The travel credit card wars are heating up. To help stay competitive, American Express recently introduced two new benefits for Platinum cardholders.
In April, American Express unveiled the Platinum Member Airfares program. This program expands on an existing benefit that gave eligible cardholders access to discounted airfares on select international premium flights booked through the American Express Travel Portal. Under the expanded program, cardholders now have access to discounts on select domestic and economy flights as well.
The introduction of the expanded airfare program coincides with Amex launching Sidecar lounges, a new concept for American Express. For many American Express Platinum cardholders, including myself, these are welcome changes that may encourage me to hang on to my card, even as American Express raised its annual fee on the Platinum card from $695 a year to a jaw-dropping $895 a year, the highest in the industry.
These new benefits come at a time when competition continues to rev up up among travel credit card providers—and as their rival lounge spaces face overcrowding issues, which threatens to water down the appeal of investing in premium travel credit cards in the first place.
Amex, Chase, and Capital One: Which offers the best lounge benefits?
All three major players in travel credit cards—American Express, Chase, and Capital One—offer premium travel credit cards that provide access to a growing network of lounges. At different times, I’ve held a premium travel card from each bank, including the American Express Platinum card, the Capital One Venture X, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Each of these cards provides a complimentary Priority Pass membership, which grants access to more than 1,500 participating lounges worldwide. In addition, American Express, Chase, and Capital One all have their own smaller, branded network of lounges for eligible cardholders.
Access to airport lounges is a nonnegotiable for many travelers, but access doesn’t come cheap. Premium travel cards that offer lounge access come with hefty fees. The Capital One Venture X carries a $395 annual fee, the Chase Sapphire Reserve costs $795 a year, and the American Express Platinum will set you back $895 annually. Still, having a quiet space to work or relax, with unlimited access to food and drinks, is invaluable to many frequent fliers like me who gladly pay these fees to retain lounge access year after year.
However, the landscape of getting access to lounges is changing. In theory, cardholders should be able to show their credit card or Priority Pass membership and be waived into a lounge. In practice, waitlists to enter may be so long that a spot doesn’t become available until after a flight has departed.
Of the travel credit cards, American Express’s Centurion Lounge network is the most expansive, including its outpost in Atlanta.
Courtesy of American Express
Although American Express, Chase, and Capital One operate their own lounges exclusively for cardholders, they aren’t enough to solve the overcrowding problem.
American Express has the most lounges for its cardholders, but the number of American Express Centurion Lounges currently tops out at 32 across approximately 4,000 commercial airports worldwide. Capital One currently has seven lounges, and Chase has nine. Moreover, these lounges are often too small to accommodate all cardholders who want to enter, resulting in the same long waits as at Priority Pass lounges.
American Express is unique in offering access to additional lounge networks. Eligible American Express cardholders can use Escape Lounges and Delta and Lufthansa lounges when flying those airlines. However, cardholders may also have to wait a while to access these lounges.
There is no clear answer to the overcrowding problem. “Airport lounges are a dynamic and increasingly competitive space,” Audrey Hendley, president of American Express Travel, told Afar.
Despite the difficulty of accessing lounges for many travelers, “card issuers will continue to want to market these cards with lounge access as a benefit. But there will always be a limited amount of space at airports that these card issuers can use to expand their lounge size,” adds Jimmy Yoon, head of points intelligence at point.me, a points and travel reward search platform. “Any meaningful fix will likely require further access restrictions, which are generally unpopular,” he says.
How credit card companies are handling lounge overcrowding
Nevertheless, to help ease overcrowding, American Express, Chase, and Capital One have begun restricting lounge access in different ways.
As of February 1, Capital One Venture X cardholders can bring guests into lounges only by paying an additional fee. American Express announced two changes to its lounge access, effective July 8. While eligible American Express cardholders can still bring guests into Centurion Lounges, guests must be traveling on the same flight as the primary cardholder to gain entry. Eligible cardholders will also be limited to five-hour stays in Centurion Lounges during layovers (previously there was no layover-lounge limit). Additionally, those who carried Chase’s Ritz-Carlton credit card were previously allowed to bring an unlimited number of guests into Chase Sapphire and Priority Pass lounges. As of January 15, cardholders are now limited to two guests each.
To make matters worse, American Express announced that it is ending its long-standing partnership with Lufthansa—which allowed eligible Platinum cardholders flying Lufthansa to access the airline’s lounges—as of October 1. The elimination of this popular perk is likely to further exacerbate overcrowding issues.
Despite the lack of an easy solution, credit card companies are trying to remain competitive regarding lounge access. Hendley notes that American Express has invested in digital tools such as mobile check-in and virtual waitlists that can help cardholders better plan their time at the airport. Additionally, American Express is actively expanding its Centurion Lounge network, she says.
Amex’s first Sidecar concept lounge opened in Las Vegas in spring 2026.
Courtesy of American Express
Amex’s expanding lounge network
In March, American Express opened its first Sidecar by the Centurion Lounge at Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, and it plans to open additional Sidecar lounges. Guests of these smaller, more intimate, speakeasy-style lounges with table service are granted entry 90 minutes before departure time. The next Sidecar is expected to open at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) in 2027. Yoon notes that Sidecar lounges are similar to Capital One’s Landing lounge concept, which has been very well received.
Nevertheless, Yoon isn’t sure that American Express is opening Sidecar lounges where they are needed the most. “Hopefully, they expand this out to other airports where lounge wait times are much longer, as a way of giving some form of lounge access to those who don’t have much time before their flight,” says Yoon.
Additionally, American Express announced plans to open an expanded Centurion Lounge at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in 2027, a new Centurion Lounge in Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) in 2026, and a new Centurion Lounge in Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) in 2029.
The bottom line
These new lounges, however, along with the expanded Platinum Member Airfares, may not be enough to convince some Platinum cardholders to stick with Amex, especially when they are hoping to use the card to gain lounge access. “Infrequent travelers are often disappointed, particularly given the nearly $1,000 annual fee. When lounge access is a primary reason for holding the card, long waits and crowded facilities can feel like poor value, especially if they aren’t able to access the lounges due to long wait times or restricted times,” Yoon says.
However, Yoon notes that frequent travelers aren’t as bothered because they are “generally accepting of long wait times.”
Yoon explains, “All banks provide Priority Pass access for their premium cardholders, so it comes down to how many lounges outside of those do their cardholders have access to. American Express Centurion Lounges have the largest footprint as they’re the first issuer to start their own lounge concept.” In addition, American Express provides access to other lounge networks, and neither Capital One nor Chase has an equivalent, he says. This “breadth of access options makes it more resilient than cards tied to a single lounge network.”
Despite the challenges of accessing airport lounges, I plan to continue to hold a premium travel card for the foreseeable future. Although I can no longer count on getting into a lounge every time I fly, I can still get into lounges, at least briefly, before most flights. Along with other benefits, that makes a premium travel card worth the investment to me. Like me, Yoon thinks that premium travel cards with lounge access still have “clear value” for frequent travelers, despite the frustrations.
