The Ultimate Guide: Accessing Canadian Airport Lounges with a Credit Card

The other easy way to access lounges is to have a credit card that offers Priority Pass.

• Some will offer unlimited access
• Others will offer a few annual accesses

To access dozens of airport lounges, simply present your Priority Pass membership card at the entrance.

Here’s a list of all the airport lounges in Canada where Priority Pass membership is available:

Only American Express cards offer Priority Pass.

If you’d like 10 free Priority Pass airport lounge accesses per year, you could subscribe to the Scotiabank Platinum American Express^® Card which offers an excellent accumulation rate, especially at the grocery store.

Also, enjoy free access to Priority Pass lounges if you travel frequently. Thanks to the American Express Platinum Card^® or the Business Platinum Card^® from American Express your annual fee will quickly pay for itself. These are the only cards in Canada to offer unlimited access for the cardholder and one guest to Priority Pass airport lounges.

**LoungeKey is no longer available since July 2022. We leave this section for the archives.

Another method of accessing a Canadian airport lounge was to hold a credit card that offers a LoungeKey subscription, such as World, World Elite or Muse level Mastercard credit cards.

However, as of June 30, 2022, Mastercard has decided to go with the DragonPass network, so the LoungeKey network is no longer available free of charge via credit cards in Canada.

Please note that LoungeKey members will no longer have access to Plaza Premium lounges from July 1, 2021.

Visa and DragonPass offer a travel benefit to holders of certain Visa credit cards. This partnership is called Visa Airport Companion.

In Canada, several Visa Infinite Privilege credit cards offer 6 free visits to airport lounges:

• BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card
• TD^® Aeroplan^® Visa Infinite Privilege* Credit Card
• CIBC^® Aeroplan^® Visa Infinite Privilege* Card
• RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card
• RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card
• Desjardins Odyssey^® Visa Infinite Privilege* Card
• Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Privilege card (which gives you 10 free accesses per year instead)

Here are the current welcome offers for some of these cards:

The following cards also offer free access to lounges in the DragonPass network. Free access is renewed on every anniversary of the card membership:

• Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card: 6 free annual accesses

Finally, two “Infinite” level CIBC cards offer 4 free visits to airport lounges:

• CIBC Aventura^® Gold Visa* Card
• CIBC Aventura^® Visa Infinite* Card

Mastercard and DragonPass offer a travel benefit to holders of certain Mastercard credit cards. The partnership is called Mastercard Travel Pass.

The only Mastercard in Canada to offer both a DragonPass subscription AND 4 free annual accesses is the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard.

Other World and World Elite Mastercard credit cards offer subscription, but access is subject to a fee.

Here is the current welcome offer for this card:

Another, less common method of accessing a Canadian airport lounge is to hold a credit card whose bank is associated with an airport lounge .

In Canada, two financial institutions are associated with an airport lounge: National Bank and Desjardins.

To access these airport lounges, simply present your credit card at the lounge entrance.

Finally, you can access Air Canada’s Maple Leaf lounges with a credit card associated with the airline’s frequent flyer program.

In Canada, three financial institutions are partnered with Air Canada: American Express, CIBC and TD.

To access these airport lounges, simply present your credit card at the lounge entrance.

The Maple Leaf Lounges are located in the following terminals and near the following doors:

There’s also a Maple Leaf Express Lounge in Toronto, in Terminal 1, between gates F84-F99.

Another type of lounge is the Air Canada Signature Suite. It is located only in 2 airports. The experience here is much more gastronomic and upscale.

This Air Canada Signature Suite is reserved only for travellers with a Signature Class ticket or an award ticket in Business Flexible or First Class, for international travel to Australia, Asia or Europe.

• Vancouver YVR: Located near gate D52
• Toronto YYZ: Located near gate E77

Calgary International Airport’s Elevation Lounge is WestJet’s only airport lounge.

The WestJet RBC^® World Elite Mastercard gives you the choice of a companion voucher or 4 free admissions to lounges, including WestJet’s Elevation lounge.

There are many ways to access Canadian airport lounges.

You could start with free access to airport lounges with the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard, which gives you 4 airport lounges a year.

Need more visits? The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card will give you 6 annual accesses. Plus, you’ll save money on your foreign currency transactions because this card charges no conversion fees!

Or if you regularly travel internationally from Montreal-Trudeau, the National Bank World Elite Mastercard offers you unlimited access to the National Bank Lounge.

Finally, if you’re a frequent Air Canada traveller, the American Express^® Aeroplan^®* Reserve Card and the American Express^® Aeroplan^®* Business Reserve Card will open the doors to all Air Canada Maple Leaf lounges in North America.

And if you travel regularly, the American Express Platinum Card^® or Business Platinum Card^® from American Express are perfect. They give you unlimited access to over 20 airport lounges in Canada and over 1,300 worldwide!

These are the cards we recommend, according to your needs.