) or Airport Companion (for Visa).

If your credit card is a…	…download this app
OCBC VOYAGE Card OCBC Premier Visa Infinite Or if you purchased a membership directly from DragonPass	DragonPass (Android | iOS)
Mastercard	Mastercard Travel Pass (Android | iOS)
Visa	Airport Companion (Android | iOS)

Once you’ve figured that complication out, however, the DragonPass setup is arguably better than Priority Pass because you can have multiple accounts under a single app.

For example, I currently have a DragonPass membership from the CIMB Founders Card, and another from the HSBC TravelOne Card. Both use the Mastercard Travel Pass app, and I can simply toggle between both. 

Conclusion

It can be tricky keeping track of multiple Priority Pass cards, whether physical or digital. There are a few things you can do to make your life easier, like labelling your physical cards or downloading their digital copies to Apple Wallet, but my ultimate wish is for Priority Pass to make it possible to manage multiple cards on a single account.

AoPC goes some way to reducing the confusion, though you’ll still need an online account to keep track of your remaining entitlements. 

How do you keep track of multiple Priority Pass cards?