Priority pass has announced that lounge fees will be increasing to $32 per visit, up from $27 on October 1st. It looks like this fee increase is only for those who purchase directly from Priority Pass or those who have membership through holding an American Express card. Most American Express cards come with unlimited free visits for the primary cardholder and for guests. For those cardholders there is no change, you still receive unlimited free visits. One exception is the Hilton Ascend and Hilton Business card, these come with 10 free visits and then you’re charged per visit. After October 1st you’ll be charged $32 per visit after the initial 10 are used.
Can’t really see this doing much to reduce overcrowding, probably more about renegotiating the rate American Express pays for unlimited and limited passes.
got the hilton biz cc in april; amex via chat stated that unused passes will expire on calendar yr or 12/31/18, not on the card member yr; then another 10 will be issued on 1/1/19 if the acct is still active/open
Does it mean we get higher credit in the restaurants accepting priority pass?
My weird recent Priority Pass experience:
Few weeks back had a layover in London, planned to use 1 of my free four PP lounge visits from my new US Bank Altitude card.
Arrived at Lounge, gave card to attendant, who made me sign a receipt thingy and enjoyed lounge.
Few days later while unpacking, I noticed my new PP card still being attached to my Welcome letter.
Checked my wallet and sure enough, mistakenly used my old PP card still sitting in there from the time I had the Chase CSR card (with unlimited PP access).
BUT: the CSR card was product changed to a Freedom one when annual fee hit back in early 2018!
So why did I get access to the lounge, doesn’t PP card become invalid once I dont have a CSR credit card anymore?
Since it did work in reality, should I be worried what kind of receipt I signed at the entry point of the lounge access (e.g. will I be billed somehow)?
Should I proactively contact PP support and ask them to adjust my visit to the Altitude account (thereby using up 1 of my 4 free visits)?
Future question: should I start ‘risking’ to keep using my PP card from my old CSR card, since apparently it still lets me access the PP Lounge (on the PP card it says expiry is 2021, but as mentioned CSR is now a Freedom)?
As always, tia… 🙂
Very interesting. It could be since you downgraded the card it still worked. It could be you will eventually see an entree fee charge on your Freedom, it could be that they will mail you a bill and it could be that nothing will happen. Idk, but i wouldn’t keep using it unless it goes by 6 months or so and nothing happened.
I’ve never had luck using my priority pass or getting into Centurion lounges. Something always happens – lounge is full, lounge is in a different terminal and will take 30 minutes back and forth, flight is late so there’s only 30 minutes left until the next flight. Since having PP and Amex Plat of all kinds the last 3.5 years, I’ve only been at one Amex lounge and two PP lounge. So, they’re not losing money with me.
I agree with you. I’m not a business traveler, but the 5 times I’ve flown this year I’ve had the chance to use the PP one time. And that was in Vegas, which by the way, required me to switch terminals AND go thru security again. All they had was some chips, crackers, popcorn, and a few other cheap snacks. I consumed about $2 worth of food. The one time I actually had a 2 hour layover in Houston, I was denied access because it was “full” (KLM and Air France) after hiking myself over to the international terminal. I hope to actually use it for something worth while one of these days.
I want to get a PP card for my wife. She don’t have any of those high-level cards. Is there any PP card I can transfer to her from my CC benefit?
Some give you PP passes which you can give.
You wrote: “One exception is the Hilton Ascend and Hilton Business card, these come with 10 free visits and after October 1st you’ll be charged $32 per visit.” That’s only $32 per visit after you use up your 10 free visits per other posts here. But the way it currently reads, it implies that it goes from free to $32 for those first 10 visists.”
Let me make it clearer
I’ve used a bunch of Priority Pass lounges since getting my Chase Sapphire Reserve last year, and have much preferred them over sitting at the gate. But in no universe would I pay $27 to enter one, much less $32. I usually have a cup of coffee and maybe a small plate of fruit or veggies. At most, I’d pay $10, and that’s only if I had a long time to kill. I don’t understand this business model at all.
Most of the lounges I visit (The Club on the west coast, and some Alaska lounges) have amenities that I would value even less than $10, exactly as you say: a cup of coffee and some veggies. These days I will even go out of my way to purchase a decent meal to bring in since the food is so awful, and some days the lounges are so crowded that if they haven’t blocked PP altogether, I usually leave and find a terminal between flights which is sometimes even quieter and less crowded.
Does that mean I can get $32 worth of stuff at the restaurant/marketplaces? 🙂
This is what I’m wondering…
talked to amex customer service regarding the PP access. I didn’t know myself + 1 guest = 2 visits. so if you go to use the it with someone, total you will only get 5 visits for two people.
I wonder if this is the correct interperation？ since the phone agent could be wrong sometimes. thanks.
That is correct. Or 1 visit with 10 people.
So when it’s like the Hilton Biz benefit, do they compare an ID to the card? Or do they not care because they just charge the card for however many people and AMEX reimburses me on my statement?
With my Hilton Business card PP passes, the agent asked to see my boarding pass and my PP card, both of which had my name.
Oh wow. Didn’t know that.
I would love to know the economics behind PP. Intuitively, they don’t seem to make sense. Like in the past month, I’ve eaten meals with guests at 3 different US airport restaurants. I rang up almost $300 in food (Timberline at DEN is a particularly worthwhile free steakhouse). How can anyone afford to comp me this? Their costs would be even greater if the restaurant was at my hometown airport. I know most cardholders won’t use this benefit that often, but I suspect there are a fair number of people like me who do have the cards and do fly a lot (and what about airline crew: I saw a pilot having a meal at Timberline!). Free restaurants are a pretty attractive perk: they make most lounges feel like a waste of time. That said, I do also use their regular lounge network frequently, particularly overseas. This has got to be costing somebody (probably AMEX, I suspect) a heck of a lot of dinero.
A LOT of people have priority pass from their credit card and never use them. A huuuuge majority. Its like the Centurion Lounge, I go there about 30 times a year, and after credits and retention bonuses I almost “pay” $0 for the amex platinum every year. So are they losing money? On me, “maybe”, but overall they are not.
Its about actuarial costs, (#members who meet or exceed coat vs # who never or or use 1x-2x). Also not all PP lounges offer $27 of food/drink or value or even more than inexpensive continental breakfast or prepackaged snacks, and coffee/tea/soda bottled water. Most lounges have fixed cost or overhead : labor cost (staff) rent, utils, cleaning, remodel/furniture cost – that varies little if zero or full capacity.
Some lounges sell premium bev/food at premium airport food prices (PDX price restriction ).
So the recent removal of Price protection benefit from cards – was a profit center before automation .
If you consider lounge usage by churners and vacationers , vs business travelers (and how many business trips allow you to enjoy alcohol – not renting a car, no same day meetings, etc). So while some can and so max value, most can’t/ don’t so it comes out in the wash. I imagine issuers pay a flat $39-99 membership per card/acct issued with fees rebates/offsets for non-users .
This is a bit different than Movie pass, also i believe that most options are on other side of TSA screening and require a same day boarding pass (outbound) as a stip. So locals and airport employees are not using/abusing system.
But what is PP’s incentive to add all these airport restaurants to the program? AMEX must pay them something every time a card holder uses the benefit. Otherwise, PP would have an incentive not to make the program so good! And — if AMEX is paying PP “per visit” — I would think AMEX wouldn’t like all these new restaurants. Heck, I sometimes stop at an airport restaurant AFTER my flight. I would almost never do that for a lounge.
I disagree. I believe Yoni is right, I don’t believe AMEX is reimbursing on a per visit basis. This should be a flat agreement between PP and AMEX, and PP will be paying the restaurants on a per visit basis.
Priority Pass is a widely advertised, unused benefit. Everywhere/place I fly the PP lounge is either crowded/not letting people in or in a different terminal than my flight. It’s just not worth it to seek them out especially considering the incredibly mediocre quality of most lounges.
That said, the CC companies get to say “YOU GET LOUNGE ACCESS AT THE AIRPORT. YOU’RE A BALLER”.