Here’s what’s different now:

Authorized users aren’t automatically covered anymore

Before, adding an authorized user was basically like giving them their own lounge membership.

Not anymore.

Starting today, authorized users no longer receive complimentary lounge access by default. You can still add them, but if you want them to have lounge access, the primary cardholder now has to pay an annual fee of $125/year. This may be worth it for your Player 2 if your home airport has a Capital One lounge.

Guests aren’t automatically free either

This is the part that’s gonna hit a lot of us. To keep free guests at Capital One Lounges, you now have to hit $75,000 in spending in a calendar year.

If you do, you get:

• 2 free guests per visit at Capital One Lounges

If you don’t hit that spend, you can still bring people in—but you’ll be paying a fee per guest. Personally, this is what I would do, or have my Player 2 get their own card. $75,000 in yearly spend would help me meet a lot of minimum spend on other cards, and that is worth far more than that lounge access is.

Bottom Line

This is definitely one of those BIG changes. The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is still a solid card, but if you were using it mainly for free guests + sharing lounge access with authorized users, the value just shifted big-time. Anyone flying today and testing the new rules? Let us know how it goes. I am interested to see if the line disappears at my lounge in Denver.