Link: Apply now for the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (Rates & Fees) or Capital One Venture X Business (Rates & Fees)
Airport lounge access is one of the most popular perks of premium credit cards. That’s an area where both the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review) and Capital One Venture X Business (review) shine. These are the premium credit that offer among the most lucrative paths to a Priority Pass membership, in my opinion.
Both the personal and business version of the card have a $395 annual fee, and are easy to justify, thanks to the $300 annual Capital One Travel credit plus the 10,000 anniversary bonus miles. To me, those two benefits alone more than justify the annual fee. Then the icing on the cake is the Capital One Lounge access, plus the Priority Pass membership. There are several other great perks to both the personal card and business card.
Anyway, in this post I wanted to focus specifically on how the Priority Pass membership on the Capital One Venture X and Capital One Venture X Business works, for anyone who may have questions.
In this post:
How the Capital One Venture X Priority Pass perk works
The Capital One Venture X and Capital One Venture X Business each offer a Priority Pass membership for the primary cardmember, and the personal version of the card even offers a Priority Pass membership for authorized users. With this, cardmembers can access airport lounges around the world an unlimited number of times, and can bring up to two guests with them with each visit.
Let’s go over the details of the Priority Pass membership in a bit more detail…
What is Priority Pass?
Priority Pass is the world’s largest network of independent airport lounges, with 1,300+ lounges around the world. Priority Pass as such doesn’t operate lounges, but rather it’s a program that pays third party lounges to admit its members. While you can buy a Priority Pass membership directly, this is also offered as a perk on many premium cards.
How do you sign-up for your Priority Pass membership?
Capital One states that you’ll be eligible to enroll in Priority Pass about one week after you’re approved for the Capital One Venture X or Capital One Venture X Business. However, based on my experience, it’s faster than that — I received my card in the mail two days after being approved, and was immediately able to register for my Priority Pass membership.
Cardmembers can enroll at prioritypass.com/capitalone. At the link you’ll have to enter your 16-digit Capital One Venture X card number.
You’ll then have to go through the enrollment process, which starts by selecting your country of residence.
The next page will confirm that the Priority Pass membership won’t cost you anything.
You’ll then have to go through the process of registering your account, which includes five different pages. You’ll have to share some personal details, including your billing and mailing address, and your card number (the card won’t be charged, but rather this is just to verify that you’re supposed to get a complimentary membership).
After enrollment, cardholders get instant access to their digital Priority Pass card, and will then be mailed a physical card.
In my case (applying for the personal card), it took about two weeks for my physical card to arrive in the mail. For what it’s worth, my Priority Pass card number has 11 digits, and at least my card number starts with “104.”
I mention this because people with multiple Priority Pass cards can often get confused about which card was issued with which credit card, so this can be worth knowing in terms of guesting privileges, accessing Priority Pass restaurants, etc.
What’s fantastic is that you can even use your Capital One Venture X directly to access Priority Pass locations — it’s my understanding that this is the only card that offers this perk, as an alternative to a physical Priority Pass card or digital membership.
Do authorized users get a Priority Pass membership?
You can add up to four authorized users to the Capital One Venture X at no extra cost (Rates & Fees), and they each receive a Priority Pass membership as well. That’s a phenomenal feature, since there aren’t many cards that offer Priority Pass memberships for authorized users at no cost. However, note that for the Capital One Venture X Business, authorized users don’t receive a Priority Pass membership.
Which lounges can you visit with Priority Pass?
You can check Priority Pass’ website or mobile app to see which lounges you can access. It’s usually easiest to search by airport. When you check out the page for a particular lounge, make sure you review the entry restrictions. For example, some lounges only admit Priority Pass members certain times of the day, some have limits on how long you can stay in the lounge, etc.
How often can you access lounges?
The Priority Pass membership offered through the Capital One Venture X and Capital One Venture X Business offer unlimited lounge visits. Not only can you visit multiple lounges at a particular airport, but can you visit lounges as many days as you’d like. As long as you’re traveling the same day, there are no limits on how often you can access airport lounges.
How many guests can you bring into lounges?
The Priority Pass membership issued with the Capital One Venture X and Capital One Venture X Business allow you to take up to two guests with you into lounges on a complimentary basis. The guests must be accompanying you, so they may have to present their same day boarding pass. But yes, you can take two guests with you (for a total of three people) into Priority Pass lounges an unlimited number of times.
In some cases lounges may have capacity limits and might not allow two guests, so you’ll want to consult Priority Pass’ website for all the details.
Can you access Capital One Lounges with Priority Pass?
There are Capital One Lounges at both Dallas-Fort Worth Airport (DFW) and Washington Dulles Airport (IAD), with more lounge locations expected to open soon. These can be accessed by those with the Capital One Venture X and Capital One Venture X Business, though you’d access them directly with your card, rather than with your Priority Pass membership.
The Priority Pass membership as such doesn’t get you access to Capital One Lounges (after all, others get a Priority Pass membership through something other than a Capital One card).
So you don’t have to pay to visit Priority Pass lounges?!
I’ve had a couple of people point out that Priority Pass’ website lists membership costs that range from $99 to $469 annually. Indeed, that’s the cost of a membership if you bought it directly from Priority Pass, but you’re getting that membership included with your credit card.
Priority Pass has two revenue streams — it sells memberships directly to consumers, and sells memberships to credit card companies, which offer them as perks to cardmembers. The Priority Pass membership you get through your Capital One Venture X and Capital One Venture X Business won’t cost you anything extra. It won’t cost you extra to get the membership, and it won’t cost you extra to actually visit lounges.
For what it’s worth, the membership you’re getting with the Capital One Venture X is closest to the $469 “Prestige” membership, in terms of the perks being offered. Yep, that’s pretty incredible, because that’s higher than the annual fee on the Venture X.
Why the Capital One Venture X is the best card for Priority Pass
There are several premium credit cards that offer Priority Pass memberships, but I’d argue that no card is more rewarding in that way than the Capital One Venture X:
- The Venture X has among the lowest annual fees ($395) (Rates & Fees) of any card offering a Priority Pass membership
- Not only that, but a vast majority of cardmembers should be able to recoup most or all of the annual fee from the $300 annual travel credit and 10,000 anniversary bonus miles every year (personally I think those two perks alone are worth more than the annual fee)
- On top of that, you can add up to four authorized users to the Venture X, and they each get a Priority Pass membership at no additional cost, with identical privileges
There’s not another credit card that’s this lucrative that offers a Priority Pass membership, including for authorized users. This card is in a league of its own for people looking for Priority Pass memberships not only for themselves, but also for friends and family.
Bottom line
The Capital One Venture X and Capital One Venture X Business offer lots of awesome perks. Many people will appreciate the Priority Pass membership issued with these offers, offering access to 1,300+ lounges around the world, with unlimited visits, and the ability to take two guests with you.
I’d argue that these are the all around most lucrative cards out there for getting a Priority Pass membership, in terms of the card’s annual fee, and how much of that you an recoup with ongoing perks. The personal version of the card also has the special advantage of offering a Priority Pass membership for up to four (free) authorized users (Rates & Fees).
What do you make of the Capital One Venture X’s Priority Pass perk?
I received my Venture X card about 4 weeks ago. I’m still unable to activate 2 of my 3 authorizes users for Priority Pass. Error message says unable to locate these 2 card numbers. Called Customer Service numerous times to no avail. Getting very frustrated! Can anyone help?
Same here. Card approved 3/2, received 3/6 received email from C1 with the subject “enroll in your Priority Pass membership today” on 3/9. As of today (3/11) still can’t get it to work. C1 customer support basically said not to call them until a month after receiving my card. I said I’m not happy about paying $400 for a product and not having all the features for potentially a month. Are they still sending data over to priority pass using tape?
Ben mentions that Capital One Venture X card holders can bring 2 guests into Capital One lounges and Priority Pass lounges. But many of us have a family of 4 (2 adults + 2 kids), so this won't help for family travel. If I add my spouse as an authorized user on my Venture X card, would she then be able to get into Capital One and PP lounges by herself as an authorized user and then I can use my 2 guest privileges on my 2 kids?
Lucky, I really don't know how you can promote Capital One products when they purposefully deny cards to many of the points and miles community that happened to have multiple cards. I understand you run a business, but apparently Capital One doesn't want people with good credit scores who pay their balances in full.
Hey @Ben, just wanted to point out that Capital One does not cap how many guests can be brought into a lounge using Priority Pass. This is different than AMEX and Chase that have a cap of 2 guests with PP.
https://capitalonetravel.com/lounges/partner-lounge-network/#
@Ben, I find it curious that you didn't bother to mention the PP restrictions with the Venture X, namely not being able to access non-lounge experiences (e.g.: restaurants).
Also, one helpful tip if you have multiple PP cards - when creating a username, make sure it's unique to each card type. For example, your Venture X could be "username-venturex" while others could be "username-sapphirereserve," "username-amexplat," "username-bonvoybrilliant," etc. On the physical card, you can write down...
@Ben, I find it curious that you didn't bother to mention the PP restrictions with the Venture X, namely not being able to access non-lounge experiences (e.g.: restaurants).
Also, one helpful tip if you have multiple PP cards - when creating a username, make sure it's unique to each card type. For example, your Venture X could be "username-venturex" while others could be "username-sapphirereserve," "username-amexplat," "username-bonvoybrilliant," etc. On the physical card, you can write down which cc it came from.
It’s not curious, Cap1 paid him off to overlook key items like this. His opinions are his own of course and not swayed in any way :)
Why is it that whenever Ben leaves out some minor detail, someone jumps onto the "XXX paid him to overlook that item" bandwagon? Over the years, Ben has proved himself to be an honest, straightforward, and reliable source of travel information. I wish every travel website could be so transparent as One Mile At A Time.
imho
@walester, it's not a minor detail or transparent when 1) it's a post about the card's PP benefits and 2) he literally has a section called "Which lounges can you visit with Priority Pass?" From a quick search, there are 16 Be Relax Spas, 13 Minute Suites, 6 Gameways, and 80 restaurants. That's around 8% of all PP locations that Venture X (and Amex) users can't access.
Now, I won't say that Ben's paid...
@walester, it's not a minor detail or transparent when 1) it's a post about the card's PP benefits and 2) he literally has a section called "Which lounges can you visit with Priority Pass?" From a quick search, there are 16 Be Relax Spas, 13 Minute Suites, 6 Gameways, and 80 restaurants. That's around 8% of all PP locations that Venture X (and Amex) users can't access.
Now, I won't say that Ben's paid off, but in this particular instance, it's a pretty big omission, whether deliberate or unintentional. One added sentence about the restriction would've been sufficient.
I doubt that Ben is being payed by Capital One to “overlook details.” In fact if you see my comment above, Ben forgot to mention a huge positive of Venture X PP; it allows unlimited guests to access the lounge, not just 2 like with AMEX and Chase.
I use the same system for all my Priority Pass logins!
Did notice in IAH recently that PP users through C1 and AMEX were not being allowed access. Not sure if that's the case at other airports too.
If I add an authorized user, can that authorized user later sign up for the Venture X and get the SUB?
IIRC the business card also gets you access to Priority Pass restaurants.
The Venture X card is one of the best cards available today in terms of value and perks (for me, at least), even without access to PP restaurants.
As a data point, my Venture X PP card starts with 105, which is how I can tell it's a Venture X PP (vs. Amex., etc.).
Ritz is still the best PP card that offer not only free AU PP but also restaurant access, which Venture x is missing but still great!
Does the business version have access to restaurants?
They do but their additional employee cards (similar to authorized user for personal card) do NOT get their own priority pass.
Where can we confirm restaurant access on the business card? I saw Frequent Miler say that too but I can't find it in writing anywhere. Has someone tried it?