Offers access to more than 1,400 airport lounges across 148 countries. Most credit cards connected with Priority Pass offer complimentary ‘Standard’ membership which would usually cost $99 (US).

The ‘Standard’ membership doesn’t actually give you automatic lounge access as part of the membership fee. You still need to pay $35 US per lounge visit as a standard member. But most credit cards offer two lounge passes for free.

In other words, for a credit card that comes with standard membership and two lounge passes, that benefit works out to be the equivalent of $169 US (around $260 AUD).

You can get Priority Pass access with eligible credit cards from:

LoungeKey boasts more than 1,000 lounges globally, but it’s the lounge network of choice for a relatively small number of Australian credit card providers.

Eligible cardholders won’t need to pay to join as a LoungeKey member but once they have used up all their free passes, they will need to pay a LoungeKey fee ($32) to access further lounges.

You can get LoungeKey access with eligible credit cards from:

Centurion Lounges are operated by American Express and can be exclusively accessed by Amex credit card customers. There are Centurion Lounges in Sydney and Melbourne international airports, as well as a host of international locations. American Express card holders in Australia are limited to using the Centurion Lounges in Australia, with the exception of Amex Platinum card holders who can access Centurion Lounges globally (plus many other lounges).

Card holders with a Qantas credit card offering lounge access will almost certainly be looking for a Qantas Club lounge. There are 37 of these in Australian airports and a further 50 or so internationally, some of which are run by partner airlines or lounge providers.

Your upcoming flight will need to be with Qantas or Jetstar in order for you to be able to access a Qantas Club Lounge. Guests are allowed too, but will also need to be flying Qantas or Jetstar.

You can get Qantas Club access with eligible credit cards from:

This is the higher tier of Qantas lounge usually reserved for eligible Qantas Platinum Frequent Flyers. There are Qantas First Lounges in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Singapore and Los Angeles. Only one credit card – the Qantas Premier Titanium – offers Qantas First Lounge access (two passes).

There are seven domestic Virgin Lounges in Australia that eligible card holders with single-entry passes have access to (international Virgin Lounges are off limits via Velocity credit card lounge access).

A single-entry Virgin Lounge pass would cost $65 if you were to pay for it, meaning the two passes per year available on eligible cards effectively have a total value of $130. That would make a decent dent in the $329 annual fee on Virgin’s own Velocity High Flyer credit card.

You can get Virgin Lounge access with eligible credit cards from:

Eligible Mastercard cardholders get access to the DragonPass network of airport lounges at 856 airports globally, including eight in Australia. Access would normally cost $99 US for standard membership. This gives you one free lounge pass, with a $35 US entry fee applying for additional passes.

Only Commbank provides its lounge access benefit (two passes) to eligible credit cardholders through DragonPass.