Guest policies compared: who can you bring into the lounge on each card?

Our lounge-by-lounge guest guide answers the question from the front desk's side: what does this lounge allow? This piece starts from the other end, the wallet. If you hold one of these cards, who can you bring, and to which doors? The answer is rarely one number. Most premium cards now open two or three kinds of lounge, and each has its own guest rule. A card that brings two people free into Priority Pass can charge $50 a head at its own flagship.

Everything below is the US personal version of each card unless I say otherwise, checked against issuer pages and recent coverage as of October 2026. Guest rules have changed more in the last twelve months than in the five years before. So if a trip depends on it, confirm with your issuer before you go.

Amex Platinum: the most doors, the fewest free seats

The Platinum opens Centurion Lounges, Priority Pass, Plaza Premium, Escape and, when you fly Delta, Sky Clubs. Guests are treated differently at each.

Centurion Lounges. Guests cost $50 each, or $30 for children aged 2 to 17, up to two per visit. They become free only after you put $75,000 on the card in a calendar year. Since July 8, 2026, a guest must also be on the same flight as you, so a friend on a different departure no longer gets in on your card. The connecting-passenger window went to five hours before departure on the same date. The Atlanta Centurion Lounge, rated 4.8, prints the new rule on its page.

Priority Pass. Two guests free per visit, the same as most other Priority Pass cards.

Delta Sky Clubs. Ten visits per Delta Medallion year when flying Delta, unlimited after $75,000 in spend, and guests at $50 each. Our Sky Club rules explainer goes into detail.

Authorized users. $195 each. They get their own lounge access, with the same guest rules as you. For a couple who fly together but book separately, that usually beats paying $50 at the Centurion door.

See the Platinum card page for every lounge it opens.

Amex Business Platinum

At the lounge door, this is the Platinum again. Centurion guests are $50 or $30, and they become free once the business card itself reaches $75,000 in annual spend. That target is easier for some businesses to hit than for any household. Priority Pass brings two guests free. Employee cards get their own lounge access. Fees for employee cards have risen over the years, and I have seen different current figures, so check the price on your account. The DFW Centurion Lounge is rated 4.9, the highest of any Centurion Lounge on the site. Business Platinum card page.

Delta SkyMiles Reserve

The Reserve is a Delta card first. It gives 15 Sky Club visits a year, unlimited after $75,000 in spend, plus four one-time guest passes a year. Once those passes are used, you can bring up to two guests or your immediate family at $50 each, or $25 at Grab and Go locations. The MSP Concourse C Sky Club, rated 4.7, lists the standard member guest terms.

The Reserve also opens Centurion Lounges, but only when you are flying Delta that day. Guests there pay the same $50 and $30 as Platinum guests. Authorized users cost $175 and get their own lounge access. Delta Reserve card page.

Chase Sapphire Reserve: still the generous one

Two guests free at Sapphire Lounges, and two guests free in Priority Pass. Extra guests at a Sapphire Lounge are $27, still the cheapest add-on at any US bank lounge. When the Sapphire Lounges left Priority Pass on August 15, Chase did not touch its guest policy. The LaGuardia Sapphire Lounge is rated 4.8.

Authorized users cost $195 and get the same lounge benefits as you, including their own Priority Pass membership and two free guests each. Two Reserve cards in one household can therefore bring six people into a Sapphire Lounge without paying anything at the door. No other card here comes close. The Business version differs: its authorized users get no lounge access. Our Sapphire Lounge piece covers what changed in August. Sapphire Reserve card page.

Capital One Venture X: the big 2026 cut

Until February 1, 2026, the Venture X was the family card. Not any more. At Capital One Lounges guests now pay $45, or $25 for children. They are free only after $75,000 in annual spend, and even then it is two guests at a Lounge and one at a Landing. In Priority Pass there are no free guests on the personal card at all. Each one costs $35, and spending $75,000 does not change that.

Authorized users still get lounge access, but it now costs $125 a person instead of being free. The business version, the Venture X Business, kept two free Priority Pass guests. For a family of four, the personal card went from the obvious choice to a weak one. Our Capital One ranking covers the lounges themselves. Venture X card page.

Citi Strata Elite

Two kinds of door. Priority Pass, lounges only with no restaurant credits, comes with two free guests per visit and $35 for each extra. Authorized users cost $75 and get their own Priority Pass membership with the same two guests, the cheapest Priority Pass add-on of any card here.

The other door is four Admirals Club passes a year. Each pass covers one adult plus up to three children under 18, and lasts 24 hours across the network. They need a same-day flight on American or a oneworld partner, and they expire on December 31. A couple traveling together uses two passes on one trip. Authorized users cannot use them on their own, so the four passes belong to the primary cardholder and whoever is traveling with them. The Philadelphia B/C Admirals Club, rated 4.8, is a good place to use one. Strata Elite card page.

Bilt Palladium

The Palladium is real. Bilt launched it this year, it is now issued through Cardless, and the annual fee is $495. Its lounge benefit is Priority Pass for lounges only, with two free guests and $35 for each guest after that. Authorized users cost $95 and get their own Priority Pass membership with the same two-guest allowance. That makes it one of the cheaper ways to cover a second adult. There are no proprietary lounges and no airline clubs. The Club LAS in Terminal 3, rated 4.8, is one of the better Priority Pass rooms it opens. Palladium card page.

United Club Infinite

Chase's current card terms are stricter than many people remember. The standard membership on the card admits one adult guest plus dependent children under 18. You move up to two adult guests, plus Star Alliance partner lounges, with All Access status, which you get by reaching Premier Gold or spending $50,000 a year on the card. Authorized users get no membership of their own. They get in only when traveling with you, although All Access cardholders receive four one-time passes a year for them. The Newark C mezzanine club, rated 4.9, is where most New York United flyers will use it. United Club Infinite card page.

Citi AAdvantage Executive

Citi rebranded the card as the AAdvantage Executive World Legend in August, and the fee rose to $695 from August 23, 2026. The guest rule did not change: up to two guests or your immediate family, with a same-day American or oneworld flight. The real perk is authorized users. $175 covers up to three of them, and each gets their own Admirals Club access, so a grown child or a parent who flies alone gets into the club without you. The DFW Terminal D Admirals Club is rated 4.8 and has four showers. AAdvantage Executive card page.

Authorized users, side by side

If you want someone in the lounge without you, these are the numbers:

• Amex Platinum: $195, own access everywhere the card goes.
• Sapphire Reserve: $195, own access and two free guests; business version, none.
• Venture X: $125 each, own access.
• Delta Reserve: $175, own access.
• Citi AAdvantage Executive: $175 for up to three, own Admirals Club access.
• Citi Strata Elite: $75, own Priority Pass only; not the Admirals Club passes.
• Bilt Palladium: $95, own Priority Pass.
• United Club Infinite: no membership; enters only with you.

The short version

If you usually travel with one other adult, the Sapphire Reserve, Strata Elite and Palladium all bring them in free through Priority Pass. Only the Reserve also does it at its own lounges. If you travel as a family of four, the Reserve is the only card here that covers everyone at a bank lounge with no spend target. The Executive is the Admirals Club equivalent, through its immediate-family rule. If you hold a Platinum or a Venture X and you are under $75,000 in spend, plan to pay at the flagship door, or add an authorized user. Whatever the card says, the rule on the individual lounge page is what the desk enforces. Ratings follow our methodology.