Credit card lounges versus airline clubs: what the 2026 J.D. Power study found

The leading networks were credit-card lounges#

American Express Centurion Lounge and Capital One Lounge tied at 771 on the 1,000-point scale in J.D. Power's 2026 U.S. Airport Lounge Satisfaction Study. Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club followed at 764.

The study surveyed 2,991 travelers who had used a U.S. airport lounge during the previous year; fieldwork ran from April through June 2026. It assessed eight dimensions including value, staff, food and drink, cleanliness, amenities, access, ambiance and Wi-Fi. J.D. Power's release.

Crowding was strongly associated with satisfaction#

Forty-six percent described their most-used lounge as usually moderately or severely crowded. Satisfaction was 833 among those reporting no crowding, compared with 589 for severe crowding.

Those findings show an association in the survey. They do not prove that a specific guest-policy change will produce a predictable increase in satisfaction. Nor do they give an airport-by-airport queue forecast. The figures and definitions come from the study release.

What the result does—and does not—say#

The leading scores give the bank-lounge model a strong result in this survey. They are not a controlled experiment separating the effects of design, location, price, eligibility and customer expectations.

A network result also cannot tell you which individual room to choose at a particular airport. A traveler comparing two lounges on one connection is making a narrower decision than a survey comparing satisfaction across brands.

Take Capital One JFK, Sapphire LaGuardia and the JFK Sky Club. They belong to different networks, serve different terminals or itineraries, and have different access requirements. A network score cannot make all three interchangeable.

Keep the survey separate from Lounge Frog ratings#

Our methodology describes editorial scores for individual lounges. Those scores are not J.D. Power survey responses, and converting one scale to another would not make them comparable.

For the same reason, this article does not present a home-made average of our directory as a rebuttal to the study. Different samples and definitions can produce different results without either measure answering the same question.

A reader choosing a card should use the study as context, then inspect the locations they expect to visit. A traveler already at the airport should give more weight to access, gate distance and current conditions.

Use the result to ask better questions#

For renewal, ask how many usable lounge visits the card produced last year. For a connection, ask which eligible lounge leaves enough time to eat or work. For a family, include guest charges and seating together.

My take: The ranking is a useful starting signal; the trip still needs its own decision. Our multiple-card guide applies that approach at the airport, while the Platinum value guide focuses on renewal.

Checked October 3, 2026. No live crowding data or claim of statistical significance between close brand scores is implied.

Putting this into practice#

The names I'd check against the actual boarding pass include Capital One JFK, Sapphire LaGuardia. I would start with the terminal and the time available after security. That turns a directory into a realistic shortlist. A lounge can be excellent and still be a poor choice for this departure if reaching it uses most of the waiting time. The location notes above should do as much work as the overall score.