Access to airport lounges is no longer limited to frequent-flying elites. These days, anyone willing to pay for the right credit card can get in. If you’re loyal to one airline, you can buy your way into places like the Admirals Club, Delta Sky Club or United Club with a top-tier co-branded card.
If you’re not quite that committed, there are also cards that offer access to a much wider range of lounges. Cards like The Platinum Card from American Express and the Capital One Venture X provide access to several different lounge networks, including Priority Pass.
The Priority Pass program gives members access to airport lounges and other travel experiences around the world. Some are airline-affiliated lounges, while others are independent spaces with no airline connection at all. Either way, the appeal is the same: a quieter place to sit, a snack or drink, Wi-Fi, and a break from the airport terminal.
Over 30 years ago our founder watched premium-class airline ticket holders enjoying the exclusivity and tranquillity of their airport lounges, as he endured the chaos of the departure hall.
His answer was to create Priority Pass – a club that is simultaneously inclusive (affordable to all) and exclusively for those who value a little piece of civilization on their journey. In short, a place where you are always treated like No. 1, rather than part of the herd.
Since 1992, several have tried to follow our lead. But our determination to remain the No.1 choice has driven unrivaled investment in lounges, resources, processes, technology, and partnerships.
The result is that today Priority Pass still offers more lounges, in more cities, in more countries than any other programme. And it’s why every visit is defined by faster, easier access.
So it’s little wonder that Priority Pass remains the programme of choice for the most discerning independent travellers, corporate customers and global loyalty schemes.
Today, millions of members across more than 148 countries are enjoying that No. 1 experience envisaged by our founder over two decades ago.
It’s easy enough to get a Priority Pass membership if you’re willing to pay $500 or more for a premium travel card. At this point, lounge access almost feels like a requirement for a luxury card. We have multiple Priority Pass cards in our house, and once you start collecting premium travel cards, they add up quickly.
But what if you don’t want to pay for a premium card?
A Low-Cost Shortcut To Lounge Access
That’s what makes the U.S. Bank Altitude Connect Visa Signature Card interesting. The card has no annual fee, but it still includes a 12-month Priority Pass Select membership with four complimentary visits per membership year. That’s obviously not the same as unlimited access, but for someone who only travels a few times a year, it could be more than enough. Enrollment is required.
If you already have another card with unlimited lounge access, four visits may not sound all that exciting. But if this is your only lounge-access card, it’s actually a pretty nice introduction to the world of airport lounges. Instead of paying a huge annual fee just to try the experience, you can get a few visits built into a no-annual-fee card.
That’s really the sweet spot here. This isn’t the card for someone who’s flying every other week and lounge-hopping across the globe. It’s for the occasional traveler who wants to make a couple of trips a year a little more comfortable. Maybe you use one visit before a vacation, another on the way home, and still have two more left for later in the year.
And because it’s a Priority Pass Select membership, those visits can be especially useful if you don’t fly the same airline all the time. Instead of being tied to one carrier’s lounge network, you can look for whichever participating Priority Pass lounge or experience happens to be in your airport.
Final Thoughts
When I first wrote about cheaper cards that offered Priority Pass, the appeal was that they gave people a way to sample the lounge experience without jumping straight into the deep end with a high-annual-fee premium card.
The U.S. Bank Altitude Connect now fills that role even better. It’s not trying to compete with the Sapphire Reserve, AMEX Platinum or Venture X. It doesn’t need to. What it does offer is a low-commitment way to see whether airport lounge access is something you’ll actually use.
Sure, there’s still plenty of variation in the quality of Priority Pass lounges. You might end up in a forgettable space that’s only marginally better than the gate area. Or you could find a lounge that makes you wonder why you waited so long to start using them in the first place.
Either way, if you’re only going to visit a lounge a handful of times a year, a no-annual-fee card with four included visits is a pretty compelling place to start.
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