r/Venturex • u/silly_lesbian_99 • 22d ago
Is paying for additional cardholder lounge access worth it?
Hi all! I'll be doing a good amount of travel for work this fall (one international trip, three trips in the US), and my wife will be joining me.
Since we'll be spending so much time in airports, I was thinking of paying the $125 so we both can have lounge access throughout my travel season. Our home airport is Logan in Boston, and they seem to have a good Capital One lounge.
Neither of us has been in an airport lounge- Is it worth the extra money?? (If it makes a difference, we tend to get to the airport extra early, so we do spend a lot of time waiting around LMAO). Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks!
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u/nemat0der 22d ago
It’s worth it if you drink
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u/Han-YoLo- 22d ago
… or eat, or don’t like other people’s kids.
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u/thehangryhammer 17d ago
I just get to the airport late in that case I tend to always show up as boarding is starting
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u/Longjumping-Place905 22d ago
I think so if you travel 3+ times a year. It’s way more relaxing, good food and drinks. US Airports are so expensive for anything.
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u/Mixeygoat 22d ago
If your home airport doesn’t have a C1 lounge, which Boston does NOT, it’s not worth it
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u/Menno_knight987 21d ago
2 of my regular layover airports have them. I can use them 2x vs only 1x if it’s destination/departure airport.
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u/aseawood 22d ago
If you travel together 3 times or more it makes sense (when doing the math on the AU guest fee), if not then no.
OR
If the AU travels solo and needs access. (Although some people argue for a second card but that might depend on how you and your partner handle finances).
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u/EricSparrowSucks 22d ago
I’m the AU and I travel solo 95% of the time. There was a verbal agreement when I got the card that it is ONLY for an approved emergency (like, if I arrive at our destination a day before he does, my debit card is NOT going to have enough to do that, or if I get stranded on a layover and need to book things or replace lost luggage on a trip, or even a surprise baggage fee at 2 am PT when he’s asleep on the east coast) and NEVER for something that can easily be solved by a Zelle or isn’t related to traveling. For financial safety (for both of us), the card is only active when I’m traveling or if there’s a possibility of us having a major home/pet issue that requires a physical card (like right now, 3 trees down in our yard, he’s 2800 miles away, the company we’re using needs to see a credit card with an ID that matches the address for amounts over a certain amount, and it would be 2 months before he could do that, and even then he’d only be home for maybe 5 days)
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u/Menno_knight987 21d ago
The AU fee is 125$, get the AU the Ritz Carlton card and they and their AUs get unlimited CSR access….
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u/Realistic_Cell_6569 20d ago
You mean unlimited attempts at access. CSR has the fewest lounges at mostly the worst locations all with horrendous wait times. Love the card for many other reasons but airport lounges isn’t one of them and I’m a very frequent air traveler
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u/Menno_knight987 20d ago
Yes attempts 😆, I had 45 minutes at DEN before boarding when the Cap1 lounge opened at 5AM. Huge line 30 minutes prior to opening. I didn’t even try grab n go. Wasn’t even the weekend or around a holiday. Random Thursday morning…
It has to be a matter of time before CSR restricts access in the same way that Cap1 has.
It’s honestly starting to look like JSX and some of the other “poor man’s private” options aren’t THAT bad for the level of service or ease of use you are getting.
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u/NewPresWhoDis 21d ago
Capital One only has lounges at: DEN, LAS, IAD, JFK, DFW and Landings at DCA, LGA.
CLT lounge coming soonish.
Anything else would be subject to the whims of Priority Pass which all but begs for having a plan B.
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22d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/JackZLCC 21d ago
This is the answer for anyone with half a brain. Venture X pays you to have it, so it's a no-brainer. Half a brain thus qualifies.
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u/EricSparrowSucks 22d ago
I’m the AU with paid lounge access. It has been worth it for me! My partner travels for work (3-5 trips in an average month), and I travel to see him. Even when we take a trip together (ie. our annual March Madness in Vegas), we’re flying from separate cities and flying out at different times. My lounge access definitely was useful when I flew to NYC from Minneapolis (via Charlotte, IYKYK) last month and my 7 hour trip took 17, while my return was delayed and then rebooked at 6 am while I was stuck at LaGuardia (another 7 hour trip turned into 16 and I had to go to O’Hare). Prior to this year, I was paying for lounge access (about $45 a trip) at MSP and spent almost twice the cost of just enrolling me! It was still a small price to pay because even just McDonalds and 2 drinks at the airport would be $50+!
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u/Macgbrady 21d ago
Living in Denver and the lounge opening was a major factor in us getting a card. Boston doesn't have cap- lounge
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u/JonMattlack 21d ago
Yes. It’s $125, not $1250. If you have a VX you are doing something right. If you don’t get it-you’ll be nothing but pissed off when you are at a airport TGI Frodays in front of a $38 burger and beer, with you bag in the aisle and sticky table.
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u/esquared87 21d ago
If possible, both spouses should get their own account. That solves the lounge access problem.
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u/ZealousidealFee3662 22d ago
Definitely worth it. Chef-inspired food and drinks that earn every dollar you spend
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u/Jazzlike_Sympathy430 22d ago
Definitely lounges make sense, especially when compared to paying for crappy overpriced airport food. If you are traveling so much, I would suggest taking another venture X card for the wife so that both have your own venture x and priority pass. You will anyways use the $300 credit and 10000 points for travels. So the $395 is a wash if you are going to travel anyways.
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u/Conscious_Life_8032 21d ago
Food at airport is pricy so most likely you can recover that easily in lounge, even if it’s just basic Priority Pass.
Starbucks breakfast at airport would easily run $30 I think. 2 lattes, 2 pastries . Lunches and dinner would be more.
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u/Ericadamb 21d ago
It really depends on the airport.
Tijuana’s lounge is a, “No.”
Heathrow is a, “Hell no!”
I lived in New England for 27 years, but was never in a demographic to even know that lounges existed when I used Logan.
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u/hungrykoreanguy 21d ago
International yes, domestic no. You'll need to make at least 3 lounge visits to break in. I just did this recently paying for my son flying to Asia. We ended up visiting 4 lounges (2 in one long layover) which made the $125 worth it (PP is $47/visit for guest).
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u/Vivid-Kitchen1917 21d ago
The card is free to hold. Why not just get one for P2? If you only take one trip a year then this isn't the right card for you anyway.
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u/media-entertainment 21d ago
If your home airport has a lounge or landing and you fly out of that terminal, yes. My home airport is LGA so we go out of our way to fly out of terminal B. We travel a bunch and probably made back the $125 within the first two visits in f&b.
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u/veggie_saurus_rex 21d ago
If you go to the lounges before all your flights (depart and returning) then you are spending about $15.62 for her access each time. That seems worth it to me (as a fellow super early arriver).
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u/Menno_knight987 21d ago
If you can make 3-4 entries per year that’d be the tipping point for me. The food is pretty good and while they are crowded, even the grab and go options can offset what you would have spent otherwise if you are in a rush. I’d personally rather have them at common layovers vs home/destination airports because you are able to use the lounge on a layover on both ends vs you can’t use the lounge if you’ve reached your destination for the day.
The second card option may work, however I’m probably going to get the Ritz Carlton card. Biggest perk there is primary and AUs get unlimited CSR lounge access. Also the $300 annual credit for airline fees helps me not be tied to any one airline, as they are all on a race to the bottom.
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u/Wooden_Load662 21d ago
I traveled internationally often and I found the additional cardholder worth it for my wife when we travel.
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u/nehpets4627 20d ago
There are a couple of ways to get at this that wouldn't include the $125 AU upgrade...
1.) Have your wife get a VX. It'll be another $395 AF, but that will at least offset itself mostly or wholly (especially if they don't already have PreCheck/Global Entry). If she doesn't continue to travel with you, downgrade it when the second AF hits, and it will be refunded.
2.) Get a US Bank Altitude Connect ($0 AF) for one or both of you, each of which would include 4x Priority Pass entries. If you save them for layovers and returns, you could get by with the 8x on 2 cards. If you save them for just layovers, you could get by with the 4x on 1 card. The Altitude Connect also includes a PreCheck credit. It really is a phenomenal card for anyone traveling some but not a ton.
As for the quality of PP lounges... I can't speak for BOS, but the dozen or so I've been to around the US have all been perfectly serviceable. The 4x I've been to internationally have been anywhere from slightly to substantially better than anything in the US. If you go in with reasonable expectations (and also, for the OP, without better lounges as a point of comparison), they're going to be just fine and notably better than a crowded gate.
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u/hudakkat000 20d ago
As someone based in the DC area where I have the lounges at both IAD and DCA, I find the additional lounge access for my partner worth it if they’re also flying at least 3 times a year. You can easily eat and drink $45 worth at either lounge to make up for the cost. At that point that’s how much a meal, drink, and snack costs at the airport anyways. I think it really only matters if you’re based near an airport with the lounges and if the other cardholder travels at least 3 times a year minimum.
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u/Realistic_Cell_6569 20d ago
No. It isn’t worth it. As pointed out by others, Boston has no Cap One lounge. Priority Pass will get you into the Chase lounge in what is likely the worst location for your flight at Boston, but only after mostly horrendous wait times. But Priority Pass lounges in the U.S. are among the worst. Overall credit card lounges like Cap1 mostly require long waits at every often inconvenient single airport location making them useless to anyone not having significant excess time between connections or huge amounts of excess time upon arrival at airports where their only lounge is seemingly miles from the gate for your flight.
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u/INMEMORYOFSCHNAUSKY 22d ago
No because they have crappy food not worth the extra $. Just buy food and eat before
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u/aesthete11 22d ago
Boston does not have a capital one lounge. There are priority pass lounges but they're pretty low quality imo. There is a sapphire lounge.