Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About The Citi Prestige Priority Pass Benefit

One of the benefits of the Citi Prestige card is that it comes with a Priority Pass Select (PPS) Membership Prestige Level which gives the primary cardholder and two guests or immediate family unlimited access to 700+ airline lounges around the world at no cost. People often have a lot of questions about this benefit, so why not cover the most basic ones.

What Lounges Do You Get Access To?

Priority Pass Select gives you access to all of the lounges in the Priority Pass network except United lounges. In total there are over 700 lounges in this network, to view what’s available head to http://www.prioritypass.com/Lounges/ in the left sidebar you’ll see “Find Your Lounge”. You can then select the country and it’ll provide a drop down of what cities they have lounges in, another drop down will show the available lounges. Once you’ve selected a lounge it’ll provide information on that lounge including what’s available. Here is the information for Alaska Airlines Board Room at LAX:

lounge information

Who Gets Free Access?

The primary cardholder will get free access to all of the lounges, in addition to this they are able to bring up to two guests or immediate family members and they’ll also be granted free access to the lounge. If the primary cardholder wants to take additional guests into the lounge, they are able to do so but each additional guest will cost $27 (this will automatically be charged to the Citi Prestige).

Because this is the Priority Pass Select Prestige level, there is no limit to the number of free visits one can use. Some people have reported taking in more than two guests and not being charged the $27 but obviously your mileage may vary. It’s best to think you will be charged and then be pleasantly surprised if you’re not.

How Long Does It Take For It To Arrive?

It’s not necessary to request your PPS card, it ships automatically. The Priority Pass Select membership card does not ship with your Citi Prestige card and just presenting your Prestige card will not grant you access to these lounges. Officially Citi will say that it takes 7-10 business days after approval to arrive (although sometimes it can arrive much sooner than 7 business days).  It’s not possible to ask for your priority pass card to be expedited. There are two methods you can use that might work for lounge access while you wait:

  • Call Priority Pass or Citi and request the number of your priority pass membership. At most lounges you should be able to given this number to the lounge attendant to gain access by explaining the physical card is yet to arrive. You should also be able to request your PIN, which means you can create your account online (this allows you to get a print out with your name, number and your join date – some lounge attendants might be more likely to accept this).
  • Call Citi before you enter the lounge and tell them you want to access a lounge but have not received your card yet. They should tell you to simply charge the lounge to your Prestige card and that you’ll receive a reimbursement. This also works if you’ve left your PP card at home.

The Priority Pass cards themselves are sent by Collinson and not by Citi, which is why the cards cannot be expedited (Citi cards themselves can sometimes be expedited).

Expiration Date Trickery

My Priority Pass membership card has an expiration date of sometime in 2018. Does this mean that if I cancel my card I’ll be able to use it until 2018?

No, when you cancel your Prestige card Citi will notify Priority Pass that you’ve done so and your Priority Pass membership will be cancelled. Some people have reported that they don’t actually cancel your account completely, but drop you down to the lowest level which means you can still access the lounges but you’d need to pay $27. This might or might not work in your situation.

Authorized Users

It’s possible to add authorized users for $50, these authorized users also receive a full Priority Pass Select Prestige Level which has all of the same benefits that the primary cardholder receives (including two free guests). This is an incredibly cheap way to get lounge access if you know somebody with the Prestige that trusts you.

Final Thoughts

The PPS that the Citi Prestige provides is superior to the one that the American Express Platinum cards provide because you get two free guests (although remember that the platinum cards also grant access to the centurion lounges). It’s also surprising that a $50 authorized user can also get this benefit.

How useful/valuable a benefit like this really depends on how often you’re flying, how many people you usually fly with, the airports you’re going to, how useful you find lounges and also what other lounge access you might already have.

I like having lounge access, but it’s generally not something I’m willing to pay for/value highly. I just see it as an added benefit rather than a reason to get or keep a specific card. I know some people wouldn’t live without it, generally as long as I have internet access I don’t really care if I’m against a wall at the gate or at a fancy lounge – but I fully appreciate I’m in the minority there.

 

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4 Comments
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mint
mint (@guest_137507)
June 23, 2015 20:36

the immediate family clause is interesting. So if you are going on a family trip with mom, dad, wife and kids, it’s a lot of lounge access.

Bill S
Bill S (@guest_136083)
June 17, 2015 09:12

I think this is going to turn out to be pretty useful for me. However, there seem to be some holes and restrictions in the program. I just got back from an SFO/IAD trip. SFO has no Priority Pass lounge, and IAD only has one. The one at IAD will only let Priority Pass members in until14:00. Time limitations seem to be somewhat common, just glancing through the lounge list. Again, I think I’ll get some use out of this, it just sucks that I can’t use it on my most traveled domestic route.

Calvin
Calvin (@guest_112393)
May 1, 2015 16:22

Isn’t the Priority Pass Select losing the United Club access starting Mid-May? Which wouldn’t have much difference between the PP & the PPS, correct? Do you think the PPS is still a good value even though the United Club will be gone?