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Priority Pass ‘digital membership card’ now available

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Priority Pass, the airport lounge network which offers access to 850 lounges worldwide, rolled out the final stage of its relaunch yesterday.

As part of this – and I think this is a relatively new feature – Priority Pass is now offering a digital membership card via its app.

This has two benefits:

If you pay to join Priority Pass (plans start at £69) you can access lounges immediately by using the digital card.  The app is even available for a Blackberry which will please my wife.

You no longer need to worry about packing your plastic card as long as you have your smartphone with you.

To be 100% fair, the Priority Pass website does say that the ‘majority’ of lounges are accepting the digital membership card but that you should carry the plastic card for 100% certainty.

You can use the digital card even if your Priority Pass is provided free with your American Express Platinum.  You need to have a username so – even if you registered for the old version of the Priority Pass website which worked via your membership number – you need to re-register to set up a username.

It only took me a few seconds to do this and I was then able to download the app and log in.

If you have a Priority Pass card, I recommend that you download the app now even if you have no immediate plans to use it.  You never know when you will be in an airport and decide you want to use your pass – even if you have lounge access already, you might decide the Priority Pass option is better.


Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2024)

Here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Eurostar, Lufthansa and Delta Air Lines lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.

Comments (17)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Andrew M says:

    The new app has a symbol in the ‘Facilities’ section for each lounge to indicate whether the digital card is accepted although I haven’t tried it yet.

  • Paul C says:

    In attempting to register on the app, after entering my membership card number, I’m asked for a PIN which it says was on the welcome letter! And if I don’t have the letter any longer then I must contact them. Great.

  • Waribai says:

    Airport Angel have done this for years. Shame they’re going!

  • d4ve says:

    I would definitely take the plastic card with you if you are travelling over the next couple of weeks as it beds in as when I tried to use the app in Edinburgh last week they did not know what to do with it!

  • Tim says:

    Well, I already have the app (Android) and have now set up an account on the website. Have just logged into the app (it has been updated) with my new credentials but nowhere can I see a digital card. The menu has options for Home, Favorites, News, FAQs, Settings and Contact Us. I’ve been into all these screens but am obviously missing something! Can someone please point me to where the digital card is located within the app?

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    The last few times – the first was due to me taking my wife’s card by mistake – I have just showed them a photo of my card!

    Simples!

  • J says:

    Looks like the free PP that comes with a NatWest Black account can’t set up online account so this isn’t available. Anyone else find this?

    • Dann says:

      Yeah I tried mine, no success!

      • Tim says:

        I have the NatWest Black PP, and did manage to set up the online account. Just can’t find the digital card! (See post above)

        • Dannd says:

          I Cant even register, i just get

          “Thank you for visiting the Priority Pass website.
          As a NatWest Black Account holder, you are not able to login to the Priority Pass website as all the information you need to make the most of your Priority Pass membership is available on the Natwest Membership Benefits website, at https://membershipbenefits.natwest.com.
          You can look up information for available lounges on that website, as well as check your lounge visit history.”

  • Redbird Postmortem, Alaska Airline 2,500 Referral, Reselling Sears & Unbiased Credit Card Rankings - Doctor Of Credit says:

    […] Priority Pass ‘digital membership card’ now available by Head For Points. Kind of useless to offer a digital card if it’s not accepted at all lounges, but I guess it’s worth the download in case your wallet gets stolen? Fingers crossed they force all lounges in the network to accept it. […]

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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