Priority Pass members are losing access to Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club effective as of Saturday, August 15, 2026, as all of the lounges in the network will no longer participate in either the Priority Pass program or the LoungeKey program…
Priority Pass Members Losing Access to Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club
…but the good news is that access to the lounges for those who are eligible will be increased to up to a maximum of five hours prior to the departures of their flights, which also becomes effective as of Saturday, August 15, 2026. The maximum duration of time that is currently permitted in the lounges is up to a maximum of three hours prior to departure.
Other than that aforementioned good news that was announced earlier today, Friday, July 31, 2026, nothing changes for primary cardmembers and authorized users of the following credit cards — and up to a maximum of two guests at no extra charge — still have unlimited complimentary access to any location of Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business
- J.P. Morgan Reserve
- Ritz-Carlton Credit Card, although an unlimited number of guests are supposedly permitted to accompany the primary cardholder at no additional charge
Access for each individual guest beyond the two guests that are already included costs $27.00 per person. Children up to a maximum of two years of age are not charged any extra for access.
Locations of Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club include:
- Boston
- Dallas-Fort Worth — Information pertaining to this lounge has not yet been added at the time this article was written
- Las Vegas
- New York — LaGuardia Airport
- New York — John F. Kennedy International Airport
- Philadelphia
- Phoenix
- San Diego
- Los Angeles — Coming soon
Currently, anyone who has a Priority Pass membership from another credit card — such as American Express Platinum Card, Capital One Venture X Rewards, or U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve card as three examples — can obtain one complimentary visit per calendar year to any location of Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club and is required to show his or her Priority Pass membership card to gain entry to the lounge. Additional visits within that year cost $75.00 each.
As always, anyone can still access any Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club at the walk-up rate of $100.00 per person, which is subject to availability and regardless of lounge membership credentials.
Final Boarding Call
This change in policy is likely an effort to handle the seemingly worsening overcrowding situation in Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club locations. At the location at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, I was told that the wait to enter the lounge would be at least 30 minutes — the queue to enter that lounge is highlighted in the photograph at the top of this article — so I went to the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse lounge before I was able to return to experience Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club. More recently — fort what it’s worth — I did not even get to access the newest lounge at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport because the time to wait was so long that if I was granted access at all, I would basically need to leave almost immediately to get to the gate in another concourse at the airport so that I would be on time for the departure of the flight.
I have a Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card; and I gave what I thought were logical and sensible reasons in this article as to why I am keeping it — for now, anyway — but with access to those lounges being so difficult for me, I wondered why anyone would pay $795.00 per year to have a Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card when they are subject to the same rules as those who do not have the card or pay that annual fee.
The bottom line is that the changes in policies are significantly bad news — unless one is still eligible to access a Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club location after Saturday, August 15, 2026, for which the changes in policies are good news because not only is that person not affected; but he or she can spend more time in the lounge, which should be less crowded. Prioritizing the limited space in each lounge for people who pay $795.00 in annual fees on the flagship credit cards of Chase is what needed to be done.
I have two suggestions for Chase: open a Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club location in the international airport that serves the greater Atlanta metropolitan area — American Express has one in Atlanta — and introduce a digital waitlist for access to its lounges…
All photographs ©2024 by Brian Cohen.
