Priority Pass Good Deal?

[Rc2702]

I recently discovered Priority pass. Nice lounge spaces with food and beverages in 1000 locations airport locations worldwide.

 

£259 a year unlimited usage prior to confirmed flights

£159 a year max 10 uses

Pay on arrival at lounge -  £21 per use pay as you fly.

 

I paid £21 and drank 4 large whiskeys and had a few plates of pasta.

 

Few questions:

 

Is it limited to 3 hours per visit or as a member is it more lax?

 

The lounge I tried out was in Bahrain. 

 

I'd use them again but if I had a connecting flight with say a 6 hour stopover I'd like to stay in the lounge as long as possible. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[oldcarguy]

what lounge does it use at Swampy ?

[steve187]

i stayed 6 hours at the lounge in the old Doha airport, around the £21 mark

Edited March 1, 2017 by steve187

[Upnotover]

1 hour ago, oldcarguy said:

what lounge does it use at Swampy ?

Amongst others, they use the Louis Tavern lounges at BKK.  You can pay to enter these anyway without Priority Pass membership.

[ChangMaiSausage]

Certain branded Master/Visa cards get you in many airport lounges (check which cards give you most access) 

[stbkk]

Quote

Amex platinum cards used to include priority pass when I had one. Mind you, that was a few years ago, so not sure about now, but worth checking.

 

[csabo]

5 hours ago, oldcarguy said:

what lounge does it use at Swampy ?

https://www.prioritypass.com/en/Lounges/Asia-Pacific/Thailand/Bangkok/Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi-Intl/BKK8-Air-France---KLM-SkyLounge

[RandG]

1 hour ago, stbkk said:

 

Amex Platinum still offers Priority Pass; in fact these days they give the primary card holder one, and a secondary cardholder, in my case the wife. She uses hers a lot when flying between UK and Germany to visit her mum with Easyjet umpteen times a year. Between Thailand and UK, we primarily use the airlines own FF lounges, but use PP a reasonable amount when flying around the region with Air Asia.

 

The time limit, if any, is set by the lounge, not Priority Pass.

 

In Swampy, there are numerous lounges accessible with PP, although we have found Oman's to be the best. Small, but excellent.

[Dipterocarp]

51 minutes ago, csabo said:

https://www.prioritypass.com/en/Lounges/Asia-Pacific/Thailand/Bangkok/Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi-Intl/BKK8-Air-France---KLM-SkyLounge

Interesting I just used it about  a month ago at BKK.  It was Luis Tavern maybe it changed. I have Priority Pass through a Chase (US) Ritz-Carlton Visa that is $400/yr.

Many airports use the KAL lounge in Asia it seems.

 

The card gives you a $300/ per year "travel Credit". You can call them and they will reimburse things like buy on board food, bag fees, lounge fees and upgrades.

The other thing gives Gold Member status at Marriott properties. Example I stayed in Hong Kong where the breakfast buffet is almost $50USD

gold members get it free and the evening drinks/food lounge is Members Only. Enough food did not even go out to dinner, and you can bring a guest.

 

Went to another one in Nagoya where we had about 4 drinks each plus food at the club level. Would have been easy $100 if ordered at the Bar so I'd say it is a good value for $400/yr.

Edited March 1, 2017 by Dipterocarp

[welshchris]

I bought a 25% discount off Groupon fir the standard plus (normally £165) which comes with 10 free visits.

 

pushes it down to about £12.50 for first 10 and then £15 per visit after that.

 

https://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/priority-pass-105?keyw=priority pass discount&crea=119254438880&netw=g&adpos=1t1&utm_campaign=UK_MB_SEA_GGL_TXT_TTT_SR_CBP_CH1_NBR_k*priority pass discount_m*b_c*119254438880_d*UK-RTC-KWService-National_g*RTC-KWService-priority-pass-105-BROAD_s*219_t*kwd-1522696542&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&loc_physical_ms=9045632&loc_interest_ms=&gclid=CjwKEAiA_9nFBRCsurz7y_Px8xoSJAAUqvKChaNRf01HGRY9AD9YBmicin8ED7eHxMBrNkz6P_23nxoC3Qvw_wcB

 

[welshchris]

the lounges say 3 hours but if you are polite and keep your head down and don't get drink or eat to excess for the duration of your stay they tend not to bother you.

[chillimuncher]

1 hour ago, welshchris said:

the lounges say 3 hours but if you are polite and keep your head down and don't get drink or eat to excess for the duration of your stay they tend not to bother you.

Agree. I've never been evicted after 3 hours. And YES, for frequent travellers with economy class tickets Priority Pass is a good deal. At Swampy airport there are several lounges that can be accessed, some better than others. There is the Priority Pass phone app to look up lounges, nearest lounge, facilities etc.

[MW72]

Swampy now has the KLM/Air France lounge which is better than Louis Tavern. I get my Priority Pass free with my bank account but a few guys at work pay for it and they all seem to think it is VFM. Most lounges are 3 or 4 hours but the Marhaba loung in T2 DXB is only 2 hours. Never been kicked out if the lounge isn't busy. Download the app fro your phone and it will tell you all of the lounges.

[ajarnmarc]

1 hour ago, chillimuncher said:

Agree. I've never been evicted after 3 hours. And YES, for frequent travellers with economy class tickets Priority Pass is a good deal. At Swampy airport there are several lounges that can be accessed, some better than others. There is the Priority Pass phone app to look up lounges, nearest lounge, facilities etc.

Good to know, as I wasn't aware there was an app for this.

Cheers

[Rc2702]

Even for £21 a hit it's a great deal when you consider the rubbish food and over priced everything that is sold in airports.

 

 

[LivinLOS]

My bank comps me those.. I wouldnt pay for it if casual couple of times a year use.. But if moving through Swampy (international.. Theres no domestic lounge) monthly or so it does make for an nicer transfer. 

[eppic]

I love Priority Pass (PP), especially in Asia. Many of the PP lounges are actually nicer than many of the biz class lounges, so a couple of times I have used PP even when flying biz class. 

 

As some others mentioned, credit cards are a great way to get PP, and actually may have better benefits than purchasing directly from PP.  I actually have two (US) cards, Citi Prestige and Chase Sapphire Reserve that each provide me with PP access. They both have hefty annual fees but you can credit travel costs, so net fee ends around $200.  Citi also give fourth night free on hotels (not to mention big sign-on bonus for both), which easily covers the $200, so in effect the PP membership is free. Similar story with Chase.  Citi also allows two guests to be brought into the PP lounge, while Chase allows unlimited, so if traveling with friends or family these are a great deal. I know the Citi card is also available in Thailand and some other countries.

 

So, if you do much traveling at all, there are credit cards that provide the PP essentially free (depends on what country you are from, of course) and are very worthwhile.

 

Edited March 1, 2017 by eppic

[mrfaroukh]

Yes it is a good card for those who travel a lot. I got a free priority pass with maximum of 12 free lounge access which now reduced to 6. I am trying to get a Dinners card too which give me another 6 times free access and all for free. This is a real good deal for me.

[JDMCanuck]

I just used them at Swampy, small stayed 2 hours, not bad but can see how they might kick you out after a few hours , although if it was fairly empty I doubt it . Narita was terrible not worth it at all unless you drink a lot and like noodles in a cup. Ive used the one in Vancouver 3 times in the last few years and it is really good. Chefs will actually make something up for you. I got 4 free uses with a Credit card so not sure of the value , if they were all like Van I say yes, if all like Narita, unless you just want to drink I would def say no. 

[recycler]

If you travel a lot it is worth is, but check if they have lounges on your regular flights. Australia is poorly covered.

 

I never had a problem staying longer if needed.

 

The best lounge at Suvernabhumi is the Oman Air lounge, suberb food and a good selection of drinks, pity they are not open at night.

[MyFriend You]

21 hours ago, stbkk said:

 

They still do, no charge to me, but I get a No Space available in places like Addis Ababa, Nairobi, somtimes Tokyo..........a lot of lounges will allow you to pay to enter.

Edited March 2, 2017 by TunnelRat69