Best Credit Card that includes a Priority Pass?
 

I have a 2 free visit Priority Pass due to a credit card affiliation...

Any good deals which include Prestige or a better offer...

This is the type of question which cries out for searching before asking because there are so many possibilities that we really need to know what you have already looked at, and what criteria you would use to evaluate the offers. The question is also fatigued because it has been discussed so often. I doubt there is anything new to say.

Priority Pass is a standard feature of Mastercard World Elite cards, excluding cards tied to an airline program.

The best value is probably the card discussed in this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...meriprise.html

The card that I use is the Merrill Lynch Amex Accolades card. If you have $200K in assets with BofA or Merrill, then you get a free Priority Pass Prestige Membership.

Merill Lynch Accolades Card
 

I was doing research for my family on good Credit Cards without annual fees. Since I have been a part of Flyertalk for months and since my parents have been part of Bank of America since the 70s I thought I would do some research to see if we can get a better credit card where bot my Father and I can be separate Primary Card Holders.

I saw a thread in 2008 about Airline Lounge Access and Priority Pass. I remembered reading an article about PP about 10 years before since I had always wanted to enter a lounge but I was under 18 and it would not work. So I spent about 2 hours researching the Prestige Membership and other credit cards.

The credit cards that I saw charged a heavy annual fee and many only included a basic membership to PriorityPass and then the other visits would be $27+ Guest at $27. This was starting to get expensive.

So I Googled "Annual Fee Waived+Priority Pass Credit Card" and came up with the Bank of America Accolades Amex(Now Meryill Lynch Amex Accolades) and I checked it out. Since we are part of Wealth Management I told my Father to look at the offer he said that since BOFA waives the $299 annual fee+$299 Priority Pass Prestige Fee it was worth it.

I said to my Father that I would be the first to sign up and see what happens. It all went smoothly so my Father signed up and we got our card in the mail within 10 days. I went online to get Priority Pass for both of us and got the card in the mail within 2 weeks.

I first tried my PP card at SFO Continental Lounge and it was pure luxury before a flight to Hawaii, I even used the lounge just to visit SFO and I was not traveling. No problem since it was outside security.

All I can say its a Godsend . If another family member wants to use the lounge they only pay $27 which is less expensive than getting the cheaper membership where you pay the annual fee and $27 for you and $27 for the guest.

The next thing you may want to consider is keep your current credit card with no annual fee and just pay $299 a year for Priority Pass ii is less expensive than American Airlines and with many lounges you get complimentary alcohol whereas AA charges for other small things plus on PP you can get access to independent lounges like the Dan Lounge at TLV(was so good) and Club DFW which is another cool lounge with showers.

Good luck and I hope you found my info helpful

The problem with Priority Pass is poor domestic USA coverage after losing their systemwide relationship with Delta. While it is accepted at many UA and CO clubs I expect this will change after the merger as the combined airline eliminates surplus capacity. This leaves Priority Pass primarily with independent lounges which are variable quality and are often outside security. While this worked well in your instance I think most travellers prefer to clear security before entering a lounge because it's more relaxing to know exactly how long it will take to walk to the departure gate.

An unpublished benefit of the accolades card is that it is accepted in the CLT US Airways clubs - one of the few US Airways clubs that does not take PP.

can you get this card in the uk?

I doubt if this specific card is offered in the UK, but if it is available the issuer would probably MBNA, which is owned by Bank of America. Merrill Lynch is also owned by Bank of America.

http://www.mbna.co.uk/

Switched to AmeriPrise Card
 

The Merill Lynch Amex Card is terrible as they waned to charge us $300 dollars as we were not part of their Wealth Management Program. AmeriPrise is a better deal as for $150 the primary and secondary card holder gets PriorityPass Prestige . I did the math and if we were to join under the basic program it would be $99 each and then $27 per visit.

For the highest level it would be $300 per person. The other benefit is if one spends $15,000 a year or is part of the AmeriPrise Circle the fee is waived. This is better than Bank of Americas regulations saying you need at least $500,000 in investments. The worst that can happen is you pay $150 a year which is a small price to pay.

In addition you can use Virtuoso which is a great Concierge Program.

In June you mentioned that BoA/Merrill Lynch had waived the annual fee. Since we are part of Wealth Management I told my Father to look at the offer he said that since BOFA waives the $299 annual fee+$299 Priority Pass Prestige Fee it was worth it. Did they change the requirements for a waiver?

To my knowledge Virtuoso is a travel agency which anyone can use, although there may be some incremental benefits for Mastercard World Elite cardholders. I didn't realize they also operated a concierge service. What have you asked them to do?

They changed the waiver
 

Bank of America/Merill changed the waiver for the waiving of the annual fee . So I found a better solution.

Hello,

Hopefully I put this forem in the right place. I had a question of which airline credit card is best to gain access to lounges. I currently fly out of southern california (LAX mainly but whenever I can avoid it I do) to New York, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. Only fly about 1-2 international and maybe 2 domestic flights a year. Mainly looking into lounge access for the international flights.
I only fly enough to get 35000-45000 miles a year so it is hard for me to earn a high enough status to gain it that way.
In addition I have flown on
AA
Delta
Continental
United
LH

Which means I have miles in all three different alliance programs and am not too particular about a particular one yet (though I researching it). I originally was going to apply to continental credit card and get two free passes a year but got scared off by the merger with united.

What are your opinions on gaining lounge access.
(I also know there is priority pass but do not think it is right for me unless it is cheap through credit card)

In addition, if there is a particular milege program that can get me into a lounge (like Koren Air seems to be decent although no mile bonus for statue) I would be interested in knowing that as well.

Welcome to Flyertalk.

I suggest you begin by reading this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...rity-pass.html

...and then review these two:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...meriprise.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...amex-plat.html

IMO, if you're only flying 3-4 times a year, and really only want it for the once or twice you go international, you might want to just consider a day pass.

Thanks guys but after researching some more I think Asiana Airlines might me the best for me. I have two years to earn 40,000 miles and get access to all star alliance lounges. Then have status for at least 2 years