Chase Ink Plus/Bold Lounge Club Membership Going Away
The Chase Ink Plus card has a number of useful benefits, but most people get and keep the card because of its 5x bonus categories and the ability to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to travel partners. But did you know that the Ink Plus also has a lounge benefit as well?
Every Chase Ink cardholder (including authorized user cards) gets a Lounge Club membership. This Lounge Club Membership includes two complimentary entries per year with additional visits costing $27 each. I have found that most of the 350+ Lounge Club facilities overlap with lounges in the Priority Pass network. (Although Priority Pass has many more it seems.)
Lounge Access
Years ago when I didn’t have an Amex Platinum card, elite status or any other benefits, I relied on the Lounge Club membership to save me from the traveling masses. At the end of the year if I still had a free visit, I would check out new lounges like The Club at LAS. Of course this was all before I became spoiled by the Centurion Lounge just across the corridor.
The End of Lounge Club
Perhaps it was too costly or people just weren’t utilizing the benefit, but Chase is discontinuing Lounge Club memberships for holders of their Chase Ink Plus (and presumably for legacy Ink Bold) cards. One of my readers sent me the following letter yesterday afternoon. Doctor of Credit also covered this topic last night as well.
Register Before April 30, 2015
Thankfully Chase seems to be proactively sending out letters to members who aren’t currently enrolled. If you haven’t enrolled yet, you can go here and sign-up until April 30, 2015. (The Invitation code is: CHASEINK) Your membership will be good for one year before it terminates.
Should You Do It
If you have a Chase Ink card this is a benefit you are paying for and I absolutely recommend signing up. Since I have added the Amex Platinum card to my wallet, I have not used my Lounge Club membership, however I am not sure if I am going to pay the fee this year, so I plan to get one for each of my Ink cards.
Remember, even if you have lounge access or a Priority Pass membership, this might be a way to get friends, relatives or colleagues into a lounge for free as well. At the very least you can get people in for $27 which is normally cheaper than the walk up entry price.
Conclusion
It always stinks to see companies remove benefits from cards. Will this make me give up my Chase Ink card? Absolutely not! Perhaps that is why Chase is discontinuing the benefit or maybe they are planning on launching something new. One can only hope!
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I have 3 Ink cards – can I get 3 separate accounts?
Yes and each authorized user card can also get their own account.
I still have the Chase ink plus card. If I sign up now, can I still use this free membership if I cancel my chase ink plus card later?
I haven’t been able to find an answer to that on either the Chase or Lounge Club site, but I believe your membership would be cancelled. The reason for this is the following language from Lounge Club, “Note that if you have obtained membership of LOUNGE CLUBâ„¢ directly from your bank, credit card issuer, or one of our other partners, then we will not hold account details for you, and any queries on such matters should be directed to your card issuer.”
This seems to indicate Chase handles the account and they probably would cancel the membership. The way it works is that the $27 visits (after the first two) are automatically charged to your Ink card so any charges would fail if the card is cancelled. Sorry for not being able to give an exact answer, but I hope this helps.
I know I’m responding to this thread months later, but I just used my Lounge Club membership that I got via my Ink Plus card, and my Ink Plus card has been canceled for a few months already. It’s curious though – I wonder what would happen if I use more than my two free visits. Would Chase try to get me pay it even though I don’t even have Ink Plus anymore?
Any update on this by chance? After reading I wondered if Chase may have even tried to bill you for the free visits? I have the Lounge Club card but cancelled my Ink last year. I want to use my Lounge Club card 2 free visits next week but am worried Chase may try to bill me.
Can I still use this if I cancel my chase ink plus card later?
Thanks! I just enrolled for my husband and myself. 🙂 Those passes will come in handy.
I had no idea this was even a benefit of the Ink card, which I picked up for the sign-up bonus. Thanks for calling this out!
I’m glad this helped!
Shawn,
Thanks for this information. I got the Ink plus card a couple of months ago and overlooked the lounge benefit. So this get me to signup just now. All went well. Appreciate your good work. keep it up. we need the current info on all these cards and programs.
grayhawk
It is definitely worth asking Chase for compensation to offset the loss of the benefit.
I can confirm this is for the legacy bold as well. I could never find a lounge when I needed it through this system though.
I have used it at a few lounges, but I agree their footprint is rather limited.
Hi, It seems that we need invitation code in order to enroll. What is invitation code and what should I do to get that? Thanks
Sorry for not mentioning that. The invitation code is: CHASEINK
I’ve only ever needed to try to use it in MIA. So far I’m 0:5. The clubs are always too full apparently. My guess is that I am not going to notice a difference other than saving my time and effort getting to the rejection desk.