Credit Cards: Can’t access an airport lounge? One of these 5 points may explain the reason

Using a credit card offers a range of benefits. Apart from getting 45-day interest free period, users also receive a number of benefits which range from discount on shopping to getting reward points. Aside from these, one of the tempting features of credit cards is the access to lounges at airports, particularly when you have a couple of hours to while away before your flight is scheduled to depart.

But did this ever happen that you tried to access an airport lounge by swiping your card but to no avail? Well, you do not need to fret since you are not alone in this. This happens to a number of card users all the time.

Although several credit cards offer access to airport lounges but often times, there are limits to the number of times you can access these lounges within a time frame.

For instance, SBI Card Prime offers eight complimentary visits each year to domestic lounges in India and four visits a year to international lounges. Likewise, Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Mojo Platinum Credit Card gives eight complimentary airport lounge visits in a year. This means two visits in a quarter within India. And when these limits are exceeded, the access does not remain free of charge.

So, if you are turned away from an airport lounge in the recent past, it could be because of following reasons.

Reasons of denial at airport lounges:

1. Annual limit is breached: As mentioned above, most credit cards offer complementary access to credit card users upto a certain limit. When that limit is breached, the access without any charge may be denied to the user.

For instance, when a card enables access to airport lounge only upto eight times in a year, it is not permitted to access the lounge on ninth occasion in one year.

2. Too frequent to be permitted: At times, these limits are imposed each quarter. So when the card user exceeds these short limits, the free access may not continue.

3. Exclusive lounges: Some airport lounges are accessible only to business class passengers. So, your credit card may not enable you to give a free pass to these exclusive lounges.

For instance, Delhi Airport's Terminal 3 has 'Encalm Prive' which is a lounge for business class travellers only. Most credit cards do not give access to this lounge but to the regular one i.e., Encalm Lounge.

4. International airports: Some credit cards provide access to lounges which are located only in domestic airports and not in international airports. So while you may be entitled to access an airport lounge, but not in any airport around the world.

5. Spending limit: Some credit cards impose a restriction on the amount of money to be spent via card in a quarter to be able to access airport lounge in the following quarter. So, when you fail to meet this condition, your access to lounge may be denied in the following period.