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 28 euros on top for each lounge visit.
• Standard Plus membership: 259 euros per year. Includes 10 complimentary lounge visits every year (28 euros per additional visit).
• Prestige membership: 399 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.

1. Gold and Platinum cards from American Express
              
   The Platinum Card from American Express gives you and one supplemental card holder complimentary Priority Pass membership with unlimited free entry to participating lounges. That is equivalent to two Prestige memberships (399 euros per person, or 798 euros in total). Additionally, you get access to around 100 other lounges not included in Priority Pass. These include lounges from Lufthansa, American Express, Centurion, Escape, Delta Sky Club, Airspace, and Plaza Premium.
   
   The Platinum Card from American Express costs 900 francs per year (450 francs the first year). If you only need one Priority Pass membership, you can save around 500 francs by getting a Prestige membership directly from Priority Pass. Even if you need two memberships, getting Priority Pass Prestige is still over 100 francs cheaper than getting this card. Unless you want to use the other airport lounges which are not included in Priority Pass, it is cheaper to get Priority Pass membership directly.
   
   The Gold Card from American Express includes a Standard Priority Pass membership, but no complimentary visits.
2. Gold and Platinum cards from UBS
   
   UBS Platinum Credit Card holders get Standard Priority Pass membership plus 4 free lounge visits annually (201 euros value). The credit card has a 500-franc annual fee (250 francs the first year). So getting Standard membership from Priority Pass and paying for lounge visits separately works out cheaper, in terms of airport lounge access.   
   
   UBS includes Standard Priority Pass membership (worth 89 euros) as a benefit for its Gold Credit Card holders. You still have to pay 28 euros for each lounge visit. The UBS Gold credit card has a 200-franc annual fee (100 francs the first year), so the lounge access alone does not justify the price.
   
   The gold credit card from Swiss automobile club ACS is also issued by UBS and gives you the same basic Priority Pass membership which you get with the UBS gold card. It costs 100 francs per year (no annual fee the first year), but is only available to ACS members.
3. Diners Club cards
              
   Diners Club cards (issued by Cornèrcard) give you access to around 1000 lounges which participate in the Diners Club airport lounge program. Many of the same lounges also participate in Priority Pass. If you charge at least 6000 francs to your Diners Club card every year, you get five complimentary lounge visits annually. If you do not meet the minimum spending, you pay 25 francs per visit. Assuming you meet the spending requirements, this card gives you similar value to what you get with a Standard Priority Pass plus five visits (value of 229 euros in total).
   
   The Diners Club Class credit card has a 200-franc annual fee (100 francs the first year). So you could potentially save around 30 francs compared to getting a Standard membership from Priority Pass.
4. Cornèrcard Platinum
              
   The Cornèrcard Visa Platinum includes complimentary Prestige membership from Priority Pass with unlimited lounge visits as a cardholder benefit. Your travel companions also get complimentary access. With other credit cards, you have to pay the guest entry fee (28 euros or 32 dollars) for each companion.
   
   The annual fee is 500 francs (250 francs the first year). If you travel alone, getting a Prestige membership from Priority Pass (399 euros) is cheaper. But because you get free entry for travel companions as well, this card can save you money if you frequently travel with your partner or family, for example.
5. Platinum card from Postfinance
              
   The Postfinance Visa Platinum Card gives you Standard Priority Pass membership plus two free lounge visits per year. That is a total value of 145 euros.
   
   The card has a 250-franc annual fee. So for the airport lounge access alone, paying the 145-euro cost for a Standard Priority Pass membership plus two entries is cheaper than getting this credit card.
6. Viseca Platinum
              
   The Viseca Visa Platinum card has a 550-franc annual fee and includes Prestige Priority Pass membership with unlimited lounge visits for you and one supplemental card holder. That is a value of up to 798 euros.
   
   The card has a 550-franc annual fee. If you use both passes, getting this credit card works out almost 250 francs cheaper than getting two Prestige memberships.

Bank packages: better value for money

An alternative is to get a credit card with airport lounge benefits as part of a bank package.

For example, the CSX Platinum package from Credit Suisse includes the Platinum Card from American Express. At 67 francs per month, the 804-franc annual cost of this package is 96 francs lower than the annual fee you pay for just the Platinum Card from American Express, but more than double what you pay for unlimited Prestige Priority Pass membership. So whether or not this package can save you money depends on whether you use its other benefits.

A number of banks include the Viseca Visa Platinum credit card in their premium banking service packages, and getting a complete package deal can work out cheaper than getting the credit card on its own.

The Zürcher Kantonalbank’s Platinum package, for example, has monthly fees totaling 504 francs per year – 46 francs less than you would pay for just the Viseca Visa Platinum credit card on its own. If you have 30,000 francs in deposits or if you get financing from the bank, the package costs just 384 francs per year, which is 166 francs less than you pay for just the Viseca Visa Platinum credit card.

The verdict

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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