Christian
In this article
Walking into a lounge with one companion is well documented in the benefit terms. Walking in with two children is not, because three sets of rules apply at once: the card program's, the lounge's and, if Lufthansa is involved, the airline's. They regularly contradict each other, and at the reception desk the narrowest of them wins.
The short version first: in the credit card programs, children are guests like anyone else, with a guest fee attached. A genuine family rule exists only via frequent flyer status. Everything in between depends on the lounge's own house policy.
Priority Pass: the lounge decides, not the program
Priority Pass itself sets no children's rule. Its conditions of use state that access for children depends on each lounge's policy and is at the operator's discretion. The instruction to check the Lounge Finder entry beforehand is not fine print, it is the actual answer.
So the answer to "do my children pay?" is not in your card documents but in the description of the lounge you want to use today. Three patterns are common: children under two get in free at many lounges, children aged two and over count as a full guest, and a few lounges charge a reduced rate for younger children. The only dependable thing is the entry in the app.
There is also the age question in the other direction. Some lounges admit minors only when accompanied by an adult, and some do not admit teenagers at all, usually citing the bar operation. For a 16-year-old flying alone, the parents' Priority Pass is therefore not a reliable plan. How the programs differ is covered in the comparison of Priority Pass, LoungeKey and DragonPass.
Amex: one companion free, every additional child costs
The German Platinum Card comes with a Priority Pass Prestige membership. Amex describes the terms on its own benefit page as follows: up to 50 person-visits per year, one companion free of charge, every additional person 30 euros per visit. Each companion counts as a visit of their own.
This is where the family math falls apart: a child is a companion here, not a family member with special standing. With two adults and two children, your partner is the free companion and the two children are two paying guests. The rule has no age scale. Whether a toddler is counted at all is again up to the lounge, not Amex.
Then the allowance: 50 person-visits sounds generous until you divide by four. A family using a lounge in both directions burns eight visits per trip, emptying the year after roughly six trips. Whether a given lounge is worth that consumption is a separate question, and the overview of Priority Pass lounges in Germany answers it.
Centurion Lounges: the only program with a real child rate
The Centurion Lounges run separately from Priority Pass and are the only program here that explicitly treats children differently from adults. In its terms, Amex states a fee of 50 US dollars per guest aged 18 and over and 30 US dollars for children aged 2 through 17, both with proof of age. Children under two may come along free.
Two specifics apply to German cardholders. First, per the access rules, Platinum Cards issued outside the US have one complimentary guest per visit, after which the fee scale applies. Second, those amounts are the published dollar scale. If the charge is billed in dollars, your card's foreign transaction fee comes on top, so ask at check-in rather than projecting the number yourself.
Three rules apply regardless of money and matter more to families than the fee does. Guests must be travelling on the same flight as the Card Member. Nobody may stay without the Card Member, so children cannot be left there even briefly. And under 18 you only get in with a parent or legal guardian. On top of that come time windows: three hours before departure, five hours before a connecting flight. With the long airport buffer that is normal with children, you may be turned away at the door.
The Centurion Card itself is the big outlier here. Under the same terms it includes a spouse or domestic partner and your own children under 18, plus up to two additional guests. It is the only card rule here that treats a family as a family.
Lufthansa: own children free, but only through status
With Lufthansa everything hangs on status, not on the card. Under the admission rules, Senators may bring one companion plus their own children under 18 free of charge, and HON Circle members may bring a partner and their own children accordingly. Children under two are free when accompanied by an adult. Everyone needs a boarding pass for the same flight.
Below that tier it gets uncomfortable fast. A Business Class ticket entitles you, not your companions: if one parent flies Business and the children fly Economy, the children stay outside. Frequent Travellers have no free companion as a standing rule either. And for Amex holders this route has been closed since the end of the Lufthansa cooperation on 1 October 2026: the Senator Lounge is now available through status or ticket only, not through the Platinum. What it actually offers is described in the lounge write-up.
Worked example: four people, one trip
Two adults, two children aged 2 to 17, one Platinum holder, lounge on the outbound and the return.
- Priority Pass lounge: cardholder free, partner as the free companion, two children at 30 euros each. That is 60 euros per visit and 120 euros for the trip, plus four person-visits from the annual allowance.
- Two Platinum cards: the primary card and the supplementary card each hold their own membership with their own free companion. Each adult brings one child, guest fee zero. In exchange the supplementary card's annual fee runs whether you fly or not, so against 120 euros per family trip it pays off only from several trips a year.
- Centurion Lounge with a German Platinum: partner free, two children at 30 US dollars each, plus the foreign transaction fee.
- Senator status held by one parent: companion plus your own children free, so zero, as long as everyone is on the same flight.
The range for the same afternoon runs from zero to 120 euros, and it depends on the route of access, not on the lounge.
When it is not worth it
On short-haul within Europe, 60 euros per visit for two children is hard to justify. After security, a bathroom stop and the walk to the gate, the effective time inside is often forty minutes, and a large share of German contract lounges have no family area and no room where loud play bothers nobody. What children eat in that time bears no relation to the fee.
The case is clear the other way round on long connections, night flights and disruption days. Somewhere to lie down, clean bathrooms and free drinks are damage control, not luxury. If you fly those regularly, the lounge guide for frequent travellers sets out the criteria.
Conclusion
In card programs children are not a separate category, they are guests. Only the Centurion Lounge offers an age scale, and a real family rule exists in just two cases: the Centurion Card, and Lufthansa status from Senator upwards.
For everyone else, preparation pays better than hoping for goodwill. Read the lounge entry in the app before you stand at the desk with four people, calculate guest fees per visit rather than per trip, and with Amex check how many person-visits your allowance still holds after the family math. If the answer is that two children cost 60 euros for forty minutes, the most honest decision is sometimes the gate.
