Capital One Expands Travel Business With New Washington Dulles Airport Lounge

The idea of an airport lounge elicits glamorous images of jet setting and flying first class. The reality is far more mundane: Airport lounges are increasingly common for anyone flying with a credit card, and increasingly crowded, rundown, and, well, not that exclusive.

Still, lounges continue to appeal to travelers, and that is driving ever increasing investment.

Credit card companies, in addition to partnering with airlines and lounge networks like Priority Pass, are some of the latest investors in the space. American Express was one of the first with its Centurion Lounge that opened a decade ago at the Las Vegas airport. More recently, Capital One and Chase have both entered with their own branded lounges.

Capital One opened its first branded lounge at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport in 2021, and on Thursday, opens its latest at Washington Dulles airport outside the nation's capital.

“The cardholder demographic that we are really interested in serving cares a lot about travel," Capital One Head of Travel Jen