US Open 2026: Which Card Gets You Into Chase & Amex Lounges?

Takeaway	Detail
The Chase Sapphire Reserve is the master key — and it now costs $795 a year.	Moneywise reports the fee rose to $795 in 2025, up from the $550 price Yahoo/Business Insider cited for 2024, so weigh that cost against how often you'd actually use Chase's airport-and-event lounge network beyond US Open week.
Even at the old $550 annual fee, the card bought eligibility, not a seat.	Prime Chase Lounge reservation blocks for the 2025 fortnight vanished within minutes of posting, which makes the booking calendar — not the metal in your wallet — the binding constraint; track posted drop times for each session you want during the 2026 window.
The Amex Platinum is the supplement, not the play — don't stack a second premium fee on top of the $795 card for one fortnight.	American Express stages temporary US Open lounges for Platinum cardholders, part of a footprint Moneywise sizes at eight issuer lounges across 20 partnered venues worldwide, and Thrifty Traveler notes Amex spaces stay walled off from rival banks' cards.
Build match day around LGA Terminal B and start checking reservations at least 72 hours before each session.	The Points Guy counted nine Chase Sapphire Lounges open across the U.S. as of July 27, 2026, LaGuardia's Terminal B included, so one card covers the pre-flight lounge and the on-site Chase Lounge in a single day — set alerts for the 2026 tournament booking calendar.

The most expensive thing at the 2026 US Open might not be an Arthur Ashe seat — it's the $795 annual fee attached to the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the one card that opens both of the tournament's hardest-to-get rooms. Moneywise flagged the climb from the $550 price cardholders faced in 2024, and scarcity explains why: prime Chase Lounge reservation blocks for the 2025 fortnight vanished within minutes of posting, even as the USTA counted a seven-figure crowd outside the gates.

The default take — grab the Amex Platinum for US Open week — gets the hierarchy backwards. American Express does stage temporary lounges at Flushing Meadows for Platinum cardholders, part of a footprint Moneywise sizes at eight issuer lounges across 20 partnered venues worldwide. But those rooms stay walled off from rival banks' cards, as Thrifty Traveler notes, and the space people actually fight over is Chase's.

For 2026, the winning sequence is simple: the Sapphire Reserve as master key, the Platinum as supplement, and LaGuardia's Terminal B as the hinge. The Points Guy counted nine Chase Sapphire Lounges open across the U.S. as of late July 2026, Terminal B included, so one card covers the pre-flight lounge and the on-site Chase Lounge in a single match day — if you beat the reservation rush.

Four Doors, Two Keys

Four doors serve the 2026 US Open — two at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, two at the airports — but only two keys exist: a Sapphire Reserve-tier Chase card holding a reservation, and an invited Platinum or Centurion. Everything else in your wallet is decoration at these entrances, and mapping which door takes which key is the entire access game.

Start on-site. The Chase Lounge at the tennis center admits eligible JPMorgan Chase cardholders — Sapphire Reserve and J.P. Morgan Reserve tiers, per the card list Chase publishes on its US Open hub each August. Reservations release in blocks roughly two weeks before each session through Chase's experiences portal, and walk-up admission is effectively nonexistent, so the drop is the door. The footprint is bigger than one room, too: The Points Guy's US Open guide leads with a file dated August 26, 2024 titled "Chase Lounge and Terrace at US Open," meaning Chase operates both a Lounge and a Terrace on the grounds.

The Amex on-site door looks similar and isn't. The Centurion Suite at the tennis center is invitation- and reservation-based for Platinum and Centurion cardholders, distributed through Amex Experiences channels — Moneywise, citing CNBC, confirms Amex has run temporary US Open lounges reserved for Platinum cardholders. Do not confuse it with the activations any Amex product unlocks: the Fan Experience and the on-site radio stage are open to every Amex cardholder and confer zero lounge rights. A Green card gets you a photo op, not a seat.

The airport layer is where LGA becomes decisive. Terminal B uniquely hosts both networks side by side: the Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club, entered with the Priority Pass Select membership attached to the Sapphire Reserve, sits directly beside Amex's LaGuardia Centurion Lounge, according to Thrifty Traveler. The Centurion Lounge admits Platinum, Centurion, or Delta SkyMiles Reserve cardholders when flying Delta, plus a same-day boarding pass. JFK's Terminal 4 adds a second Centurion Lounge, making your departure terminal the binding constraint on which airport door you can physically reach. Two facts tighten the case further: no airline status or business-class ticket is required at Chase Sapphire Lounges, per Yahoo/Business Insider, and The Points Guy's July 27, 2026 roundup counts nine Chase Sapphire Lounges operating nationwide, LGA among them.

Then run the transit math. LGA sits roughly 20 minutes from Mets-Willets Point via the Q48 bus or a rideshare; JFK runs 50–60 minutes away via AirTrain plus the LIRR, and Newark stretches past 75 minutes. A day session that runs long leaves a usable pre-flight lounge window only from LGA — from JFK or EWR you're choosing between the match and the lounge, not getting both.

Now kill the myth cleanly: ticket tier, presale codes, and spare metals move nothing. A grounds pass and a courtside Ashe seat carry identical suite eligibility — none. Amex Early Access and Chase cardmember preferred-ticket windows sell tickets, not access. Freedom, Sapphire Preferred, and Amex Gold open neither on-site door. Even satisfaction scores don't change the calculus: J.D. Power's 2026 U.S. Airport Lounge Satisfaction Study, released August 19, 2026 from surveys of nearly 3,000 passengers collected April through June, tied Amex Centurion with Capital One for first and placed Chase third — yet access geometry, not rankings, decides who gets usable time in New York that fortnight.

So the framework writes itself: fly into LGA, hold the Sapphire Reserve, grab the on-site reservation at the drop, and treat the Terminal B pair as your default. Add the Platinum only when your itinerary already includes two or more Centurion Lounge visits — otherwise you're paying for a door you won't reach.

Door	Key that opens it	Mechanics	Verdict for 2026
On-site Chase Lounge & Terrace	Sapphire Reserve or J.P. Morgan Reserve + reservation	Blocks drop roughly two weeks pre-session via Chase's experiences portal; no walk-ups	Primary on-site target — win the drop
On-site Amex Centurion Suite	Invited Platinum or Centurion	Distributed through Amex Experiences channels	Bonus only, never the plan
LGA Terminal B Chase Sapphire Lounge	Priority Pass Select from Sapphire Reserve	Beside the Centurion Lounge; no status or cabin-class requirement	Default play, every match day
LGA Terminal B Centurion Lounge	Platinum, Centurion, or Delta SkyMiles Reserve (flying Delta) + same-day boarding pass	Same building as Chase's lounge	Counts toward the 2+ visit threshold
JFK Terminal 4 Centurion Lounge	Platinum, Centurion, or Delta SkyMiles Reserve (flying Delta)	Adds a second New York Centurion door	Only if you depart JFK — 50–60 min from Flushing

The $795 Ledger: Reserve vs. Platinum

According to Chase's published card terms, the Sapphire Reserve has carried its $795 annual fee since the 2025 increase Moneywise tracked, bundled with Priority Pass Select. One line needs a footnote this season. Per Thrifty Traveler's July 31 report, every Chase Sapphire Lounge exits the Priority Pass and LoungeKey networks on Aug. 15 — before the first ball in Queens — so the Terminal B access that matters during the fortnight rides on the card itself, which is exactly how the reservation-at-the-drop play already operates. The Priority Pass Select line now prices against non-Chase properties only, and per Thrifty Traveler, Chase cardholders always held door priority while other banks' Priority Pass users were the first turned away.

Ledger line	Sapphire Reserve	Personal Platinum
Annual fee	$795	Check Amex's live terms
Travel credit	Check Chase's live terms	Check Amex's live terms
Hotel credit	Check Chase's live terms	Check Amex's live terms
Remaining credits	Priority Pass Select	Enrollment-required perks — check live terms
Paper total	Depends on credits cleared	Depends on credits cleared
Break-even path	Credits that post automatically	Separately enrolled credits

According to Amex's application terms, the personal Platinum's annual fee buys an itemized stack of statement credits — airline fee, hotel, digital entertainment, Uber Cash, and CLEAR among them. Each line demands its own enrollment and cadence; skip the Uber Cash or let the entertainment credit lapse and the paper edge shrinks faster than the fee gap between the two cards. The CLEAR line pays off only if CLEAR was a purchase you'd make regardless.

The physical plant behind both fees is permanent, and the sizes matter for seat math. According to Amex's opening materials, the LaGuardia Centurion Lounge measures 13,900 square feet; its JFK Terminal 4 sibling runs roughly 15,000 square feet per Amex's opening announcements. The Chase counterweight, per Thrifty Traveler, spans 21,800 square feet across two floors, open daily from 4:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. — a seventeen-hour service window. In plain terms, the LGA Chase plant runs nearly 8,000 square feet larger than the Centurion sharing its terminal.

Before the next reservation drop, audit last year's statement: count how many of the Amex credit lines you actually cleared. Clear only one or two of them, and the $795 ledger — automatic credits plus the larger LGA plant — is your answer.

The guest arithmetic is where the Platinum path bleeds. Per Amex's member terms, the Centurion Lounge charges a flat published surcharge per guest, so a couple logging two visits triggers it four times — two guests, two visits. The Sapphire Reserve's Priority Pass guesting bills that same companion nothing across both visits, meaning the dollar swing equals four times whatever Amex currently publishes; pull the live rate from your member terms before booking, because Amex reprices it. The direction of travel sharpens the point: according to Thrifty Traveler, Chase eliminated the $75 preferential rate for additional Sapphire Lounge visits, so after August 15, 2026 everyone pays the standard walk-up day-pass price — guesting economics now decide more than they used to.

Itinerary	Fee exposed	Deciding figure	Winner
Fly LGA, one lounge afternoon	$795 vs. its credit stack	21,800 sq ft, card-direct entry	Reserve
Two-plus Centurion visits (LGA + JFK T4)	Platinum fee vs. its paper total	13,900 + ~15,000 sq ft of Amex plant	Platinum earns its fee
Riding a Priority Pass from another bank's card	No incremental fee	Chase lounges exit the network Aug. 15	Neither — the Reserve is the key
Budget grounds-pass plan	Baseline ticket spend	Credits must match spend already planned	Reserve, used mechanically

The Delta wrinkle: LGA is a Delta fortress, and the Delta SkyMiles Reserve reaches the same Terminal B Centurion door whenever you're actually flying Delta, at a lower annual fee than the personal Platinum. Verdict: it beats Platinum-only for Delta loyalists, but it concedes the on-site suite completely — the Sapphire Reserve remains the on-site anchor in every Delta-flying scenario.

Scoreboard: CSR vs. Platinum vs. Both

Newark breaks the framework. Travelers locked into EWR — United's turf — get zero on-site advantage from either flagship card, so the verdict there collapses to "cheapest Priority Pass path," a race the fee ledger above already prices. Treat this guide's LGA-centric winner as strictly conditional on the canonical routing rule: fix the airport first, then choose cards.

Sensitivity check: the ranking survives moderate moves in annual fees and small shifts in per-visit pay-in rates. The verdict hinges on itinerary shape — departure airport plus visit count — not fee precision. Action item: count your Centurion visits before counting dollars; one visit keeps you Sapphire Reserve-only, two sends you shopping for both.

Neither the USTA, Chase, nor American Express publishes per-session capacity, no-show rates, or reservation-drop success odds for any door covered above. Every ranking in this guide rests on posted access terms plus observed drop behavior — directional evidence, not audited counts. Read the Sapphire Reserve-first call as the best available read of the rules as written, not a laboratory result.

Three gaps limit the evidence. First, occupancy is opaque: nobody outside the issuers sees how full the LaGuardia Chase Lounge or the on-site Amex suite runs on a given session, so "usable time" is inferred from access rules, never measured. Second, the drop is anecdotal: how fast Chase Lounge reservations vanish depends on session popularity, weather, and how many cardholders set alarms — variables nobody tracks systematically. Third, terms move mid-cycle: Amex rebuilt its guest policy a few seasons back, Chase periodically trims its Priority Pass footprint, and both issuers' terms pages carry revision language that applies straight through the tournament's opening. Verify both cards' live terms the week you book, not the week you read this.

Variance across cases is wide enough to matter. Party size does much of the work: the free-guest structure at Terminal B pays off in multiples, so a pair or a foursome captures far more of the gap than a solo traveler, who should weight the decision toward convenience alone. Home geography sets the Centurion math: a traveler connecting through Dallas–Fort Worth, Denver, or Las Vegas clears the two-visit threshold from the rule above almost by accident, while someone based where Amex operates no lounge has to manufacture those visits. Session timing trims everything else: night sessions end late enough that closing hours, not card choice, decide how much lounge you actually get.

Stack	On-site suite door	Best LGA door	JFK fallback door	Couple's guest bill	Break-even vs. walk-up day-pass rate	Winner
Sapphire Reserve only	Keyed in — reservation required	Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club, Terminal B	Priority Pass; the listing carries a one-visit entitlement to the Chase Sapphire Lounge network	Nothing, both visits	Clears on visit one — a couple dodges the $100 walk-up day pass per visit	CSR-only — default LGA verdict
Amex Platinum only	Locked out	Centurion Lounge, Terminal B	Centurion JFK plus Priority Pass	4× the published per-guest surcharge over two visits	Holder clears solo; a couple never catches up in two visits	Platinum-only — viable only at 2+ Centurion visits
Both cards	Keyed in via CSR	Both Terminal B doors	Full combined network	Still 4× surcharge on published rates	Fastest clear — every door keyed or comped	Both — flips verdict on 2+ Centurion visits
Delta SkyMiles Reserve	Locked out	Same Centurion door, Delta flights only	Centurion JFK on Delta itineraries	Same surcharge structure as Platinum	Beats Platinum-only on fee for Delta loyalists	Delta Reserve — Delta-flying trips; CSR keeps the on-site anchor

What the Data Doesn't Tell You

The rule breaks cleanly in four places — none of which reverse it. Strike out at the drop and the Reserve's edge shrinks to the Terminal B Priority Pass fallback: real, but thinner when rain compresses a session and every displaced fan queues behind you. Land at JFK or Newark instead of LaGuardia and the airport half of the case vanishes; the decision collapses to counting Centurion stops. Plan exactly one Centurion visit and the threshold already answers — leave the Platinum home. And bury the oldest myth in the stands while we're here: no ticket tier opens anything. A courtside Ashe seat and a grounds pass meet the same two-key wall — a Sapphire Reserve-tier card holding a reservation, or an invited Platinum or Centurion holder for Amex's suite. Money buys seats, not doors.

The working habit that survives all of this: screenshot Chase's lounge-reservation page and Amex's lounge-location list on the same day you price flights. If either changed within the prior month, rerun the ledger before paying an annual fee on faith — the rules above held when written, and the issuers, not this guide, hold the pen.

The reservation drop, not the card in your wallet, decides whether you see either on-site suite. In both 2024 and 2025, travelers who cleared eligibility — Sapphire Reserve-tier Chase holders and invited Platinum and Centurion members — still struck out when reservation blocks sold out faster than any demand model implied. Treat admission as a separate event from eligibility: build the fortnight assuming suite access fails, and treat the LaGuardia lounges as the guaranteed floor, not the bonus. And an expensive Ashe ticket changes none of it — the doors open to the two keys described above, never to seat quality.

The second failure mode is that the terms themselves move. Within roughly 24 months, both ranked cards absorbed multiple overhauls — lounge-network access cuts, guest-rule reversals, fee restructurings — each one retroactively changing what a holder could walk into. Re-verify every term against the live card pages no more than 30 days before travel. It is the same discipline that keeps a fare quote honest: a benefit you have not checked against the live flow is a rumor with a logo on it.

Edge case	What survives	What fails	Call
LGA arrival, party of two, drop won	Full Reserve path: Chase Lounge reservation plus free guests at Terminal B	Nothing material	Keep the Reserve alone
LGA arrival, drop missed	Terminal B Priority Pass fallback	Guaranteed Chase Lounge seat	Reserve still correct; arrive earlier
Two-plus Centurion visits, e.g., connections through DFW both ways	Platinum earns its fee slot	Reserve-only math undercounts	Add the Platinum, per the rule
One Centurion visit maximum	Reserve covers all planned access	Platinum's premium goes unearned	Skip the Platinum
Arrival at JFK or Newark	Decision reduces to Centurion count	Airport-side Reserve advantage	Recount before buying anything
Rain-compressed session, both suites full	Neither card manufactures space	Any guaranteed-seat assumption	Shift arrival earlier; ticket tier is irrelevant

Third, name the contract risk plainly. The on-site suites are sponsorship products, not permanent card-network entitlements. Operators, locations, and eligibility lists have shifted between tournament editions, and at time of writing neither brand had announced its 2026 format. A benefit printed on a card page is a contract between you and the issuer; a suite at Flushing Meadows is a marketing line item that can be relocated, renamed, or dropped between editions.

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Gone in Minutes

Timing variance does the rest. Rain-delayed day sessions and Ashe night sessions compress thousands of fans into unpredictable arrival windows, and queue pressure swings on the order of two to three times depending on session type. Which session you attend moves your experience more than which card you carry. As Andrea Stokes, hospitality practice lead at JD Power, put it, the lounge oasis "can sometimes become a mirage when lounges are overcrowded."

There is also a cardless counter-path. US Open Official Hospitality and third-party resale packages sell suite-adjacent space to anyone willing to pay, no annual fee or reservation drop required. For a once-in-a-lifetime visitor, that can undercut the entire card-acquisition thesis outright; the card play only wins on multi-year utility beyond the fortnight.

Last, the honesty clause. As covered above, no operator publishes per-session capacity, no-show rates, or released inventory — which means every "sold out instantly" anecdote circulating online is unsampled, selected by whoever happened to post. Treat all scarcity claims, including this guide's, as directional rather than audited.

Two travelers out of Chicago, four nights in Flushing, and one Thursday reservation decide whether this trip's lounge math works. Here is the canonical rule executed end to end: a Thursday-through-Monday run inside the tournament's second week — the Round 3 and Round of 16 window on USTA's standard calendar, still to be confirmed when the 2026 schedule posts. Because this itinerary contains zero Centurion Lounge visits, the rule above says the Platinum never enters the wallet; the Sapphire Reserve carries the entire plan alone.

Three private suites. That is the entire Reserve Suites by Chase inventory inside LaGuardia's Sapphire Lounge, according to Thrifty Traveler — and nothing among Chase's competitors offers a comparable product. Hold onto that ratio before spending a dollar on the 2026 Open: suite-grade access is counted in single digits, stadium seating is not, and every rule below follows from that asymmetry.

Airport-first: price the identical round trip into all three airports before touching a ticket. If LaGuardia costs about the same per person round-trip as JFK or Newark — or only trivially more — book LGA and stop shopping. The advantage compounds rather than adds — Terminal B's two-network lounge density sits behind the shortest ground transfer of the three airports, so usable lounge time accrues on every arrival and departure across the tournament run. A substantial fare gap per person round-trip is the only justification for routing elsewhere.

Scenario	Reliable floor	Suite upside	What wins
Verified holder, missed the drop	Airport lounge via card	None unless inventory releases	Plan around the floor, not the hope
Rain-delayed day session	LGA lounge before transit	On-site suite only with held reservation	Session timing beats card choice
Ashe night session	Early airport lounge entry	Compressed arrivals spike queues	Shift arrival window earlier
Once-in-a-lifetime visitor	Official Hospitality package	Resale suite-adjacent space	Buy the package, skip card acquisition
Multi-year atten

Frequently Asked Questions

How much did the Chase Sapphire Reserve annual fee go up, and what was it before?

The fee rose to $795 in 2025, up from the $550 price cardholders faced in 2024.

When do Chase Lounge reservations for US Open sessions actually become available?

Reservations release in blocks roughly two weeks before each session through Chase's experiences portal, and prime blocks for the 2025 fortnight vanished within minutes of posting with walk-up admission effectively nonexistent.

Does my Chase Sapphire Preferred or Freedom card get me into the on-site Chase Lounge?

Only Sapphire Reserve and J.P. Morgan Reserve tiers are admitted to the on-site Chase Lounge and Terrace, while Freedom, Sapphire Preferred, and Amex Gold open neither on-site door.

Do I need airline status or a business-class ticket to use the Chase Sapphire Lounge at LaGuardia?

No airline status or business-class ticket is required at Chase Sapphire Lounges — entry comes through the Priority Pass Select membership attached to the Sapphire Reserve.

Who can enter the LaGuardia Centurion Lounge, and is there a flight requirement?

The Centurion Lounge admits Platinum, Centurion, or Delta SkyMiles Reserve cardholders when flying Delta, plus a same-day boarding pass.

Is it realistic to attend a day session and still hit an airport lounge before my flight?

LGA sits roughly 20 minutes from Mets-Willets Point via the Q48 bus or a rideshare, while JFK runs 50–60 minutes away via AirTrain plus the LIRR and Newark stretches past 75 minutes, so a long-running day session leaves a usable pre-flight lounge window only from LGA.

Quick answers

What is the current annual fee for the Chase Sapphire Reserve?	$795 a year, up from the $550 price cited for 2024.
Which airport terminal uniquely hosts both the Chase Sapphire Lounge and the Amex Centurion Lounge side by side?	LaGuardia's Terminal B.
How many Chase Sapphire Lounges were operating across the U.S. as of July 27, 2026?	Nine, per The Points Guy's roundup, with LaGuardia's Terminal B included.
When do reservations for the on-site Chase Lounge at the US Open release?	In blocks roughly two weeks before each session through Chase's experiences portal, with walk-up admission effectively nonexistent.
Who can enter Amex's LaGuardia Centurion Lounge?	Platinum, Centurion, or Delta SkyMiles Reserve cardholders when flying Delta, plus a same-day boarding pass.