Chase Sapphire Lounge Priority Pass Access Ends Aug. 15: What It Means for Hawaiʻi Travelers
⏱ 14 min read
As of August 2026. Chase lounge policy changes take effect August 15, 2026.
Editorial disclosure: this article contains no affiliate links and Hawaii Reward Travel earns nothing if you apply for any card mentioned. Opinions are my own. Card and lounge terms are set by the issuer and can change, so confirm current details directly with the issuer before you apply or travel.
- Starting August 15, 2026, Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club locations leave the Priority Pass and LoungeKey networks entirely.
- That kills the once-a-year free visit and the discounted $75 paid entry that outside Priority Pass members used to get.
- Nothing changes for eligible Chase cardholders. Unlimited visits, up to two free guests, and children under 2 free all stay.
- Same date, a real upgrade: connecting passengers get in up to five hours before the connecting flight, up from three.
- For kamaʻāina, the lounges that matter most are Las Vegas, Phoenix, and San Diego, and all three should get noticeably less crowded.
- What is changing with Chase Sapphire Lounge Priority Pass access?
- Which Chase Sapphire Lounges actually matter if you live in Hawaiʻi?
- Why is this good news for kamaʻāina?
- Which credit cards still get you into a Chase Sapphire Lounge?
- What is the new five-hour connection rule?
- What should you do if your Priority Pass came from another card?
- Scottie's Take
- FAQ
What is changing with Chase Sapphire Lounge Priority Pass access?
Effective August 15, 2026, Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club locations no longer participate in the Priority Pass or LoungeKey networks. If your Priority Pass membership came from any card other than an eligible Chase card, you lose your once-per-calendar-year complimentary visit and the discounted $75 entry fee for extra visits. If your Priority Pass came from an eligible Chase card, nothing changes at all.
That is the whole story in two sentences, and it landed on July 31 when Chase confirmed the change. But there is a second half that got less attention, and it is the part that actually helps island families. Chase is also extending the pre-flight access window for anyone connecting, which I get into below.
Here is the honest framing. Chase did not take anything away from its own cardholders. It took away a side door that let Amex Platinum, Capital One Venture X, and other Priority Pass holders drop in once a year. Those cards still carry Priority Pass and still open more than 1,900 lounges and airport experiences worldwide. They just cannot walk into a Chase lounge anymore.
Which Chase Sapphire Lounges actually matter if you live in Hawaiʻi?
Three of the nine Chase Sapphire Lounges sit at airports kamaʻāina actually use on Hawaiʻi routes: Las Vegas, Phoenix, and San Diego. There is no Chase Sapphire Lounge at HNL, OGG, KOA, LIH, or ITO, and none has been announced. So this benefit only ever pays off on the mainland leg of your trip, usually on the way home.
The Las Vegas one is the big deal. It opened in December 2025 in Terminal 1, Concourse C, between gates 23 and 24. Concourse C at Harry Reid is Southwest territory, and Southwest flies Las Vegas nonstop to Honolulu, Kahului, Līhuʻe, and Kona, plus a new three-times-weekly Las Vegas to Hilo run that started August 6, 2026. If you are flying Southwest home from the Ninth Island, that lounge is a short walk from your gate.
Harry Reid splits its airlines across two buildings that do not share a check-in hall or security checkpoint. The Sapphire Lounge is in Terminal 1. Hawaiian departs Las Vegas from Terminal 3, Concourse E. If you are flying Hawaiian home, do not plan your morning around that lounge. Check your terminal before you leave the hotel.
Phoenix is the one I know first-hand. It is in Terminal 4, South 1 Concourse, which Sky Harbor built specifically for Southwest, and Southwest flies Phoenix nonstop to the islands. The lounge is only about 3,500 square feet, the smallest in the whole network, and part of it is an open indoor patio that spills right into the concourse with a restored 1963 Airstream parked in it serving made-to-order food. It is a genuinely cool room. It is also a room where twenty extra people changes the entire feel of the place, which is the whole point of what follows.
| Airport | Where it is | Why it matters from Hawaiʻi |
|---|---|---|
| Las Vegas (LAS) | Terminal 1, Concourse C, gates 23 to 24 | Southwest's concourse. Nonstops to HNL, OGG, LIH, KOA, and now ITO. |
| Phoenix (PHX) | Terminal 4, South 1 (S1) Concourse | S1 was built for Southwest, which flies PHX nonstop to Hawaiʻi. I have been to this one. |
| San Diego (SAN) | Terminal 2 West, near gate 47 | Terminal 2 handles the Hawaiʻi nonstops on Hawaiian and Alaska. |
| Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) | Terminal D, near gate D25 | Opened July 2026 at 18,000 sq ft. Useful on a connection east. |
| New York LaGuardia (LGA) | Terminal B, Eastern Concourse | The flagship. Worth a stop on any east coast trip. |
| Philadelphia (PHL) | Terminal D to E connector | Second largest in the network. |
| Boston (BOS) | Between Terminals B and C | Long-haul east coast layovers. |
| New York JFK (JFK) | Terminal 4, above gate A2 | Smaller, run with Etihad. Fine for a short wait. |
| Washington Dulles (IAD) | Concourse A, near gate A14 | Smallest of the Etihad partnership lounges. |
Sources: Chase Sapphire Lounge network details and airport terminal assignments as of August 2026. A Los Angeles location in the Tom Bradley International Terminal is expected in late 2026 or early 2027, which would be the most useful one yet for Hawaiʻi routes. It is not open, so do not plan around it.
Why is this good news for kamaʻāina?
Fewer people in the room. The Las Vegas lounge is only about 4,600 square feet and Phoenix is about 3,500, which makes them the two smallest in the entire network. Those are exactly the two lounges Hawaiʻi travelers are most likely to use, and they are exactly the two least able to absorb a crowd. Pulling every outside Priority Pass member out of the queue is a meaningful capacity change at that size.
Think about who was using that side door. Las Vegas and Phoenix both move enormous volumes of leisure travelers, and a lot of them carry a premium card with Priority Pass attached. Every one of those people had a free annual visit to burn, and a small lounge next to Southwest's home concourse is a very easy place to burn it.
Overcrowding has been the standing complaint about this network for a while now. Travelers have reported waitlists at Chase lounges at multiple airports, which is the whole reason issuers keep tightening these rules. If you are paying a premium annual fee partly for lounge access, a benefit you cannot actually use is worth nothing. This change moves in the right direction.
The realistic upside for your ʻohana: a better shot at a table for four in Las Vegas on a Sunday afternoon, a shorter wait at the door, and food that has not been picked over. That is not glamorous, but it is the difference between the benefit working and the benefit being a story you tell about the time you got turned away.
Which credit cards still get you into a Chase Sapphire Lounge?
Four cards keep unlimited complimentary access after August 15: the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business, the J.P. Morgan Reserve Card, and the Ritz-Carlton Credit Card. The guest policy is unchanged too, which is genuinely one of the more generous ones out there for a family.
- Unlimited visits for eligible primary cardmembers and authorized users on the personal Reserve.
- Up to two complimentary guests per visit, plus children under 2 at no charge. Extra guests are $27 each.
- Your Priority Pass Select membership is not changing. Chase confirmed it, and you still need to present that Priority Pass card at the door. The credit card alone will not get you in.
- Sapphire Preferred does not include lounge access. It never has. Good card, different job.
If you are weighing whether the premium annual fee pencils out for how your family actually flies, I broke that down separately in my Chase Sapphire Reserve write-up. The short version for island residents is that lounge access is a nice-to-have, not the reason to carry the card, because you will only touch it on the mainland side of a trip. Run the math on the travel credits and the everyday earn first. If you are still comparing options, start with my rundown of the best cards for Hawaiʻi travelers, and check what your points are actually worth before you commit to any annual fee.
What is the new five-hour connection rule?
Beginning August 15, 2026, eligible cardmembers traveling on an itinerary with a connection can enter a Chase Sapphire Lounge up to five hours before the connecting flight, up from three. If you are on a nonstop, or waiting for the first flight of your trip, the window stays at three hours.
Read that carefully, because the distinction matters more from here than it does from almost anywhere else. Island residents connect constantly. Very few of our cities have a nonstop to where we are actually going. If you are flying Honolulu to Las Vegas and onward, or coming back through Phoenix or Dallas, you are on a connecting itinerary and you get the full five hours.
Where it does not help: your outbound from HNL, OGG, KOA, LIH, or ITO. There is no Chase lounge at any island airport, so the three-hour first-flight rule is academic for us. If you want to know what is actually available before you board on the island side, I put together a full guide to lounge options at HNL.
What should you do if your Priority Pass came from another card?
Use your free visit before August 15, 2026, if you have one banked and a trip in the window. After that date the door closes, so there is no reason to save it.
- Check whether you have already used your 2026 visit. It is one visit per calendar year across the whole network, not one per lounge. Log into your Priority Pass account and look at your visit history.
- Look at your flights between now and August 15. If you are routing through Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego, Dallas, or any of the east coast locations, that is your window.
- Remember guests are not free on an outside Priority Pass. Under the old rules, guests cost $75 each even on your complimentary visit. For a family of four that was never the value play anyway.
- After August 15, map your alternatives. Priority Pass still covers more than 1,900 lounges and experiences, and several of the airports with a Chase lounge have other Priority Pass options in the same building. Check the app, not your memory.
One thing I cannot confirm yet: Chase previously let anyone without a Priority Pass membership buy walk-up entry for $100 per person subject to availability. Chase has confirmed that the Priority Pass free visit and the discounted $75 entry both end, but has not clearly addressed the walk-up purchase option. I would not build a travel day around it until that is spelled out.
The ʻOhana Program is my one-on-one coaching for Hawaiʻi families who want a points strategy built around how you actually fly, not how a mainland blog thinks you fly. We look at your real spending, your real routes, and build from there.
See how it worksScottie's Take
Aloha ʻohana, I know the instinct here is to read "Chase is removing a benefit" and get annoyed. I had that reaction for about ten seconds. Then I thought about the last time I walked past a lounge door and saw a clipboard and a waitlist, and I changed my mind.
Here is the thing about being a Hawaiʻi resident with a premium card. We do not get many chances to use the lounge benefits we pay for. Our flights out are long, they are early, and the island airports do not have these lounges. The one place the benefit really shows up for us is on the mainland leg. That photo of my breakfast further up the page is the Phoenix lounge, and I will tell you straight, that room is small. Thirty-five hundred square feet with an open patio side that anyone walking the concourse can see into. Vegas is not much bigger at forty-six hundred, and it sits right where two Hawaiʻi nonstops board.
So yeah, I will take the trade. Losing a once-a-year visit I was never going to use in exchange for a real shot at a seat when I actually need one is a good deal. The five-hour connection window is the part I am genuinely happy about, because connecting is just how we fly from here. Two extra hours on a long Vegas layover with the kids is worth more to me than a benefit I could theoretically use one time.
My honest bottom line: if you carry an eligible Chase card, this is a small win, and you should not change anything. If your Priority Pass comes from somewhere else and you have a mainland trip before August 15, go use it. And if you are shopping premium cards right now, please do not pick one based on lounge access alone. From here, that benefit is a garnish, not the meal.
Have you been to the Vegas one yet? I have done Phoenix and want to know how Vegas compares on a Sunday, especially on the Southwest side where our flights board. Drop a comment or send me a message and let me know what you found.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still use Priority Pass at Chase Sapphire Lounges after August 15, 2026?
Only if your Priority Pass membership was issued through an eligible Chase card. Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club locations leave the Priority Pass and LoungeKey networks on August 15, 2026, which ends access for members whose Priority Pass came from any other issuer. Your Priority Pass still works at more than 1,900 other lounges worldwide.
Is there a Chase Sapphire Lounge at Honolulu airport?
No. There is no Chase Sapphire Lounge at HNL, and none has been announced. The network has nine locations, all on the mainland. The three most relevant to Hawaiʻi residents are Las Vegas, Phoenix, and San Diego, all of which you would use on the mainland side of a trip rather than departing the islands.
Which Chase cards get free Sapphire Lounge access?
The Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business, J.P. Morgan Reserve Card, and Ritz-Carlton Credit Card all keep unlimited complimentary access after August 15, 2026. The Chase Sapphire Preferred does not include lounge access. You must present the Priority Pass card issued through your eligible card at the door, not just the credit card.
How many guests can I bring into a Chase Sapphire Lounge?
Eligible Chase cardholders can bring up to two complimentary guests per visit, plus children under 2 years old at no charge. Additional guests are $27 each. Chase confirmed this guest policy is not changing on August 15, and it remains one of the more generous guest policies among premium card issuers.
Where is the Chase Sapphire Lounge in Las Vegas?
The Las Vegas lounge is in Terminal 1, Concourse C, between gates 23 and 24, and it opened in December 2025. Concourse C is Southwest's concourse at Harry Reid. Note that Hawaiian departs Las Vegas from Terminal 3, which has separate check-in and security, so confirm your terminal before planning a lounge stop.
How early can I enter a Chase Sapphire Lounge?
Three hours before departure on a nonstop or before the first flight of a trip. Starting August 15, 2026, eligible cardmembers on a connecting itinerary can enter up to five hours before the connecting flight, an increase from three hours. These lounges cannot be used as arrivals lounges.
Should Hawaiʻi residents get a premium card just for lounge access?
Generally no. Island residents only touch these lounges on the mainland portion of a trip, since no Hawaiʻi airport has one. Evaluate a premium card on its travel credits, everyday earning rates, and transfer partners first. Treat lounge access as a bonus that shows up a few times a year, not the reason to pay the annual fee.
A hui hou, Scottie
