Agree, @momofboiler1 , that’s exactly how it makes sense. I have been shut out of the club at my home airport with a daily pass 1x but know that it happens when you want it most! I have also noticed that that club gets really crowded at certain times, so while it’s more comfortable than the general terminal, not always by a huge margin.
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I’ve seen a lot of complaints posted that there often isn’t room in the United Club because so many people have the 2 free passes and want to use them so they have to put a hold on how many can enter and the Club Card people might get shut out.
In the Denver airport, the best club is Capital One. My daughter had it (not sure if she renewed) and could take 2 friends in every time. Can be flying on any airline. They only had them in 4 airports (Denver, Dallas, Dullas and I think LaGuardia but I think more now). Much nicer than the United clubs. Better food, cleaner, to-go food all packed for you for the plane. Really nice. At the time the card was $395 per year, but also came with a travel credit and some other perks so really cost less than that if you use the credit (I think it was $200)
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The credit is $300 and you get 10K in miles every year on your anniversary, so it’s basically free. We just signed H up a few months ago. The hotel this weekend is paid for with the $300 credit and some of the 75K points.
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There you go. Come to Denver and enjoy the very nice club on Concourse A
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The Points Guy loves this card, fwiw.
Problem with Cap 1 card/lounges is now only the primary cardholder gets the Cap 1 lounge benefit. I am an authorized user of my son’s card so my H and I had to pay $90 (total, for 2) to get into the lounge at Dulles airport. It used to be free to authorized users and I could bring a guest for free.
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Capital One Lounges were perpetually packed with waiting lists, so they had to do something. The lack of any guests though is rough. The 2 guests for even authorized users was too generous, but wish they would have allowed primary card users one guest.
The biggest benefit for the Club card is access to significantly better award pricing. My son has the Explorer card, so we’ve done quite a few side by sides and the Club card has more than paid for itself for us with some absolutely great deals on business seats for international flights. We fly enough and with being based out of a United hub the math works, but it would never pay for itself with lounge access with that fee.
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The Cap1 VentureX covers its own $395 annual fee with a $300 annual travel credit and the 10,000 points awarded on each card anniversary. Granted, you do need to purchase travel via the Cap1 travel portal, but I have found it easy enough to book a domestic direct air ticket via the portal to use the $300 credit.
Is the Club Card a United card? I’m not familiar with that one.
Thanks - that is helpful info. Can you explain the mechanics of how the Club card rates are accessed?
When you log into United to look at award fares it will show the rates eligible with your card and status. For instance my son asked me to look as he was returning from Australia in premium economy and hoping for a last minute upgrade as the flight still had quite a few empty seats. He was able to access a business ticket for 100,000 miles with 2 stops. When I logged in, I had same long haul, but only one stop and 70,000 miles. Since he’s paid 65,000 for the premium economy, it was a no brainer to cancel and rebook in polaris. We saved hundreds of thousands of miles when 6 of us went to Japan last year.
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I don’t disagree which is why I have the card. I’m just lamenting the old days when my husband and adult kids were authorized users and could access the lounge. Not sure my kids would qualify on their own.
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If your kids were on your credit cards, their credit scores may be similar to yours. My ‘poor teacher’ kid was on one of my CCs because I wanted her to have a credit card when she did study abroad. Then SW issued her one off my SW card because she used the same email as me on my card (she’s had the same SW frequent flier number since she was young, so everything was under my phone and email). I don’t think she ever used either card. Anyway, her credit score is pretty high because mine is high. The only credit she’s ever had on her own is her student loan. I don’t know if she’s ever even had a utility in her name.
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They have good scores and both have travel cards now, but Capital One Venture X is a bit harder to get even with a good credit score, and honestly it’s probably not one I would recommend they prioritize anyway. It’s an OK card, but others fit their needs better. I think it’s $125 to add lounge access to an authorized user if they’re really passionate about the lounge. I’ve kept them as authorized users for emergency purposes anyway, even though they’ve never used them.
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If you happen to know… is purchasing through the Cap 1 portal the same as purchasing through the airline itself, or is Cap 1 considered a 3rd party provider or whatever? We have been impressed with the Cap 1 lounges, but I worry about using their portal vs the actual airline sites, for example. Thanks
My kids also have great credit scores bc I put them on my credit cards when there were young. I think my son even complained to me once that “his score” decreased bc I made a big purchase and failed to pay it off within 24 hours or whatever wouldn’t have impacted the credit score number. #toughlife.
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It’s a 3rd party - in this case Expedia. I don’t use it for airlines as if there are delays or cancellations, I don’t want to deal with going through a third party. I usually use for a one off hotel personally and then just email prior to make sure they have our reservation.
Lots of people use for rental cars as it’s pretty low risk through a third party, but I have a discounted rate, so don’t personally have experience using it that way.
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M kids have very high credit scores because when each started college, I put each on one of my CCards. S had since gotten tons of them on his own and enjoys managing his points and offers and enjoys travel. He buys a lot of merchandise for his business and is happy to put them on his CCards.
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I believe it’s a third-party but I have not investigated. I have used it to book direct nonstop flights within the US. I don’t stay in hotels all that often domestically–or more accurately, my US hotel stays tend to be for weddings and it’s usually less expensive to book the wedding group rate.
I wouldn’t want to use a portal booking if I were heading to Europe or absolutely had to be somewhere at a set time.
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I don’t know if I commented this upthread, but if one plans to play the credit card Point long game, one has to open the regular venture before the venture X. Cap 1 change their rules sometime in the past year so that now one can only receive the sign-up bonus for the venture if one does not already have the venture X open.
Venture X is difficult to obtain approval for if one has been opening a lot of cards, but otherwise can be easy. My son had not opened a new card in 18 months and was approved immediately. Same with the CSR a year later with no other cards in between. (The CSR fee is harder to justify; the Venture X pays for itself.)
Sorry I’m reading these responses out of sequence. I completely agree with you about missing the old days (prior to this Feb) when you could bring guests into the lounge, and also name an adult child an authorized user which would allow that child to bring guests into the lounge when not traveling with you.
Apparently there’s a Ritz Carlton card that you can only open by upgrading from some sort of Marriott card. I don’t have this card so I’m not familiar with the details but apparently it’s still allows guest lounge access without paying for an authorized user.
Meanwhile, since I fly out of NY airports, the lounges do not seem to be in the same terminal as my departure. I have found the priority pass lounges to be of use in Europe.
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The first card I added each of my children to is one that I have had open for 30 years, so their credit histories are older than they are.
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