🚨 Download MaxRewards: ➡️ USE CODE: shifu
In this video we look at the best credit cards for airport lounge access.
Click “show more” for ad disclosure

Credit Shifu Wallets:

“The content in this video is accurate as of the posting date. Some of the offers may no longer be available.”

Advertiser Disclosure: This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives
compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This
compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not
include all financial companies or all available financial offers.

While travel can bring you incredible Experiences traveling by air to places Can be stressful tiring and soul Destroying when you get off one 6-hour Flight and have to board another 6-hour Flight in just a couple of hours what You could really do with is a shower Some hot food and a relaxing chair to Lab back in but unless you have a Business or first class ticket you're Not getting into an airport lounge and Even on some domestic first class routes There's no lounge access that is where Credit cards come in there are many Credit cards that provide airport lounge Access through programs like priority Pass or by partnering with Airline or Independent Lounge networks or by Setting up their own Lounge Network this Way even if you're flying economy you Will have a place to relax and freshen Up on your next stopover or before you Take your flight in this video we are Going to go through some of the best Credit cards available right now on the US market for airport lounge access but First what are some of the major airport Lounge networks that you may be able to Access with the cards in this video well I think the biggest one we have to talk About is priority pass while the lounges Vary in quality from luxury brand new Offerings to crowded rooms with no Windows priority pass is by far the

Biggest and most common Lounge Network To be included for free on Us credit Cards it gives you access to over 1,400 Lounges with 15 of them in North America And even more outside look at Europe and Asia so it's great for international Travelers and it would cost you $469 if you bought it directly from Priority pass then we have Plaza premium Lounge this is probably the second most Wellknown Lounge Network and their Lounges consist predominantly of their Own brand they work directly with some Us credit cards but you can now actually Access some Plaza premium lounges Through priority Pass 2 this was the Case in the past then Plaza premium quit Priority pass a few years back but now Since June 2023 many of their lounges Are back you can access over 60 in total Through priority pass including most of Their North American lounges but like we Said there are some credit cards that Work with Plaza premium Lounge directly And we'll give you all of them then we Also have airlin specific lounges for The US big three Airlines we have American Airlines Admirals Club United's United Club and Delta's Delta Sky Club There are various ways to get into all Three of these lounges with credit cards Too and finally we have credit card Lounge networks the most famous of these Is the American Express Centurion

Network the Centurion Network consists Of over 40 lounges with 13 actual Centurion lounges in the US then more Overseas plus Escape lounges in the US And all of these you can access with Certain American Express cards and now We have both Capital One and Chase Setting up Lounge networks of their own So that is a rundown of the main Lounge Networks in this video Let's now get Into some of the best credit cards for Lounge access and if you saw my video on This from last year there have been some Changes to access on many of these cards So there are two credit cards that are Losing their lounge access completely We'll talk about them first the first One is the Hilton honor surpass card Which had a bit of a makeover recently And I have another video where I go Through all of the changes on both of The Hilton cards on my channel it looks Like this we'll put it on the end of This video for you to check out so the Hilton honor surpass is a mid-tier card With $150 annual fee it actually used to Be 95 but it went up recently and also Until recently the card offered 10 free Priority pass Lounge visits per year now This will end on February 1st 2024 Unless you signed up for the card and Enrolled in priority pass more recently From February 1st 2023 to now you can Still phone up and get a priority pass

Card with the 10 free passes which will Be valid until October 31st 2024 so if You just got the card or you get it like Next week you can enroll in priority Pass over the phone all the way up until January 31st and have the benefit until October 31st 2024 uh but then it will be Gone completely and it's a shame since This card used to be good for people who Traveled maybe once a year and found the 10 passes could cover their needs at a Much lower annual fee than other cards Then we have the Hilton Honors Aspire Card now this is a high tier travel card With now a $550 annual fee and this card Was also revamped recently with a load Of new benefits but one thing that was Cut was the unlimited priority pass Membership that the card previously Provided this card has the exact same Conditions for any ending priority pass As the surpass if you enrolled before February 1st 2023 it ends on January 31st 2024 if you enrolled on February 1st 2023 or later you can keep it until October 31st 2024 and January 31st 2024 Is the last date that you can enroll That was complex now I'm guessing they Made this change because this may have Been a little used benefit on the card Since most people who had this card Probably already had another high level Credit card that could get them into Lounges anyway and if you want to cut

Costs you'll cut based on the least used Benefits to avoid angering customers and Lead to them canceling the card the card Is still a pretty good card and they Still have their Flagship benefit of Hilton Honor's Diamond status that Hasn't gone away another card that lost Lounge access this year is the Delta Sky Miles Platinum from American Express and The business version of that card you Used to be able to buy day passes for Delta Sky clubs if you had this card but As of January 1st 2024 that is no longer The case all right let's now go into Cards that do have lounge access Although some of these may have changed Since our last video here are some Mid-tier cards that give limited lounge Access either in the form of a credit or A certain number of Visits the AMX green card so the American Express green card is amx's Mid-tier travel card it has a $150 Annual fee and offers a few benefits Including a $189 clear credit and a $100 Lounge buddy credit Lounge buddy is a Website owned by AMX where you can Browse and book airport lounges or at Least the lounges that allow you to buy Day passes $100 will get you between two And three Lounge visits so this is a Great card if you want a mid-tier travel Credit card for other reasons like Earning points on travel Etc but don't

See yourself going to lounges all that Often the reality though is that there May not be a lounge that sells day Passes available at whatever airport You're flying out of anyway so it's a Nice perk when available but it's not Guaranteed and guys if you have MX cards You will find the sponsor of today's Video max rewards especially useful Because it has a function that Automatically activates all your MX Offers for you so that you never miss a Deal now Max rewards is a great way to Keep track of data on all your credit Cards from different banks not just American Express but whatever Bank you Have you can keep data all in one place The free version of the app gives you Transactions balances points and rewards Balances All in One dashboard and it has Useful things like welcome bonus Spending trackers but if you get Max Rewards gold that's the pro version then You get the function where Max rewards Will activate all of your AMX offers for You so that you never miss a deal and You may even use an AMX offer without Realizing it save some money or get some Extra points that's happened to me Several times when you activate all of Your offers new offers will appear in Your account that you never knew existed And Max rewards will activate them too Guys you can get a free month of Max

Rewards gold with my link down below or You can just download the app and check Out the free features all right let's Move on to our next one the unfcu elite Credit card this card has a $50 annual Fee and is for people who work either For the United Nations or are affiliated With the UN in some way if you're not Then just go and join the United Nations Association of the USA membership is $50 And open to any US citizen or resident And there are discounts available it's Free of your under 26 for example and Just $25 if you qualify as a young Professional so once you're a member of That organization you can then join the Unfcu and apply for the card it gives The primary card holder five priority Pass Lounge visits every 12 months I Would say it's a better deal than the AMX green if lounge access is what You're after but if if you want an all Round travel credit card the MX green is Better then we have the Capital One Venture now don't confuse this with the Massively popular Capital 1 Venture X This is the mid-tier travel card with a $95 annual fee but it does give you two Visits per year to the capital 1 Lounge Of which there are currently three open So if you live in any of those cities That we just put on screen and are an Occasional traveler it's a pretty good Deal you can also buy day passes at the

Discounted rate of $5 if you want to Bring a guest or if you've used up all Your passes the regular day pass rate is $65 the card also gives you a Global Entry Credit for $100 it earns 2 miles Per dollar on everything and has a 75,000 Point welcome bonus but I think My winner for our mid-tier card with Lounge access is going to be the next One the US Bank altitude Reserve now this card is debatable as to Whether it is mid-tier or not since it Does have a 400 $100 annual fee but that Is offset by a $325 credit for travel and dining so if You eat out ever including at fast food Restaurants you will get refunded for Your purchases that were purchases You're going to make anyway up to $325 effectively reducing the annual fee To 75 the card gives you eight priority Pass airport lounge visits per year this Card used to give four visits per year And then four guest passes and they'd Have to be used in combination with one Of your four visits but this year I Think it was back in early September if I remember correctly they changed it to Eight total passes that could be used in Any combination so either eight visits For yourself or four times with you and A guest or whatever this change makes it Pretty similar to what the Hilton honor Surpass card used to provide 10 passes

So it's just too less so I would say That this card is now the best value in Terms of providing a limited number of Lounge access passes for a low annual Fee effect effectively of just $75 let's Now move on to some higher tier cards Giving full unlimited access to airport Lounges so for access to the lounge Networks of the three Us Legacy Airlines There's a card for Each the United Club infinite Card this is United's top tier card with A $525 annual fee it has a load of Benefits that make that annual fee worth It one of which is unlimited United Club Membership this would cost $650 if you Were to buy an annual membership and it Gives you access to 45 locations Worldwide I personally have visited the Location at London Heathrow which I Found to be a good quality lounge with Good food offerings you can bring up to Two guests or one guest and any number Of children so if it was a family your Spouse and any number of kids but in Reality this will only be a good card if You are are a regular United flyer and Regularly travel through airports that Actually have United Club locations if You're more of an occasional United Flyer you could go with the $95 Pere United explorer card which gives you two United Club passes per year these two Cards currently have pretty enticing

Welcome bonuses I'll put the links to Both of those below if you would like to Learn more about them then for American Airlines you have the advantage Executive World Elite MasterCard This one is the high tier card for American Airlines it costs $595 per year but does have a welcome Bonus of 70,000 American Airlines miles And gives you a load of other benefits Including full Admirals Club access Which according to American is a total Value of $850 it also includes partner lounges For the primary card holder I.E other Airlines lounges that American has a Partnership with now this card used to Be an amazing deal because authorized User cards were free and they would get Admiral's Club access to but then City Who issued the card added a $175 annual fee for up to three Authorized user cards and then $175 for Every authorized user card after that But you know it's still not a bad deal As this card lets you bring in immediate Family members or up to two guests for Free if they're non-relatives and then You do also still get Admiral's Club Access for your authorized users to use Dependently even though you have to pay $175 for up to three cards Admiral's Clubs in my opinion vary in quality I Was quite disappointed with the one at

JFK but I found the one at LAX to be a Bit better although there wasn't as much Food as other lounges I've been to it Was hard to get a full meal there then As to whether this card is a good deal For you or not it's really whether you Fly American a lot and frequent airports With Admirals clubs and partner lounges If that's you then this could be a great Card let's move on to our final Airline Co-branded Card the Delta Reserve so the Delta Reserve is the one That has just brought in an unpopular Change this card used to provide Unlimited Delta Sky Club access when Flying Delta but due to recent changes That was reduced to 10 one-time passes Per year starting in February 2025 but Then Delta had a change of heart and Walked it back to 15 onetime passes per Year although it actually still say 10 Passes on their website so in theory It's changing to 15 maybe they just Haven't updated it yet now these visits Can't be used for guests so you'll be Paying a $50 per person fee for up to Two guests if you do want unlimited Access in 2025 you'll have to spend $75,000 on the card in 2024 so yeah Since this doesn't start until 2025 you Have a year still of unlimited access if You get the card now the only thing that Does change is that as of January 1st

2024 you'll no longer be able to access The Sky Club if you're flying basic Economy in addition to Delta Sky clubs Since this is an AMX card you do Actually get AMX Centurion lounge access When flying Delta and that is unlimited Although if you want to bring guests in With you you'll have to pay a $50 fee Unless you spend $75,000 on your card Per year so maybe the Centurion thing is A Saving Grace for this card but Remember whether it's the Delta Sky Club Or the Centurion Lounge you have to be Flying Delta so this and the other Airline cards they're really just for Airline Loyalists and just a few more Things this card has a $550 annual fee Its only bonus category is Delta where It earns three points per dollar but it Does have some other benefits that could Be lucrative like an annual companion Certificate an upgrade priority all Right let's now move on to three cards That don't require loyalty to any Airline the Capital One Venture X now this card is my recommended card For the best value for money on lounge Access it has an annual fee of $395 but It also has a $300 travel credit for Capital 1 Travel and it gives you a $100 Global Entry Credit every 4 years and it Also gives you 10,000 Capital 1 miles Every year after you renew so not your First year but every year after that so

If you add all of that up effectively it Reduces the annual fee to positive $5 I.E Capital One is giving you $5 for Holding this card for lounge access the Venture X gives you three options Plaza Premium lounges priority pass lounges And capital one's own lounges of which There are now three in Dallas Denver and Washington and the third of those Lounges just opened last week Capital One lounges have been pretty impressive And certainly rival MX Centurion lounges Now the Venture X used to also give Access to Virgin clubhouses in the USA Which was part of the plaza premium Benefit but Plaza premium group got Replaced by another company to staff the Virgin clubhouses in the US and this led To many Venture X card holders getting Turned away so that isn't a benefit Anymore although you can still get Access to the clubhouses at SFO JFK and IAD through priority pass anyway despite That one negative the capital 1 Venture X and the business version of the card Give in my opinion the best value for Money for lounge access on any Us credit Card let's now move On The Chase Sapphire Reserve now this card is an old favorite I got it back in 2016 with 100,000 Points welcome bonus and I kept it for About 5 years although I don't have it Anymore I still have a soft spot for

This card and it offers some great value Thanks to the $300 travel credit which Effectively reduces the $550 annual fee Down to $250 then there's the lounge Access that we'll talk about in a minute And also the fact that the points are Worth 1.5 cents per Point through the Travel portal it's great for getting Good value on economy bookings and Hotels now the sapphire Reserve gives You access to Two Lounge networks so you Have priority pass which like we've said Gives you over 1,400 lounges that's Pretty standard on most high level Credit cards and then you have the Sapphire Lounge Network which well isn't Really a network yet since they only Have two one's in Boston one's in Hong Kong but they have Las Vegas New York Why LaGuardia why not JFK or New York Philadelphia Phoenix and San Diego Coming soon although the funny thing is The lounge is in priority pass anyway And Sapphire Reserve members even need Their priority pass card to get access To it so it's a bit of a joke from that Point of view um but I'm guessing maybe When they get more lounges in the Network they'll probably remove it from P pass and you'll just have to show the Car to get in anyway the one Us location That is open Boston does look very Classy there's a picture of it behind me Too now just note as well if you are a

Member of JP Morgan private bank which Is is sort of a step up from Chase part Of the same company but for high net Worth individuals you can get the JP Morgan Reserve card which has almost the Same annual fee as the sapphire Reserve It's just a $45 more um and it has the Exact same benefits with one additional Benefit which is United Club access so If you have the money to be invited to JP Morgan Private Bank the JP Morgan Reserve is definitely a better card to Get than the sapphire Reserve all right Let's now move on to the Big Daddy the Card that gives you the most complete Airport lounge access of any card out There the AMX Platinum now the AMX Platinum is the Original card with Benefits I.E people Get the card not really to spend money On it and earn points but for the Benefits that it offers in recent years This card has become a coupon book of Credits for various things that you have To use to offset the massive $ 695 Annual fee but to be honest I do manage To do that I do manage to use all you Know enough credit to offset the annual Fee and it does give the most complete Lounge access of any Us credit card you Get priority pass Plaza premium Centurion lounges Escape lounges Aspire Lounges which are great airspace lounges Which uh I don't know why it says that

They all closed now one of them even Became an Aspire Lounge you also get Access to leanza lounges when flying on A Lanza group Airline which includes Swiss and a few others I checked out This Lounge 5 years ago in Lon and it Was pretty good you also get access to The clubm VIP lounge at Quebec City International Airport and of course you Get Delta Sky clubs when flying Delta And this is currently unlimited but it Will change to 10 passes per year in 2025 it was going to be six passes per Year but Delta seems to be walking that Back if you want unlimited access you Need to spend $75,000 on the card in 20124 and unlimited will be unlocked for 2025 also with the MX Platinum there is A $200 Airline Credit per year you can Choose for example American Airlines Which means you can use that credit to Buy Admiral's Club day passes you can Also choose Delta in which case if you Use your 10 Delta visits or currently Unlimited but in the future 10 Delta Visits and you have guests with you you Can pay the $50 guest fee and that will Then get refunded as part of your $200 Airline Credit so guys that is the full Rundown there may be a few more cars That give some kind of lounge access but I feel we've covered the the most Beneficial ones if you're looking for Extensive lounge access at an affordable

Price my recommendation is the capital 1 Venture X if you're looking for the most Extensive lounge access possible then The AMX Platinum is for you although it Does have a higher annual fee if you're Looking for a few Lounge passes per year For someone who is an occasional Traveler and not loyal to any Airline The US Bank altitude Reserve may be a Good card to consider and it's got a Very affordable annual fee once you Deduct the travel SL dining credit and If you're an airline loyalist then the Airline cards we talked about could be For you just remember to look at the Other benefits of any card to make sure It's genuinely useful to you there's More to each credit card than just the Lounge access policies I'll put my Credit card guide down below where you Can learn more about many of the cards That we mention in this video and Frequently talk about on our show and Don't forget to get a free month of Max Rewards gold the sponsor of today's Video also in the top link below thanks For watching guys please subscribe if be New and we'll see you next time bye-bye