TLDR: Effective February 1st, 2026, there are significant (mostly negative) changes to guest lounge access for primary cardholders and authorized users of the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Business.
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The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Business have traditionally been known as some of the most lounge-friendly cards in the space, especially given that you could bring in complimentary guests into the awesome Capital One lounges. You even got to add free authorized users, who got the same exact lounge access benefits as the primary cardholder.
Unfortunately, this amazing benefit of complimentary guest lounge access and free authorized users on the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is coming to an end. Given the popularity of the cards, Capital One lounges were starting to face significant overcrowding, which made
All the changes are related to authorized users and lounge accessibility.
| Lounge Access Category | Venture X (Personal) | Venture X Business |
|---|---|---|
| Primary cardholder access | Complimentary access to Capital One Lounges, Capital One Landings, and Priority Pass lounges | Complimentary access to Capital One Lounges, Capital One Landings, and Priority Pass lounges |
| Authorized users | $125/year | $125/year |
| Capital One Lounge guest access | $45 per adult, per visit $25 per child (ages 2–17), per visit Free for children under 2 *No more complimentary guests | $45 per adult, per visit $25 per child (ages 2–17), per visit Free for children under 2 *No more complimentary guests |
| Priority Pass guest access | $35 per guest, per visit | Two complimentary guests |
| After $75,000 annual card spend | Two free guests per Capital One Lounge visit; one free guest per Capital One Landing visit (not applicable to Priority Pass) | Two free guests per Capital One Lounge visit; one free guest per Capital One Landing visit |
I don’t have the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card or Capital One Venture X Business but I can tell you that the Capital One Lounges are super nice. The one in JFK is my favorite lounge I’ve been to!
It’s really unfortunate that Capital One added a cost to authorized users and guests of the primary cardholder for lounge access. However, it was bound to happen as it was almost too good to be true. Capital One likely made this change to combat lounge overcrowding, which has been a significantly worsening problem as the lounges became more popular.
Obviously, it’s a sad change that authorized users will now have to pay $125 every year for lounge access. But, it could still be worth it for some folks.
I’m thinking of the person that isn’t looking for all the benefits on a super premium credit card but does want the lounge access. Being an authorized user on the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card would be perfect for that. You can travel the world as much as you want and receive unlimited lounge access for just $125 a year.
Whether or not you get your own Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card depends on how much you value the additional benefits of being a primary cardholder. With the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, you’ll get a $300 annual Capital One Travel credit, up to $120 for Global Entry or TSA Precheck and all of the points you earn will be yours.
The Capital One Travel credit is super easy to use as you can use it on any type of travel. And it’s important to point out that the points will be yours because when you are an authorized user all of the points go to the primary cardholder.
There are a bunch of cards out there that WILL give you lounge access with guests. The first one that comes to mind is the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. It’s a premium lifestyle card that gives you and two guests complimentary lounge access to Chase Sapphire Lounges and Priority Pass lounges. All at a $795 annual fee. It’s important to note that there are a plethora of other benefits that come with the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Some of the important benefits that come to mind are a $300 travel credit, $300 dining credit, $300 StubHub credit and a complimentary Apple Music subscription.
Notably, the American Express Platinum Card® does not give complimentary lounge access to guests—you'll also have to pay a per guest fee for that.
Another card that might be intriguing for Priority Pass lounge access with guests is the Bilt Palladium card. With this card, you and two guests will receive complimentary lounge access to Priority Pass lounges. This comes at a $495 annual fee. The card also comes with $200 of Bilt Cash annually and $400 of Bilt Travel credit annually. If you pay rent or have a mortgage, it might be a good idea to look into this card. The Bilt Calculator 2.0 can help you make a decision about whether or not this card is a good fit for you.
If you are looking for Priority Pass lounge access only a couple of times a year, you might want to look into the U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card. It is a no annual fee card that offers free Priority Pass lounge access four times a year. That essentially means if you take two trips or less a year, your lounge access is free!
I wouldn’t go out of your way to spend $75,000 just to get free guest access. If you end up spending $75,000 in a year based on your normal spending habits, that’s totally fine to put it on this card. Then you can save yourself some money if you have guests coming with you to Capital One Lounges or Priority Pass lounges.
The way I think about this is in terms of opportunity cost. The beauty of the Venture X cards is that they earn a flat 2x miles on all purchases. So, as a catch all, they actually do pretty well. If you have that much spend and don't have a better place to put it, you can do pretty well with earnings + get lounge access as a side benefit.
I wouldn’t say it's necessarily a bad idea to have multiple in the same family but there are definitely alternatives to this idea. If you are focusing on lounge access, it might be a better idea to have one primary cardholder of the Venture X and then multiple authorized users.
But you can definitely get use of having multiple Venture X's in the same family since it’s really easy to use the $300 Capital One Travel credit and the welcome bonus on the card is pretty sweet.
The changes to lounge access for the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Business aren’t welcome changes but they don’t mean you should run away from the cards. $125 for unlimited Capital One and Priority Pass lounge access as an authorized user is still solid.
And yes it sucks that you can’t bring guests in for free as a primary cardholder on the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Business but, at the end of the day you still receive lounge access for a good price.
What do you think of all the lounge access changes to the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Business?
