A few weeks ago, I wrote about how you could use your Priority Pass Membership for Restaurants in Sydney and Brisbane Airport. With a card like the American Express Platinum Card, you get a Priority Pass membership with unlimited visits with up to one accompanying guest for free.
Instead of your membership granting admission into a lounge, each entry gets you $36 AUD of credit towards nearly any food and beverage purchase. Your guest would also get another $36 AUD. In the past two weeks, I used this benefit quite a few times, so I have some firsthand experience with this new benefit.
My Experience Using Priority Pass for Restaurants
The first time I used this was at Sydney Airport. I was transiting from the international to the domestic terminal. My next flight was on Qantas. Even though I had business class lounge access, I thought it’d be nice to have an a la carte breakfast, so I headed to Mach2, located in the international terminal before security.
Priority Pass at Restaurants
The process was actually pretty straightforward. I had a coffee and an omelette off the menu, then headed to the counter to pay.
Priority Pass Restaurant – Breakfast
Instead of handing over my credit card, I gave them my Priority Pass which they then scanned. There was clear signage and the staff was aware of the procedure. The worst-case scenario that I had thought of was that they’d say something like “Oh, Priority Pass is broken today.” That wouldn’t be good at all.
Priority Pass – Restaurants
The only thing worth noting was that it seemed like you needed to preauthorize a purchase with your Priority Pass before you would be served alcohol. With this “lounge” entry, I really liked the fact that my credit card (and Priority Pass) gave me such flexibility in how to enjoy my experience at the airport more.
Additional Reading: Best Credit Cards for Lounge Access
However, I can see Priority Pass limiting or modifying this benefit. For example, the Platinum Card gets you and a guest “access” at each restaurant. If you tell the staff to swipe your card for two people, you will still get the additional amount even if you are just by yourself. That means, you have $72 AUD to spend per establishment. Even with Australian restaurant prices, that’s pretty difficult to spend by yourself.
I wasn’t asked for a boarding pass at all, and only for ID once or twice. Other than that, there really was nothing differentiating between me and an non-ticketed passenger. Couple that with the fact you could access multiple restaurants with just one boarding pass, and it becomes very generous.
Overall, I think it’s really awesome that you can “spend” money at the airport without worrying about inflated prices for everything. I hope that it expands even further, but we’ll see soon enough where it goes.
The only card in Canada with Unlimited Lounge Access is the American Express Platinum Card – Apply Now!
—
Let’s connect: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
[…] have exceptional lounges for a domestic flight, and on top of that, you can get free food at restaurants at Brisbane, Sydney, (and now Denver) airport if you have a Priority Pass from the American […]