Capital One Venture X Priority Pass Membership: How It Works

Link: Apply now for the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card or Capital One Venture X Business

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, as they 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 recoup the annual fee. Then the icing on the cake is the access to Capital One Lounges and Capital One Landings, 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.

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, etc.

What’s fantastic is that you can even use your Capital One Venture X directly to access Priority Pass locations — this is one of the only cards 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, 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, 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 Dallas-Fort Worth Airport (DFW), Denver Airport (DEN), 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.

Can you access Chase Sapphire Lounges with Priority Pass?

Capital One isn’t the only credit card issuer to have an airport lounge network, as there are also Amex Centurion Lounges and Chase Sapphire Lounges. What’s interesting is that Chase Sapphire Lounges can be accessed with Priority Pass, but there’s a quirk to that.

If you have your Priority Pass membership through the Capital One Venture X or Capital One Venture X Business, then you can access a single Chase Sapphire Lounge in the United States once per calendar year, without complimentary guests. The Chase Sapphire Lounge Hong Kong (HKG) can be accessed an unlimited number of times with all Priority Pass memberships.

Only Priority Pass memberships issued through Chase cards, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review), allow unlimited Chase Sapphire Lounge access within the United States, and even with guesting privileges.

Do you receive credits at Priority Pass restaurants?

Priority Pass has a network of airport restaurants, where cardmembers can receive credits for dining in lieu of lounge access. Note that Priority Pass memberships issued through most credit cards, including those issued through both the Capital One Venture X and Capital One Venture X Business, don’t qualify for credits at these restaurants.

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) 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 cards, 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.