Alex: One of our favorite parts of travel days is visiting airport lounges. Sadly, there have been lounge access changes that impact families. Listen in as we share how to best access airport lounges for families in 2026.

Welcome to Points Talk®. We are three moms who’ve discovered how to leverage credit card welcome offers to get hundreds of thousands of dollars of travel expenses for nearly free. We’ve used credit card points and miles to take vacations to places like Hawaii, Paris, Greece, Maldives, Japan, and so much more. And the best part? We each still have 800 plus credit scores. Imagine being able to take the vacation of your dreams for nearly free. It’s totally possible, and we’re here to show you how.

Alex: Hey, I’m Alex.

Pam: And I’m Pam, Alex’s mom.

Jess: And I’m Jess. Let’s talk points. Sadly, lounge access is changing for families in 2026. Today, we are talking about what exactly is changing, everything you need to know, and how you can still save on those food and drink costs when you’re traveling with your family through an airport.

So, the first one we’re going to talk about is the biggest blow that happened in 2025 that takes effect February 1st, 2026. And that is the changes to Capital One Venture X personal and business card lounge access. The Venture X used to be our go-to number one recommendation for lounge access for families. Unfortunately, that’s probably going to change going forward because they really, truly axed this program and axed the lounge access.

So, there is a lot of information here. I’m not going to cover every single thing because there’s a lot of nuances, but basically, it used to be that the primary cardholder could get into a Capital One lounge access or into a Priority Pass™ lounge access and bring two free guests. Not only that, they could add authorized users for free, and then those people could also bring two guests into a Capital One lounge or a Priority Pass lounge. Now, you get none of that. Zero. Zero, for free at least.

Pam: That’s taken all away in one swoop.

Jess: Yeah. So now it is basically the only people that get in free are the primary cardholder. So, I have a Venture X, my husband has a Venture X. We could both get into the Capital One lounge. We could not bring anyone else in free unless we had a child two or younger. And so now they have a thing where if you want to get your, if you want to get guests in free, you have to spend $75,000 in a calendar year on the card, which is an automatic no.

If you want your authorized users to be able to get in free, well, it’s not even get in free. If you want your authorized users to be able to get in, you have to pay $125 dollars for them to be able to do that. And so the charges…

Alex: And that’s for the year, right?

Jess: That’s for the year. That’s for the year. So it’s a $125 fee, and then that authorized user can get into the lounge. But again, just the authorized user, not any guests of the authorized user.

Pam: But that’s not bad, really.

Alex: No, it’s not. But this is what I think about it. I think if you’re going to do that, they might as well get their own card because the benefits of the Venture X negate the cost of the fee very easily.

Jess: Here’s where my math comes in, okay, because, okay, say Ted and I have the Venture X, right? So we can get in free. Molly does not, Molly can’t get a Venture X because she’s 12. And so, so here’s the deal. So if you want to get guests in, it’s $45 per adult, $25 per guest, 17 and under, and then children under two are free.

So in my head, I would do the math. Okay, Molly would be $25 dollars per visit. Am I going to visit the Capital One lounge more than five times in a calendar year?

Alex: Does Capital One have an age for adding an authorized user? Minimum age?

Jess: No, it’s any age. It’s any age. So say I was going to visit a Capital One lounge twice. Okay, well, in that case, it doesn’t make sense for me to pay the $125. I’m just going to pay the two $25. You know, so you have to do the math. For me, I don’t have a Capital One lounge at my airport, so I’m not paying anything. I am not adding her as an authorized user. We probably won’t even go into Capital One lounges that much. But if you live in a hub where there’s a Capital One lounge and you visit it frequently, you might want to do the math and see if it makes sense to do that.

Pam: Yeah, if I had a child, I’d do it because I live in a, you know…

Alex: If you had a child that was a dependent.

Pam: I forgot. I guess you still are my child. I forgot I still had a child at home. Yes, let’s change that.

Jess: As far as Priority Pass lounges go, I have not found any Priority Pass lounge that I think is worth paying to get into.

Pam: Not in the United States.

Jess: Are they nice to have, you know, if I need a place to have a nicer bathroom and get a soda and a snack, sure. Am I going to pay $35 per person for my guests to get into a Priority Pass lounge? No. So, I mean, again, it’s going to depend on what Priority Pass lounges are available at your airport or the airports that you’re going through.

This is different, though, for personal and business Venture X’s. For the personal Venture X, you have to pay $35 per guest for Priority Pass. For the Venture, you still get two, for the Venture X business, you still get two guests free at Priority Pass only, not Capital One. As I said, it’s a lot of information.

Pam: Yeah, I’ve found really good Priority Pass lounges internationally. I mean, some are just okay, but I found some really pretty decent ones.

Alex: Yeah, I have too.

Pam: So that’s the only time that I really use Priority Pass. I’ve been to some crummy ones in the United States. I forget where one was so bad I just walked back out. You know, it was horrible. I think it was, might have been JFK, I’m not sure, but it was horrible.

Jess: I’ve been to a really nice one in Istanbul. But there are some, like in Cabo and Cancun airport that are trash in my opinion. And so I personally would not…

Alex: I feel like those have gotten a little bit better.

Pam: Right. I think so too.

Alex: When I say a little better…

Jess: $35 better?

Alex: When I say little… No, not $35 better. No.

Pam: Free better. Free better.

Jess: Free better. No, I mean, I, if I’m traveling by myself, I’m going to go, but I’m not paying for my kids to get in.

Pam: No.

Alex: Yeah.

Jess: So there are some cards that we’re going to get to that include Priority Pass and include guest access for Priority Pass. In those situations, I would 100% still go to Priority Pass lounges. It’s just the fact that I’m not going to pay $35 per person to bring a guest into Priority Pass lounge access. To me, the whole point of lounge access is to get free food and drinks at the airport. If I’m going to pay $35 per person, I’ll just go get a slice of pizza down.. You know? It’s going to be less than $35.

And so, yeah. I think you just have to kind of, it’s just a blow that it went from main cardholder, authorized user, two free guests for everyone at all the lounges to only main cardholder at all the lounges. You know, they could have at least done like one free guest. I do think that the free guest for free authorized users was too good to be true. Like that was going to end at some point, but to go, they just swung from one direction all the way to the other direction, and that made me a little bit salty.

All that being said, I am 100% keeping my Venture X card, and it’s not for the lounge access. It’s just because of the protections that it offers. It earned 2X on every purchase. I can easily offset the annual fee with the $300 annual travel credit that you get from booking hotels or flights or rental cars through the Capital One portal. So I am not saying that this card is going, but I’m like getting rid of this card, or that I hate Venture X now. I’m just saying the lounge access is not going to be what makes me keep this card in my wallet.

Alex: Yeah. Yeah. So what’s everybody’s plan going forward with accessing Capital One lounges when you’re traveling? Well, for yo,u it doesn’t change mom, because you don’t have kids. I’m just kidding. Because you’re because your kid have your kids have their own cards to get in.

Pam: Exactly.

Alex: But for like Jess and I. So Jess, what’s your plan? If you, the thing is you don’t really, have you ever even been, has Molly been to a Capital One lounge?

Jess: I don’t think she, no, I do think she has been to the one in Denver before. But I will say, like Ted, Ella, and Charlie are all flying out of DFW in February. So it sucks because it’s like right after these changes take effect.

Alex: Yeah.

Jess: Um, what I’m going to have Ted do is just go into the Capital One lounge with his Venture X and get a bunch of stuff from the grab and go section and bring it out into the terminal and share with Ella and Charlie. Because to me…

Alex: And you’re just going to hang out in the lounge?

Jess: No, I’m not going to be there. If I were there…

Alex: Oh, you were not going to be there. Okay, I was going to say, wait, where are you in this? I’m like that’s a good plan, Jess. You just hang out at Houston.

Jess: No, I’m flying out of Houston, they’re flying out of Dallas. But because otherwise it would be $90 to bring them in. And I think that that is just a little too rich for my blood. And so I’m going to have him go in and get the grab-and-go stuff and just bring it out to them. Um, $25, I mean, depending on how long your layover is, like if Ted, Molly, and I were traveling somewhere and we had a really long layover, I would consider spending $25 just to get her in for convenience, you know.

Alex: Well, and the difference is you’ve got four, you have adult children. That’s $45 is much steeper than $25. It’s almost double. So that’s a big difference.

Jess: So I’d be willing to bring her in depending on how long the layover is. If it was just like an hour, no, I’m not doing that. I’m just going to get some cookies and some chocolate-covered raisins and bring them out into the, to the gate.

Alex: Yeah.

Pam: They don’t have chocolate-covered raisins anymore.

Jess: Pam sold them out.

Pam: So sad. I know. But I did find, um, peanut butter coated like M&M’s. They weren’t M&M’s, so peanut butter. Okay.

Alex: Can I, can I tell you guys the funniest thing? Anytime I travel with my mom, and she’s been like I’m meeting her in a destination, she always has treats from the Capital One lounge. Like a bag of treats or cookies that she brings. Well, we were in Costa Rica recently. My dad is sitting on the couch. We’re all just hanging out, and he’s sitting at the couch in the house. He’s got a to-go bag full of treats and he’s got a bag of cookies and he’s just, this is like two days after they landed, he’s just snacking on his treats from the lounge and I was dying. I had to get a picture. I was like, you are Pam’s husband. This is the funniest thing ever. Like your Capital One treats that you brought to Costa Rica.

Jess: When we went to Madrid, she brought me cookies from the Capital One lounge all the way to Spain. Like she flew with them in her bag. So I,

Alex: She is very generous. She always thinks of who she’s traveling with and brings them treats.

Jess: She does. She does.

Pam: They’re going to lock their doors when they see me coming after, when everybody listens to this. Oh my gosh.

Alex: Okay, so my plan is we actually do travel through Denver a decent amount because, you know, we have family there, or we have a layover there because, you know, Southwest, we fly them so much. They don’t have a ton of direct flights from Salt Lake. So we usually transition, Denver is a common one we’ll go through. So we will go through there sometimes, and it was great because we would all go up, we’d get some food.

My thoughts are now is it depends on the length of the layover. Like you said. Like for myself, my kids, it would cost us $100 to go into the lounge. For all six of us to eat at the airport, it’s going to cost about $100. And so I’m willing to pay to bring my four kids. So Mitch has the Venture X business, I have the personal. We’re good, and I’m keeping it for both of us because like you said, I can easily make my annual fee back between the credit and the 10,000 anniversary points you get each year.

So my plan is if the layover is long enough, I’m thinking maybe like two hours or more, then we would go. If it’s less than that, it’s not really worth it because we have to take the train over to get to Terminal, is it Terminal B?

Pam: It’s in Terminal A.

Alex: Terminal A. And we’re usually in Terminal C because we’re flying Southwest. And so I’m kind of doing it as a case-by-case basis. My other thing with kids, and just in general, traveling with kids and going to the lounge, a lot of times I don’t think lounge food is super kid-friendly to begin with. Like, there’s things that they like, but there’s also times where they’re like not really interested, or they’ll just have a cookie. Especially like the Centurion Lounge. That food is like, you know, a higher quality. It’s like pretty good food.

So sometimes what we’ll do is I will go to the lounge, and Mitch will stay with the kid,s and we’ll go buy them some food, and then I’ll come down, and he’ll go up to the lounge, and he’ll eat his food because him and I would much rather eat the food in the lounge. But with like the Centurion, which we’ll get to, does that even, did we get to that later?

Jess: Yeah, we do.

Alex: We don’t, we have a new one in Salt Lake, and it’s super nice. And so we just did that. He went up, he got food, came back down. I went up, I ate, we got the kids pizza at the airport. It worked great. And so I don’t think lounge access for kids is really nice. It’s nice to have somewhere to sit that’s not as crowded, but my kids most of the time don’t love the food. I will say Capital One, there’s some options, like especially at breakfast, where they have some really good like waffles or like little smoothie bowls, and my kids like that. But I have some picky eaters, and I haven’t seen many lounges serving chicken nuggets. So that would change things if they had chicken nuggets, then my kids would be all for it.

All right, next up is the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Chase Sapphire Reserve Business℠ card. And this got interesting this year. I actually think this is a pretty solid option for families. So with these cards, you can visit a Priority Pass, and you can bring in two guests. So if you and your player two each have these cards and you have four kids, you can get your family in, you know, with that.

They also have access to the Chase Sapphire Lounges®. Now, there’s not a ton of them, but there are there are more popping up. This, you also get cardholder and two free guests. So, another really solid option for families. So currently they have them in Boston, LaGuardia, JFK, Phoenix, San Diego, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, and then they’re planning LAX and DFW.

I will say I just went to the one in Phoenix and it’s kind of interesting. It’s pretty small, and you have to make a reservation ahead of time. So I went in, and I’m glad that I learned this. But you go in, you have to make it like 20, at least 24 hours in advance. And so I did that like a couple days before, and we, I think it opens at 4:00 AM or something. We were there super early. So we went at like 5:00 AM, and we were there for only like 30 minutes, but it was all six of us traveling, but I’m the only one who has access.

And so I took two of the kids, and it was one of those situations where they didn’t really want any of the food there. And so I’m like, okay, well, I just, and that’s my older two and my oldest is, he’s willing to try more than my second oldest. But it was like, I don’t know, eggs with salsa in them. They did have a, they do have a cute little airstream type thing where you can go and order like tacos and nachos and that kind of stuff. But like at 5:00 AM, we weren’t really wanting tacos and nachos.

So I ate a couple things, but nothing, my kids weren’t really loving it all. And so we ended up leaving and going to Chick-fil-A. And so that’s just an example of how I think sometimes we can, you got to think of your kids and what’s realistic, and you don’t want to like, we can get really hung up on, oh, they took away the lounge access. But my kids don’t really care a ton about the lounge anyway. They’re happier to just go to Chick-fil-A. But it is really nice when you have a long layover, that’s I think when it’s a really big difference maker is if you’re like, I’m at the airport for three hours. We have a comfortable place to sit. I mean my kids love getting all the soda, you know, that’s a nice perk. So, anyway. Okay,  next up mom… 

Pam: Yeah, I would also, I just wanted to add that I have been to the Boston lounge. It’s huge. It’s really big. You can order food off a QR code. That’s nice. It has probably a little better selection, and I didn’t have to, I just showed up there, so I don’t know if anything’s changed.

Alex: I think it’s because the Phoenix one is pretty small. It’s so small, yeah.

Pam: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Okay, another uh card that is really good for lounge access and really good for family access is a surprising one. It’s not one that you can apply for. It’s the Ritz-Carlton card. It’s no longer available for applications. You have to do a product change from the Chase Boundless.

But it used to be really amazing because it was unlimited lounge visits and they didn’t care how many people you brought in with you with for Priority Pass. So that was really crazy, but they’ve just recently changed it, and now you have, you can bring in two guests. So it’s similar to what Alex was talking about. Um and it too has access to the Chase Sapphire lounge, by the club. And again, two guests access. So nothing really new with this compared to the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the Chase Sapphire Reserve business. Pretty much the same access.

I love my Ritz-Carlton card though, because it’s still is a really decent annual fee of $450 and you get a $300 travel credit for incidentals. I use that to upgrade um tickets to first class when I can find that um cheaper. And so that works out really good. Also, with the Ritz-Carlton, authorized users are free, and they get the same lounge access benefits. So that means, you know, you’ve got I know Alex, are you still, do you still, Alex is an authorized user on mine, yeah.

Alex: So when we first started this, I think this was one of your cards you got pretty early on, Mom.

Pam: It was, uh-huh.

Alex: And I didn’t have a lounge access card. And at that time in my life, I was like, I’m not paying, at the time, like what $695 for annual fee on a card. And so I became an authorized user on this card from my mom. I still am. Keep in mind, it will count towards 5/24 if you become an authorized user on this card. I mean, you might have good luck, you know, getting them to overlook it if you call, but you know, that’s a lot of work. So just plan on counting towards your 5/24.

But for me, I was like, okay, I’m willing to do that because I don’t want to pay the annual fee. I was very early on in my points and miles journey, and I wanted that lounge access. And so it was pretty cool. And I still used it. There would be times where we were traveling, and I maybe had Priority Pass access from like my venture card or a different card, but with this one, I used to be able to bring as many guests as I wanted. So I remember there was a time we were in Las Vegas and we went to the lounge, and it was like, oh yeah, I got all, my whole family of six in by using this card. So that was pretty cool. So kind of a bummer that that’s not an option anymore, but also kind of crazy that it was an option.

Pam: Yeah. It was really crazy, but definitely it’s a good option for product changing from the Chase Boundless® once you’ve um had that card. Well, you’ve got the welcome offer.

Alex: Because Mitch has had that card for a while, and I’m thinking maybe, maybe I should have him get this one. Do you also get an 85k Marriott certificate? Did you mention that?

Pam: Well, that I was just going to say, that is the biggest reason why I keep this card and why I love this is because you get an 85k Marriott um certificate and that’s huge for me going to Wailea Beach Resort.

Alex: Well, and that’s why I’m thinking I needed to do it because I’m, yeah, I’m saving up our points to do that, but if I, and we’ll have enough for five nights because we’re just like, you know, let’s just blow our Marriott points and go. But if I get that card, then I can get a sixth night, but I won’t get it for another year, though, huh? I don’t know if I want to wait that long to go.

Jess: So the way it works is you apply for the Marriott Boundless through Chase. You have it, you hold it for a year, and then at that point, you can product change it to the Ritz-Carlton card.

That’s actually a popular offer with our audience, too, because that’s the one that sometimes has the five free night awards as the welcome offer. And so there are a lot of you that may already have this card, and instead of canceling it, you might want to product change it.

Alex: Yeah.

Pam: Exactly.

Alex: One other thing I want to mention about the going back to the Sapphire Reserve or the Sapphire lounges, this was interesting. When you access this lounge, if you, you have to sign up for Priority Pass with that card. So you need your Priority Pass membership through this card. You’ll have to show them that, your boarding pass, probably your ID. If you have the personal Sapphire Reserve, you’re good. You don’t need to have your physical card. But if you have the business version, you need to have your physical card with you.

I don’t know why that is. I had mine with me, but that’s what the person checking me into the lounge told me. I was like, oh, well that’s good to know. Like, I’m glad I had it. I was prepared. But for anybody listening, if you’re wanting to go and you have the business card, make sure you have that card with you when you’re traveling.

Pam: Good to know. I wouldn’t have known that.

Alex: I know, it’s kind of weird how, like, they have different rules for the personal and business card, and like with the Venture X business card, how you can still bring two lounge guests free to Priority Pass. I don’t, I don’t understand how they come up with some of these these rules for things, but it is what it is.

Jess: All right, next we are going to talk about the platinum card from American Express, both the personal and the business version come with lounge access through the American Express Global Lounge Collection®.

Now you have a lot of options when it comes to the platinum cards. You can of course, get into the American Express Centurion® Lounges, though you do not get free guests. And so, you know, Capital One’s copying Amex, and only the primary cardholder can get in. If you want to pay for others to get in, it is $50 per guest ages 18 or older, $30 for guests two to 13, two to 17. Guests under two are free. Unless you spend $75,000 in a calendar year on your Amex® Platinum or Business Platinum. Again, not something I will likely ever do. If you own a business, maybe you will spend that much, but yeah, not realistic for most people, I would say.

Alex: You know what surprises me is like, I feel like these changes what they came about maybe a year or so ago, maybe a little longer than that.

Jess: I think a little longer than that.

Alex: Maybe a couple of years ago. I don’t feel like it did much to decrease wait times in the lounges I in some of the ones I’ve been to.

Jess: It didn’t.

Alex: Like I for one, they have the lounge in Houston. Why is this lounge so tiny in Houston?

Jess: So little.

Alex: Houston is a huge major airport, and the Centurion Lounge is tiny and there is always always a wait. When I went to through LAX, wait. Like, it’s just kind of frustrating when you do pay so much for an annual fee, and then you have a wait. Good news, thoug,h you guys, if you’re going through Salt Lake City, I’ve never had a wait, and it’s a really nice one. So go to this new Centurion Lounge.

Jess: Well, now there will be a wait because people know about it, and if they had chocolate raisins, you would sell them out of those too. 

Alex: Of course, they got rid of them because you know, we’re just sharing all the secrets and everybody listens.

Jess: So, this is, yeah, like Alex said, I mean Houston, I have an Amex Platinum and a business Platinum actually. I travel enough solo or with Ted, Ted has one also, that it makes sense for us to visit these lounges when it’s either just me or just the two of us. But like Alex was saying, the food is a little bit more elevated at the Centurion Lounges, and Molly will not eat a thing. I mean, maybe she’ll eat a cookie, you know? But I’m not,

Alex: She’ll get a Shirley Temple, maybe.

Jess: Yeah, but I’m not paying $30 for her to eat a chocolate chip cookie, you know? So this is one where I have not previously paid for her to get in unless we have a really long layover. I did pay for her to get in. I forget where we were… oh was when we were coming from Japan, and we had a layover in San Francisco, a very, like a four hour layover in San Francisco. And their Centurion Lounge was very nice. So I paid for Ella and Molly to get in.

Alex: Yeah, that one is really nice.

Jess: I paid for Ellen and Molly to get in there. But just in Houston, when we’re when we have like an hour before our flight, no, I’m not paying for her to get in. Um, with these cards, you also get access to Escape Lounges, and you get two free guests there, Plaza Premium, Plaza Premium lounges, also two free guests there. You also get access to the Delta Sky Club when you fly Delta. You get 10 Sky Club visits per year. And so, I know Alex loves that perk. She lives in a Delta hub, and so she has lots of options from Salt Lake City.

Alex: I do. We have two Delta lounges in our airport.

Pam: In fact, I always book coming back from Salt Lake City when I’m visiting Alex on Delta just so I can use that. So Alex, I’ve gone to the original one, which is huge, great food, really nice. What’s the new one like?

Alex: I haven’t been to the new Delta Sky Club® because I haven’t flown Delta. It just opened, I think, in around November, and I haven’t flown Delta since then. I have been to the new Centurion Lounge three times, though.

Jess: I was going to say, are you still going to book Delta even though you can go to the Centurion Lounge now? You don’t need to book Delta.

Alex: She’s going to, she’s going to want to test it

Pam: I’m going to try them both out.

Alex: Yeah. You’ve got to see which one. So I do, I don’t even have, I don’t think I have a Delta flight booked for a little bit. So, I’m going to be making more trips to the Centurion Lounge. But for me, that was like, okay, I’ve been three times since it opened in November, soon to be a fourth. Like, that is worth me keeping that card, and those are me traveling by myself. You know, or one time we had the kids, but that’s the time where Mitch stayed, I went, and then we swapped. And so I’m making really good use of our Centurion Lounge.

But I’m really excited to try our new Delta Sky Club. The nice thing, too is if you’re on the Amex gravy train and you’re getting like those business platinums again and again, you will have 10 per card. So, like, I have two, so I have 20 visits. So I won’t, I’ve never actually used all 10 of my visits, but if you’re somebody who flies Delta all the time, maybe for work or something, and you don’t have another way to get into the lounges, the Delta Sky clubs, that could work out pretty good for you. And I love Delta Sky Clubs. They’re nice, and they have good food.

Pam: It is. They are.

Jess: And then Priority Pass lounge access same as the Sapphire Reserve and the Citi Strata Elite℠ that Pam is going to talk about in a little bit. You get the Priority Pass lounge access and the two free guests. And then the other thing to think about with the Platinum, with the personal Platinum, is it’s $195 to add an authorized user. They would also get the same lounge access. And so maybe for this one, you know, it’s $195 to add an authorized user or $895 for them to have their own card. It might be one where you’re like, I’m going to add an authorized user instead of having them open their own. So…

Alex: Yeah, I think this is a really, it makes a really good case for that if you’re traveling enough, whereas with the Venture X, I’m like, well, I would just have Mitch get his own because I can actually save money instead of having him be an authorized user. But for the Platinum, where that annual fee is so much higher, it is harder to make your money back, or it’s more work. It’s more effort than it is with the Venture X. So, I think it makes good case if you go through, if you travel enough, like what, you have to visit four times? If you visit four times, more than four times, then you probably just want to either get your own card or be an authorized user. 

Jess: I will say for American Express, authorized users have to be at least 13. So it’s not a case where you can make a younger child an authorized user. Um so that is it for the Platinum. We’re going to go on to the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant now.

Alex: All right. So, Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant®, this is an American Express card. With this one, you get cardholder plus two guests into Priority Pass lounges. So we’ve talked about, you know, the Priority Pass lounges pretty extensively already, but that’s another option if you have that. If you value Marriott points, if you’re Marriott loyalist, and you have this card, it could be a good option to visit those Priority Pass lounges.

Pam: Okay. Our next one is one that probably doesn’t make sense for a lot of people. That’s the United Club card. You also, the United Explore℠ card gets two um visits to a United Club lounge. And so that one makes sense for anybody. That’s a great one. If you live in a United Club, the United Club card could make sense for you.

Jess: If you live in a United hub.

Pam: What did I say?

Jess: You said if you live in the United Club.

Pam: Well, hey, that’s one way not to have to cook.

Jess: Then you wouldn’t even need a card. You could just live there.

Pam: That’s right. Just live there. Live there. That would be interesting. I want to see that person that lives there. Okay.

So, for some people, it could make sense if you are a frequent traveler. I actually did this one year. Um, we have two United Clubs in, one in Terminal A and one in Terminal B. Um they, the one in Terminal B was retrofitted, really nice, really big. So is the one in Terminal A, I really like it.

Sometimes, for me, my other lounges, if I’m, I fly United most of the time, it’s usually flying out of Terminal B. And so Terminal A has Capital One, I’ve got to take the train there, get there in time. And sometimes I’m like, oh, I didn’t make, I’m not there in time. I wish I just had, you know, a United Club pass still or something so I could go into the United lounge in Terminal B. The Centurion Lounge is in Terminal C. Again, the same thing with time elements and the train. So one time I did buy, well, I didn’t have the United Club card. What I did is I bought a United Club subscription, and I used my $300 from the Ritz….

Alex: Because you weren’t approved for the Club card, right? You tried that first?

Pam: I did, yes. 

Alex: ‘Cause that would be better.

Pam: I’m thinking about doing it again when there’s a good offer. I mean, I mean, trying to get approved again. So I bought this United Club subscription, used my $300 credit on the Ritz-Carlton card, so it brought it way down. I actually used that a lot. It ended up being really nice because you can bring in, I was able to bring my husband in all the time with me. Um, now, if you have gold status, which I do have, then you can bring in, or you spend $50,000, which I wouldn’t do, then you can bring in two adults or one adult and your dependent children. So for some people, this makes sense. The annual fee on this is $695. You know, for me…

Alex: For the United Club card?

Pam: For the United Club card. So for me, it kind of does make sense. I love having options. I travel a lot. I really like this.

Alex: Well, and I’m sure you have more benefits than just the lounge access, too, for $695. Right?

Pam: Well, getting a good welcome offer.

Jess: And we know Pam can take advantage of the coupons.

Alex: Yeah, all the credits.

Pam: Yeah. So there isn’t a lot of really great options, but for the points and for the convenience of being able to use the Club lounge, I’d do it. And I think there are other people who have gold status, so they can bring somebody else in. I always have at least gold status. It makes sense for some people. I don’t think it makes sense for very many people, but it’s just it’s an option. It’s out there.

Alex: But if someone travels a lot, they have a young family, they are United loyalists, they’ve traveling United a lot, then it would could make sense for them to have that to be able to go into United lounge all the time.

I know American Airlines has a similar card too where you can bring in your dependent children as well. And so that is a good option too if you’re an American Airlines fan and you travel through American Airlines hubs or you live in one, that could be an option. Now, Delta doesn’t have the same generosity with like if you have the Delta Reserve card, you can’t bring in your reserve children. Or like not your… your dependent children.

Pam: Now you’re talking like me, your reserve children, and I say I don’t have children.

Alex: Yeah, I think I’m thinking of Delta Reserve, the card name, but anyway, um Delta uh clubs are a little trickier to visit with bringing guests as well. So, anyway.

Pam: Okay, and then lastly, um the last card we’re going to talk about is the surprise card for um lounge access. And that’s the Citi Strata Elite, which has actually been the surprise card for us in everything because we were not impressed about this card at first and it’s become really high on our rating.

Alex: Now we all love it. We’re like, oh, this is a lot better than I thought.

Pam: Exactly. So, it does come with Priority Past access. And again, just do your research to find a good one. The car holder can bring in two guests. That’s pretty doggone good. We’re not seeing that with a lot of other cards. And then the other thing is you get four American Airlines Admirals Club passes each year. Um, I didn’t think that this would be of any interest to me at all. And then, uh my oldest daughter and I just booked a flight to St. Kitts. Guess what we’re flying? American Airlines. Guess who can use these passes?

So I’m really excited about that. And evidently, you can screenshot these passes and share them for now. Now, United Airlines used to let us do this, and you can’t do that anymore. So we don’t know how long that will last. Uh, but we actually weren’t using our passes that we got, well, we get I think, all of us got the city strat at the end of last year. None of us were going to use our Admiral’s passes. We actually gave them away to people. So that’s pretty nice.

Jess: And I got emails that were like, “your passes have been used.” And so you know, kind of nice to spread some holiday cheer and give families traveling for the holidays access to the lounges. So…

Alex: And what I’ve heard too is that these passes you get, the American Airlines passes with the Citi Strata Elite card, correct me if I’m wrong, but they’re not like American Airlines day passes, where it’s like, because sometimes the lounge will say, we’re not accepting day passes. But from what I read, these are not that. If you have these, you’re supposed to get into the lounge. It’s like a special, separate kind of pass. So you shouldn’t get a message, or if it says on the front, like we’re not accepting day passes, because I guess that’s a very common thing with American Airlines day passes. But with these, you shouldn’t have to worry about that. So.

Jess: You also get kids under 18 in free with one.

Pam: Oh wow, that’s what makes it really nice.

Alex: So you and Mitch would only need two for your family of six to get into.

Pam: That’s very nice.

Alex: So those really are actually, if you think about it, way more, you’re you’re it’s more, it’s almost more than getting four passes. Yeah.

Pam: So that’s really cool. That’s great. Okay. So what are each of your plans with lounge access for 2026? What makes the most sense for families? What are you guys doing?

Jess: I’m dying because I have like all the cards that we talked about, and I don’t really use any of them for lounge access. Um, I would say what you what card you use for lounge access is really going to depend on what lounges are available, primarily at your home airport.

If I lived, I’m in Houston, American Express Centurion Lounge is my best option. So I will always have either a Platinum or a Business Platinum to be able to access that lounge. If I lived with at an airport that had a Chase Sapphire lounge, I would 100% either have a Sapphire Reserve personal or business card. I think objectively that card has the most family-friendly lounge access now that Capital One’s slashed their lounge access. So if you live somewhere with the Chase lounge, 100% would have one of those cards.

If I lived somewhere with a with a Capital One lounge, that’s up to you whether you want to deal with going in and getting the grab-and-go and taking it to go. I mean, it depends on, like, how many kids you have, how frequently you travel, can you justify, you know, paying for an annual fee, um or paying for an authorized user?

So you’re just going to, I think you just have to do the math and see what works best for you. I’m going to keep all of my premium cards just because I can use the benefits, but I understand that for a lot of families, they’re having to choose one or the other. So I think just see what makes the most sense based on the airports you fly out of most frequently.

Alex: Yeah, I agree 100% with what you said. I also think the Venture X, I think there’s a case can be made that this card is, like we’ve said, it’s worth keeping even if you’ve never visited Venture lounge or a Capital One lounge because the it’s so the annual fee is so low. It’s just $395 compared to these others, and you can easily recoup that.

Now, for some people, like, I don’t know if I would keep American Express Platinum card if I was never going to use the lounge access because yes, I can get my money back for the most part from the benefits, but it’s work and it’s time consuming and I could be doing better things with my time than trying to make that money back.

But because I live in Salt Lake City, and like Jess, I’ve got Centurion Lounge, and I’ve got two Delta Sky Clubs, that is by far the lounges I’m visiting the most are Delta Sky Clubs and Centurion Lounges. Now, keep in mind, I’m not bringing my kids to any of these lounges. Like, I’m not, I’m not going to show up early to the airport to take my kids to a lounge and pay for that. Now, I’ll show up a little bit early, and I mean like maybe I’ll be in the lounge for 20 minutes to get a quick bite to eat before my flight. If it’s just me or if it’s Mitch and I, because he has the cards as well, and we’ll do the trading-off thing.

But like, as far as bringing my kids in with those cards, I would probably only do it if we had a really long layover and I had maybe one or two kids with me. Like maybe if I, you know, when they turn 10, I take each kid on a special birthday trip. So in that case, I’d probably would be like, hey, it’s your birthday trip. Let’s splurge and go to the lounge, you know, I’ll pay $30 to get you into the Centurion Lounge. But as a general card for families, I think the Platinum card is probably one of the worst options for a card for lounge access for families.

Now, I don’t think the Venture X is much better, but it’s a, it’s a tiny bit cheaper, and I do think the food options are better for kids than what the Platinum or what the American Express lounges can offer.

I agree with Jess. I think the best card for families right now is the Sapphire Reserve personal or business, but for me, it’s not helpful because I don’t have either of those, I don’t have that lounge. I’m hardly ever traveling at airports that have those lounges. So that’s where it really comes into what Jess said. You’ve really got to see what airports you’re flying through, if it makes sense for you to have.

I think the Citi Strata Elite is a good option as well. It’s a lower annual fee. It’s another one like the Venture X, where at first we were like, oh, these benefits aren’t very good. But now that we’ve all had the card, it’s actually really easy to make your money back on this card as well. So I do think you can make a case for keeping this card long term, even if you’re not visiting the lounges.

Jess: And especially if you live in an American Airlines hub.

Alex: Yeah, and you’re going to, you just want to earn the points.

Jess: And you get the Admiral’s Club passes.

Alex: Yeah, the club passes for Admiral’s Club, like I think if you’re an American Airlines flyer, the Citi Strata Elite is a no-brainer. Like that is a keeper card for sure. So it just, there’s so many variables that go into it that we cannot say this is the card for families. This is the one you got to get. Because it might make zero, like for me, it doesn’t make sense to make my go-to card for families to be a Sapphire Reserve. So it’s just so dependent. So anyway, Mom, what about you? Even though, even though you don’t have a family and you don’t have kids?

Pam: Actually, none of it really affected me that much. It’s really just me.

Alex: You’re just like, yay, the lounges won’t be crowded anymore.

Pam: Exactly. Maybe it does affect me, although I do feel really bad for those of you who have small children at home still, that it does affect you, but for some of us, it could possibly be a good change.

So as you can see, families are going to have to change their airport lounge habits. Maybe you decide to only use them when traveling solo or with your player two. Maybe it’s worth it to add an authorized user or pay per visit. Maybe a Priority Pass lounge will do. In the past, it didn’t do, but maybe now it will be okay. Let us know what you plan to do with these changes. And if you liked this episode, we hope you’ll share it with a friend and leave a five-star review.

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