Given the (seemingly false) rumors that the Ritz-Carlton card’s annual fee will soon jump from $450 to $695 per year, Priority Pass has been on my mind lately. The Ritz card used to be the hands-down best way to get Priority Pass for yourself and your whole family. The equation changed a bit when Chase dropped restaurant access from their Priority Pass offerings, but even then the Ritz card was an awesome choice. At $450 per year, the combination of an annual 85K Marriott free night certificate plus $300 in easy to earn airline incidental fee credits make this card a keeper even without considering Priority Pass. And, other than the lack of Priority Pass restaurants, the card’s version of Priority Pass is awesome: access to lounges and experiences, unlimited free guests, and free authorized users get their own Priority Pass with unlimited guests. This has been my go-to way to get Priority Pass for myself and my extended family.
All of that said, there are better Priority Pass options for different situations. If you want Priority Pass restaurant access, access to other types of lounges, a card with other types of premium perks, or a fee-free option, the Ritz card may not be the best choice. In this post I’ve attempted to organize recommendations based on different scenarios like these.
Best for sharing
For those interested in giving Priority Pass access to friends or family members, the best options are the UBS Visa Infinite cards (details here), Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite card, and the The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit Card. All of these offer unlimited guests except where the individual Priority Pass location explicitly limits the number of guests. And for friends/family traveling without you, all of these cards have great options: The Premium Rewards Elite card offers four complete Priority Pass memberships, each with their own unlimited guests; and both the UBS Visa Infinite cards and the Ritz card offer free authorized users each of whom can be given their own Priority Pass card with unlimited guests. The biggest disadvantage of the Ritz card, unlike the UBS and Bank of America cards, is that it doesn’t offer restaurant access. And the biggest advantage of the Ritz card is that it offers unlimited visits to Chase Sapphire Lounges.
UBS Visa Infinite
The UBS Visa Infinite and UBS Visa Infinite Business cards offer Priority Pass with unlimited guests and restaurant access. Plus, you can add authorized users for free and each can get their own Priority Pass. It also includes a $500 Airline Fee Credit for any qualifying air travel expenses with your selected domestic airline. Additionally, after spending $25K on the card in a calendar year, you get up to $500 in rebates towards airport lounge access, restaurants, and Amazon Prime membership fees.
Annual fee: $650
Annual major rebates & valuable perks
- $500 Airline Fee Credit
- Up to $500 credit towards restaurant transactions, Amazon Prime membership fees and airport lounge access fees after $25K calendar year spend.
Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite
Bank of America’s Premium Rewards Elite card offers Priority Pass with unlimited guests and restaurant access. For those who want to gift Priority Pass to others, the Premium Rewards Elite card has a killer feature: you get up to 4 Priority Pass memberships that you can give to anyone. They do not have to be authorized users.
Annual fee: $550
Annual major rebates & valuable perks:
- $300 annual airline incidentals fee reimbursement
- $150 lifestyle conveniences reimbursement (streaming services, food delivery, fitness subscriptions and rideshare services)
The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit Card
The Ritz-Carlton card offers Priority Pass with unlimited guests. Additionally, you can add authorized users for free, and each authorized user can have their own Priority Pass membership with unlimited guests. This version of Priority Pass does not support Priority Pass restaurants, but it does offer lounges and experiences. Another key feature is that this card offers unlimited visits to any Chase Sapphire Lounge® by The Club (with non-Chase versions of Priority Pass, you only get one annual visit to Sapphire Lounges).
Annual fee: $450 (at least, for now)
Annual major rebates & valuable perks:
- $300 annual airline incidentals fee reimbursement
- 85K Marriott free night certificate upon renewal
Important Note: The Ritz card isn’t available for new applications, but you can get this card by starting with a consumer Marriott Bonvoy card from Chase (such as the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card or Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Card) and later upgrade to the Ritz card.
Best for Priority Pass restaurants
The UBS Visa Infinite cards and the Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite card are the best overall options, but they are pricey.
If you’re happy with infrequent restaurant visits, I recommend the U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card. This card has no annual fee and it offers 4 free Priority Pass visits per year. Details about this card can be found below in the section titled “Best no-annual-fee option.” This would be a great add-on to a Priority Pass membership that offers unlimited lounge visits. Use the Altitude Connect card’s Priority Pass for restaurants, and the other for lounge visits.
Best for other airport lounges
Depending upon which airports and airport terminals you frequent, Priority Pass lounge access may not be your primary goal. If your airport/terminal has a Capital One Lounge, Amex Centurion Lounge, or Chase Sapphire Lounge, then access to one of those lounges may be your primary goal. And, ideally, your solution for getting access to one of those lounges will also get you a Priority Pass membership for times when you’re in other airports. Similarly, your primary goal may be access to airline clubs. This too can be solved in a way that also gives you Priority Pass access. Here are my picks for each:
Capital One Lounge + Priority Pass
The Capital One Venture X Business Card is your best bet here. The Venture X personal card can also be a good choice. Unfortunately, Capital One has announced negative changes to their lounge access policies as of February 1 2026. You will no longer be able to bring guests into Capital One lounges unless you’ve spent $75,000 on the card in a calendar year. Additionally, you’ll no longer be able to add free authorized users who get their own lounge access: each additional cardholder with the lounge access option will cost you $125 per year. The main reason I recommend the business card over the personal card is that the business card’s version of Priority Pass allows 2 free guests with each visit. With the personal card you’ll have to pay $35 per guest.
Annual fee: $395
Annual major rebates & valuable perks:
- $300 annual credit for bookings made through Capital One Travel
- 10,000 bonus miles each year starting at first anniversary
Amex Centurion Lounge + Delta Sky Club + Priority Pass
Any of the following Amex Platinum cards can be used to give you access to Centurion Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs (up to 10 visit-days per year), Airspace Lounges, Escape Lounges, and Priority Pass with 2 guests: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, The Platinum Card® from American Express, The Platinum Card® from American Express for Schwab, or The Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley.
Annual fee: $695
Annual major rebates & valuable perks (consumer Platinum cards):
- $200 airline fee credit
- CLEAR® Plus credit
- $200 in Uber / Uber Eats Credits: $15 per month ($35 in December)
- $200 Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection bookings
Annual major rebates & valuable perks (Business Platinum card):
- $200 airline fee credit
- CLEAR® Plus credit
- $150 Dell rebate
- $200 Hilton rebate ($50 per quarter)
- $120 Wireless credits ($10 per month)
For more details about Platinum card perks and rebates, see: Amex Platinum Complete Guide.
Chase Sapphire Lounge® by The Club + Priority Pass
Any Priority Pass membership can be used to access a Sapphire Lounge once per year. For unlimited access, though, you’ll want either the Ritz card (detailed above) or the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card or the Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ Card.
Overall, the Ritz card is the best choice. It has a lower annual fee and a better version of Priority Pass (unlimited guests vs. 2 free guests with the Sapphire Reserve cards). Additionally, the Ritz card offers free authorized users who each get their own Priority Pass. With the consumer Sapphire Reserve card, additional users cost $195 per year each. With the Sapphire Reserve for Business, additional cardholders are free, but they do not get lounge access.
All of that said, a Sapphire Reserve card may be the better choice for you if you value the card’s many other features. For example, the Sapphire cards earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points which are way more valuable than the Marriott points earned with the Ritz card. Additionally, the Sapphire cards have many rebates that may be valuable to you. See our card pages for details: Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Sapphire Reserve for Business℠.
United Club or AA Admirals Club + Priority Pass
United and AA each offer cards that give you club access but without Priority Pass. Instead, the best option for admission to these club plus Priority Pass may be the UBS Visa Infinite cards. The UBS cards offer Priority Pass with unlimited guests and restaurant access and an annual $500 Airline Fee Credit for any qualifying air travel expenses (including lounge access or membership fees) with your selected domestic airline. Additionally, after spending $25K on the card in a calendar year, you get up to $500 in rebates towards airport lounge access, restaurants, and Amazon Prime membership fees. So, this card can be used effectively to rebate paid United Club or Admirals Club memberships or day passes.
Best for special purpose perks (Marriott elite status)
The Marriott Bonvoy® Brilliant® American Express® Card offers great perks for those that value Marriott Bonvoy elite status: automatic Platinum Elite status, plus 25 elite qualifying nights every year (vs. 15 nights with most other Marriott cards). Additionally, this card offers Priority Pass lounge access with 2 guests.
Annual fee: $650
Annual major rebates & valuable perks:
- Platinum Elite status
- 25 elite nights credit
- 85K Free Night Award each year upon renewal
- $300 dining credit per membership year ($25/mo)
Best no-annual-fee option
The U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card has no annual fee and it offers 4 free Priority Pass visits per year. You can use these at Priority Pass lounges, restaurants, or experiences. They can be used flexibly: one person for four separate visits; 2 people for two visits; 4 people for one visit; etc. For many people, I suspect this would be the only Priority Pass solution they need. Or a couple could double the number of visits by each getting their own card. Additionally, for anyone who has a version of Priority Pass that doesn’t include restaurants (which is most of us), this card can be a fantastic add-on. That way you can use the four Altitude Connect visits just for restaurants and use your other Priority Pass membership for lounges.
Conclusion
There’s no single best answer for everyone, but if Priority Pass access is your primary interest, the best choices are the UBS Visa Infinite cards, Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite Card, The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit Card, and the no-annual-fee U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card. If the airports you frequent don’t have Priority Pass restaurants (check here), and you value Sapphire Lounge access, then the Ritz card is probably the best overall pick for you.
That said, there are many reasons to select credit cards beyond Priority Pass access. So, if a card you’re interested in happens to include Priority Pass as one of its features, so much the better! For example, if you frequent an airport that has a Capital One lounge, your best bet may be the Venture X or Venture X Business card. Each is sort-of free after rebate since they offer $300 in annual travel credits plus 10K points each anniversary in exchange for their $395 annual fee.
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My home airport is CLE and they only have a restaurant Michael Simon’s BSpot. Not only are they open early and all day they have a separate counter for take and go items. I have the ritz card which doesn’t gain you access. Which card would you get? I need access 4-8 times. I’d prefer a no fee card but I’m not sure if that’s possible. Thanks
@Greg
The Amex Plat is also great for LH lounges in EU -regular LH Business Lounge on LH/LX /partners Coach if you have an LH/LX/etc F/J Domestic/I’ntl tix – it gives you access to the LH Senator lounge (not even an Intl F/J tix gives you access – typically just LH Elite Senators. We enjoyed the lounge at ZRH.
Also the Plat gets you fast-track/Priority security line at ARN (Stockholm), In AMS we got $30 USD pp Grab and Go items – they are opening(ed) a CL at AMS as well.
The Plat also give you access to little known/hidden Elite Status Levels – Upgraded points has an article – Elite status isnt what it was – but the best Elite Status I’ve gotten – VIP from Radission Hotels (non – N. America properties) upgraded to at least a Jr Suites on all our EU/Nordic stays last fall – Free Breakfast and lounge access – it was a short lived match last August that gave me 1 yr and P2 2 years.
Thanks for the heads up on the UBS/BofA – we have the USB Altitude Reserve that gives us 8 *$28 F&B credits per card year – but PDX has been so-so with the PP experiences locations post c19 – plus they just opened an Escape lounge – PDX first non-airline lounge – we gave it a spin in May. Plus we have Delta Club when flying DL and we have UA club passes from Biz card.
We also have VenX cards for Cap1 lounges – and gave us access to Sap Lounge ( but we both upgraded CSR – before the refresh last month – so a moot point).
Is there a limit to the number of AUs for the Ritz? I thought I had seen somewhere the limit was 4 AUs.
. What about airline partners for B of A Premium Rewards Elite?
How do I find out more info? $550 AF for four PP memberships is still stiff.
BofA does not have transferable points.
Thanks so much. It is a no go for me. I have their card for AS but I read AS has hacking issue so I guess I may cancel it after the first year.
To be clear, doesn’t my U S Bank Altitude Reserve still allow restaurant visits as part of the 8 Priority Pass visits?
yes
US Bank has many credit cards that include Priority Pass Restaurant Access:
* 8 visits for US Bank Altitude Reserve
* 4 visits for US Bank Business Altitude Connect
* 4 visits for US Bank Altitude Connect
Each Priority Pass membership has their own membership year, so keep track of which cards you have used and the number of uses so that you do not go over the limit and get charged by Priority Pass.
But the Altitude Reserve isn’t even available for product changes, so not really a value add to this list. If you have it, great, if not, oh well.
I wish the BOA card was 15% better. It overlaps way too much with the Premium Rewards card. Unsure why BOA doesn’t adjust just slightly to compete with other premium cards. Maybe 100% boost vs 75% boost on cash back.
Why does the Amex EDP only offer 1.5X . . . after 30 transactions?
Why is the Amex BBP’s 2X capped when other 2X cards aren’t?
Why has US Bank been on a path of card devaluation for the past two years?
Why did US Bank devalue the Smartly after only six months?
It’s just the way it is.
I have a draw full of Priority Pass cards from different cards. I never paid much attention to which card came from which cc. Does it matter? If so, is there a way to know which is which?
each bank issuers have a different starting digit of the PP card. you can always call PP and they can let you know which is which
Thanks
Found this on OMAAT:
While it might not qualify under “best,” the City National Bank Crystal Visa Infinite is another choice. It offers two Priority Pass memberships with unlimited guests (but not restaurants). Plus $300 airline incidental fee, plus $550 airline lounge membership (spending requirement), TSA Pre-Check, etc. I won’t say this is a sexy card for the broader hobby community but, considering the broader travel bonus earn category, this might be more attractive that UBS for some.
(As Greg is a card-collecting guy, he’ll like its primary auto coverage with $75k.)
You may also want to give a nod to the MS version of Amex Platinum including a free Authorized User who gets their own access to Centurion Lounges and Priority Pass. Appreciate all of the info.
Nice idea about the Altitude Connect. I have the business version, I checked and it appears to also have this same benefit. 4 crappy airport restaurants, here I come!
Earlier post today about the USB infinite “I didn’t see anything suggesting that this type of membership provides access to Priority Pass restaurants and other non-lounge experiences.”
kind of strange that you are posting different information the same day
There hadn’t been anything mentioned in the card guide about restaurants and experiences, but a couple of readers shared in the comments of that other post that they are indeed included. I therefore updated that other post and let Greg know so that he could include the correct information in this post.
The Citi AA Executive card affords access to many non-US partner lounges, many of which are Priority Pass lounges.
Citi Prestige is great for priority pass too!
That’s true. I limited this post to cards that are currently available new, so I didn’t include the Citi Prestige or US Bank Altitude Reserve.
No reference of US Bank Altitude Reserve?
It’s a good choice, but I limited this post to cards that are currently available new, so I didn’t include the Citi Prestige or US Bank Altitude Reserve.