The post-pandemic travel surge has produced unprecedented crowds and delayed many flights, making a certain credit card perk — access to luxury airport lounges — more important for affluent travelers.
And for some of the largest issuers targeting upscale customers, the fine print about who’s allowed free access to the food, drinks and amenities has become a crucial element of marketing premium cards.
Competition is fierce for top-of-wallet status among issuers of elite credit cards because spending volumes have been unusually strong, as many affluent travelers catch up on pent-up plans. U.S. travelers
JPMorgan Chase last week said travel and dining spending rose 34%
American Express has long touted unlimited access to its exclusive Centurion airport lounges for customers who use its the $695-a-year Platinum card or an elite-level cobranded travel card, among many other perks. But during this year’s travel crunch, some visitors to these airport oases are reporting
To narrow the funnel a bit, Amex is ending a longstanding policy of allowing Platinum card customers to bring guests for free. Beginning Feb. 1, 2023, Centurion Lounge visitors will need to pay $50 for each guest ($30 for kids), but fees are waived for those spending at least $75,000 a year on their card.
Capital One recently decided to make airport lounge access a strategic cornerstone for its premium-level travel credit cards, anchored by the fast-growing $395-a-year Venture X card
The first Capital One lounge
Powered by a surge of bookings in March, travel and entertainment card spending at American Express rose 121% in the first quarter. The company also added 3 million accounts.
To compensate for the delay in opening its own lounges, Capital One last month rolled out expanded access for Venture customers to the McLean, Virginia-based issuer’s Partner Lounge Network. Included are more than 100 premium-level lounges plus all domestic Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses and the Air France lounge in Quebec.
Venture X customers get unlimited access to those premium-level lounges plus 1,300 others in the Priority Pass lounge network, while customers with the $95-a-year Venture and Spark Miles cards get two premium-level lounge visits a year.
JPMorgan Chase last month said it's entering the proprietary airport-lounge race, with plans to roll out half a dozen Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club locations. Consumers with JPMorgan Chase’s $550-a-year, perks-laden Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card currently have free membership in Priority Pass Select, which operates more than 1,300 airport lounges around the world. Several other elite credit card brands also offer varying levels of access to Priority Pass and other airport lounge networks.
In response to rising user demand, Amex is adding Centurion lounges in Washington D.C. (National) and Atlanta and expanding existing lounges in Seattle and San Francisco. Amex's Global Lounge Collection also offers access to more than 1,400 other airport lounges in 140 countries.
An Amex spokesperson said a feature in the Amex mobile app also displays the real-time capacity of Centurion lounges in the U.S., London and Hong Kong, noting that when Centurion lounges are busy, the average wait time is 10-15 minutes.
Maintaining top-of-wallet status with high-end customers will require careful engineering amid inflation and a potential economic downturn, observers say.
Although upscale credit cards sustained some of the steepest losses during previous economic downturns, higher-end credit card programs currently are on track for growth in 2023 because of their resiliency through the pandemic, according to David Shipper, a strategic advisor in banking and payments at Aite-Novarica.
“For affluent cardholders less impacted by a recession and who are spending more to travel this year, bonus points and travel benefits will continue to be very attractive,” Shipper said.
