Priority Pass members are getting a huge airport upgrade over the next 12 months
Priority Pass is preparing for a major expansion that could make the airport lounge program useful for a lot more than getting into a lounge before your flight.
Collinson Group, the parent company, is embarking on a £500 million ($675 million), five-year investment program that will funnel money into Priority Pass, expand the company’s airport lounge footprint, and accelerate new technology, including AI-powered features.
For travelers, that will eventually mean more places to use Priority Pass, personalized recommendations inside its app, easier ways to manage multiple memberships, and a dramatic expansion of its airport fast-track offering.
The investment comes as Priority Pass has already surpassed 1,900 airport lounges and travel experiences worldwide, with its network growing 6.7% over the past year.
Priority Pass is expanding beyond lounges
Airport lounge access remains at the heart of Priority Pass, but the company has spent years expanding into other types of airport experiences. Now it’s accelerating that push.
Priority Pass currently offers fast track at 28 airports, allowing travelers to book access to expedited security lanes through its app. Over the next 12 months, the company expects that network to balloon to more than 170 bookable fast-track lanes across more than 150 terminals and 130 airports worldwide.
The service is member funded, meaning lounge visit entitlements can’t be exchanged for fast-track access, and pricing for the service varies by airport. It’s available at participating airports in Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East; expansion into Asia-Pacific is planned.
Priority Pass is also adding services that stretch beyond the traditional lounge visit, including airport parking and luggage storage.
The expansion reflects a larger effort by the company to turn Priority Pass from something travelers pull out to grab a quick preflight drink into a platform they may use throughout their journey.
Over the past 35 years, the program has grown from simple lounge access into a network of travel experiences across 865 airports in 143 countries. Those experiences range from traditional lounges to spas, sleeping pods, and dining.
AI could tell you which lounge to visit
Some of Priority Pass’s biggest changes will happen inside its app.
The company is rolling out its new Priority Pass+ app alongside an upgraded technology platform built around new data and artificial intelligence capabilities.
Future versions of the app will use AI, a member’s past behavior, and real-time location data, when enabled, to recommend lounges and other travel experiences relevant to a particular trip.
That could potentially solve a familiar problem for travelers with Priority Pass access: figuring out which benefits are available at a particular airport and which option makes the most sense when there are several participating locations.
Over time, those benefit recommendations are expected to become more personalized based on a user’s preferences. Priority Pass also plans to expand partner integration, allowing members to securely purchase additional airport experiences and travel benefits directly in the app.
“Travel plays an increasingly important role in people’s lives. While operating costs across the travel industry continue to rise, so too do traveler expectations, with people seeking journeys that are more seamless, connected and personalized,” Christopher Evans, CEO of Collinson International, which owns Priority Pass, said in a statement. “That makes investment in the customer experience more important than ever before.”
Managing multiple Priority Pass memberships should get easier
The app is also tackling another quirk of Priority Pass: Some frequent travelers have access to more than one membership.
That’s particularly relevant for people who receive Priority Pass through premium credit cards and may hold multiple cards that offer the benefit.
Eligible members will be able to view and manage multiple Priority Pass memberships in one place rather than juggling separate accounts and logins.
What’s more, the company is introducing easier account activation, saved-card functionality, biometric authentication, and one-time verification through email or mobile devices.
Another potentially useful feature is coming for families and couples who don’t always travel together.
In the near future, eligible primary payment cardholders will be able to use the Priority Pass+ app to share their visit entitlements with supplementary cardholders, even when that person is traveling independently. Availability will depend on the issuing bank.
More lounges are coming, too
All those new features don’t mean Priority Pass is abandoning the thing it’s best known for.
A significant part of Collinson’s investment program will go toward expanding its proprietary airport lounge network through Airport Dimensions, Priority Pass’s sister company.
The additional capacity could become increasingly important as both air travel and demand for premium airport spaces grow. Global passenger traffic is expected to nearly double to almost 19 billion journeys annually by 2045, according to an Airports Council International forecast the company cited.
Collinson has also strengthened its relationship with CAVU, a travel commerce business founded by Manchester Airports Group that operates Escape Lounges. Five lounges in the U.K. have dedicated areas for Priority Pass members and LoungeKey cardholders, and those travelers receive priority access when space becomes available.
Priority Pass now receives more than 6 million guest visits each month, the company said.
“As we surpass 1,900 lounges and travel experiences globally, the Group’s investment in lounge capacity through Airport Dimensions means our members will benefit from a network that keeps expanding for the long term,” Evans said.