Is Getting Airport Lounge Access With Credit Cards a Cheap Alternative?

Airport lounges provide a welcome retreat during long trips, and in many cases they offer good value for money. Most airport lounges offer complimentary rest areas, drinks, snacks, restrooms, cable TV, popular newspapers and magazines, and internet access. Some offer business facilities like conference rooms, photocopy and fax machines. Other services may include children's play areas, changing rooms, bathrooms with hot showers, and spa facilities. Complimentary buffet meals are also offered at some lounges.

Credit card issuers have long offered airport lounge benefits with their exclusive credit cards. But can you actually save money on airport lounge visits by getting a credit card which offers this benefit? Or does it make more financial sense to buy a membership in an airport lounge club separately and use a credit card with no annual fee?

How much do airport lounges cost?

For a start, let’s take a look at what airport lounge visits actually cost.

A one-time visit to an airport lounge without membership typically costs around 50 francs, but the price may be higher or lower than that depending on the airport in question and the services offered.

Membership in Priority Pass, a network of around 1300 airport lounges, is the benefit most commonly offered by credit cards which provide lounge access. You can buy memberships directly from Priority Pass. The current prices are:

• Standard membership: 89 euros per year, plus 30 euros on top for each lounge visit.
• Standard Plus membership: 289 euros per year. Includes 10 complimentary lounge visits every year (30 euros per additional visit).
• Prestige membership: 459 euros per year. Includes unlimited, complimentary access to lounges.

Important: Airport lounges have fixed capacities. If a lounge is full, you may be denied entry, even if you have Priority Pass membership.

Airport lounge benefits from Swiss credit cards

Now that we know what stand-alone lounge club memberships cost, let’s look at the lounge access offered by Swiss credit cards, and what these cards cost.

A surprising number of issuers offer lounge access as a benefit on their gold and platinum cards, but there are major differences in the lounge access benefits you get with different cards.

Bank packages can be a cheaper alternative

An alternative is to get a credit card with airport lounge benefits as part of a bank package. Getting a credit card as part of a complete package deal can work out cheaper than getting the same credit card on its own. The Zürcher Kantonalbank’s Platinum package, for example, includes a Viseca Platinum credit card. The monthly fees total 384 francs per year, which is 166 francs less than you pay if you get the Viseca Visa Platinum credit card directly from Viseca.

Debit cards with airport lounge access

There are now some banks that also include Priority Pass memberships and visits as a complimentary benefit for debit card users. Examples include the Luzerner Kantonalbank and Swissquote.

You can find detailed information in the guide to Swiss debit cards with complimentary benefits for cardholders.

Conclusion

There are Swiss credit cards and bank packages which can save you money on airport lounge access, compared to getting annual club memberships directly.

But it is important to consider all of the costs and benefits of a credit card or bank package, and not only the airport lounge benefits. You can compare these using the interactive credit card comparison and bank package comparison on moneyland.ch.

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