The pricey Priority Pass mistake I made twice and never will make again

My favorite credit card perk is bringing friends and family into lounges for free as guests.

I love letting my kids go to town on hot chocolate and treats during long layovers and hearing their decided opinions on the lounges they’ve visited. (Their take: The Capital One Lounge at Dulles International Airport (IAD) near Washington, D.C., has the best food, and the Escape Lounge at Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (PVD) near Providence apparently has the nicest bathrooms.)

I feel generous when I can offer a better preflight experience to work colleagues or a free meal to freelancers on a budget. I enjoy the look of wonder on my friends’ faces when they strut into a lounge like they’re a VIP.

I get lounge access through my Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, which offers a twofer: a free Priority Pass membership and access to Capital One’s exclusive lounges and dining-focused “Landings.” I live in Virginia, Capital One’s home state, which means on nearly every departing flight, I can swing by the Capital One Lounge and a selection of Priority Pass lounges at IAD — though, realistically, when I’m not at the Capital One Lounge, I’m almost always at the Turkish Airlines Lounge — or the Capital One Landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).

My lounge access privileges have changed since I first got the Venture X. Initially, I could access Priority Pass’s network of restaurants, where I could get a $28 dining credit for myself and a guest, but that perk quickly disappeared. I didn’t miss it too much.

But this year, Venture X made a bigger change. It took away free lounge access for any authorized users (in my case, my husband) and removed free guest access for Capital One Lounges and Landings, much to my kids’ chagrin.

I was so disappointed in those changes that I missed the details of the final change: Priority Pass Lounge guests were also no longer free.

In mid-February, just after these changes went into effect, I was flying out of Italy’s Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) and ran into a friend from my cruise in line for the Marco Polo Club. He didn’t have access but was wondering if he could pay for it.

“Let me see if I can guest you in,” I said because I couldn’t remember the new policy or when it started. I asked the lounge agent if I could bring a guest, and she said yes. I asked how much it would cost, but she didn’t ask for a credit card and waved us both through.

I assumed my guest was free and then neglected to review my credit card statement. (I know, I know. I’m a busy working mom, and it slipped my mind!)

Two months later, I was with a friend in Barranquilla, Colombia, where its tiny Ernesto Cortissoz Barranquilla International Airport (BAQ) surprisingly had a Priority Pass lounge. Once again, I asked if I could bring a guest and if there was a charge, but the lounge agent merely looked at my membership card and our boarding passes before sending us into the lounge.

Maybe the new policy hadn’t gone into effect or was at the discretion of each lounge, I thought, happy to feed my friends for free.

After that latter trip, I looked at my credit card statement and realized I’d made a pricey mistake.

On my list of charges were two $35 fees for my two Priority Pass lounge guests in 2026. I don’t mind paying for my friends, but we could have bought airport food for less than $35.

My downfall had been in assuming that the lounges would charge me for guest access at the time of entry. When they didn’t swipe my credit card, I believed my guests to be free. In reality, the lounges were sending my information to Priority Pass, which was then charging my Venture X account for the guests.

Thankfully, I only made this mistake twice before realizing what I’d done and actually reading the fine print of Capital One’s new lounge access policies. My days of bringing friends and family into lounges for free as guests are now sadly over.

The new policy diminishes my lounge benefit in two ways, one obvious and one not. I am clearly losing the benefit of being able to bring free guests to the lounge. But now, whenever I travel with family or friends who don’t have their own Priority Pass account (which is most of them), I will have to decide whether to abandon them for snacks and Wi-Fi in the lounge or accompany them to overpriced airport restaurants.

In other words, I’m now less likely to use my lounge access when traveling with others, making that perk less valuable.

For now, Venture X’s $300 annual travel credit, Global Entry/TSA PreCheck statement credit and lounge access for my solo travels is enough to keep me paying the $395 annual fee. But should those benefits disappear or the annual fee skyrocket, I will have to reconsider which cards I keep in my wallet.

Until then, I’ll have to wrestle with the choice between chasing free airport food and being a good friend — and figure out new ways to feed my ravenous teen and tween for less on family vacations. They’re not going to be happy about giving up free hot chocolate and bougie bathrooms. And neither am I.