American Express removes access to Priority Pass restaurants

The news literally went around the world yesterday: American Express Hong Kong was the first to fire when it announced these changes. Followed by American Express USA… and finally American Express Canada has confirmed that this will also affect Canadian cardholders.

Technically, this mainly concerns holders of:

• the Platinum Card^MD from American Express
• The Platinum Card^®,

… that have unlimited access to Priority Pass airport lounges for the cardholder and one guest.

This was a practical advantage to have, especially when dealing with Priority Pass lounges that can be particularly busy.

I use it regularly, especially on connections in Boston at Jerry Remy’s restaurant:

And since last year, many restaurants have joined Priority Pass:

Are other credit cards that offer Priority Pass affected?

For now, only Priority Pass memberships obtained through American Express are affected.

So if you have obtained a Priority Pass card through other issuers such as Scotiabank, you are not affected by this measure.

For example, if you have in your hands the Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite* Card – and you have registered for Priority Pass via the link provided with the welcome package – continue to enjoy your 6 complimentary annual Priority Pass airport lounge AND restaurant access.

This is a good reminder of the importance of diversifying your credit card portfolio with different issuers! If one takes away your benefits… you can always switch to another to continue to benefit!

In our couple, we always have between 4 and 6 Priority Pass accounts per year, depending on our credit card subscriptions!

My opinion on the matter

Some will see this as a further withdrawal of benefits, particularly Platinum American Express Card^MD holders.

However, I’m one of those people who think there’s something going on between American Express and Priority Pass. It was becoming illogical and uneconomical for American Express to offer unlimited annual access:

• at Priority Pass restaurants
• at Priority Pass bars
• at Priority Pass lounges
• at Centurion salons

Each time a Cardmember accesses one of these Priority Pass lounges/restaurants, American Express contributes approximately US$20-25 to Priority Pass.

And some of them took advantage of the system by doing “the round of the lounges” in the same airport:

• 2 drinks in a Priority Pass bar
• meal at a Priority Pass restaurant
• relaxation / work in a Priority Pass lounge
• and why not take a nap in a Centurion lounge!

I don’t accuse anyone… since I already did it 😉

Rather than remove the “unlimited annual” feature, American Express chose to cut ties with the restaurants. But I think in the future, American Express wants to go further with the salons.

The purchase of LoungeBuddy by American Express

American Express already has a network of salons that it operates itself: the Centurion salons.

There are some in the biggest American airports like San Francisco, Miami, New York or Las Vegas.

And even internationally like Hong Kong.

But American Express recently decided to go a step further with the lounges. Indeed, in March-April 2019, it acquired the platform
LoungeBuddy
.

LoungeBuddy is a digital platform that allows you to discover the different airport lounges and know how to get there… but can also allow you to book an entrance.

This is a very useful application as it allows you to immediately identify, based on your credit card portfolio / Priority Pass / LoungeKey subscriptions…

…which lounge(s) is/are available in the visited airports….

… and which card(s) to use from your portfolio:

As of April 01, 2019, only American Express cardholders can book lounge access at airports doing business with LoungeBuddy, as stated in the FAQs related to the acquisition.

Bottom Line

In the short term, restaurant withdrawals for Priority Pass holders via American Express are a further loss of benefits. However, I think we need to take a longer view.

It would not be surprising if in the future LoungeBuddy became a competitor to Priority Pass / LoungeKey by dealing directly with each lounge… which would allow American Express to separate itself from Priority Pass by directly offering ITS lounge network.

This is all guesswork… but the LoungeBuddy acquisition in April 2019… and then the Priority Pass restaurant withdrawal announced in May 2019 for August 2019 seem to be good indications of where things are going!