A few days ago, we learned about new limitations to Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One Venture X Business Card’s lounge access: cardholders are now limited to 2 guests when visiting Priority Pass lounges and no longer have access to Plaza Premium lounges when they aren’t part of the Priority Pass network.
Two guests at Priority Pass lounges
The Venture X and Venture X business cards previously offered access for the cardholder and unlimited guests when visiting Priority Pass lounges. Wording on this benefit has now been updated to indicate that the new guest limit:
Enjoy unlimited access for you and 2 guests to 1,300+ lounges worldwide from Priority Pass™.5
Previously, guests were unlimited. This change probably won’t affect a lot of cardholders, particularly since you can add a few authorized users for free and they get their own Priority Passes. My wife has a Venture X card. If we had previously made a habit of only carrying her Priority Pass, she’d not be able to get both me and our sons into a Priority Pass lounge since she only gets 2 guests. However, the solution is simple: she adds me as an authorized user on the Venture X card, I get a Priority pass, and we guest in one kid each.
Of course, regular readers know that my wife and I have Ritz-Carlton cards, which still feature Priority Pass with unlimited guests, so we’ve long carried those Priority Pass cards and will continue to do so.
No more Plaza Premium access outside of Priority Pass
Most Plaza Premium lounges have joined the Priority Pass network. Cardholders will continue to be able to access those lounges with their Venture X or Venture X Business-issued Priority Passes.
However, some Plaza Premium lounges do not accept Priority Pass. And in some cases, a Plaza Premium lounge that accepts Priority pass has a separate (lesser) area for Priority Pass members. For instance, in Jakarta, there is a Plaza Premium lounge, but Priority Pass cardholders get access to a smaller room with less food and no shower access.
The Amex Platinum card retains full Plaza Premium lounge access — and in Jakarta, that’s how I accessed the full lounge. The Venture X used to also get that kind of access, but no longer does.
Overall, this isn’t a huge change since most Plaza Premium lounges do accept Priority Pass and the overall footprint of Plaza Premium lounges is small by comparison to Priority Pass anyway. That said, Plaza Premium lounges on average tend to be significantly nicer than the average Priority Pass lounge in my experience, so there are surely situations where this will be a loss.
Bottom line
It’s a bummer to see lounge access reduced on the Capital One Venture X and Venture X Business cards. That said, given the generous set of benefits offered by these cards, I imagine that most cardholders will continue to find the cards worthwhile — and if these were the cuts that were necessary to keep the card offering other more widely-useful benefits, most will probably be happy to live with that. Still, if you travel as a family of four or more and you were in the habit of carrying one Priority Pass for the whole family, you’ll need to adjust the strategy and get another family member a Priority pass.
H/T: View from the Wing
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I was flying thru tokyo and were only allowing to waitlist 3hrs prior to departure. Not a deal breaker, but the app kept saying “full” and couldn’t waitlist, after trying for 30-45 mins. I wanted to try and at least see what I was missing and able to “stand in line” w/ only a 3-5 min wait, as waiting for people to leave, as they were at capacity. In short, the app was worse than just showing up and implied you’d never get in. so, heads-up.
A writer for Upgraded Points left a comment on Milestalk’s 12/11 post on this development explaining why he does not believe this change means what it seems to mean.
It looks like UP did an updated post on 12/31 confirming that direct access to Plaza Premium lounges will end in March. Maybe the change on the # of visitors was confirmed after that comment in response to the12/11 post I referred to above. I just remembered reading that the rules on visitors didn’t really change.
I think that limiting guest access to two is likely a positive for a lot of people. It’s frustrating to visit a lounge and get waitlisted or turned away becuase it’s full.
or a group of 8 people show up ! Happened in DFW, terminal E which has a capacity of about 25 people.
Other than non-PP Plaza Premium lounges being cut, for practical purposes, how often might this affect someone? In a P1/P2 scenario and both having PP, how often does someone have a party of six?
What happens in the case of an individual having multiple PP memberships? I have three and my wife has two. Not uncommon in the hobby.
As often as one does?
I mean, I know someone with 5 kids. They’re always a party of 7. We only have two kids, so we’re not often a party of 7. “How often does someone have a party of six?” Just depends on your life circumstances.
Multiple PP memberships for a single person won’t do you any good – they’ll typically limit you to using one PP per person.
But, again, whether the limitations matter to you or not will vary a lot. They don’t make any difference at all to me, but to some they’ll be a pain point.
My Capital One account lounge benefits and my priority pass through Venture X still says unlimited guests, even though the card landing page referenced in the post does say 2 guests.
Venture X cards have free AUs that come with their own PP, so not much changes for a family of 6, unless you’re single with 3+ kids (I mean, if you are, that sucks, but meh.)
CapOne AUs can be kids too (I think any age). 3 of my kids have AU cards, but online it limits me to only 4 AU cards (spouse + 3 kids) so the 4th kid does not have a card. Obviously they do not “have” these cards to regularly use, it is just a card with their name on it that sits in the safe.
Sure, but AFAIK Priority Pass does require age of 18 for an account. Under 18 kids can be AUs without PP.
I had not considered that, so I tried it out. I was able open a Priority Pass account for my 17-year-old (as a Venture X AU) and it never asked me for his birth date. I might have him give it a test drive in March when we are going on a spring break trip. I could try setting up my 15 y.o. but she is not planning any trips any time soon.
Kids must be 18+
The best card for airport lounge & restaurant is what? BoA PRE ?
I suppose that’s probably true. The US Bank Altitude Connect comes with 4 free Priority Pass visits a year, including restaurants, and it has no annual fee (each guest is 1 visit). That card is notable because it has no annual fee. The US Bank Altitude Reserve comes with 8 visits per year (including restaurants). But the BoA Premium Rewards Elite is probably the best for anyone who needs a lot of visits.
Does the Ritz Carlton card give access to all plaza premium lounges?
No, the Ritz-Carlton card doesn’t come with Plaza Premium lounge access, just Priority Pass (which, as noted in the post, will indeed get you in to some Plaza Premium lounges). The Amex Platinum card (or Business Platinum) is the only card that comes to mind that has Plaza Premium lounge access apart from Priority Pass.
Thanks Nick. Really enjoy all your articles in FM. Very informative. Much appreciated!
LoL! ….like the subject photo!
It’s interesting about the Plaza Premium breakup since Plaza Premium is the operator for the Capital One branded lounges. I wonder if there’s a change coming there as well?
This is simply untrue. Guests remain unlimited despite this 1 page incorrectly saying 2 guests. You’re welcome to check your affiliate API feed and terms and conditions on the card application page. Capital One will not make any public statement on this to avoid saying the person who wrote the page you’re sourcing is incorrect, but no one reporting on this has bothered to clarify with Capital One PR employees…who would tell you off the record that nothing has changed.
Tough choice — the actual, published terms of the credit card on the bank’s website, or an anonymous poster citing anonymous “PR” employees? Who to believe?
That “one page” is the card landing page. It doesn’t seem ambiguous at all – it’s in a prominent call-out box about lounge access alongside all of the other card benefits, not buried away somewhere. I’d be happy to hear that their website is wrong, but it’s already been widely reported and I’m not aware of Capital One either refuting those reports or updating the website, so I have to expect that what their website says is correct.
My Capital One account lounge benefits and my priority pass through Venture X still says unlimited guests, even though the card landing page referenced in the post does say 2 guests.
Ryan Smith tweeted Capital One told him the 2 person limit isn’t true. I reached out to CapOne prior to publishing and despite a promise they’d get back to me I still haven’t heard back, and they are usually pretty good about doing so.
It seems like the controlling policy would be from Priority Pass, not Cap 1, at least for now. My renewal letter in October stated unlimited guests. Perhaps the policy has changed, but I would think that Priority Pass would need to be the entity that sends an update on the policy change. It may be the case that new memberships are limited at 2, and that when I renew in October 2025, the new card and letter will specify 2. But I would imagine that, if Priority Pass were changing what terms I need to follow, they would need to send notice of that change in writing.
It would not surprise me if the changes are coming this year and are rotated at renewal. I do also think there have been reports on reddit of the VX business having different terms than the VX personal a couple months ago. This is something worth clarifying, though I have no idea how to sort it out.