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Capital One Venture X to lose Priority Pass restaurants and spa services as of Jan. 1, 2023

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If you have the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, we have some bad news for you. While the Venture X card continues to provide fantastic lounge benefits, its Priority Pass benefits are being reduced next year. As of Jan. 1, 2023, Venture X cardholders will no longer have access to participating restaurants, spa services and shopping benefits across the Priority Pass network.

Here’s what cardholders need to know about these modifications.

Priority Pass: More than just lounges

When you think of Priority Pass, you likely think of its network of more than 1,300 airport lounges. That’s a core part of what Priority Pass is, but there are other uses of Priority Pass memberships. These include select airport restaurants (where you can enjoy $25-$30 per person in complimentary food, depending on the location), spa experiences, sleep rooms and more.

Related: The $112 secret Priority Pass restaurants don’t want you to know

The Turkish Airlines Lounge at MIA airport. ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY

Venture X Priority Pass changes

As of Jan. 1, 2023, Venture X cardholders will no longer have access to non-lounge Priority Pass benefits. This means those who get their Priority Pass membership through this card will continue to have access to the range of Priority Pass lounges but will not be able to use the non-lounge benefits, such as restaurants, spas and suites. This mirrors the 2019 removal of non-lounge elements from Priority Pass access through American Express cards.

At the time of writing, this update isn’t prominently visible on the issuer’s main lounge access page. There’s even conflicting language in the Frequently Asked Questions section of that page. One of them includes this note:

What is Priority Pass and how do Venture X cardholders enroll in it?

Priority Pass is a program that provides access to airport lounges worldwide. Effective January 1, 2023, Priority Pass non-lounge airport experiences (such as dining, retail shopping and spa discounts) are not part of the Visa Infinite® benefit program for Venture X cardholders.

However, a later question includes the following:

As a Venture X cardholder, how do I access Priority Pass benefits, such as exclusive discounts on in-airport dining, retail and spas?

Once you’ve enrolled for your complimentary Priority Pass membership, you’ll get access to more than 800 exclusive discounts on in-airport dining, retail shopping and spas.

Unfortunately, a spokesperson for Capital One has confirmed these changes.

“We are currently notifying Venture X customers that as of Jan. 1, 2023, access to Priority Pass non-lounge airport experiences will no longer be part of their membership program benefits.”

However, it should be noted that other Venture X lounge privileges are not changing at this time. That includes access to Capital One lounges and Plaza Premium lounges, in addition to continued access to Priority Pass lounges. The only update is related to non-lounge elements of Priority Pass.

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It’s also worth noting here that the Venture X card launched in Nov. 2021, so this change comes at a time when many are paying the annual fee for year two. If your renewal is coming up, be sure to consider how frequently you used these non-lounge Priority Pass locations over the last year to consider whether the $395 annual fee is worth it.

Related: The 10 best Priority Pass lounges around the world

Bottom line

Starting Jan. 1, Capital One Venture X cardholders will lose access to non-lounge benefits through Priority Pass — including participating airport restaurants and spa services. This is similar to the restrictions on Priority Pass memberships included on select American Express cards.

The other interesting piece of this news is that the removal of the benefits is announced as a change related to Visa Infinite benefits — which is the same card type as the Chase Sapphire Reserve. We have reached out to Chase to ask if this change will affect Priority Pass memberships through the Sapphire Reserve and will provide updates as needed.

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Scallops, sprouts, ackee and saltfish: my family’s Christmas food rituals | Christmas food and drink

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When I was growing up, my family didn’t have Christmas traditions so much as periods. Our festive celebrations reflected where we were as a family at any given time.

The Scallop Period was probably my favorite. A couple, Colin and Anne, moved into the house next door to my childhood home in Weymouth, and every now and then, Colin, a trawlerman, would leave a massive bag of scallops on our doorstep. Dad would clean and freeze them, ready for Christmas, when we would feast on a starter we’d otherwise never have been able to afford: scallops seared and served with bacon and pea puree.

There was also the Foraging Period, which saw the dinner table groan with jars of chutney and jelly and bottles of steeped gins I’d made with fruits and berries such as plums, hawthorns and sloes picked in the Dorset countryside during what was quite a militant obsession in my early 20s. Making them in autumn meant they’d be perfect by Christmas, and I’d give any surplus to friends as gifts.

Then there was the Brussels Sprouts Period, which was probably the longest of all, when my parents first insisted, then guilt-tripped me into eating two.

Guardian Feast Christmas spot Melissa Thompson illustration of jam jar

But it wasn’t just periods; there were things we returned to year in, year out. And, for people born outside Britain – my mum in Malta, Dad in Jamaica – my parents took a decidedly British approach to Christmas lunch. A roast dinner, with little loyalty to a particular bird, meaning it might be turkey, goose or duck, with all the trimmings. It would be joined by a second meat, usually lamb, and my brother and I would haggle over the bone marrow.

There were also little highlights drawn from my parents’ background, which seasoned the festivities in other ways. Ackee and saltfish for breakfast, made by my dad (if we had managed to get the ingredients from a trip to London and back to Weymouth in time, that is). There would be loads of fried dumplings and, if we were lucky, fried plantains too. If not, my second favorite, a dish of bacon, tinned tomatoes and onions all cooked together – the result is so much better than the sum of its parts – with a fried egg and a fried dumpling on the side. Even thinking about it now makes me yearn for the magical flavor that is egg yolk and tomato scooped up with dumplings.

In the lead-up to the big day, the house would be filled with the smell of Imbuljuta tal-Qastan, a classic Maltese Christmas drink made by Mum which consists of dried chestnuts simmered with cocoa, water, chocolate, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest. Our house could not have smelled more Christmassy if it was filled with festive Yankee Candles, though it took me years to learn to like it. These days, I can’t get enough.

Now that I have my own child, I suppose it’s my turn to establish some kind of tradition. Aside from the beef rib I buy from our local butcher every year, we haven’t really had a chance to establish any Christmas rituals, given that, for half the number of years I’ve been a parent, Covid-19 has put paid to our plans. Last year, like so many other people’s, our hopes of getting the whole family together were thwarted on Christmas Eve by one relative’s positive PCR. The beef rib went in the freezer and my partner, daughter and I had lunch at an Algerian cafe on the Old Kent Road in south-east London. We eat delicious merguez and hand-cut chips, surrounded by men playing chess, and without a hat or Christmas jumper in sight. It was wholly untraditional, and it was perfect.

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