Multiple problems reported with Priority Pass lounge pre-booking via American Express

American Express launched FREE pre-booking at Priority Pass lounges for its Platinum and Business Platinum cardholders this week.

Full details and the small print are in this article.

Unfortunately the booking site has been beset by problems.

The good news is that if you have never registered your Priority Pass online before, and do so now using an email address which has never been used for a Priority Pass in the past, you should be OK.

The issues seem to impact people who have had their Priority Pass for many years. Let’s look at three examples.

Example 1 – no email address is hardcoded

Here is one problem you can face. No email address is imported into the form which requests the 2FA code:

This can happen even though Priority Pass has your email address and it happily shows in your profile.

If you get the screen above there is nothing you can do. You can’t type an email address into the form, even though it implies you can.

It is impossible to progress beyond this page because the ‘Continue’ button does not work without an email address in the box.

Example 2 – the email address was previously used on another Priority Pass account

Here’s a problem which I have. In this case, an email address IS imported into the ‘request a 2FA code’ box and a code is successfully received.

However, when you try to use the code, you get this message:

The problem seems to involve accounts where the same email address was previously used on a now-closed Prority Pass.

I know what you’re thinking …. simply change the email address on the Priority Pass account. It doesn’t work.

Even if you change the email address on your account, the old email address is STILL imported into the 2FA box. In the screenshot above, the email address you see is NOT the one now used on my Priority Pass account.

Ignore the message about ‘calling support’. If you do, all you get is someone telling you that they know it doesn’t work and there is nothing they can do about it.

Example 3 – you only get the option to pre-book for cash

This is an odder one but impacts many readers.

You log in to your Priority Pass account but you can only pre-book with cash, not with American Express credits.

(Do check, before carrying on, that – if you have multiple Priority Pass cards from different issuers – you have logged in with the correct Platinum one.)

There is a bizarre solution to this, as found by a reader:

• check that the lounge you want is on the list of participating lounges – not all lounges which allow pre-booking are included

• pre-book your lounge visit for cash (£6 per person)

• when you get your email confirmation, click ‘Amend Booking’

• on the amendment page, you WILL be able to use your credits. Select the number of credits you want to use.

• the cash you previously paid will be refunded to your credit card immediately

There is no risk in this, unless you are travelling in the next two days, since pre-bookings can always be cancelled for a full refund up to 48 hours before departure.

Conclusion

Given that there was a long trial of free Priority Pass pre-booking last year, and that all Priority Pass members have been able to pre-book for cash for a couple of years, it isn’t clear why these issues have come to light now.

Whatever the reasons, Priority Pass needs to get a move on before American Express cardholders start demanding compensation for a benefit they are blocked from receiving.