As flagged by Award Wallet, Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Ritz Carlton card holders will be losing a perk. While not a huge deal, it is something to be aware of.

Chase is Dropping Priority Pass Restaurant Access

For the Chase Sapphire Reserve and those who have the Chase Ritz Carlton card, you will no longer have access to use their Priority Pass membership at restaurants starting on July 1st. While premium American Express and Capital One cards all have complimentary Priority Pass memberships, they do not offer the dining credit at restaurants.

For those who don’t know, Priority Pass partners with a number of restaurants in airports around the world and you can get a $28 credit on your bill when presenting your Priority Pass card. You can actually bring a guest with you and get a total of $56 off your bill.

Citi Prestige Still Offering Priority Pass Restaurant Credit

The only credit card that will still offer a dining credit at Priority Pass restaurants after July 1st is the Citi Prestige. Unfortunately, that card isn’t open to new applicants. That’s too bad because it is my go to card for dining as I get 5x points.

Chase’s Rationale

A Chase spokesperson told Award Wallet their reasoning was because they are opening so many Sapphire Lounges. Sure, but I think that’s a roundabout way of saying the benefit is costing them way too much money.

I really wonder just how many of Chase’s cardholders were actually aware of this benefit and used it though. Certainly there are a good number of cardholders who used it as much as they can by hopping around to multiple Priority Pass restaurants in each airport multiple times a year. This just sounds like a cost cutting measure.

While there are only 3 Sapphire Lounges in the US (Boston, New York JFK, and New York Laguardia) as well as one in Hong Kong, removing this benefit hurts for travelers in other airports. Yes, the food at the Sapphire Lounges is incredible and some of the best lounge food out there, I can’t believe they’re making this cut because they’ve opened lounges and its redundant.

Some Priority Pass lounges do have pretty good food, but not what you would get at one of the Priority Pass restaurants.

Wrapping Up

Overall, this definitely is a bad development for Chase to remove restaurants from their Priority Pass membership but at the end of the day, I wonder how many people this will impact.

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.