How I keep track of multiple Priority Pass cards

Despite recent gains by Dragon Pass, Priority Pass remains the most common lounge network among card issuers in Singapore, with eight card partners at last count.

Card	Lounge Network	Free Visits (Per Year)
		Main	Supp.
Income Requirement S$30K
Maybank Horizon Platinum	Selected lounges in SIN, KUL, HKG	Spend S$1K in single trxn. within 3 months prior to travel
Diners Club Cards	Diners Network	1*	N/A
Citi PremierMiles	Priority Pass	2*	N/A
DBS Altitude Visa	Priority Pass	2	N/A
Income Requirement S$50-80K
SCB X Card	Priority Pass	2	N/A
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend	Plaza Premium	4	N/A
Income Requirement ≥S$120K
CIMB Visa Infinite	Dragon Pass	3	N/A
UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card	Dragon Pass	4	N/A
SCB Visa Infinite	Priority Pass	6	N/A
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Metal Card	LoungeKey	6*	6*
DBS Vantage	Priority Pass	10	N/A
OCBC VOYAGE	Plaza Premium	∞	∞
HSBC Visa Infinite	LoungeKey	∞	∞
Maybank Visa Infinite	Priority Pass	∞	N/A
Citi Prestige	Priority Pass	∞ + 1 guest	N/A
AMEX Platinum Charge	Priority Pass, Plaza Premium, AMEX & Centurion Lounges, Delta SkyClubs	∞ + 1-2 guests	∞ + 1-2 guests
Priority Banking Customers
OCBC Premier Visa Infinite	Plaza Premium	2	2
SCB Priority Banking VI	Priority Pass	24^	N/A
All caps refer to membership year, with the exception of those marked with *, which follow calendar year ^With min. AUM S$200K. If AUM falls under S$200K, then 4 visits

If you have more than one credit card, chances are you’ll have more than one Priority Pass. But here’s the problem: not all Priority Pass memberships are made equal. Some offer unlimited visits, others a mere handful. Using the wrong card would be a US$32 mistake (the cost of a visit beyond one’s complimentary entitlements), and you’d do well to know which is which.

Now, if you were smart, the moment a new Priority Pass came in the mail you’d have taken a sticker and labelled which card it’s associated with.

And if you were me, you probably chucked it in the drawer and told yourself you’d do it later, only to realise six months down the road that man, they all look alike don’t they?

So think of this article as Priority Pass housekeeping. How can you figure out which card is which? 

Do I need to bother with this if I have an unlimited-visit Priority Pass?

If one of your cards offers an unlimited-visit Priority Pass, isn’t it a simple matter of identifying which one that is and throwing away the rest? 

Yes, unless your Priority Pass comes from American Express.

Back in 2019, American Express nerfed its Priority Pass memberships by excluding so-called “non-lounge experiences”. This means that airport restaurants, spas and sleep pods (with limited exceptions) are now off the menu, a real shame given that they’re some of the more unique features of a Priority Pass membership. 

Priority Pass memberships issued by Citibank, DBS, Standard Chartered and other banks are unaffected (for now), so you may still have a use for the limited-visit Priority Passes that come with these cards. 

For example, I use my AMEX Platinum Charge Priority Pass for the vast majority of visits, but need to keep my DBS Altitude Priority Pass handy in case I want to access a non-lounge experience. 

Of course, if you have an unlimited-visit Priority Pass from the Citi Prestige or Maybank Visa Infinite, then you can pretty much use it as your default card and ignore all the rest (once you figure out which one it is!). 

Register the Priority Pass online

If you’ve holding an unidentified Priority Pass, you can register it online and manage it via the Priority Pass app or web portal.

This requires two pieces of information:

1. The membership number (printed on the card)
2. The last four digits of the associated card or four digit validation code

You probably won’t have the four digit validation code anymore, but you’ll certainly have your credit card(s). There will likely be some guess and check as you cycle through the last four digits of possible cards, but eventually you’ll get it right.

During the registration process, you’ll be asked to provide an email address and create a username. Do note that one email can be associated with multiple usernames, but each username must be unique. 

In other words, if I have three different Priority Pass cards, I can register them all under the same email address. However, I will need to give each card its own username. Does that mean I need to remember three usernames? Not quite; I can login with either:

• Username & Password
• Membership Number & Password

Once activated, you’ll be able to see your plan under the “My Priority Pass” tab. 

This shows you the number of free visits, as well as when your entitlement refreshes (remember: Priority Passes issued by Citibank follow the calendar year; all others follow membership year).

You can click on the “My Visits” tab to see how many free visits you’ve already used.

Calling up Priority Pass

It’s possible that after registering your Priority Pass card online, the “My Priority Pass” tab only shows the following. 

Needless to say, that’s rather unhelpful.

A fallback option is to call up Priority Pass customer service and ask them who issued a particular card. They don’t have a Singapore number, so you’ll need to use Skype and call up the Hong Kong office (+852 2866 1964). 

After doing a verification of the following:

• Membership number
• Expiry date
• Mailing address
• Phone number
• Email address

They’ll be able to provide you with further information on the issuer and number of visits. 

Coming soon: Access Priority Pass lounges via credit card

Fortunately, the days of fiddling with multiple Priority Pass cards could soon be at an end. Per reports in the USA, Priority Pass is trialling a feature that allows members to access lounges by swiping their associated credit card, instead of the Priority Pass itself. For example, you’d swipe your DBS Altitude Card instead of the Priority Pass when entering the lounge. 

It remains to see if the trial is expanded beyond the USA (even there it’s limited to just Capital One), but this would solve the headache of associating Priority Pass cards with credit cards.

Conclusion

Managing multiple Priority Pass cards can be confusing, but registering them online will help you identify which card comes from which bank. Alternatively, calling up customer service can also get you sorted out. 

The annoying thing about Priority Pass is that you can only tie a single membership to a single username, which means the app can only display one card at a time. What I’ve done is to digitise my AMEX Platinum Charge Priority Pass with unlimited visits, and carry the physical DBS Altitude Priority Pass for non-lounge experiences. 

Alternatively, you can go all physical and label your cards with good old magic markers. 

How do you tell your Priority Pass cards apart?