While many credit cards advertise free airport lounge access, it’s not really free if you have to pay an annual fee.
However, the good news is that some cards offer annual fee waivers — either in the first year, or on an ongoing basis, if certain criteria are met. In those cases, the perk can really be costless.
By my calculations, it’s possible to enjoy up to 22 lounge visits per year without paying a single cent, or even unlimited, depending on how strict your definition of “free” is!
What do I mean by “free” credit cards?
There are three ways of thinking about “free”.
- Credit cards which waive the first year’s annual fee
- Credit cards which waive the annual fee for priority banking customers
- Credit cards which waive the annual fee upon meeting a minimum spend
(1) will obviously be the most accessible, but the other two categories are worth knowing about nonetheless.
If you want to be technical, then (2) and (3) still involve some opportunity cost, in terms of the interest that could be earned by depositing those funds elsewhere, or the miles that could be earned by putting that spending on other cards. However, let’s ignore that for the sake of discussion.
Credit cards with first-year fee waivers
The following credit cards waive the first year’s annual fee (or, in the case of the CIMB Visa Infinite, have no annual fee to begin with).
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In the tables, I’ve also included a tag indicating whether lounge visits are tracked by Calendar Year CY or Membership Year MY. Do note that the Membership Year is based on the date you obtained your lounge membership, not credit card. If you applied for your lounge membership immediately upon receiving your card, they’re likely to be the same. But if you delayed for whatever reason, they may be out of sync. |
For the Citi PremierMiles Card, DBS Altitude Visa and StanChart Journey Card, cardholders have the option of paying the first year’s annual fee to earn bonus miles. However, this is not mandatory, and you can opt for a first year fee waiver while still enjoying the complimentary lounge visits.
It may also be possible to get an annual fee waiver for the second and subsequent years, depending on your aggregate spending and relationship with the bank. You will still receive the complimentary lounge visits each year even if the annual fee is waived.
Credit cards with annual fee waivers for priority banking customers
The following credit cards offer a perpetual annual fee waiver for priority banking customers (do note that an annual fee may be charged if your total relationship balance falls below the specified minimums).
The main change here from the start of the year is that the StanChart Priority Banking Visa Infinite cut its lounge benefit in half from July 2026, going from 12 visits to six per year. Cardholders who fail to meet the minimum AUM of S$200,000 will continue to receive two visits per year, the same as before.
Credit cards with annual fee waivers for minimum spend
The following credit cards offer an annual fee waiver to cardholders who meet the minimum annual spending amounts listed in the table below.
 HSBC TravelOne CardApply |
S$196.20 (S$25,000) |
4 CY Share |
 Maybank Visa InfiniteApply |
S$654^ (S$60,000) |
4 MY No Share |
 OCBC VOYAGE CardApply |
S$488 (S$60,000) |
Unlimited No Guest |
 OCBC Premier VOYAGE CardApply |
S$488 (S$30,000) |
Unlimited No Guest |
| ^First year free, with no minimum spend necessary |
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The minimum spends are strictly enforced with the possible exception of the HSBC TravelOne Card, where data points are more mixed — some cardholders were able to get their fees waived without meeting the minimum spend, while others weren’t.
Compared to the start of the year, there are fewer options in this category now, with the DBS Vantage and DBS Insignia ending their spend-based fee waivers on 1 August 2026.
Managing multiple Priority Pass/DragonPass memberships
If you sign up for multiple cards to get more free lounge visits, you’re going to have to manage multiple Priority Pass or DragonPass memberships.
This is relatively straightforward with DragonPass, though the one confusing thing here is figuring out which app to use. You only use the official DragonPass app if:
- You purchased a membership directly from DragonPass
- You’re using the OCBC VOYAGE or OCBC Premier Visa Infinite Card
Otherwise, you’ll be using either the Mastercard Travel Pass (for Mastercard) or Airport Companion (for Visa).
That aside, the DragonPass setup is arguably better than Priority Pass because you can have multiple accounts under a single app.
For example, I currently have a DragonPass membership from the CIMB Founders Card, and another from the HSBC TravelOne Card. Both use the Mastercard Travel Pass app, and I can simply toggle between both.
With Priority Pass, the situation is more complicated because it’s not possible to store multiple memberships under a single account.
Instead, you will need one account per membership, and each account requires its own username. For example, if you have three Priority Pass memberships, you need three usernames. I’ve included some tips on how to handle this in the article below.
Fortunately, this will soon be a thing of the past, as the Priority Pass+ app is rolled out, and managing multiple memberships within one app becomes possible.
What other cards offer airport lounge access?
If you can’t get enough lounge visits from free cards alone, then paying an annual fee isn’t the end of the world, provided the entire package of benefits offers good value.
For the complete list of cards offering lounge access in Singapore — both fee-paying and free — refer to the article below.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for truly free airport lounge access, there are numerous credit cards which offer this without the need to pay an annual fee. And don’t forget: if your Player 2 (wife, girlfriend, wife and girlfriend) qualifies for cards, you can effectively double the allowance at no extra cost!
Any other fee-free cards with lounge visits?