**This article is not financial advice, please talk to a professional regarding your finances if considering a new credit card**
Plenty of travellers walk into airport lounges on economy tickets. Here’s how they’re doing it and how to work out the smartest way to get access yourself.
What Is Priority Pass?
Priority Pass is a membership program giving cardholders access to over 1,900 lounges across airports worldwide, regardless of which airline or class you’re flying. It’s one of the most widely recognised lounge access programs globally and covers a broad range of airports including many that don’t have dedicated airline lounges.
What Does It Actually Cost?
A standalone Priority Pass membership starts at around USD $99 per year, but that base membership doesn’t include free visits. Each lounge entry costs an additional USD $35 on top. Individual day passes at specific airport lounges range from around USD $25 to $80 depending on the airport and lounge. The maths only works for Priority Pass if you’re flying regularly enough to absorb those per-visit costs.
Why a Credit Card Is the Smarter Path for Australians
For most Australian travellers, accessing Priority Pass through a credit card makes far more financial sense than buying a standalone membership. A number of Australian cards include Priority Pass as a cardholder benefit, but the quality of that access varies significantly.
Cards like the Westpac Altitude Black include two complimentary Priority Pass visits per year, which covers occasional travellers doing a handful of trips annually. At the other end of the spectrum, the American Express Platinum card includes unlimited Priority Pass access for the primary cardholder, but carries a $1,450 annual fee. Whether that fee stacks up depends on how often you’re flying and what other benefits the card provides.
The critical thing to check is whether your card offers unlimited visits or a capped number. Once your free visits run out, you revert to paying per entry anyway, which erases the benefit quickly if you’re a frequent flyer.
What to Do Before Your Next Trip
Pull up your current credit card’s benefits page and check what lounge access it actually includes. Many cardholders have Priority Pass entitlements they’ve never activated or used. If your card doesn’t include any access and you’re flying more than a few times a year, it’s worth comparing premium cards where the lounge benefit is part of the broader value proposition.
What lounge access does your current card include? Comment below. Follow 5 Star Trip for more trip mechanics and travel money guides.