Tag Archives for priority pass.
United, Delta, and American Airlines all have airport lounges for premium customers. Alaska Airlines has them, too. Southwest Airlines doesn’t offer lounges.
These lounges are also a huge perk of premium credit cards, which are a lucrative business for airlines. Southwest is competing with one hand tied behind its back placing cards in consumer wallets without lounges.
Premium American Express and Capital One customers have been frustrated by getting turned away from Virgin Atlantic lounges in the United States.
Last week one of my cousins from Australia was passing through Dallas. He’d been in the Northeast for a few days and didn’t have time to make a visit in Austin, since he needed to make it home for my aunt’s 70th birthday right after being in a wedding. But he booked a long layover, because he was traveling on separate tickets and very badly didn’t want a delay of his first flight to cause him to miss his business class award home. He’d be at DFW airport for about 8 hours, so I agreed to meet him there. I offered that we could leave the airport, but he actually wanted to see all the things. So we decided to make a day of DFW. I caught a 1 p.m. American Airlines flight to DFW.…
The new Chase Sapphire Lounge Boston Logan airport is better than expected. I visited just before noon on a Friday and it was busy but not overcrowded. The food and drink options were good. There was too long of a wait for a shower and a ‘wellness room’ but otherwise the first U.S. Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club is an absolutely great addition to the pantheon.
You used to be able to access Plaza Premium’s own lounges via Priority Pass, but that partnership ended two years ago. But now it’s back.
Priority Pass cards from American Express and Capital One no longer include $28 credits at participating airport restaurants but you can still use Chase-issued Priority Pass cards for this.
My favorite is Bobby Van’s in New York JFK’s terminal 8 (the American Airlines-British Airways terminal), because the food is actually pretty good. They have surprisingly decent steaks for an airport, good appetizers, and like the chili and tuna burger too. Decent nachos, though I haven’t tried the crab mac and cheese or crab cakes.
Capital One is eliminating non-lounge airport facilities from Venture X Priority Pass cards effective January 1, 2023. This follows a similar move by American Express in summer 2019.
As a result, Capital One Priority Pass cardholders will not longer be able to swipe their cards for $28 credits at participating restaurants. Chase, by contrast, will still cover restaurant swipes for their Sapphire Reserve cardmembers.
Newer The Club lounges are so much nicer than what you used to expect from the brand. The airport lounges from Airport Dimensions, which is owned by the same parent company as Priority Pass, has been offering better-designed spaces and even more food and drink options. And in the Covid era they’ve had table service replace buffets and it’s a nice experience.
The Club at MSY is a gorgeous space, and Charleston, South Carolina’s The Club is excellent as well.
Bobby Van’s is one of the better airport restaurants in the Priority Pass program. While you’re supposed to have a same day boarding pass to enter, that still lets you eat there both on arrival in New York and on departure as well.
In my experience they don’t actually check boarding passes, just swipe your card. If I were an American Airlines crewmember based in New York I’d definitely get a credit card that offers unlimited Priority Pass visits (not from American Express, which doesn’t cover restaurant visits).
U.S. forces left Afghanistan, with their last position held at the Kabul airport. There was much reporting on the airport being effectively abandoned based on a ‘notice to airmen’ that the airport was uncontrolled. That’s not an entirely uncommon situation. And there are already plans in place for a Turkish-Qatari consortium to manage the airport. Turkish control means o good chance of a Priority Pass lounge in Kabul.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
