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Capital One is making major changes to lounge access for their Capital One Venture X product – restricted complimentary guests to cardmembers who spend $75,000 per calendar year (just like American Express has done); adding a fee for authorized user cards to access lounges (making them more like other issuers); and eliminating complimentary Priority Pass guests altogether (while keeping it on the business version of the card).
- Additional cardmembers lose free lounge access: Effective February 1, 2026, Capital One Venture X and Venture X Business cards can continue to have additional cardmembers at no annual fee, however they are unbundling lounge access from these cards. Lounge access is added for $125 per additional cardmember as an option. (You can also keep additional cardmembers on the account without lounge access, and those cards retain their no annual fee.)
- Capital One lounges will require $75,000 annual spend for free guests: Starting February 1, 2026, Capital One Venture X and Venture X Business cards will no longer allow complimentary guest access to the issuer’s own lounges. Guest access (2 complimentary guests at lounges, 1 at Landings) is restored for accounts that spend $75,000 per calendar year. Complimentary guest access is valid for the calendar year in which the spend requirement is met, and for the following year.
Capital One Lounge, Washington Dulles - Guest access pricing changes: Paid guests will be $45 per person – but now $25 apiece for guests under 18 (children under two are free).
- Venture X Priority Pass loses all complimentary guests: Even cardmembers spending heavily on the product will no longer receive free guests. In contrast, Venture X Business will receive 2 complimentary guests for the primary cardmember, and beginning February 1, 2026 this will extend to additional cardmembers. Paid guests are currently $35 apiece.
I find it interesting that Venture X Business keeps complimentary guest privileges, but the economics of the card will be different, including likely higher average spend volume.
Plaza Premium Lounge DFW Is Priority Pass-Accessible
My takeaways are,
- This is broadly similar to the approach taken by American Express, requiring spend for guest access, and by American Express and Chase where an additional cardmember with lounge access is not free. Capital One just keeps the additional cardmember itself free, while charging for lounge access, which is smart because they’re not also pushing away the spending.
- But while I like Capital One lounges much more than American Express lounges, Capital One doesn’t have nearly as many lounges! And their Priority Pass – with no guest access, and no longer honoring restaurant visits – becomes ‘worst in class’.
- They are still at a lower annual fee price point than competitors like Amex Platinum and Chase’s Sapphire Reserve, and they aren’t adjusting the fee. We’ve seen increased annual fees and cuts to the value prop for both of those products, so it’s not surprising to see an adjustment to Venture X – my comment when the card was first launched about three and a half years ago was that it was likely too generous for the underlying economics (but probably needed to be to launch with a splash) so none of this surprises.
Capital One Landing, DCA
I wasn’t using the Venture X Priority Pass anyway. If you have more than one card that comes with Priority Pass, just switch away from the Capital One-sponsored version. This ultimately does not affect me. But for customers who don’t live in or travel primarily to or through cities with Capital One lounges, and who rely on Capital One for lounge access via Priority Pass especially when traveling with their families, this is a huge hit to the value proposition.
Still, Venture X is at a much lower price point than competitor cards and from my perspective the rebates I receive each year are worth the full annual fee – a $395 annual fee offset by a $300 travel portal credit (I buy a plane ticket) and 10,000 points which are worth well more than $100 to me. Plus, it earns 2x transferable points on all spend.
As a result, I will keep the card and I will keep spending on the card. As it happens I do put over $75,000 on the card each year. However, I’d say that getting a spouse or other player 2 their own card is better than paying the lounge access fee for an authorized user. Instead of paying $125 for a spouse to have lounge access, if they are approved for the card you’ve got benefits that effectively ‘cover’ the annual fee in its entirety.
- They’ll be eligible to earn the card’s initial bonus
- And be eligible for the $300 travel credit and 10,000 bonus points at renewal each year
- So the net cost is lower than paying for an additional cardmember’s lounge access.
Capital One Landing DCA
According to Capital One,
Since it was introduced in 2021, Venture X has stood out as a unique premium travel card with industry-leading rewards and benefits – including airport lounge access – at a $395 price point.
As airport lounges continue to grow in popularity across the industry, we’ve seen our customers increasingly encounter wait times to enter them. It is important to us that we maintain a great airport lounge experience for our Venture X and Venture X Business customers, while continuing to deliver best-in-class premium travel cards at an accessible price point.
To address this, we will be making some changes to lounge access for additional cardholders (authorized users and account managers) and guests. Venture X and Venture X Business primary cardholders will continue to receive complimentary access to over 1,300 lounges, including Capital One Lounges, Capital One Landings and Priority Pass lounges. We thought carefully about these changes, and we remain committed to delivering a differentiated premium travel card for our customers.
Capital One Lounge, Las Vegas
I don’t expect these changes as likely to improve lounge crowding. Capital One cards are not a driver of crowding for Priority Pass lounges. That’s a straight cost cut, aimed even at high spend cardmembers on the consumer product.
American Express dropped complimentary guest access to its lounges without spending $75,000 annually and that doesn’t seem to have helped with their lounge crowding. Maybe it’ll make a difference for Capital One, as many people using their lounges were free authorized user cards who won’t pay the lounge access fee – while Amex was already charging a fee for their additional Platinum cards?
Ironically, what helps most with crowding at Amex lounges is Capital One and Chase opening better lounges nearby. Staff at the Las Vegas Centurion lounge told me in advance of the new Capital One space that they were looking forward to the opening of the Capital One lounge to help alleviate their lounge’s crowding. There will be some affect at the margin, but in a sense the value proposition of Venture X has just been too generous.
I’ve written for decades that anything a few standard deviations better than the norm shouldn’t be expected to last. The good news is that Capital One’s lounges are very nice (and it’s a growing footprint), the card is generous for spend, and still comes at a lower price point than competitors. These changes don’t really affect my own use case at all, but each cardmember will have to evaluate their own circumstances.
I feel like, though, they shouldn’t just be taking away from cardmembers – they should be considering adding benefits for high spending ones at least. For instance, if lounge access is going to be spend-based why not let customers spending $150,000 or $200,000 per year skip the queues? American Express does this for their Centurion cardmembers.
I don’t feel bad not getting approved by capital one anymore.
Gary, I, too, wish all of these companies would ‘add’ not ‘take away’ benefits. It’s a shame. Negative changes like this feel like a ‘bait and switch,’ as it did with Amex did this with guests, too. Sure, some easily spend $75K+ on their cards each year, but for the average cardmember, that’s a tall order.
@L737 — I recall that you’re a fan (at least of the Cap One lounge at LAS); so, will this impact you much, or are you mostly going ‘solo,’ anyway? It’s nice to be able to bring a friend or family member(s) with you when traveling together.
And so the cuts begin…
Definitely an annual fee increase in the future.
One (current) advantage of the Chase Sapphire Lounges are that guests are still free. There are very few lounges, and not crowded so far, so this too may change.
Cheers.
Agree that the $395 AF with a 10K bonus and 2X everywhere makes this card a “free” 2x with no coupon book as a bonus. But then so is the Amex Blue Business Plus which probably the best and most underrated card for regular spend.
Cap1 missed an opportunity to distinguish itself by copying the $75K lounge access threshold. A $40-$50K threshold would have kept this card in front of wallet for most organic spenders.
Oof, unfortunate. Can’t say I’m too surprised though – I agree with Gary, the privileges were overly generous at the beginning. Venture access was always bound to be cut once people experienced how great the lounges were and now this. Largely in line with other credit cards but to Gary’s point you can count the lounges/landings they have on one hand. Might help with waiting times though so that would be nice!
On the bright side perhaps this is a sign that there’s more to come. Here’s to hoping Gary has a trip to JFK T4 on his calendar soon for a lounge opening preview!
@1990 – Ahh dont remind me of the Cap1 LAS stuffed donuts before lunch time. Most of my travel is solo but the access privledges have come in pretty clutch when I have travelled with someone or in a group, doh!
Bummer, this was going to be my next card for lounge access.
If I get the card this year, will it retain the current lounge rules for 12 months or will it get cut off February 1?
While I understand there was some AU abuse at play, removing all guests for PP is a non starter for families. My family of 5, with my wife AU, were able to use PP lounges for free. Now, if I understand correctly, I’ll have to pay either pay 35*4 or get my wife as AU (125) plus 35*3. Not worthy anymore. Any idea about what’d be the best card for families going to PP lounges from Feb on?
I am torn on how to solve for lounge overcrowding. The root cause is that the operators made them too accessible and failed to scale up to meet demand. Now, people are hooked on them. I understand that families want to spend time in them. Makes me wonder how the “customer” of the clubs has changed and WHO the clubs want to be their customer.
For me the lounges are not a “luxury” or primarily used during leisure travel. They are my office. They help me enhance my productivity, provide me a comfortable, peaceful working environment. Well, they used to.
Also starting to feel like the new rules are punishing road warriors over leisure travelers. Delta’s rules that limit use has far more of an impact on people traveling routinely than it does the leisure traveler who flies a few times a year. Feels like a lot of lounges are become as raucous as the concourses. Is it a luxury lounge, a nightclub, a playground? All of the above?
Bait and switched the peasants, hilarious.
Glad they are doing this. Time to kick the AU freeloaders out and make them pay full fare.
It sucks expecting to use this benefit, then run into a 30 minute wait just to use it.
The question I’ve not seen answered anywhere is if you spend $75k/yr, whether the $125/yr AUs get to bring in 2x guests to Cap1 lounges as well? To me that’s the difference between adding a few more VentureX’es and spending $75k apiece on them vs. canceling all of them.
@L737 — ‘Oof’ is right! And if those donuts are anything like the Lard Lad ones… (pink frosted, sprinkles) “So, you like donuts, eh??…Have all the donuts in the world! ..Muwahaha!!” (More!)
I second the question, what’s the best Priority pass card for families now?
I second the question, what’s the best Priority pass card for families now? Going from 2 guest to none is pretty drastic.
@1990 — “I paid for a [stuffed] donut, and I’m gonna get a [stuffed] donut!”
I just hope now they don’t the actual lounges and landings, that would be a doozy.
They don’t nerf the* Gah!
Theyre pretty much doing what Amex did with AUs. Instead of $175 w/lounge, its $125 for lounge. Hopefully this helps to a degree. I usually don’t even bother with Amex lounges because of the crowds so I’m not sure if it will help
@L737 — “That’s false advertising!” (kinda like, Capital One devaluing their card benefits…)
OMAAT answered my question about whether $125 AUs of $75k accounts can guest people in for free: “The ability to guest people into lounges will apply to both the primary card member and authorized users who have paid $125 for the lounge access pass”
https://onemileatatime.com/news/capital-one-venture-x-lounge-access-changes/
@1990 — *Steals lounge sign* “I have your sign, Capital One! And what are you gonna do about it??”
Bummer for families but for couples (as the current AF and benefits stand) rather than pay the $125 AU fee, it seems to make a ton of sense to just get a second card. Perhaps that was Capital One’s goal all along.
The smaller crowds will be nice though as it can be hard to time when to join the waitlist. I’ve been binge visiting the DCA landing for most of 2025 with reservations (although in my experience they haven’t been necessary) but I’m excited to get back to visiting the IAD lounge (and check out their updated menu! I’m going to miss their shrimp baos though) starting this month and will see what the summer waiting lists are like compared to last year.
Because there are so few lounges, I’m curious as to how big the geographic skew will be once these changes take effect. I imagine an influx of NYC based holders at the end of the year once JFK and LGA both get up and running.
I can say that at least American Express and now Capital One want to severly limit the number of guests in the lounge. I had a bad experience in Miami a few weeks ago. In line about 10 mins upstairs they decided to shut the line and send everyone down the elevator. Then they did eveyrthing they could to discourage anyone from waiting. I will add they were not friendly about it. I ad enough time after 40 mins to go up and found the club mostly empty. That was the goal. It was not just capacity control. I dont have Venure X. I might get it for the business bonus. I am dialing down the majority of my AMEX spend due to high card fee increases and a lower value to me. I burn no bidges but I also wont be a sucker.
@L737 — “If you’re looking for that (lounge sign) of yours… Uh… Flanders has it. Just smash open his house!” (Treehouse of Horror VI, a great episode)
Don’t have the card currently. Considering it once JFK and LGA are open.
@1990 — Great episode indeed. And wahoo! Mace Windu and the badass woman from Alias approved.
Not upset about this at all. For the families- buddy, I have to sit outside and not get in a lounge that I paid for because you’re in there with all your kids and so is the guy next to you. There is nothing more frustrating than just wanting a clean bathroom and a quick soda and cant get in because the club is full.
My takeaway is that this is a window into what Amex and Chase will also sort of end up doing with reducing included Priority Pass guest access to lounges.
I thougth when I first signed up that “the benefits were too good to be true” and that is how it has turned out. My wife and I have enjoyed the benefits so much, especially the lounge access. Wish they had at least allowed one guest (my wife!) free access with the cardmember!
@BookGirl sadly you’re still not getting in because whether one person or 4 are at a table the club is still “full”.