tom911

No doubt they (we) are a factor. Wait until the fall when the credit card churners bail out on this card when the $450 renewal fee comes along while they were able to get $600 in travel benefits in the first 12 months. I'm guessing that a significant number of Priority Pass users will evaporate and move onto the next stellar offer.

I'm keeping the card as the benefits are working very well. I've made at least six lounge visits since January 1, including one at JFK in the Virgin America terminal yesterday. Also booked a three night hotel stay in Melbourne, AU, today, for a stay in May, using Chase points at a hotel that I don't have elite status with. It's replaced my Hyatt and UA cards as I can move points over to those if I need to.

mia

Do you mean restricting the access hours for Priority Pass, or turning away Priority Pass during the published hours?

Priority Pass exists to allow lounges to monetize excess capacity. Priority Pass represents extra income for lounges operated by international airlines (at airports where they operate only a few flights per day), and for contract lounges that provide service for airlines which do not operate their own lounges. With the exception of the handful of lounges operated directly by Collinson, none of these rely on Priority Pass as their primary profit center.

It's certainly worth telling Chase that Priority Pass isn't as useful as you expected, -and- mentioning that for $450 the card should include access to UA lounges when flying UA, BA lounges when flying BA, etc, but Chase cannot change Priority Pass' policies which are built into their business model.

StartinSanDiego

I think it's reasonable to expect access to a lounge when one of the primary features of these high-fee cards/PP membership is lounge access. When I book a flight or have a connection, and want to visit a lounge, I think it's reasonable to expect that one of my high fee cards will grant me access therein, when I'm standing at the entrance. This is one of the reasons I choose a high fee card, or, in my case, multiple high fee cards.

The reality has been very disappointing. I've been in several situations now where the hours of my visit were not included in my PP access. Since I don't choose my flights based on whether or not I'll have lounge access in my connecting airport, I'd only give this feature a 2 star rating. It's great when you're inside, but not fun to be denied entry and have the proverbial "nose pressed against the glass" experience.

swag

I've been using a Priority Pass from my Citi Prestige card. I am now the proud new owner of a Chase Sapphire Reserve card as well. Is there any reason to get a second Priority Pass card from them? Does Chase offer anything with their PP that Citi doesn't?

mia

Chase will allow you to bring as many guests as the lounge will admit, without any fees. Citi allows you to bring your immediate family or two guests without any fees. Have you ever been billed for exceeding that limit?

Citi's Priority Pass can be used with the Priority Pass app's virtual card feature. Chase's membership cannot.

Happy

I read about "turning away". We know there are time of the day both lounges are only for airlines passengers not pass holders but the denial access was reported happened within the operating hours shown on PP website. I also read about how crowded the lounges were. I was quite surprised as a couple years ago we used the lounge a couple years ago with the PP from Plat, the KLM lounge was VERY empty in the late evening hours.

The lounge benefit is a big part of the $450 fee which essentially to me is a $250 fee - $300 offset by travel credit but to breakeven with the $150 bal you would need to spend $5K in bonus categories - that if you spend the same amount on a 2% no AF card, you get back $100 cold hard cash - so essentially it is $250 Net cost to hold this card - one has to decide if all the bells and whistles worth the $250. Since cheaper fee cards also provide the primary rental coverage, trip interruption coverage, etc - the remaining standout benefit would be the PP membership. If the PP membership is a good in theory only benefit, then the $250 Net AF is too high in my book.

We have 6 more months to see the first wave of attrition from this card.

Would be interesting time.

swag

I've actually never brought any guest into the lounge. It's hard to think when I would have more that 2 with me, but I guess I should get the Chase PP just in case.

Thanks.

mia

I didn't bother. We have no reports of Citi collecting the fee from anyone. This doesn't mean it cannot happen, but it seems to be rare.

coolbeans202

Hi All, I have what is probably a stupid question...but how do I go about getting the Priority Pass Select membership card for the authorized user? I didn't see an option under the benefits page where I requested my own, so I figured they would just send both. I received mine, but only mine (today).

Thanks in advance for any help!

747FC

Call in and request it. And, when it doesn't come in a month, call in once again.

KRSW

This was my understanding of Priority Pass when I first was looking at the Amex Plat back in the day. I was under no grand illusion that an airline would put my 3rd-party membership over theirs or their F/J customers.

Now, if this was a paid DL SkyClub or AA Admirals Club membership and I was getting denied entry, I'd be pissed. BUT for a card perk, not bad.

Keep in mind, the CSR is only $55 more per year than the CSP. ($450/year-300 credit=$150/year for the CSR, CSP is $95/year) I've easily gotten more than $55 in value from the extras the CSR offers over the CSP. Domestic US lounges are generally poor offerings compared to the international ones, but I greatly appreciate them.

I was heading through ATL back in October with Ms. KRSW. She wasn't feeling particularly well, fighting a migraine on top of it, and we had a couple of hours between flights, so we headed over to The Club at ATL. The lounge facility itself is just alright, minus the bathrooms which are quite nice. The service, however, was fantastic. Very lovely staff who were personable and prompt, even offering to bring over food and drinks from the buffet. And this was during the afternoon push with the place quite full of international F/J pax. It was a great experience compared to the crowded, noisy, and smelly (grease from the fast food restaurants was thick that day) A/B terminals at ATL!

coolbeans202

To answer my own question in case anybody else is wondering, the authorized user card came in the mail yesterday (a few days later) on its own.

hman414

Recently got my Priority Pass card "Compliments of your Chase Sapphire Reserve card".

I flew out of O'Hare the other day and wanted to try the Pass. Looked up where the Pass lounges are at O'Hare, turns out they are all in Terminal 5. Terminal 5 is the International terminal. Many international flights at O'Hare actually depart from domestic terminals 1, 2, or 3.

The only international flights that depart out of Terminal 5 are the more obscure airlines like Royal Jordanian. Airlines like ANA, Lufthansa, etc. depart from Terminal 1, just like United.

So needless to say, unless you have a Terminal 5 boarding pass, you are not getting through Terminal 5 security to be able to visit the Pass lounges at O'Hare.

Same thing happened at PHX, I was flying out of Terminal 2 and the lounge was in Terminal 4.

Also the Pass lounges generally have limited hours, they are not open ~16 hours a day, like domestic airline clubs.

I did get to try out the Turkish Airlines lounge when I was at Dulles last week, and it was great! I even brought 3 guests in with me I met on "moon patrol" people mover.

So if you are paying $450/year for a Reserve card ($150 after travel credits) mainly for the Pass benefit, in my opinion it is not worth it due to limited Pass options at most airports (in the USA especially).

Happy

That is why AMEX has started limited guest numbers, and all AS lounges thru out the country now has exercised their rights to DENY PP holder entry citing "capacity control".

May be Chase would follow AMEX lead to limit guest numbers - that would be bad for those who actually have the need, instead of just "showing off".

hman414

Whatever...

I'm not impressed with PP or C SR or Amex Plat. If it wasn't for the 100,000 bonus points my wife and I each got ($2,000.00 in my families bank account) I would have never even considered signing up.

You will not have to worry about me using any PP clubs after next year because I will not be renewing our C SR's...