Complete Guide to Citi Prestige Lounge Access

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Right now the Citi Prestige® Card comes with 40,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $4,000 in purchases made with your card in the first 3 months the account is open.

Beyond the sign up bonus, the card competes with the American Express Platinum card by offering a host of travel benefits like:

• $250 in airfare or airline fee credits per calendar year
• $100 credit for applying for Global Entry
• 3x points on Airlines and Hotels, 2x on Dining and Entertainment
• American Airlines lounge access until July 23, 2017
• Priority Pass Select Lounge Access

It is these two lounge accesses that are the focus of this post.

American Airlines Admirals Club Access

Prestige loses American Airlines lounge access on July 23, 2017. Until then…

Citi Prestige® Card offers American Airlines lounge access on any day you are flying American Airlines flights.

• You must present your Citi Prestige® Card and a boarding pass on American Airlines for a flight that takes off in the next 12 hours (or landed in the last 12 hours.)
• You can bring in your spouse and all your children under 18 for free, or you can bring in any two guests for free.
• Only the primary cardholder of a Citi Prestige® Card account receives the Admirals Club lounge access benefit. Authorized users on the same account do not.

Full Admirals Club membership, which costs $500, allows lounge access even when you aren’t flying American Airlines. This Prestige’s lounge access is a little less valuable since you need to be flying American Airlines to access the lounge.

Admirals Clubs feature free:

• Wi-Fi
• House wine, beer and spirits
• Light snacks as well as coffee, specialty coffee drinks, tea and soft drinks
• Personal use computers with Internet access*
• Cyber-cafes*
• Power outlets to help you stay connected
• Work areas with access to copiers and printers
• Shower suites*
• Children’s play areas*
• Personal travel assistance with your reservations

*only at select Clubs

My favorite Admirals Club is at Honolulu Airport with lots of food and overlooking the gardens. There are more than 50 Admirals Clubs worldwide.

Priority Pass Select Membership

Within a week of your Citi Prestige® Card arriving, you should get a Priority Pass Select card in the mail.

You can use your Priority Pass Select membership for free access at over 700 lounges worldwide. Download the Priority Pass app to your phone or search for lounges here.

Just like with American Airlines lounge access, you get free access for your spouse and all children under 18 or free access for any two guests. Normally Priority Pass access costs $399 per year, and doesn’t allow for any free guests.

Priority Pass Select membership is available to the main cardholder on a Citi Prestige® Card account and all authorized users.

When accessing a Priority Pass lounge, it doesn’t matter what airline you’re flying. For instance, yesterday I accessed the LAN lounge in Bogota while flying American Airlines.

Bottom Line

The Citi Prestige® Card doesn’t just offer a huge sign up bonus and amazing statement credits, it also offers worldwide airport lounge access.

Until July 23, 2017, American Airlines lounge access is available to Citi Prestige® Card account holders and their guests when flying American Airlines. Priority Pass lounge access is available to Citi Prestige® Card account holders and authorized users and their guests all the time.

The sticker price of such lounge access is about $800 per year. If you fly a lot, the lounge access swamps the $450 annual fee.