For the past several years, I have been a cardholder of the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, and have gone so far as to call it “the best luxury credit card out there“. The combination of benefits like lounge access, the valuable nature of Venture miles, the ease of double miles everywhere and the $300 travel credit made the Venture X card worth it to me despite the hefty $395 annual fee. However, recent changes to the Venture X card have made me start to reconsider if this is a card that I want to keep going forward.
Capital One Venture X lounge access
As I mentioned, the airport lounge access policy with the Venture X card is one of the biggest reasons I personally like the card. You get a Priority Pass Select membership, with 2 guests included. You also get access to the outstanding Capital One lounges that are in various airports throughout the country.
Even better, you could add up to FOUR authorized users (for free), and each of THEM also got access to these lounges and the ability to add guests. I’ve used that to get my family into lounges when we travel, and also given my kids their own cards so that they can access lounges when they travel without me.
Capital One changing lounge access with the Venture X card
It has definitely been a generous policy, and we were all wondering how long it would last (or when the annual fee would go up). Unfortunately, this week we got news that Capital One is changing the lounge access with the Venture X card.
Here is the relevant parts from an email that I got from Capital One recently regarding authorized users:
- Beginning February 1, 2026, additional cardholders on Venture X accounts will not automatically have airport lounge access.
- Primary cardholders can pay an annual lounge access fee of $125 per additional cardholder to maintain their lounge access. This will grant additional cardholders access to Capital One Lounges, Capital One Landings and Priority Pass lounges.
- You can still keep or add additional cardholders without lounge access for no fee.
- If you wish to add lounge access for your additional cardholders you’ll have the option to do so beginning February 1, 2026.
And it gets even worse, because here are the changes for guests:
- Beginning February 1, 2026, guests of Venture X cardholders will no longer receive complimentary access to Priority Pass lounges. At that time, Venture X primary cardholders and eligible additional cardholders can bring guests to Priority Pass lounges at a rate of $35 each per visit.
- Beginning February 1, 2026, guests of Venture X cardholders will no longer automatically receive complimentary access to Capital One Lounges and Landings.
Primary cardholders and eligible additional cardholders that spend at least $75,000 across their Venture X account per calendar year can bring up to two complimentary guests to Capital One Lounges and one complimentary guest to Capital One Landings per visit.
Cardholder spend towards the $75,000 threshold begins in the 2025 calendar year. Complimentary guest access is valid for the calendar year in which the $75,000 spend occurs and the following calendar year.
Venture X primary cardholders and eligible additional cardholders will continue to receive discounted pricing of $45 per guest per visit, and will now receive a discounted rate of $25 per visit per guest 17 and under.
Children under two remain free.
Is the Venture X still worth it?
So, is the Capital One Venture X still worth it? In my original post talking about the Capital One Venture X lounge changes, there was a commenter who said that “Lounges are too crowded. Even more needs to be done to thin the herds in my opinion”. Another commenter suggested “Capital One has gone too far in removing the guest access”, suggesting that a compromise might have been to remove the authorized user lounge access (which is a benefit most other similar cards do not have) but keep the guest access.
Of course, there are many valid opinions, and different people are going to have opinions based on their own beliefs and travel habits, but the crux of the matter is that it doesn’t really matter what any of us think. Capital One is quite unlikely to change their strategy based on a few random travel blogs. Even if “everyone” started canceling their Venture X card, it seems unlikely to produce change (though it has happened before with other changes from other companies). The real question now is what will I (and you) do?
What to do about airport lounge access?
Since I am only in control of my own decisions (of course :-D), I thought I would walk through some of my thoughts for what card to get for airport lounge access. Having a Priority Pass membership is a fairly important perk for me – it seems so long ago that I was content to sit in the airport terminal like a peasant :-D.
There are a few cards that come with airport lounge access
- Capital One Venture X
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- The Platinum Card® from American Express
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®
I have already held many of these cards before, but currently only hold the Venture X card. Here are a few of the thoughts I’ve considered for lounge access in 2026 and beyond:
- Keep the Venture X card and pay $35 any time I want to bring a guest in (probably never)
- Keep the Venture X card and pay the $125 for my wife to be an authorized user on the card
- Have my wife sign up for her own Venture X card – $395 annual fee but also with a welcome bonus worth more than that in the first year. Re-evaluate after a year.
- Sign up for a Platinum or Business Platinum card if I can find a compelling targeted offer (I have seen ones as high as 250,000 Membership Rewards points)
- Another option is the Ritz-Carlton card. It’s not open to new applicants, but I could apply for a card like the Marriott Bonvoy Bold or Bonvoy Boundless, and then upgrade to the Ritz-Carlton card in a year. The Ritz card still offers unlimited guests and authorized user Priority Pass access.
- Just hang out in the terminal when I fly?
The Bottom Line – What are you doing for airport lounge access now?
With the devastating changes to the lounge access with the Capital One Venture X card, I am trying to decide what I should do for airport / Priority Pass lounge access. I think that it is likely that I will cancel or downgrade my Venture X card at some point in the next few months. Right now I am leaning towards looking for a targeted Amex Platinum offer or possibly applying for a Chase Marriott card that I can upgrade in a year to the Ritz-Carlton card.
What are you going to do for airport lounge access? Leave your thoughts in the comments below
This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as thepointsguy.com. This may impact how and where links appear on this site. Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers and that compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners and I do not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers and other offers and benefits listed on this page. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. Other links on this page may also pay me a commission - as always, thanks for your support if you use them
User Generated Content Disclosure: Points With a Crew encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.
Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at
I don’t view the changes as negative, as the overcrowding of C1 lounges are problematic. The card has a net zero cost, give the $300 travel rebate and 10K point bonus for renewing. True frequent travelers should not flinch at either paying the annual $125 additional cardholder lounge access fee or even applying for a separate card account, given the net zero cost.
Yeah – that is a good point. Maybe I will sign up the wife for the Venture X card too…
(1) The lounge isn’t really relevant to the Bonvoy card unless it is the only card you hold with PP access. Most of us keep the card for the 85k hotel cert.
(2) Amex Plat has a far larger lounge footprint than Crap1 and AU cardholders get full access. And some Plat flavors offer free AU cards. Seems like a no brainer to keep this one.
(3) CSR is similar to Crap1 for lounges but offers much better earning and card perks and better transfer partners.
(4) Crap1 is the least useful and really offers nothing of value except the SUB and PP membership. Not a keeper
I assume you mean the Ritz card when you say Bonvoy card? It would be my only card with Priority Pass (if I end up canceling the Venture X). I did see the 85K hotel cert, but I was wondering how valuable just ONE free cert would be, since it would mean needing a lot of points to book any other nights at that hotel during a trip. Wish it was 85K points per year…
You would have to pay me to spend my time in any of the overcrowded lounges that are widely available via credit cards. Everyone trying to “maximize” their card benefits by fighting over terrible buffet offerings while being packed like sardines is delusional.