The Best Airport Lounge Card for How You Travel

[00:00:10] Hello listeners, welcome back. We are here for the follow-up episode on airport lounges. If you remember last episode, and if you haven't listened to that, you should listen to that first. We talked about why going to an airport lounge is worth it and how to get into them. And then we teased in this episode, we're going to talk about the lounges themselves, the different networks.

[00:00:36] And we'll give some of our preferences and some rankings and surveys that we found. So are you ready for this one, Nick? Yeah, I think this will be a fun one. I like these kind of like ranking episodes, go through a few different differentiators, what sets them apart from each other. Why do you care about one versus the other, all that. But yeah, so if you came away from last episode saying, oh, I actually do want to check out these airport lounges.

[00:01:05] But we didn't get to, well, which one should you choose? Which network? So here are the main things that we care about and that we are hoping you'll care about and what we're ranking them on. One is the footprint. How many locations do they have and where are they? It really only matters if they have locations where you fly. What about guests? That's important. Can you bring people? If you're always flying alone, maybe it doesn't matter.

[00:01:34] But if you ever fly with a partner or family, then that matters. If you're going in the lounge and they can't. Right, that could be a huge differentiator. But for some people, it will have zero impact. So important to touch on. The quality matters. Like, is it actually, is the food any good? Are they consistent? Do you know if you go into this type of lounge that you're probably going to have a good experience? Not all of them are created equal, but, you know, the brands try to create some consistency.

[00:02:03] And so we'll look at that. And then how do you get in? That's an important piece too. What card do I need? What type of status do I need? That matters. How many hoops are you willing to jump through to be able to get into that lounge? Yeah, I think we're going to hit on four of the banking card networks and three airline networks. So let's just dive in. All right. So what do you think about Capital One lounges? The first one. This is an interesting one.

[00:02:31] I think they're the newest of this bunch. It's definitely the smallest footprint of all of the ones we're going to discuss. I think they currently have five actual lounges. They also have some of these, what they call landing dining spaces, which aren't quite a full lounge, but are kind of an exclusive restaurant for lack of a better descriptor.

[00:02:57] This is probably, I think, the biggest con for the Capital One lounges is just that there aren't that many of them. I think they have locations in Vegas. A couple of the New York airports have them. A couple of the DC airports have them, but not much beyond that at the moment. And so that's probably the biggest knock on them. Yeah, they're getting really good reviews. It's just there aren't too many of them.

[00:03:26] But the food is good. The design and seating availability and all of that is good across the map there. So they'll keep growing. But how do we get in? Need the Venture X card. Yes. The Venture X card from Capital One is how you get eligibility to go to the Capital One lounge. We've talked a lot. I've talked a lot in particular about the Venture X.

[00:03:52] I think that's kind of my favorite card and I think the easiest one to recommend, especially because while it might not quite stack up on every metric, it's in the same weight class as the Platinum, like the Amex Platinum and the Chase Sapphire Reserve, with the annual fee being half of those. And we've talked before, you know, a $395 annual fee,

[00:04:17] you get a $300 travel credit annually and you get $100 anniversary miles. So as far as getting bang for your buck with one of the premium travel cards, I think the Venture X is the easiest one to get your money's worth. And so there's already a lot going for this card. It gets you access to these pretty nice lounges. And it also comes with Priority Pass. And we've mentioned that.

[00:04:44] That's kind of a tack-on network for a lot of these other card lounge networks. So you're getting a lot of lounge access for that money, even if most of it isn't actually the nicer Capital One lounges. I think that covers that one. I said the food was good. You know, they've been scoring well on, you know, drinks and food and all of that. And you just mentioned, as far as cost, one of the lower ones.

[00:05:13] Yeah, well, two things I guess else that I mentioned is the guest policy, right? We said we're going to mention that one. Capital One doesn't have the best guest policy. This just recently changed in 2026. So guests will cost on average $45 each. Guests are included if you have spent $75,000. On your card in the last 12 months.

[00:05:41] That's not going to apply to most people, but figured it's worth mentioning. So that's a consideration. It's pretty easy to get the value on this card, but you will have to pay for guests. And something else I guess that I'll mention here, like you just said, top, you know, high quality. It's one of the top rated lounge networks for quality. But I also think that's largely just because it's so new. I think we'll see as we go through some of these other networks.

[00:06:10] The bigger networks, the consistency of quality tends to dip. And that's really just a, you know, a function of how long they have been around. Right. Some of these lounges are 20, 30 years old and they're aging a little bit. Capital One has just started opening theirs and they're all new and fresh. And so it remains to be seen if the quality will keep up as they age. Okay, next one. The Chase Sapphire lounges.

[00:06:40] These are, there's still only a few of these. They're in some of the big markets, New York, Boston, I think Las Vegas, and then more coming. Slightly more, right? They have eight lounges with a few more announced. So they're a little ahead of Capital One in that regard. So this one to get in, you need the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, which is an $800. Annual fee. So higher price, but the guest policy is better.

[00:07:10] Two guests per visit. Two free guests per visit. If you have an authorized user, they get access and guests. So it is good in that sense. So pros and cons. Yep. I think, right, roughly speaking, quality is on par with Capital One. I think those are the two new dogs in town, right? The Capital One and Sapphire. They're both small footprints, but high quality and expanding.

[00:07:38] I think the difference, big difference here is, right, Chase has the nicer, more lenient guest policy. But it is a higher, you know, the card that you need to get that access is, you know, twice as much in the annual fee. We're not really talking about annual fees here. But, you know, that is a difference. You definitely can get $800 plus worth of value from the benefits on the CSR.

[00:08:06] But it requires a little more effort than Capital One, right? Venture X, as long as you use that card to book travel during the year, you will get the value out of it. Chase is a little more involved, I think, to get the benefits that make up for that $800 annual fee. So, something to keep in mind as you're evaluating it in this regard.

[00:08:34] I would say, I like that they have a mix of a buffet and made-to-order food as well. Drinks are good. Yeah. Do you ever place any order and then get up and go get a little nap from the buffet while you're waiting because you get a little hungry? Yeah. That's the benefit. I'm paying $800 a year. They don't have... Did we mention that Capital One lets you join a wait list before you get there, which is nice?

[00:09:04] Chase does not. So, you have to go there, join the wait list if it's full, and then come back, which is a bit annoying. But they are very good once you're in. Okay. Next one. Centurion lounges. What do you think about these? So, like, we've been starting off with the others. Footprint is first. They have the most of the premium card lounges.

[00:09:28] They have more than 20 in the U.S., and they have a much higher international coverage. Right? The entire Amex network covers over 1,500 lounges worldwide. And so, you may have noticed when we were discussing those six to eight locations that Chase and Capital One have are all in the U.S.

[00:09:52] You do get the Priority Pass lounges abroad, but you're not getting that luxury exclusive lounge access outside of the U.S. The Amex Centurion lounges do cover you in that sense. Yeah. Amex got a head start on Chase and Capital One in this sense. So, they have a lot more locations and probably, yeah, one of the ones you'll see most often in airports.

[00:10:20] And you need the Amex Platinum card to get in. That one comes with Priority Pass 2. You also get Delta Sky Club visits, Delta's lounge with the Amex Platinum. So, it kind of gets you into two lounges, which is nice. That $895 annual fee does hurt. That's another $100 more than the CSR. And so, you are starting to get up there. Yeah. I think you've got... It's pretty...

[00:10:49] You mentioned they've been around a while and quality tends to fade as the lounge ages. So, they have a little bit more of a variance in the quality I've seen. I don't know how many I've been to. Five plus. Right. These used to be the cream of the crop. Yeah. Some of that luster has faded with Chase and Capital One getting into the lounge game. They're no longer... Not only were they the biggest dog in town, they were kind of the only one. Right?

[00:11:19] It was them or the airline networks for a while. Maybe that'll get them to up their game. Competition is good. So, yeah. You know, competition is good. This could be a good thing. So, yeah. I think they're all generally quality. I think you can be pretty confident you're going to get a quality experience at a Centurion lounge regardless of which one you're at. But the consistency might be a little more varied than at the previous two networks we talked about. They have... Amex has also tightened the guest policy. This is a theme across all these with these lounges.

[00:11:49] They got overcrowded as more people got access. And so, now they're having to tighten the access restrictions so that people can, you know, get in. So, you do have to pay for guests. Usually, it's around $50 per guest unless they have, you know, their own Amex card. So, that can add up. They also have an interesting restriction. The guests you bring with you, even though you're paying, they also have to be on the same flight as you.

[00:12:18] Which, to be honest, was not something I had even considered beforehand. I kind of like always thought like, well, yeah, of course your guest would be someone flying with you. But I guess that doesn't necessarily have to be the case and could be a meaningful distinction just a heads up. I guess if you're traveling for work and you're taking different flights or have the same layover but are flying out at different times, something to keep in mind.

[00:12:45] And then the last one, the Priority Pass Network, which isn't necessarily, it's not a bank. The real thing is it's not airline specific. Right. Right. It's not, it doesn't matter which airline you're flying. This is just a, its own network of lounges that exists independently of the airlines. Do you want to get into the footprint on this one? Yeah, they have a really big footprint. They've got over 1,300 independent lounges.

[00:13:13] And that's, that's the value is this is a network where independent, you know, call them boutique lounges at a lot of airports join the Priority Pass Network and they come up on the app and you get access to them. And so they're able to participate in this much larger network. So it's bundled with a lot of cards. And you can sign up individually. It's not a great value. It's, it's probably makes more sense to get it with one of these credit cards that gives you other perks as well.

[00:13:45] That lowest barrier to entry, I think would be the Venture X because it's the lowest annual fee, easiest to recover annual fee and comes with the full Priority Pass. Um, and then they've also have a variance in guest policy, right? It kind of depends on whether it depends on the, the lounge itself. I think whether you pay guest fees often, you don't have to though. Right.

[00:14:14] That's going to depend on the card. Um, you don't necessarily get the same Priority Pass, like membership with every card. Um, each card network issuer has their own deals with Priority Pass and whatnot. Um, but generally speaking, I think, and they also sometimes will restrict guests based on how busy it is. Uh, but generally speaking, you'll be able to bring a guest with you, um, with a Priority Pass membership.

[00:14:41] What about the quality of the food and, oh, what were you going to say? Oh, uh, you mentioned the Venture X being the best way to get the Priority Pass. um, but there are a few, you know, occasionally you'll find some no fee cards or lower fee cards that will give you a limited number of visits. True. Um, so that's something else to look at.

[00:15:09] What about the quality and consistency of these Priority Pass lounges? You, this is going to be the highest variance of all the networks we discussed. I've had some very good meals and some very sad, uh, charcuterie, uh, Yeah. Priority Pass can go from, you know, a not even prepared foods. You know, it could be like free bags of chips and bottled soda or bottled water, things like

[00:15:37] that with just a separate quieter area to enjoy that in versus, you know, cocktails, uh, full meals, menu ordering, table service. Um, it kind of runs the full, the full gamut. Um, it's hard. It's kind of a crapshoot, right? And if you travel frequently, you can and will probably learn, uh, where the good ones are and what to expect.

[00:16:04] But if you're going to a new airport for the first time, you really will have no idea what kind of experience you are in for. So if you get one of these credit cards that gets you, you know, the Priority Pass access to the account, you get the app, the Priority Pass app. And what's nice is that you can filter by the airport and the terminal that you're going to, and you'll see which lounges in that terminal are part of the Priority Pass network. And if you click into them, you can see what you actually get.

[00:16:33] All the, you know, the variety of things Nick just mentioned. And, um, it, it will usually tell you what's included, what's not. And, um, you can decide whether it's worth going, but often even, you know, the lower end Priority Pass lounges still beat sitting at the gate in a, you know, even if it's a better chair or a better, or better wifi, there's value to me. And still the food and drinks are still free. It's free. Yeah. It's the best.

[00:17:03] So, I mean, my approach, right. It's usually, we went through the first three nicer networks, right? The Sapphire Lounge, Capital One, Centurion. Do they have one of those? Do I have a card that gets me into one of those? If they do, that's where I'm going. If I'm not in an airport that has one of those nicer ones, then you fall back to the Priority Pass. And so it's, it's really nice to, it, I feel like we might be talking negatively about

[00:17:29] it, but it is still really nice to have that Priority Pass access as a backup for the higher end ones. Yeah. I've had, there are a few that are, especially in some international terminals that are really good. That's what I was going to say. Yeah. International. I've had some like very nice international Priority Pass lounge experiences on par with the nicest of like the premier lounges we've talked about. So that, that would be our bank network.

[00:17:58] Then you've got the legacy airline networks, which were the original lounges. And they've actually had to, you know, up their game and expand a bit because of all the, the banking lounges coming in. Well, let's start, we'll cover Delta, United, American. Those are the main three, I think, you know, some others have their own smaller boutique

[00:18:23] locations, other airlines, but as far as most accessible and most available, I would say those are the three. So let's start with Delta. They have a lot of locations. Most Delta heavy terminals have a Sky Club, at least across the U.S. I think it's 35 U.S. airports. They keep expanding, renovating. The LaGuardia one is very nice that I frequent.

[00:18:51] To get in, you need the Delta Sky Miles reserve card, which is a $650 annual fee, or the Amex Platinum, which gives around 10 visits per year, per calendar year. So pick your poison there on the way in. But I think you can also get in if you have a first class ticket. Yes. Yes.

[00:19:19] I think first class automatically gets your access to the lounge. One thing to consider here, though, is that not only do you need either the Sky Miles reserve card or the Amex Platinum, you also need to be flying a Delta flight that day. So it's not enough to have the eligible card. And that's where some of this starts getting a little more nuanced with the airline-specific networks.

[00:19:44] It doesn't just matter that you paid the $650 for the top-of-the-line Delta card. You need to have that and be flying Delta to use the Delta lounge. For most people, it's going to be around $50 per guest as well. If you have the Sky Miles reserve, I think you get some passes per year with that, a few guest passes. But for the most part, you're going to be paying around $50 per guest. That's also true with the Amex Platinum.

[00:20:14] So if you use one of your 10 visits, you still have to pay $50 for a guest. But they are really nice. The pros are it's got a lot of good food, good hot, ready-made food and buffets. And I really like it. It's one of my favorites. Pretty good consistency across the few that I've been to.

[00:20:38] So generally ranked as one of the higher of the airline networks. Just a little bit difficult to get in, I guess, in terms of quality. Yeah, I think I would quality-wise on par with the other networks we discussed, Trace Capital and Amex. But a little more restricted in when you can actually use it. How about United? United, we already mentioned Footprint.

[00:21:06] Similar to Delta, slightly less. They have around 45 locations across 29 U.S. airports. The United Club card is the card you need for access to the United lounges. That is a $695 card fee. So it is up there. And again, this is where we get into some of those more specific scenarios.

[00:21:34] If you're flying United exclusively, you can definitely get the value of that $700 annual fee. If you're not, it's a tough sell. And so that's something to consider. There are a few lower tier cards that get you one-time passes. I have the United Explorer. I get two per year, I think. Two per year. So yeah, one or two here or there. So again, something to keep track of. Keep in mind if you have any United card worth checking.

[00:22:04] But just like the Delta 1, the United network requires you to be flying United that day. So again, having the card, paying the $700 fee is not enough. You also need to be flying United. Guests are also kind of tricky. You have to be spending a lot per year on the card or with United to get guests for free.

[00:22:32] Most people are going to be paying to bring a guest. And quality is pretty good. Like the one at Newark, because that's a big United hub, is pretty good. That's the main one I've been to. But it varies across locations. They have some dated ones as well. Yeah, and this is another interesting layer. We're not really going to dive in more into this.

[00:22:57] But they do have a separate, like a sub-selection of lounges called their Polaris lounges that are only accessible for international business class tickets. So those are a little nicer, but you are even more restricted. There's no card that gets you access to those lounges. You need to have an international business class ticket.

[00:23:26] So this one's like if you're a heavy United flyer, then the United club card might be worth it for you with all the free check bags and other perks that come with it. But $700 annual fee, you've probably got to be flying United pretty often for it to make sense. Yeah. All of the airline ones I kind of look at as if for whatever reason you fall into one of these buckets where you're eligible for them,

[00:23:51] it's worth understanding what the restrictions are, where they are, how you can get into them. But I wouldn't go out of my way to get access to these like I would for the card network lounges. If I was looking to go out of my way to get access to something, it would be those card networks. And then quickly on American, they've got around 50 locations. You need the City Advantage Executive card for full membership.

[00:24:21] You can get day passes, but they're pretty expensive, around $80. They're actually pretty good with letting guests in. I think it's up to two guests if you got access. And they're just not great in terms of quality. They have some of the older locations that haven't been renovated, so they're a bit dated compared to these nicer, newer bank lounges.

[00:24:45] So it could be worth it if you're a frequent American flyer. Right. And even a low-quality lounge is going to be a nicer experience than waiting at the terminal. Good point. So we sprinkled this throughout, but you got the end here and we gave a little bit on each one.

[00:25:06] If you're trying to decide which one you should sign up for, I would say getting into the priority pass is your biggest bang for your buck. Going from no lounge to a big network of lounges with a card with a lower annual fee like the Venture X, that gets you a pretty big quality of life upgrade from no lounges to most airports having at least one priority pass.

[00:25:36] Right. The quality in life jump from no lounge access to priority pass is bigger than going from priority pass to a Capital One or a Sapphire lounge. Definitely. I think you got to take guests into account. If you're often flying with, you know, if you're a couple or you have a partner or a family, that can add up a lot. Like maybe you have access, but if they don't, then you might want to lean towards the ones that have free guests,

[00:26:05] at least now like Chase Sapphire Reserve. Two free guests is pretty good compared to what some of those other ones are charging. Or maybe you want an excuse to get away from your family at the airport and you intentionally choose one that has a bad guest policy. And you say, I'm sorry, but I can't. They're eating Subwire Wendy's and you're getting a cocktail. I need a little quiet time before I'm sitting next to you on a flight for eight hours.

[00:26:36] For heavy international, anybody who's a frequent international traveler, probably Amex is a good option for you. Aside from priority pass, Amex has a very good global footprint. I'd consider them a good option in that sense. And then there's the airlines, right? I would say mainly if you are loyal to any of those. You might already have their card.

[00:27:03] It might be worth getting their card and getting access to their lounges if you're always flying that airline and always going out of the terminals that have their lounges, right? Yeah. I mean, that's an interesting one to me. I don't think I've ever picked a flight based on the airline itself. There are people who do. There are loyalists. Right. It's not something that works for me or my approach to things.

[00:27:32] It's been a decider and a tiebreak. If I had two flights that all things considered are equal and I have to pick one, maybe I have a preference for one airline over the other and I'll go with that one. But I've never searched for flights and filtered by a specific airline. I want to see what's the cheapest one that gets me there direct at the times I want to get there. So this one's a little hard for me to speak on.

[00:28:02] But yeah, if you are a single airline loyalist, if you're flying on a company card, booking on a company card and they have a preferred airline, something like that, that is definitely something to keep in mind. So hopefully this has helped you make a decision. Remember, we started with you should really look at how you're traveling and then work backwards.

[00:28:26] So look at not just the best lounge available, but the one that's available where you fly. That lets you bring the guests that you often travel with and that the real cost is something that you can stomach and fits within your budget and lifestyle. That's going to be the best lounge experience, not where you're going out of your way to fly other,

[00:28:53] go out of other airports or fly other airlines to be able to access that lounge. It should be a convenience to make air travel a little bit more comfortable and convenient. All right. Thank you all very much for listening. Let us know which one you decide and bring the reviews of the lounges out there. Maybe we can share which ones are the best locations. Thank you very much for listening. We will see you in the next one. Bye, everybody.

[00:29:27] You've been listening to More Sense Than Dollars.