Venture X Lounge Benefits Destroyed {Strategy Tips}

I think we all knew that the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card lounge benefits were too generous to last forever. But I for one did not expect to see them rolled back so drastically all at once. Since this card was released in 2021, I have considered keeping it long term a “no-brainer” — but now the cost-benefit equation will be much more complicated.

These latest changes don’t take effect until February 1, 2026 — so even with a large family you still have time to enjoy lounges with your Venture X.

I’ll run through the changes as well as some strategy tips so you can decide whether it makes sense for you to plan to keep the Venture X card or not.

Lounge Benefits Cut for Guests and Authorized Users

On June 3, 2025, Capital One sent out an email to all cardholders of the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One Venture X Business Rewards Credit card explaining major cuts to lounge access.

You can read the full terms here.

Venture X Changes

These changes hit families and casual travelers particularly hard. It cuts all guests and all access for authorized users.

Starting February 1, 2026:

• Cardholders will no longer be allowed to bring complimentary guests into lounges (this applies to both Capital One and Priority Pass lounges)
• Authorized users will no longer have complimentary access to lounges (this applies to both Capital One and Priority Pass lounges)

There are some pricey ways to continue to get guest access to lounges. This includes

• If you spend $75,000 in a calendar year on your Venture X, you’ll be able to bring in 2 guests with you for the rest of the calendar year and the next year into Capital One lounges and 1 guest into a Capital One landing.
• You can pay $45 for a guest to enter the Capital One Lounge ($25 for a child under 18).
• You can pay $35 for a guest to enter a Priority Pass lounge.
• You can pay $125 for your authorized user to have lounge access for the year to Capital One lounges, Capital One landings, and Priority Pass lounges.

Venture X Business

Starting February 1, 2026:

• Cardholders will no longer be allowed to bring complimentary guests into Capital One lounges
• Cardholders will still get 2 complimentary guests to Priority Pass lounges
• Authorized users will no longer have complimentary access to lounges (this applies to both Capital One and Priority Pass lounges)

There are some pricey ways to continue to get guest access to lounges. This includes

• If you spend $75,000 in a calendar year on your Venture X Business, you’ll be able to bring in 2 guests with you for the rest of the calendar year and the next year into Capital One lounges and 1 guest into a Capital One landing.
• You can pay $45 for a guest to enter the Capital One Lounge ($25 for a child under 18).
• You can pay $35 for additional guests to enter a Priority Pass lounge.
• You can pay $125 for your authorized user to have lounge access for the year to Capital One lounges, Capital One landings, and Priority Pass lounges.

Other Negative Changes Since 2021

Since the Venture X card was released in 2021, we have seen a trickle of changes that when added up with the lounge changes — may very well mean this card no longer is worth it for people to keep long term.

Change in how the $300 travel credit can be used

Originally, the $300 travel credit was much easier to use in Capital One Travel. That’s because it was a true credit — you’d be able to make a travel purchase through Capital One Travel and pay for it with your Venture X. Then you’d see a statement credit (up to $300).

Now the benefit is basically a coupon and when you make a purchase in Capital One Travel, the coupon is used up until it is gone.

This has led to some clear reduced value because:

1. If you cancel a booking that used the $300 credit coupon and it was past the expiration — you can’t get that credit reinstated.
2. Because your booking is paid for with a coupon instead of the card, the terms are unclear if travel insurance and rental car insurance would actually cover the booking. Some agents indicate it will, but personally I felt it was too risky to trust it.

Loss of Priority Pass Non-Lounge Experiences and Restaurants

As of January 1, 2023 — cardholders lost access to Priority Pass Restaurants and Experiences (like spas and Gameway lounges). For some people who live at an airport that only has one of these Priority Pass options, this change hit hard.

Loss of Cultivist Membership for Free Museums

I loved this perk which gave access to the cardholder and 3 guests to Cultivist membership for at least 6 months which in turn provided free access to museums around the world. When this benefit rolled out there were some great museums you could get access to like the Louvre.

Loss of Plaza Premium Lounges

As of March 1, 2025 — cardholders lost access to all Plaza Premium Lounges. This lounge network was not as large but offered access to some very nice lounges. Our family used the Plaza Premium Lounge in Cancun a few times and it was far superior to the Priority Pass lounge there.

Is the Venture X Still a Keeper?

Since its release in 2021, I have touted the Venture X as one of my top 2 cards — and it was a card I considered a no-brainer to keep long term. The changes we saw up until this point were annoying, but didn’t change my overall assessment.

With these lounge access changes, I no longer consider this card a no-brainer to keep.

If you are a solo traveler, very little has changed for your calculation, so I won’t discuss those strategy tips. Enjoy the lounges!

I still think this card makes sense to keep through February 1, 2026.

I still think this card provides a lot of value in the first year you open it.

I still think this card can be a “break-even” card to keep it.

But I can’t wholeheartedly recommend everyone keep it past a year. Everyone has to do their own cost-benefit analysis.

Benefits That Might Make it Worth Keeping

$300 Annual Travel Credit

• This benefit has never had a true $300 value but does help offset the $395 fee. The issue is that for some people it is hard to use (especially if you usually book travel with points!). And it’s still unclear if travel insurance covers these bookings. We always find a way to use it but it generally doesn’t feel like I’m getting a full $300 of value from it.

10,000 Anniversary Miles

• These are very easy to use for $100 worth of value so in my mind, this does help reduce the annual fee

$120 Trusted Traveler Credit

• This benefit is only every 4 years but does provide a statement credit of up to $120 for Global Entry, TSA Precheck, or NEXUS. We love Global Entry — but you will find this benefit on many other cards as well — so if you’re in the points world a while, you may already have this benefit duplicated.

Travel Insurance Protections

• We have found the travel protections on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card better overall than the benefits on this card so we recommend people use that card instead if they want to activate these benefits.

Cell Phone Protection

• This benefit is still valuable if you (1) don’t have another card with this benefit and (2) your cell provider lets you pay your bill with a credit card — or you use a workaround to pay it with a credit card.

Hertz President’s Circle Status

• I like this benefit. Read more here. I like getting to choose an upgraded car. We’ve been pretty lucky when we’ve used it. But I know a lot of people don’t place a lot of value on this because they find the rates with Hertz so much higher than other car rental agencies.

Strategy Tips by Home Airport

If you frequent DEN, DFW, or DCA

If you are a frequent flier our of Denver (DEN), Dallas Fort Worth, (DFW) or Washington DC Reagan (DCA) — and fly with other people — you might have reason to hold onto your Venture X card to use the lounges there.

After February 1, 2026 — the Venture X card will only give access for yourself.

If you travel with a spouse, partner, or companion — you could choose to add them as an authorized user and then pay the $125 lounge access fee. But you’d want to make sure you’d use the lounge 3 times or more to make this worth it. It costs $45 per visit.

If you have kids under 18, you could choose to add them as an authorized user and then pay the $125 lounge access fee for each kid. But you’d want to consider if you will use the Capital One lounges more than 5 times. To get access for a kid, you would pay $25 per visit, so you’d need to visit 5x in a year to make the $125 worth it.

But you also might want to consider the following options:

Alternate Option for DEN, DFW, DCA: The Platinum Card from American Express

These three airports also have American Express Centurion Lounges. Centurion Lounges aren’t much easier to get guests into — in fact it looks like Capital One modeled some of their new rules off of Amex’s rules. But while the Platinum Card from American Express has a higher annual fee and higher fee to add authorized users — it still does include access for 2 guests to Priority Pass lounges, Plaza Premium Lounges, and Escape lounges). For these home airports, the Platinum card is worth considering.

Alternate Option for DEN: US Bank or Bank of America Cards that give access to Priority Pass Restaurants and Experiences

Denver still has a Priority Pass Restaurant — the Mercantile. If you have a credit card with Priority Pass Restaurant access, you’ll get $28 for yourself to spend on food and drinks. You’ll still be responsible to pay a tip.

There are 3 cards that gives decent access to Priority Pass Restaurants. This includes U.S. Bank Altitude^® Connect Visa Signature^® Card ($0 annual fee, 4 Priority Pass visits per year), U.S. Bank Business Altitude^™ Connect World Elite Mastercard^®($0 annual fee for the first year, then $95; 4 Priority Pass visits per year) and Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Elite ($550 annual fee, 4 Priority Pass Select memberships without even adding authorized users, unlimited guests).

You can also find more details here.

Alternate Option for DFW: Get other Priority Pass access

DFW also has a variety of Priority Pass Experiences as well as one lounge in Terminal E. You could use The Ritz-Carlton^™ Credit Card or one of the cards listed above for Denver to gain access. You could also use a Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

If you frequent JFK, LGA, LAS, IAD

All of these airports have Capital One Lounges (or have announced they are coming soon). But they also have Sapphire Lounges (the Sapphire Lounge at LAS is still being built). For these airports, I’d personally switch my loyalty to a card that gives me access to the Sapphire Lounges because those have more generous guest benefits.

Specifically for families I’d recommend the The Ritz-Carlton^™ Credit Card which allows you add unlimited authorized users for free and the primary cardholder and the authorized users get unlimited guests. You cannot apply for this card directly. You need to hold one of the other Chase Marriott cards first and then can upgrade to this card after a year. You can read more about this card in my full guide.

The information related to the Chase Ritz-Carlton® Card and Marriott cards were collected by Katie’s Travel Tricks and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this product/card. Product details may vary. Please see the issuer website for current information. Katie’s Travel Tricks does not receive commission for this product.

For all other airports

For all other airports, I’d suggest looking at our detailed post that walks you through how to find the best card for lounge access for your own situation based on the airports you frequent.

This post has not yet been updated with the new Venture X information but will be within the week.

Before You Cancel

Before you cancel, you want to make sure you have used all your benefits and miles. See our full guide on canceling cards here.

Ideally, you’d downgrade instead of cancelling the card as this is better for your credit and preserves your miles. But Capital One doesn’t always give everyone the same downgrade options. The best downgrade option is to a VentureOne Rewards from Capital One card which still gives access to transfer partners but with a $0 annual fee.

Pay close attention to timing. f you downgrade a card, Capital One doesn’t usually refund the annual fee if it has posted so you need to downgrade BEFORE your annual fee posts. If you cancel, they are required to refund the annual fee for 30 days.

Before downgrading or canceling:

• Make sure to use your $300 travel credit
• Try to use your Trusted Traveler credit
• If you cancel, make sure you have used all your miles or combined them with a family member before you cancel.

Capital One does make it easy to combine miles with anyone so you can pool miles with friends and family. This means you only need to keep one card with Venture miles open in your household.

What to Do: Action Steps

1. If you don’t have a Venture X, you might still consider opening one since you’ll still have access to current lounge benefits with guest access through February 1, 2026. Live it up while you can! Read more here on the overall card guide.
2. If you want to replace your Venture X with another card that gives the most generous Priority Pass Access or access to Sapphire Lounges, the first card I’d consider is the Ritz Carlton Card. You’ll need to open one of the Chase Marriott cards now so you’ll be able to upgrade after a year. Find them here (referral link).
3. Read more on the other card options for lounges based on your home airport and make a plan to change over your card.
4. If you want to cancel or downgrade your Venture X:
   • Use your $300 travel credit before you cancel or downgrade.
   • Try to use your Trusted Traveler credit as well before then.
   • If you downgrade a card, Capital One doesn’t usually refund the annual fee if it has posted so you need to downgrade BEFORE your annual fee posts. If you cancel, they are required to refund the annual fee for 30 days.
   • If you cancel, make sure you have used all your miles or combined them with a family member before you cancel.

Capital One Venture X Lounge Access: Current vs. Future

Feature	Current Policy (Until Jan 31, 2026)	New Policy (Effective Feb 1, 2026)
Primary Cardholder Access
Capital One Lounges	Unlimited complimentary access for the primary cardholder.	Unlimited complimentary access for the primary cardholder.
Capital One Landings	Unlimited complimentary access for the primary cardholder.	Unlimited complimentary access for the primary cardholder.
Priority Pass Lounges	Unlimited complimentary access for the primary cardholder.	Unlimited complimentary access for the primary cardholder.
Guest Access - Capital One Lounges
Guest Access - Capital One Lounges	Primary cardholder can bring up to 2 complimentary guests per visit.	No complimentary guests unless the cardholder spends $75,000+ on the card in a calendar year (starting 2025). If threshold is met, 2 complimentary guests allowed. Otherwise, guests are $45 per adult, $25 for ages 17 and under. Children under 2 remain free.
Guest Access - Capital One Landings
Guest Access - Capital One Landings	Primary cardholder can bring 1 complimentary guest per visit.	No complimentary guests unless the cardholder spends $75,000+ on the card in a calendar year (starting 2025). If threshold is met, 1 complimentary guest allowed. Otherwise, guests are $45 per adult, $25 for ages 17 and under. Children under 2 remain free.
Guest Access - Priority Pass Lounges
Guest Access - Priority Pass Lounges	Primary cardholder can bring up to 2 complimentary guests per visit.	No complimentary guests. Guests will cost $35 per person per visit.
Authorized User Access
Authorized User Access	Complimentary lounge access (Capital One Lounges, Landings, and Priority Pass) for up to 4 authorized users at no additional cost.	No complimentary lounge access for authorized users unless an annual fee of $125 per authorized user is paid. If fee is paid, they receive the same lounge access as the primary cardholder (excluding the spend-based guesting for Capital One Lounges/Landings).
Authorized User Guest Access
Authorized User Guest Access	Same as primary cardholder.	If the $125 annual fee is paid for the authorized user: Capital One Lounges/Landings: No complimentary guests unless the primary cardholder meets the $75,000 spend. Paid guest rates apply ($45 adult, $25 under 18). Priority Pass Lounges: No complimentary guests. Guests will cost $35 per person per visit.

Note: Information is based on announcements as of June 2025 and is subject to change. Always verify with Capital One for the most current terms and conditions.