The new Lloyds World Elite Mastercard offers cashback on spending, unlimited airport lounge access, plus Fast Track airport security — all for £15 per month.

Here at NimbleFins we’ve crunched the numbers, and we believe the card could be a winner for those who travel on a semi-regular basis. Here’s why…

An overview of the Lloyds World Elite Mastercard

The Lloyds World Elite MasterCard is a type of reward credit card. The card costs £15 a month and is open to applicants aged 18 and over.

If you sign up for the card and get approved, you’ll earn 0.5% cashback on purchases up to £15,000 per ‘anniversary’ year. And if you’re a big spender you’ll earn 1% cashback on any purchases above and beyond £15,000. While this cashback element isn't particularly competitive, especially for a card with a fee, it's the included travel perks that ultimately makes this card worth taking about...

The travel perks

All Lloyds World Elite cardholders get ‘Prestige’ Priority Pass membership included. This gives unlimited access to Priority Pass affiliated lounges around the world.

The Prestige tier of Priority Pass membership retails for £419 per year. So compare this fee to the annual £180 cost of holding the Lloyds card and it represents stonking value at first glance.

As an added boon, with the Lloyds World Elite Mastercard you can add a secondary cardholder to your account for free. This second cardholder also gets a Priority Pass membership of their own. This means that for the £180 annual cost of holding the card, two people can each bag themselves Prestige Priority Pass membership worth a combined total of £838.

Aside from the airport lounge benefits, the Lloyds World Elite Mastercard also gives unlimited Fast Track airport security. This is provided through Dragon Pass. The passes, which must be booked in advance, allow holders to skip arduous airport security queues. Unfortunately only a handful of airports currently participate in the Fast Track scheme — London Heathrow, for example, does not.

How does Priority Pass membership work?

If you’re accepted for the Lloyds World Elite MasterCard you can register it on the Priority Pass website to access your membership. To get a digital key you’ll need the Priority Pass app installed on your phone. Secondary Lloyds cardholders must follow the same steps.

The Prestige Priority Pass membership offered with the Lloyds World Elite Mastercard gives unlimited access to airport lounges within the Priority Pass network, of which there are more than 1,300.

While not as luxurious as decided ‘airline’ lounges — typically reserved for First Class customers of specific airlines — the standard ‘airport’ lounge experience is usually a pleasant one.

Most airport lounges provide a decent place to relax pre-flight, plus a selection of complementary food, alcoholic, and non-alcoholic drinks. Some of the fancier Priority Pass lounges may even offer shower facilities or ‘nap pods’, though these are sometimes classed as ‘additional services’ which cost extra.

While you don’t need Priority Pass membership to access airport lounges, the cost on the door of entering a lounge can be rather steep to say the least. The Aspire lounge in London Heathrow for example, charges £40 a head to walk-in customers, though access can typically be purchased for a lot less if booked in advance.

While on the surface the benefits of the highest tier Priority Pass membership seem rather straightforward — unlimited access to more than 1,300 lounges around the world. Before you sign up it’s worth understanding the limitations of holding a pass.

Firstly, if you have a single Priority Pass membership, you won’t be able to sneak in any additional travel companions into a lounge with you. You’ll have to pay a guest fee.

Also, it’s also the case that airport lounges can get very busy at peak times — particularly in UK airports. And because some lounges like to reserve spaces for more profitable walk-in guests, there can be times when they may refuse entry to Priority Pass holders. This can be very frustrating when it happens, especially if you’ve held off eating in order to fill your boots in a lounge!

Thankfully, however, Priority Pass has some agreements with airport outlets allowing cardholders to claim £15 credit towards their bill. While the perk isn't perfect given the high cost of airport food, it may still help to negate the impact of being refused entry into a lounge. (For whatever reason, this benefit does not apply to those who have gained Priority Pass membership through an Amex card. Priority Pass membership given through the Lloyds World Elite Mastercard does feature this benefit.)

A list of participating outlets offering £15 credit to Priority Pass cardholders can be found on the Priority Pass website — simply search for an airport and you’ll see a list of outlets below the standard lounge list.

How does Fast Track security work?

Included in the Lloyds World Elite MasterCard is ‘Fast Track’ security access for individual cardholders.

If you’ve ever been at an airport and have had to wait an age to pass through body scanners then you’ll probably see this as a worthwhile benefit.

To use Fast Track, you’ll need to register your Lloyds card on the MasterCard Fast Track website. Once done you can choose a date and time slot to use the Fast Track Lane at your chosen airport. While Fast Track passes are unlimited, advance booking is required.

Do note that the Fast Track service is only available at select airports. In the UK the only airports offering Fast Track include Aberdeen, Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Gatwick, Luton, and Southampton.

Is the Lloyds World Elite MasterCard worth getting?

While the Lloyds World Elite Mastercard markets itself as a travel card, it’s a little surprising that the card doesn’t offer fee-free spending on overseas transactions. In fact, if you use the card abroad then you’ll be stung with a hefty 2.95% transaction fee.

If you want a card for overseas use then you’ll probably be better off opting for a Chase, First Direct or Starling current account. Or, if you want a credit card, then the Barclaycard Rewards is a strong choice. (For more, see our best travel credit cards guide).

However, despite the fact that the card is expensive to use overseas, the Lloyds World Elite Mastercard is likely to be an attractive prospect for semi-frequent travellers thanks to the free Priority Pass membership and, to a lesser extent, the Fast Track security perk.

With the Lloyds World Elite Mastercard you can get two Priority Pass Prestige memberships for just £180 a year if you add an additional cardholder. So, split the monthly cost between you and your card companion and you’ve essentially given yourself access to more than 1,300 airport lounges, with free food and drink, for just £7.50 per month, or £90 per year.

At this price, even if you only make a few overseas trips per year (say 4 or 5 trips) then the annual cost may seem worth it, especially when you consider individual lounge passes can cost upwards of £30.

Even if we assume individual passes costs £20 a pop, making just four trips a year and using your Priority Pass at 8 airports should be enough to justify the £90 annual cost. (Remember, you can access lounges at home and abroad, so you've two opportunities to visit a lounge per trip!)

Of course, whether getting the Lloyds card is right for you is very much a personal decision. If you aren’t the type to ‘get your money’s worth’ in a lounge by filling your face with free food, then you might not see the calculations in quite the same way! Similarly, if you’re a frequent flyer and you already hold status with a particular airline, then you probably already have lounge access. In which case Priority Pass membership is unlikely to appeal to you.

All in all, the Priority Pass membership offered by the Lloyds World Elite Mastercard can represent very good value if you make more than a handful of overseas trip per year, especially when compared to the cost of buying a Prestige Priority Pass membership outright. And if you can add a trusted additional cardholder to your account to split the cost, the whole offering becomes even more of an attractive prospect.

How do you apply for the Lloyds World Elite Mastercard?

Rather than applying for the Lloyds World Elite MasterCard willy-nilly, it’s worth using Lloyds’ free eligibility checker to determine your chances of acceptance without risking a blot on your credit score.

You never know, you could be pre-approved for the card. And if you are pre-approved, you’ll definitely get accepted if you go on to apply.

When it comes to any type of reward credit card, only apply if you know you’ve the discipline to repay your card in full each month. If not you’ll pay the 22.94% representative APR on purchases (55.0% rep APR including the fee).

For other options, take a look at our cashback credit cards guide.

Note: The new Halifax World Elite Mastercard is identical to Lloyds’ offering (they’re part of the same group). You can read more about the Halifax card here.

Read our full review here.