Capital One Venture X Card Removing Non-lounge Priority Pass Benefits

If you’re a cardholder of the Capital One Venture X Credit Card, there’s some bad news regarding your access to Priority Pass experiences. Effective January 1, 2023, the Priority Pass memberships associated with the Capital One Venture X card will no longer include non-lounge experiences, such as airport restaurants and spas.

What Are Priority Pass Non-lounge Experiences?

It’s worth noting what Priority Pass non-lounge experiences are so you know what you may be losing. Having a traditional Priority Pass membership gets you access to lounge spaces that typically include private areas, usually with seating, charging outlets, and complimentary snacks and beverages, as well as restrooms.

While most users think of the membership as being for lounges, there are other ways to utilize the memberships. Beyond lounges, a traditional Priority Pass membership also has access to discounts and credits at airport restaurants, discounts at shopping retailers, complimentary spa treatments, and more.

For example, many airports have select restaurants where your Priority Pass can receive a dining credit. You’re provided a credit of about $28 or so for yourself and an additional credit for 1 guest that you can take off of the total bill, excluding gratuity. For most restaurants, these credits will get you a meal for 2 people and you can leave full vs. accessing a lounge with only simple snacks on offer.

Removal of Non-Lounge Experiences

Per Capital One, the non-lounge experiences will not be accessible to cardholders as of January 1, 2023. This means that if you visit a restaurant included in the program, you’ll be charged the full price of your meal and you won’t receive any credit or discount.

While not necessarily a game changer, this is a benefit that has set the Capital One Venture X card apart from similar American Express cards, which have had the non-lounge experiences removed for several years. Presumably, it doesn’t make much sense to offer this benefit since Capital One likely has to pay more for these non-lounges to be included in the suite of benefits. With a relatively low annual fee for a premium credit card, it’s no surprise that Capital One has decided to remove this perk.

Hot Tip: The Chase Sapphire Reserve^® will still have non-lounge experience access with its Priority Pass membership.

Final Thoughts

It’s disappointing to see Capital One remove non-lounge experiences from Priority Pass memberships. Moving forward, Chase will be the only card issuer that still includes these benefits, so it may make sense for you to obtain an eligible Chase card to continue to receive credits at airport restaurants worldwide.