Capital One is tightening access to its exclusive airport lounges, no longer allowing all premium credit cardholders to extend free entry to additional cardholders and guests.
Starting early next year, Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders will no longer have this perk to offset the card’s nearly $400 annual fee. In its email announcing the changes to customers on Tuesday, Capital One cited the popularity of its lounges — which feature chef-curated menus, specialty cocktails and relaxation amenities — and the ensuing long waits to enter.
Lounge access for each additional cardholder will now cost $125 annually on a Venture X or Venture X Business account, and the cost for guests will hinge on how much credit card users spend. Cardholders and authorized users who spend more than $75,000 a year can continue to bring two guests to the lounges and one guest to the bank’s Landings locations, which are a lounge-restaurant hybrid, for no additional fee. Those who don’t meet this threshold will pay $45 per adult guest and $25 for each guest 17 years old and under. Children under 2 will remain free.
“We thought carefully about these changes, and we remain committed to delivering a differentiated premium travel card for our customers,” a bank spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
While Venture X Business cardholders will still be allowed to bring two guests to Priority Pass lounges — a separate network of exclusive lounges in which Capital One participates — with no additional fees, Venture X cardholders will pay $35 per guest to get in.
Capital One introduced the Venture X card in 2021, the same year that it opened its first airport lounge, in Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Now, it also operates lounges at Denver International Airport, Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, and Washington Dulles International Airport. It has a Landings location at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and has announced plans to open a second Landings space at LaGuardia Airport and a lounge at Kennedy International Airport this year.
The lounge access changes follow other recent restrictions from Capital One. At the start of this year, the bank eliminated free lounge use for two of its mid-tier credit cards.
The curb on lounge entry is a symptom of Capital One’s success, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst for Atmosphere Research.
“It designed great lounges that are very popular, so popular that just like we’ve seen happen with American Express’s Centurion lounges and Chase Sapphire Card’s lounges, they’ve become overrun, overcrowded,” Mr. Harteveldt said.
Operators of airline lounges are redefining exclusivity across the sector: In February, Delta Air Lines introduced restrictions for its Sky Club lounges, limiting cardholders who previously had unfettered entry. A month later, United overhauled its lounge membership program, reducing amenities and increasing the cost to enter the dozens of United Clubs worldwide.
Capital One’s decision to scale back its admission policy aligns it more closely with Chase and Amex, the other two major banks operating airport lounges, Mr. Harteveldt added. While Chase Sapphire Reserve lounges allow two complimentary guests, guest access to the Amex Centurion lounge depends on the type of credit card and how much a cardholder spends.
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Christine Chung is a Times reporter covering airlines and consumer travel.
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