I faced this same scenario and will be getting mine tomorrow – the priority pass card takes between 14-15 days to arrive via regular post, however, if you don’t mind paying around 25 UK Pounds (this is for the card being couriered to countries in the Middle East) for the express service, Priority Pass will DHL your membership card across to you.

Just send them an email requesting for this DHL service to: courier@ prioritypass.com and they will confirm via email and provide you with the tracking code.

: -)

I need some advice, i specifically purchased a priority card for my trip on friday however the card is extrememly slow to arrive and I still have not recieved is there anyway I can still enter the lounges without the card and my number instead?

Would really appreciate a reply,

-A

I’m getting quite a sweet deal with my current credit card where I get a basic annual membership for Priority Pass for like $10 (US) but the $27 charge per visit still stands.

So I was wondering what exactly I get for this amount of money? I understand that it’s a nice comfy place to sit and relax but in terms of food and drinks, is there anything standard? Can I just choose anything off their menu or is everything I order also charged? They say that you get some free beverages and food but does that mean I get a pack of peanuts and a bottle of water or something more substantial? I’m guessing it varies to a great degree from airport to airport and from lounge to lounge but I’d just like a ballpark estimate and maybe some range of good lounges to bad lounges. I was just wondering what I’m paying that $27 for. Sorry if it’s a newbie question.

Thanks.

Before I say anything else, I would point out that we have been around since 1992, we have several million members around the world, handle literally millions of lounge visits each year, and work in close partnership with virtually every single major financial institution in the world, who demand stringent security standards. So accusations of being a scam are not only of great concern to me, but are absolutely unfounded.

To take the points made by “MJ” one at a time:

He says he found only 2 lounges out of 32 that accepted Priority Pass. The list of these lounges that belong to our program (over 600 of them) is easily and publically available by using our simple search tool on the home page of our website. I would advise our members to check which lounges are available at the airports they use, and then go to them, rather than approaching any lounge they come across. It would also be logical for people to check this list before they decide to join.

He says that our members can only use Continental Airlines lounges. That’s just not true. Again, a quick check of our lounge list will make that clear.

He complains that he was unable to access a lounge as he didn’t have his Priority Pass membership card. It is certainly true that our members do need to have their membership card with them to get access to any lounge in the program, and we make this very clear in all our communications with members. I think it’s fairly clear why this needs to be the case as we are dealing with over 600 lounges around the world and we can’t expect the staff at those lounges to have to verify each person’s identity and then call us to confirm if they are a member.

The other occasion when MJ visited a lounge, he says that he was charged for a person who entered the lounge behind him. Obviously I don’t know the circumstances of this individual occasion, but when our members visit a lounge, the staff there swipe or take an imprint of the member’s card (which is why they need it with them), and then makes a note of whether the member is bringing any guests with them into the lounge (and, if so, how many guests). A voucher is then produced and the member is asked to check and sign the voucher (where they can see how many guests have been entered). The lounge then sends a copy of the voucher to us (so we can record the visit) and the member is also given a copy of the voucher for his/her records.

If MJ thinks that an incorrect charge has been made, then we can check the details on our copy of the voucher. Our membership services team will be able to do this.

Regarding the general point he makes about unauthorized charges, and that he was told this happens frequently, I refute this entirely. Our business depends on our integrity.

As to Wayne’s subsequent point about the fact that he has unauthorized charges on his card at about the same time as he joined Priority Pass, and that it he feels it is something to do with us, I would urge him to get in touch with our membership services team if he wants to query any charge (see the “Contact Us” page at prioritypass.com). Again, I would state categorically that we have the highest standards in terms of our data security and business ethics.

I hope I have clarified these matters.

Thanks to all our members who happily use our services and have done for many years. We will continue to strive to maintain our high standards.

Of course, it is possible that your credit card was somehow compromised in relation to Priority Pass but not because of some nefarious activity by the company. (Eg. you had spy ware on your computer when you signed up). Obviously, I don’t know your specific circumstance and am not saying one way or the other. But I do think your advice about keeping an eye on your credit card transactions is a good thing to be doing always, regardless.

For the record, MJ, we are not paid by Priority Pass. My own experience with the program has been a good one, hence this review. It is true that not every major airport has a lounge in the program, though in the United States the only airport among the 20 busiest without a participating lounge is Charlotte, NC. Anyone considering joining should consult the list of participating lounges on the Priority Pass website and see if the cities available fit their travel patterns. If you were to actually check you’d see that are indeed lounges from the airlines you mentioned in the program (eg. American Airlines lounge in Honolulu is in PP) but the beauty of the program is that the airline doesn’t really matter. No matter what airline you fly Priority Pass gives you access to all their participating lounges.

As for our other readers: Have you had a good experience with Priority Pass? Or a bad one? We’ve love to hear from you.

I joined Priority Pass in the middle of July 2010 with the view to maybe putting it to use on a planned trip later in the year.

My bank contacted me yesterday to inform that there had been “unauthorized transactions to my credit card”. Sound familiar?

After checking my account transactions for my credit card, my gut feeling (very strong feeling too), is that the breach has occurred somehow through the Priority Pass organization.

It is nice to see the positive comments about the service that is obtainable with this card (when you’re carrying it), but I think it must be said that everyone who joins should keep a very close eye on their credit card transactions for a month or two. I’m not saying that it’s not worth joining, because I haven’t tried to use the service yet so I can’t comment on that yet. But I have experienced issues similar to MJ, so my advice is, be wary.

Cheers,

Wayne.