Got Amex Gold? You will receive a Priority Pass airport lounge card very soon

As we suggested was likely last year, American Express has announced some good news for Preferred Rewards Gold credit and charge card holders.

Effectively immediately, your Lounge Club airport lounge access card is being replaced by a Priority Pass.

If you have an Amex Gold card, you will receive your Priority Pass within the next three weeks.

The terms are unchanged

This is NOT the ‘unlimited access for you and a guest’ Priority Pass that you receive with American Express Platinum.

It will have the same rules as your existing Lounge Club card:

• you will receive two free lounge visits per card year

• additional visits will be automatically charged to your American Express Gold card at the rate of £20

If you have already used one or two of your annual lounge passes, these will be deducted from the opening balance on your Priority Pass.

When does my Lounge Club card stop working?

28th February.

Is Priority Pass better than Lounge Club?

Yes, for two reasons:

Priority Pass has a bigger network than Lounge Club

Despite both being owned by the same company, Collinson, the Lounge Club network is smaller.

The Priority Pass network has over 1,200 lounges in it (albeit quite a few are currently shut, but give it time ……).

This HfP article is a little out of date but it gives you an idea of the differences between Lounge Club and Priority Pass. Back in 2018, additional UK lounges included Heathrow, Southend, Newquay, Norwich, Exeter, Glasgow, Jersey, Doncaster Sheffield and Derry.

Priority Pass has digital membership cards

You no longer need to worry about forgetting your plastic Lounge Club card.

You can download the Priority Pass app to your smartphone and use the digital membership card to enter lounges.

Conclusion

This is a genuine improvement to American Express Preferred Rewards Gold, giving access to a wider range of lounges.

Being able to use a digital membership card stored on your phone will also make your life easier.

If you don’t have Amex Gold, we ran a full Preferred Rewards Gold review last week.

With NO FEE for the first year, two airport lounge visits via Priority Pass and a whopping 20,000 American Express Membership Rewards points as a sign-up bonus (converting to 20,000 Avios), it is an impressive package. It is also a great first step for someone starting off with miles and points.

You can apply for the card here.

---

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – July 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our July 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus. 

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the other top current deals:

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending: