Ouch: Major Capital One Venture X Lounge Access Changes

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review) and Capital One Venture X Business (review) have in recent years become popular premium travel credit cards, offering great value. This includes everything from a $300 annual travel credit, to 10,000 anniversary bonus miles, to valuable airport lounge access.

Aspects of the cards almost seemed too good to be true, so unfortunately there’s an update, along those lines. Capital One is making changes to the airport lounge access benefits on these cards, and the changes are overwhelmingly negative (I suppose unless you consider fewer people potentially having lounge access to be a good thing, as crowding has become an issue).

Capital One lounge access changes February 2026

As of February 1, 2026, we’re going to see changes to Capital One lounge access, which impact access to Capital One Lounges, Capital One Landings, and Priority Pass lounges. The exact changes differ between the personal and business cards, since the cards also currently have different lounge access benefits.

These changes include two main areas — lounge access for authorized users, and the ability to guest others into lounges. Let me start by recapping the current policies, before talking about the updates.

With the Capital One Venture X:

• The primary card member and up to four authorized users can all receive the same lounge access perks (there’s no cost to add those authorized users)
• Card members can access Capital One Lounges with up to two guests, and Capital One Landings with up to one guest
• Card members receive a Priority Pass membership, with the ability to bring two guests

With the Capital One Venture X Business:

• The primary card member receives lounge access, but authorized users don’t receive any lounge access perks
• Card members can access Capital One Lounges with up to two guests, and Capital One Landings with up to one guest
• Card members receive a Priority Pass membership, with the ability to bring two guests for free

Here’s how Capital One describes the logic for these changes, in a statement:

As airport lounges continue to grow in popularity across the industry, we’ve seen our customers increasingly encounter wait times to enter them. It is important to us that we maintain a great airport lounge experience for our Venture X and Venture X Business customers, while continuing to deliver best-in-class premium travel cards at an accessible price point.

To address this, we will be making some changes to lounge access for additional cardholders (authorized users and account managers) and guests.  Venture X and Venture X Business primary cardholders will continue to receive complimentary access to over 1,300 lounges, including Capital One Lounges, Capital One Landings and Priority Pass lounges. We thought carefully about these changes, and we remain committed to delivering a differentiated premium travel card for our customers.

Capital One $125 authorized user lounge access fee

As of February 1, 2026, authorized users on the Capital One Venture X will no longer automatically receive any lounge access perks. Instead, card members will be able to pay $125 per authorized user to get lounge access, for up to four authorized users.

Note that this will apply to both the personal and business card, so the ability for authorized users to get lounge access on the business card is a new development.

This applies for all types of lounge access, including for Capital One Lounges, Capital One Landings, and Priority Pass memberships. Obviously this is a major change, since the personal version of the card currently allows you to add four authorized users at no cost, which is a value of up to $500 under the new system.

As of February 2026, you’ll have the option of designating whether you want authorized users to have lounge access or not. The default will be for them to have no access (in which case there’s no fee for authorized users).

Capital One $75,000 annual spending for lounge guests

As of February 1, 2026, the Capital One Venture X and Capital One Venture X Business will no longer automatically come with complimentary guests for access to Capital One Lounges and Capital One Landings.

Instead, only the card member as such will receive access. The exception is if you spend $75,000 per year across the card account, in which case you’ll continue to enjoy the same guesting privileges. This includes two guests at Capital One Lounges, and one guest at Capital One Landings.

Just to clarify a few points:

• The $75,000 spending requirement is per calendar year and per account (between the primary card member and authorized users)
• Spending in the 2025 calendar year is the first to count toward this, and if you unlock the spending requirement, you get the increased lounge access for the current calendar year and the following calendar year
• The ability to guest people into lounges will apply to both the primary card member and authorized users who have paid $125 for the lounge access pass
• Card members can still guest people into lounges at the rate of $45 per adult, and $25 per guest 17 and under, while children under two remain complimentary

Capital One Priority Pass benefits changes

As of February 1, 2026, the Capital One Venture X Priority Pass membership will no longer come with guesting privileges. This only applies to the personal version of the card, and not to the business version of the card (which continues to allow two complimentary guests).

Instead, those with a Priority Pass membership through the Venture X will have to pay $35 per person for any guests they bring into Priority Pass lounges. This applies even if the $75,000 spending requirement is met, as that only allows guesting at Capital One Lounge and Capital One Landing locations.

My take on Capital One lounge access changes

Obviously these Capital One Venture X lounge access changes are negative, as card members will be getting less value than before. In fairness, it has been almost five years since the Venture X was introduced, so it’s hardly surprising to see some significant changes.

Capital One is following the industry trend here, as lounge crowding has become a major issue. I suspect these changes will materially reduce crowding levels, since there will be no more free lounge access for authorized users, and even the ability to guest for free will come with a significant spending requirement.

I guess if there’s one silver lining, it’s that on the business version of the card, it’ll be possible to add lounge access for authorized users at a reasonable cost, which isn’t currently the case.

When it comes to the new spending requirement for guesting people into lounges, at least the Venture X is a rewarding card for everyday spending, so many people will be able to efficiently reach that spending requirement.

Obviously this is a negative change. It’ll probably cause quite a few people to cancel the card. Personally, it doesn’t change the card’s fundamental value proposition, since I consider the $395 annual fee to be offset by the $300 annual travel credit and 10,000 anniversary bonus miles, and everything else is just the icing on the cake.

The change to Priority Pass guesting on the personal version of the card is also significant, if you ask me, since it doesn’t set a great precedent. Up until now, most premium cards in the US have allowed at least two guests into lounges.

This also reflects the bigger reality of premium credit cards. There’s such a race for premium market share between card issuers, and the economics also have to work. So presumably Capital One hopes that it’ll generate more in fees with these changes, while also increasing card member spending. It’s obvious that this isn’t just about limiting lounge crowding, but is also about economics, since even Priority Pass guesting is being cut.

Bottom line

As of February 2026, Capital One is making huge changes to its Venture X lounge access policy.

Authorized users on both the personal and business version of the card will need to pay $125 per authorized user for lounge access, which is a huge devaluation for the personal version, and an improvement for the business version. There will also be a $75,000 annual spending requirement to guest people into Capital One Lounges and Capital One Landings. Lastly, the personal version of the card will no longer offer complimentary guests at Priority Pass lounges.

This is a negative development, and will likely cause many people to reconsider these cards. Personally, it doesn’t alter the fundamental value proposition of the Venture X for me, so it won’t cause me to cancel. And there’s no denying that lounge crowding has become a serious issue, so hopefully this makes a significant difference.

What do you make of these Capital One Venture X lounge access changes?