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In October, Expedia announced some important new benefits for One Key members, including lounge access during delays, CLEAR+ discounts, and price drop protection for flights booked in the Expedia app. Here's what's new — and who is eligible.
What Is Expedia One Key?
Expedia One Key is the combined
You earn One Key status by booking trip elements, including flights, hotels, vacation rentals, car rentals, activities, and ground transportation. Trip elements must be worth at least $25 USD, excluding taxes and fees, to qualify.
New members start at Blue status and can attain higher elite status when hitting a certain number of trip elements in a calendar year:
- Silver status after 5 trip elements
- Gold status after 15 trip elements
- Platinum status after 30 trip elements
What stands out here is the ability to potentially earn One Key Gold status after just one trip. That's because a 5-day trip could have multiple elements: five vacation rental nights, five flight tickets, and five car rental days, for example.
All One Key members can now enjoy Instant Member Discounts in addition to earning OneKeyCash for future travel:
- Blue: 10% or more in instant discounts, plus 1% back in OneKeyCash
- Silver: 15% or more in instant discounts, plus 2% back in OneKeyCash
- Gold: 20% or more in instant discounts, plus 2% back in OneKeyCash
- Platinum: 20% or more in instant discounts, plus 3% back in OneKeyCash
If you frequently book through Expedia, these savings and earnings can add up quickly.
Related: The Ultimate One Key
Expedia's Latest Updates
Airport lounge access
One Key Gold and Platinum members now get lounge access after a flight delay of at least 90 minutes. Previously, this benefit only applied to Platinum members. There are some caveats, though.
First, the flight must be booked through Expedia at least 24 hours before departure. And there's a lengthy list of excluded airlines, notably Frontier, JetBlue, and Southwest.
Moreover, this benefit is a pilot program, so it could change soon. Expedia says:
“The benefit is available for eligible flights booked through Expedia by 12/31/27. As a pilot, we’re gathering member feedback and continuing to refine the experience, and we’ll evaluate how it performs over that period.”
As for the actual airport lounges, Expedia uses the LoungeKey network, including independent operators such as The Club, Escape Lounges, Plaza Premium, and Aspire. If a lounge isn't available, you will receive $20 in OneKeyCash.
CLEAR+ discounts
One Key members can also enjoy CLEAR+ discounts:
- Platinum members: Get a CLEAR+ annual membership for $129, or a membership plus two CLEAR Concierge Departure Service bookings for $199.
- Gold and Silver members: Get a CLEAR+ annual membership for $179, or a membership plus two CLEAR Concierge Departure Service bookings for $249.
- Blue members: Get a CLEAR+ annual membership for $209.
Silver, Gold, and Platinum members can also get 20% off additional CLEAR Concierge Departure Service bookings.
We haven't tested this data point (yet), but it appears these CLEAR+ discounts will stack with an
Price drop protection
One Key Gold and Platinum members who book flights using the Expedia app will also benefit from price drop protection.
Expedia will automatically track potential price drops for your flight up until the day of departure. However, Expedia automatically checks the price of your flight once every 24 hours when monitoring for price drops. That means if your flight drops after one check but rises again before the next one, you might not get a refund.
If you are eligible for a refund, you'll get the difference in OneKeyCash after a trip is completed.
Boost Your Earnings With a One Key card
If you book a lot of travel through Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo, consider getting the One Key™ Card or One Key+™ Card to earn bonus OneKeyCash on everyday purchases and Expedia spending.
Plus, you can score a solid welcome bonus on either card:
$99On Wells Fargo's website
Rates & Fees
- 3% in OneKeyCash on Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo
- 3% in OneKeyCash at gas stations, grocery stores, and on dining
- 2% in OneKeyCash on other purchases
$0On Wells Fargo's website
Rates & Fees
- 3% in OneKeyCash on Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo
- 3% in OneKeyCash at gas stations, grocery stores, and on dining
- 1.5% in OneKeyCash on other purchases
Bottom Line
In award travel, we generally recommend booking direct rather than using a third party, but for those who book through Expedia — and have top-tier elite status — these new benefits are helpful. While there are a few hoops to jump through for the airport lounge access, the overall list of One Key benefits is strong, even if it's just a pilot for now.
We're curious to see what will happen to the lounge access benefit beyond 2027, though.
Are you an Expedia One Key member? Have you used the airport lounge access benefit?
