Venture X Business and Priority Pass Dining – Playing Out As I Expected (New Cards Do Not Have It)

You’ll recall that when Capital One announced in April that the Venture X Business card would change from a Mastercard to a Visa, I speculated on the future of the Venture X Business card and its Priority Pass Dining benefit. 

My speculation was based on the trend I’d noticed in that Visa based cards with Priority Pass were losing the benefit one by one while Mastercard issued Priority Passes did not seem to likewise be losing the benefit.

I reached out to Capital One corporate comms that day and 2 more times thereafter and nobody would answer me about the future of this specific benefit, only pointing me to the Visa Business benefits guide which of course does not reference this. While this made me more suspicious that the answer wasn’t one we’d want to hear, I also didn’t want to pour speculation on top of my speculation. And at the same time, I didn’t want anyone to get a card for a benefit that may or may not still exist. 

Here’s what I said on April 16th:

If you were thinking about applying for the Venture X Business card with this benefit as your primary reason, I might wait until we get clarification from Capital One about this benefit. I would feel awful if someone applied for that reason and unbeknownst to us it’s already on the chopping block.

I did go through the detective work of comparing the language on the Capital One website about the Priority Pass benefit from a few days ago and today and there is no change in wording. However, the wording already did not make any reference to anything other than lounges so I can’t glean anything from that. 

Well, MilesTalk Facebook group member Jim G. found out the hard way that his newly issued Venture X Business card on the Visa network does not include Priority Pass dining.

He called and asked specifically and was told that newly issued cards since the network change to Visa do not have the benefit and that if and when existing cardmembers are moved to Visa (something of which I’ve been told is not imminent but, who knows…) they would also lose the benefit.

I have to say, when Amex and Chase did away with the benefit, it was clearly communicated. This could have been clearly communicated as well (which I think is always the best policy) but not only can you not find the information online (the webpage for Venture X Business lounge access verbiage did not change one word from when it was a Mastercard with the dining access to the Visa without the dining access), there was also no communication about the benefit change. Maybe if and when they convert existing cardholders over to Visa, they will put a note on the statement – or at least I hope so.

Unless a conversion for existing cardmembers is actually announced, existing cardmembers seem safe. 

Now, I can’t say this is 100% fact – given that I literally cannot get a confirmation from Capital One – but based on actual group member experience with their own cards and customer service, it sure seems like this is the state of affairs now.

Sorry to break the news 🙁

Thoughts?

Let me know below in the comments, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group. And don't forget to follow me on Instagram for all sorts of tips on miles, points, credit cards, and travel.

If this post helped you, please consider sharing it!

You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards. 

New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.