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What are the cards that earn Membership Rewards?

American Express Membership Rewards is the rewards program offered by American Express. Membership Rewards Points (MR points) is the currency of this program and is also called flexible currency program due to the wide range of redemption

There are several cards available that offer Membership Reward Points as the rewards. Here is a summary of all the cards and a short summary of its benefits

Card Name	Annual Fee	Key Features
Amex EveryDay Preferred Credit Card	$95	Use your Card 30 or more times on purchases in a billing period and earn 50% more points on those purchases less returns and credits 3X at US Supermarkets 2X at US Gas stations 1X on all other purchases
Amex EveryDay Credit Card	$0	Make 20 or more purchases with your Card in a billing period and earn 20% extra points 2X at US Supermarkets 1X on all other purchases
American Express Gold Card	$250	4X at US Restaurants and Supermarkets 3X on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com $120 Dining credit $100 Airline fee credit
Platinum Card from American Express	$550	5X on airfare booked directly with the airline or through Amex Travel and on prepaid hotels booked through amextravel.com $200 credit towards incidental expenses with chosen Airline. $200 in Annual Uber Credits Access to Amex Centurion Lounges Priority Pass Select Membership Delta Skyclub (When flying Delta) $100 credit towards GlobalEntry
American Express Green card	$0 for first year and $95 afterwards	2X at Amextravel.com 1X on all other purchases
American Express Business Platinum Card (From Feb 01, 2019)	$595	5X on airfare and prepaid hotels booked through amextravel.com 1.5X on purchases above $5000 $200 credit towards incidental expenses with choosen Airline. $200 in statement credits towards Dell Purchases Access to Amex Centurion Lounges Priority Pass Select Membership Delta Skyclub (When flying Delta) Get 35% of the points back when you book flights through amextravel.com and pay with Membership rewards Hilton Honors and Marriott Gold status One year Complimentary Access to Weworks
American Express Business Gold Card	$295	4X points on 2 select categories where you spend the most each month Get 25% points back, after you book a flight using Pay with Points Upto one year of free G Suite Basic Upto one year free of Zip Recruiter Standard
American Express Blue Business Plus credit card	$0	2X on all purchases (Upto $50,000 in purchases each year)

There are lot of ways one could earn Membership Rewards, thanks to the whole array of cards (Personal & Small business) available.

Let us review the options available to redeem them.

1. Transfer to Airline Partners

American Express membership Rewards can be transferred to 15 Airline partners. Here is a summary of all the transfer partners and the ratios that you could transfer MR Points.

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These partners span across all major airline alliances along with the independent airline loyalty programs like Etihad Guest and Emirates Skywards. There are occasional transfer bonuses as well, which will further enhance the value of your Membership Reward points

Transferring to Airline partners and redeeming for premium cabins gives best value for your MR points.

Here are a few examples:

2. Transfer to Hotel Partners

You can also transfer MR points to 3 hotel loyalty programs. Here is the summary

This is a good way to top up your account if you are short of few points for an award or depending on the redemption value, you could transfer the points needed for an entire award.

3. Get 1.25 cents per point with American Express Platinum Card for Schwab

If you hold a Schwab brokerage account, you could get a different version of the American Express Platinum card exclusive for Scwab account holders. Annual fee is $550 with the same benefits like Airline fee credit, Uber credit . You are still eligible for this card, even if you hold regular american express platinum card.

The beauty of this card, is the ability to redeem your MR points at 1.25 cents/point in to your Schwab account. Since Amex pools all the MR points in to one place, you could redeem your MR points across all cards at 1.25 cents per point.

4. Book Travel

You could use MR points to book travel with Amextravel.com, you need a minimum of 5,000 MR points to redeem for travel.

You could book flights and hotels through Amextravel.com at 1 cent per point

Tip: if you hold American Express Business Platinum card, you get 35% points back when you pay with MR points.

5. Redeem against Charges:

You could use your Amex MR points to redeem against your purchases, however, it is not the best value. You get only 0.6 cents

6. Redeem for Gift cards

You could use MR points to redeem for gift cards. Again, you will not best value from this option. It is probably one of the last thing you should consider, especially considering that there are ways to buy discounted gift cards. You would get anywhere between 0.7-1 cents/MR point

7. Redeem for Merchandise

You could redeem towards merchandise aswell from a wide range of products offered by Membership Rewards portal.

8. Redeem at Checkout with Select Merchants

You can use MR points when you are doing shopping with Select merchants. Amazon is one such popular option. When redeeming at Amazon, you get 0.7 cents per MR point

Conclusion:

Amex Membership Rewards is one of the most valuable flexible currency in the market. There are wide range of redemption options available, however the best value can be had when redeeming for travel by transferring to Airline Loyalty programs or redeeming with Amextravel.com along with combination of Business Platinum card

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There are a lot of premium cards available in the market now and they carry a hefty price tag. For starters, the annual fee may be over-whelming. To Justify the annual fee, each card is packed with a wide range of benefits . With a little effort, it is possible to enjoy benefits that can outweigh the annual fee.

In this post, we will compare the key features of the following cards

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The Platinum Card from American Express

American Express Business Platinum

Chase Sapphire Reserve

Citi Prestige

US Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card

CNB Crystal Visa Infinite

United MileagePlus Club card

Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard

Delta Reserve

SPG Luxury Card

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card

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Annual Fee: Annual fee is key factor when choosing the premium cards and there could be additional fee for authorized users.

Card Name	Annual fee	Fee for Authorized Users
The Platinum Card from American Express	$550	$175 (For upto three additional card holders)
American Express Business Platinum (Effective from Feb 01, 2019)	$595	$300
Chase Sapphire Reserve	$450	$75
Citi Prestige	$495	$75
US Bank Altitude Reserve visa Infinite Card	$400	$75
CNB Crystal Visa Infinite	$400	$0 for up to three additional card holders
United MileagePlus Club card	$450	$0
Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard	$450	$0 for upto 10 additional card holders
Delta Reserve	$450	$0
SPG Luxury Card	$450	$0
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card	$450	$0

Rewards & Annual Credits:   Each card offers a variety of rewards and the annual credits plays a key role towards offsetting the annual fee.

Card Name	Rewards	Annual Credits
The Platinum Card from American Express	5X on airfare booked directly with the airline or through Amex Travel and on prepaid hotels booked through amextravel.com	$200 credit towardsincidental expenses with chosen Airline. $200 in Annual Uber Credits
American Express Business Platinum (Effective from Feb 01, 2019)	5X on airfare and prepaid hotels booked through amextravel.com 1.5X on purchases above $5000	$200 credit towards incidental expenses with chosen Airline. $200 in statement credits towards Dell Purchases
Chase Sapphire Reserve	3X on Travel and Dining	$300 towards Travel expenses
Citi Prestige	5X on Air Travel and Dining 3X on Cruise lines and Hotels	$250 Travel Credit
US Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card	3X on Travel and purchases made through Mobile Wallets	$325 in travel credit towards purchases made directly with Airlines, Hotels, Cruises, Car rental etc..
CNB Crystal Visa Infinite	3X on Gas, Grocery, Travel & Dining	$250 towards Domestic Airline Incidental credit per card (even for Authorized users x 3)
United MileagePlus Club card	2X on United Purchases and 1.5X on all other purchases	None
Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard	2X on American Airlines Purchases	None
Delta Reserve	2X on Delta Airlines Purchases	None
SPG Luxury Card	6X on Marriott Purchases 3X on US restaurants and travel purchases made directly with Airlines 2X on all other purchases	$300 credit towards eligible purchases at Marriott Hotels
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card	14X on Hilton Purchases 7X on flights booked directly with Airlines or Amextravel.com; US Restaurants or select Car rental companies 3X on all other purchases	$250 credit towards Airline Incidental purchases $250 Hilton Resort Statement Credit $100 Hilton On-property credit

Other Key Benefits: All cards offer No Foreign transaction fee as one common benefit. Apart from that, you could get Airport lounge access with limited options to vast options.

Card Name	Airport Lounge Access	Other Key Benefits
The Platinum Card from American Express	Access to Amex Centurion Lounges Priority Pass Select Membership Delta Skyclub (When flying Delta)	$100 credit towards GlobalEntry
American Expresses Business Platinum (Effective from Feb 01, 2019)	Access to Amex Centurion Lounges Priority Pass Select Membership Delta Skyclub (When flying Delta)	Get 35% of the points back when you book flights through amextravel.com and pay with Membership rewards Hilton Honors and Marriott Gold status One year Complimentary Access to Weworks
Chase Sapphire Reserve	Priority Pass Select Membership	$100 credit towards GlobalEntry or TSA PreCheck application
Citi Prestige	Priority Pass Select Membership	Fourth night hotel free ( limited to twice per calendar year) $100 Global Entry application fee
US Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card	Priority Pass Select Membership (Complimentary for first 4 visits)	12 Go-go Inflight Wifi Passes $100 towards GlobalEntry or TSA PreCheck application
CNB Crystal Visa Infinite	Priority Pass Select Membership with Unlimited Guests	$100 towards Global Entry (X4 including three AU’s.) 12 Gogo inflight wifi passes per card
United Mileage Plus Club card	Full United Club Membership	Baggage Fee waived (Up to 2 bags) for you and a companion when flying with United No fee on Close-in award booking and expanded access to United Saver awards
Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite Master Card	Admirals Club Membership (Access to AA Lounges even when not flying with AA)	$100 towards Global Entry Earn 10,000 EQM’s when you spend $40K in a Year
Delta Reserve	Delta Sky Club lounge access for card member only	Annual Companion Certificate for flying Domestic 15,000 MQM’s when you spend 30K in a year and an additional 15,000 MQM’s when you spend an additional 30K in an year
SPG Luxury card	Priority Pass Select Membership	Marriott Gold Elite Status 1 Free night award (Redeemable up to 50,000 points/night) 100 towards GlobalEntry or TSA PreCheck application
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card	Priority Pass Select Membership	Hilton Honors Diamond Status 1 Free weekend night award at participating hotels in Hilton Portfolio

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Other Key Points to Consider: There are also other benefits like Concierge, Purchase protection etc.. which could further enhance the value if used appropriately. You may get a lot of value from the credit card the first year especially with the sign-up bonus. If you do not see much points earning benefit the next year you could always downgrade the card to a no fees card. This helps you establish a long credit history and you don’t come across as someone who just gets credit card for sign-up bonuses.

Conclusion: Several Premium cards are now available in the market and competing for your business. Even though these cards come with a huge annual fee, it is easy to reap huge value with little planning and execution.

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Who doesn’t like Buy One Get One, especially an Airline Ticket?  This is what exactly a Southwest Companion pass means, a really lucrative benefit offered for the loyalty towards Southwest airlines.

What is Southwest Companion Pass?

Southwest Companion pass is a benefit offered by Southwest Airlines for its Rapid Rewards members. This benefit allows you to choose a person to fly with you at no airline cost (Taxes and fees have to paid for the companion ticket) when you purchase a ticket or redeem points for a flight.

How to qualify for Southwest Companion Pass?

To qualify for Southwest Companion pass, you need to fly 100 qualifying one-way flights on southwest or earn 110,00 qualifying rapid rewards points in a Calendar year. Companion pass will be valid for the following full calendar year plus the rest of the calendar year, which means if you could earn the companion pass during the start of calendar year, that will be close to 2 years of flying with the Buy One Get One (You will still have to pay the Taxes and fees for the companion)

Can you Change the name of the Companion?

Southwest allows you to change the name of the companion for up to 3 times during a calendar year. Note that you must fly along with the companion to be able to make the ticket free

How to earn Southwest Companion Pass?

Flying 100 qualifying one way flights on Southwest is a lot of flying and is not a possible feat for most folks. Thankfully, there are ways to earn 110,000 qualifying Rapid Reward points with a little effort

1. Southwest Credit Cards

Southwest co-branded credit cards offered by chase are probably the easiest way to earn Companion pass. The best part is Signup bonus and the regular spend on the card are counted towards the 110,000 rapid rewards points requirement for earning Southwest Companion pass.

There are 4 versions of credit cards available

1. Southwest Rapid Rewards Premium Credit Card
2. Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit card
3. Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit card
4. Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Credit Card

As on the day of writing this post, there is an increased signup bonus for all the 4 cards offering 60,000 points. With personal cards, you could earn 40,000 points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening and earn an additional 20,000 points after you spend $12,000 on purchases within your first year.

With business credit card, you could earn 60,000 points when you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months

Note that Chase allows only one personal and one business Southwest credit card per person. Southwest credit cards falls under the 05/24 rule, so use caution before applying for these cards. By signing up for one personal and one business credit card and completing the minimum spend requirement, you could earn enough points for a companion pass.

The potential challenge here is spending $12,000 to earn that 20,000 bonus points. But you could supplement with the other methods to earn the remaining points

Important Note: To maximize the Companion pass, you should aim at getting the companion pass as early as possible in 2019, so you could enjoy for the rest of 2019 and the full 2020. Ensure that you complete the minimum spending requirement on your credit cards, such that the signup bonus posts only in the new year – 2019.

2.  Referral bonus points for Southwest Credit cards:

Chase frequently runs promotions for referring your friends or family members to sign up for the Southwest credit cards. Referral points earned counts towards the Southwest Companion pass requirements.

3. Shop & Dine

Apart from the signup bonus from credit cards, regular spend on the credit cards & points earned through travel, you could also earn qualifying Rapid Rewards points through the Rapid Rewards shopping & Rapid Rewards Dining.

Rapid Rewards Shopping: Just like any portal, you could earn rapid rewards points for shopping at your merchants through the Rapid Rewards Shopping portal.

You could earn Rapid Rewards points at over 850+ stores and occasionally, there are bonus points offered.

Rapid Rewards Dining:     You dinner at your favorite restaurant could earn you Rapid Reward points.

1. Enroll for Rapid Rewards Dining program
2. Register up to 12 credit cards to track your purchases
3. Locate Participating restaurants, dine and pay with one of the registered cards
4. You could earn 3 points per dollar spent, as long as you opt in for email communications

Note that the points from Rapid Rewards Dining and Shopping may take up to 6 weeks to post to your account. Bonus points do not count towards the companion pass requirement.

3. 1-800 flowers

You could order gifts from  www.1800Flowers.com/rapidrewards and earn 1000 points for every order of $29.99 or more.

It may take up to 8 weeks for points to post to your account

4.  Home & Lifestyle

You could also earn Rapid Rewards Points with participating Home & Lifestyle partners. Note that these partners may change over time. At this time, you could earn points with the following partners.

NRG

Reliant

Makeitcount

 

Next Steps:

Once you met the requirements for the companion pass, you can login to your Southwest Rapid Rewards account and add a companion of your choice.

With in few days, you should get an envelope with your actual Companion pass

Note that a person can have only one companion pass. When you are ready to travel, you must book your reservation first and then add a companion by going to the “My Trips” tab or you can also call 1-800-248-4377 to complete the booking

Tips & Strategies:

You can change your companion up to 3 times in a calendar year. Note that, per the terms, it may take up to 21 days to process the companion change request.

You will not be able to add new companion, until all the travel with previous companion is complete. You could still book the ticket for yourself , but add new companion after completing the travel with previous companion

If you are a family of 4,  Wife and husband get companion pass each and add their kids as companions or  wife and husband could companion pass alternately and maximize the travel.

Conclusion:

Southwest Companion pass is arguably the best perk in the  travel industry. with a little planning and effort, one could get a companion pass valid for close to two years. With Companion pass, you just need to pay the taxes and fees for your companion – which is $5.60 for a one way ticket within USA.

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When it comes to Credit cards, the first thing that gets attention in this hobby is the sign up bonus.  Other benefits offered by these credit cards are often overlooked and one such benefit is the opportunity to get “Elite Status” with the Airline and Hotel Loyalty programs.

In this post, we will review the credit cards that would help you accelerate towards the Elite status with Airlines and Hotel Reward Programs

1. Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard:

 

 

Apart from the signup bonus and other benefits. You could also earn 10,000 Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM’s) when you spend $40,000 or more in eligible purchases with in a calendar Year.

This card comes with an Annual fee of $450.

Here is a summary of requirements for various levels of AAdvantage elite status.

 

2. Amex Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit card

 

 

Through 04/11/2018, there is an improved signup bonus of 70,000 miles with the Amex Platinum Delta SkyMiles credit card.  You can also earn 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months. This card comes with an annual fee of $195.

you can also earn 10,000 bonus miles and 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) after you spend $25,000 or more in eligible purchases on the Card in a calendar year. Earn an additional 10,000 bonus miles and 10,000 MQMs after you spend $50,000 in eligible purchases on the Card in a Calendar year for a total of 20,000 bonus miles and 20,000 MQMs.

Here is a summary of elite status requirements.

MQD requirement is waived, if you spend $250,000 or more in a Calendar year with Amex Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit card.  In theory, you could earn Delta Silver status with just credit card spending.

3. Amex Delta Reserve Credit card

American Express offer 3 variants co-branded Delta credit cards.  Another card that helps you earn elite status is Delta Reserve Credit card. You can earn 10,000 MQM’s when you spend $3,000 or more in eligible purchases with in first 3 months.

This card carries a hefty annual fee of $450.

You can also earn 15,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) and 15,000 bonus miles after you spend $30,000 on purchases on your Delta Reserve Credit Card in a calendar year. Earn an additional 15,000 MQMs and an additional 15,000 bonus miles after you spend $60,000 on purchases on your Delta Reserve Card in a calendar year.

This card also waives MQD requirement, if you spend $250,000 or more in eligible purchases in a calendar year.

 

4. United MileagePlus Presidential Plus Credit card:

 

You can earn 1,000 Flexible Premier qualifying miles (Flex PQM) for each $5,000 you spend on your Card. You can use these Flex PQM to help maintain your Premier status or elevate it, up to Premier Platinum. Flex PQM earned through credit card spending is valid in the calendar year they are earned and an additional 39 months before they expire.

Here is a summary of the requirements for United Premier status.

 

5. Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Business MasterCard:

 

Earn $3,000 Elite Qualifying Dollars after spending $25,000 on purchases each calendar year. This card comes with an annual fee of $95.

6. AAdvantage Aviator Silver World Elite MasterCard:

You could earn 5,000 Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM’s) for every $20,000 you spend annually (up to 10,000 miles each year)

You could also earn  $6,000 Elite Qualifying Dollars when you spend $50,000 on purchases each calendar year. You’ll earn $3,000 Elite Qualifying Dollars after spending $25,000, and another $3,000 Elite Qualifying Dollars after spending $50,000

This card comes with an annual fee of $195. This card can not be applies directly, but only available as upgrade to Aviator Red World Elite MasterCard.

With all the 3 variants of AAdvantage cards, you could potentially earn 20,000 EQMs  and $9,000 EQDs after a combined total spend of $115k in eligible purchases across the 3 cards, which gets you Gold status comfortably and well on the way towards Platinum status.

 

With Hotel Reward programs, it is fairly straight forward. In most instances, you get the status just for holding the card. Here is the summary

Credit Card	Annual Fee	Elite Status offered
Amex Platinum Charge Card	$550	SPG Gold Status Hilton Honors Gold Status
Starwood Preferred Guest Credit card	$95	SPG gold status with $30,000 spending in a Calendar year
Hilton Honors Amex Aspire Card	$450	Hilton Honors Diamond Status
Hilton Honors Amex Ascend card	$95	Hilton Honors Gold Status
Hilton Honors Amex card	$0	Hilton Honors Silver Status
Hilton Honors Amex Business card	$95	Hilton Honors Gold Status
Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Credit card	$0 for first year and $85 afterwards	Receive 15 Elite night credit enough for Marriott Silver status and an additional 1 Elite night credit for every $3,000 spend
Chase IHG rewards Club select Credit card	$0 for first year and $49 afterwards	IHG Rewards Club Platinum Elite
Chase Hyatt Credit Card	$0 for first year and $75 afterwards	Hyatt Discoverist Status
Chase Ritz Carlton Rewards Credit card	$450	Ritz Carlton Gold Elite status for the first year. Spend $10,000 your first year and each subsequent year to maintain your Gold Elite status. Elevate to Platinum status when you spend $75,000 or more in an account year
Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature card	$75	Radisson Rewards Gold Status
Radisson Rewards Visa Signature Credit card	$50	Radisson Rewards Silver Status
Barclays Wyndham Rewards visa card with no annual fee	$0	Wyndham Rewards Gold Membership
Barclays Wyndham Rewards visa card with  annual fee	$75	Wyndham Rewards Platinum Membership

 

What is your favorite card and the elite status?

 

 

 

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During Air travel, there are instances beyond our control where we end up with a long layover or the flight gets delayed at the last moment and we end up having to wait for a long duration at the gate.

To ease the discomfort, Lounge access could come to the rescue. While US domestic Airline lounges may not offer huge value, there are several lounges that offer attractive amenities including complimentary drinks, snacks, food, showers etc..

Unless we are an elite member or flying in business/first  class, access to lounges is not complimentary and the cost multiplies when we are traveling as a group. Fortunately, there are several credit cards that offer complimentary lounge access as one of the benefit. This benefit is often offered through Priority Pass membership. For starters, Priority Pass does not own lounges, but is affiliated with over 1,000+ lounges across the globe and provides you complimentary access or negotiated rates depending on your plan.

If you were purchase Priority Pass membership on your own dime, here is what it would cost you. There are several types of membership you could get with Priority Pass depending on your requirements.

Standard membership costs you $99 per year, then you could enjoy a flat fee of $27 for every visit, while the Prestige membership costs $399 per year and would get you unlimited free visits to its affiliated lounges. Note that none of the plans offer complimentary visits for our guest.

The cost effective option would be to get the lounge access through these credit cards. There are several cards that offer premium membership plan Priority Pass Select as one of the benefit. We will discuss the details and the weigh the cost of the card membership fees when compared to the Priority Pass Membership fees. A few airport restaurants recently got added to Priority Club – Corona Beach between Gates D23 and D24 at Miami Airport, Timberland Steaks and Grill at Denver Airport , Capers Cafe Le Bar, Capers Market , House Spirits Distillery and Alaska Lounge at Portland Airport.

Citi Prestige Card:

Citi Prestige card is one of the premium travel credit card in the market with several benefits and one of the key benefit is the Complimentary Priority Pass Select membership that offers unlimited access to its affiliated lounges including 2 guests or immediate family members.

Other key benefits of the card include $250 travel credit every year and 4^th Night free. This card comes with an annual fee of $450 and each authorized user card will be an additional $50. If any of your friends, family member needs lounge access, you could add them as an authorized user and simply share the Priority Pass Select card only. The lounge access benefit for the authorized user would be same as the primary card holder, which means one could get lounge access at $50 per year.

American Express Platinum Card:

American Express Platinum card revamped its benefits recently and one of the key change is the enhancement to lounge access benefit. You now get Priority Pass Select membership which gives unlimited lounge access to the primary card holder and 2 additional guests.

The other feature of this card is the access to Amex centurion lounges that are probably one of the best domestic lounges you could find in the US. You get great food, drinks and facilities.

As of today, Centurion Lounges are currently at the following US Airports

1. Las Vegas (LAS)
2. Dallas (DFW)
3. Houston (IAH)
4. New York (LGA)
5. Miami (MIA)
6. San Francisco (SFO)
7. Seattle (SEA)

You could find Centurion Lounges outside of US as well,

1. Mumbai (BOM)
2. Delhi (DEL)
3. Buenos Aires (EZE)
4. Mexico City (MEX-3)
5. Monterrey (MTY-2)
6. Sydney (SYD)
7. Toluca (TLC)

The next upcoming locations are Hong Kong (HKG) and Philadelphia (PHL)

You also get access to the Delta sky club lounges when flying with Delta.  The annual fee for the card is $550 as it offers several other benefits like $100 incidental travel expenses like Baggage fees, seat selection fees etc. and $200 in Uber credits and more…

Chase Sapphire Reserve:

In the past, Chase used to offer co-branded premium credit cards only. About a year ago, this has changed with the introduction of Chase Sapphire Reserve card. The annual fee for this card is $450 and one of the key benefit of the card is the $300 in travel credit.

This card also offers Priority Pass Select membership as a benefit, which grants lounge access to you and your guests. As per the terms, there seems to be no set limit on the number of guests that could accompany you.

Ritz Carlton Rewards credit card:

Ritz Carlton Rewards credit card also offers Priority pass select membership that grants complimentary lounge access to you and its guests. The annual fee of this card is $450 and offers $300 towards incidental travel credits like baggage fees, seat selection fees. You could even purchase lounge access passes towards this travel credit.

US bank Altitude Reserve card:

This card is probably the newest card in the premium cards segment. Currently, this card is available for the current US bank customers only. This card offers priority pass select membership which gets you 4 complimentary visits and an additional 4 visits for your guests at participating lounges.

Given that this card comes with a $400 fee, Lounge access benefits is mediocre. But there are other card benefits like up to $325 annual travel credit that may be interest a few.

Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard:

This card is for someone, who primarily travels with American Airlines and have access to more than 50 Admirals clubs across the globe.

This card comes with an annual fee of $450 and gives unlimited access to Admirals club to the primary card holder and up to 2 guests or immediate family members. Authorized users also get unlimited access to the Admirals club.

United MileagePlus Club card

This card offers United MileagePlus club membership as the key benefit that lets you , as the primary card member, and your eligible travel companions will enjoy access to all United Club locations and participating Star Alliance affiliated lounges worldwide.

Annual fee for this card is $450.

Crystal Visa Infinite Card

This is probably the least known credit card issued by City National Bank.  getting this card is through a paper application and may not be straight forward, you may check this flyertalk thread for more data points. Annual fee for the card is zero for first year and $400 from the second year of membership

This card offers lounge access through Priority Pass Select Membership. Card holder can choose up to 2 members that can get Priority Pass Select membership and there seems to be no restriction on the number of guests each member can take as long as the  specific lounge accepts.

 

Conclusion:

There are several premium  cards in the market that offer lounges access as one of the key benefit through the Priority Pass Select membership or membership to the respective lounge club.

It may be tough to rank the best card with respect to the lounge access benefit as the individual circumstances may vary. Which card would you like to hold for the lounge access?