Did you know that Plaza Premium Lounge was founded by a Malaysian? Datuk Wira Song Hoi See started Plaza Premium in 1998 after leaving his corporate job. The first two lounges opened at HKIA and KLIA. Today, Plaza Premium Group has grown into a global giant, with 400+ lounges and restaurants in its network.

Malaysians really love visiting lounges, especially Plaza Premium Lounges at KLIA T1 and T2. With credit cards from almost every major Malaysian bank offering access, it’s no surprise these lounges are almost always crowded. No wonder some jokingly call it “Pasar Premium Lounge”.

But there’s more to lounge access than just getting into Plaza Premium. Not all credit card lounge benefits are equal. Some cards offer unlimited visits, while others give you only a few per year. Some allow supplementary cardholders to enter, while others even let you bring guests.

In this guide, we share our picks for the best Malaysian credit cards for airport lounge access in 2027, across different income tiers, to help you find the right card for your travel needs.

Lounge Access Programmes

Besides Plaza Premium, the “big-three” lounge access programmes are: DragonPass, Priority Pass and LoungeKey. They come with a much wider selection of experiences (1500-1900+) including restaurants, sleeping facilities and spas.

In our experience, DragonPass is the slightly more desirable choice than Priority Pass or LoungeKey, especially when travelling in Asia.

For completeness, we’ve also included the Malaysia Airlines Golden Lounge with its exclusive arrangement with AmBank.

Yes, we’re aware of Sky Lounge Subang, but we won’t be covering it here as we don’t consider it a full-fledged airport lounge. Given its rather limited food selection (sorry, nasi lemak bungkus), we think you’re better off dining at one of the restaurants in Subang Airport.

The Strategy

We recommend choosing cards that are geared towards at earning miles first, i.e “mile-first-lounges-second” approach. So naturally, the Best Miles Credit Cards in Malaysia will be heavily featured here.

The next thing to consider is the lounge access programs, which can be divided into 3 categories:

Ideally, you’d want a card from Category 1 or 2 for the nicer lounges, and another from Category 3 for Plaza Premium Lounges (PPL), mainly for a “quick makan” or when there’s no better option. For example, you use CIMB TWE (Category 1) to access Dragonpass lounges overseas, and use UOB PME to access Plaza Premium Lounge in KLIA T1, since UOB PME is weak when it comes to lounge access.

Actually, UOB cards are great for PPL at KLIA, as there’s a dedicated UOB section. The food is similar to Plaza Premium First, although it’s more crowded and there’s no view.

Now, let’s look at our picks for the Best Lounge Cards for 2027, grouped by income category. Note that this is a curated list, not an exhaustive list of all Malaysian credit cards offering lounge access.

Best Entry Level Cards

¹ 1X lounge access per quarter with minimum quarterly spend of RM3,000

The CIMB Travel Platinum is a great entry level card for lounges. With RM3,000 spend in a quarter, you can unlock  1x lounge access to Plaza Premium First and a Grab ride worth RM65 (up to 2x a year) to or from the airport.

The AmBank Enrich Visa Platinum is a must-have for Malaysian miles chasers, offering a 30% discount on Enrich Elite Points required to qualify for Enrich Elite Status. With no annual fee and 4x access to MAS Golden Lounge, it’s a no-brainer strategic-hold card, whether you’re rich or poor!

Best Midrange Cards (RM30,000 to RM100,000)

¹ Minimum quarterly spend of RM6,000 to unlock 3x, up to 12x per year
² Unlimited visits with RM120k spend

CIMB recently added DragonPass access to CIMB Travel World (TW), the ‘lite version’ of TWE. The catch is that the CIMB TW requires RM6,000 spend per quarter to unlock 3 lounge visits, and you cannot carry forward unused visits to another quarter. It earns 0.53 MPR on Overseas Spend (20% less than TWE), so it could be decent if you don’t qualify for TWE or find the CIMB TWE annual fee too high. Ideally, you can use the CIMB TW to book your flights to hit the RM6,000 requirement and enjoy the lounges when you travel.

The Alliance Bank Visa Infinite recently added Plaza Premium First (PPF) access, the only card in this category to offer it. However, you only get 3 PPF visits annually, unless you spend RM120,000 to unlock unlimited access.

With miles earning rate of 0.67 MPR Enrich for Overseas spend, Alliance may be looking to fill the “below 6-figure” income bracket with this card. But people can always use FD pledge route to access higher-tier cards, so the value proposition becomes less compelling.

The SCB Journey offers unlimited lounge access to Plaza Premium Lounges, but only at KLIA1 and KLIA2. It’s probably good as a “cheap access” solution for KLIA PPL.

The Maybank KrisFlyer Amex is one of the “core” miles earning cards in this income segment (see Best Miles Credit Cards 2025), so having that additional 5x worldwide lounge visits is just a great added benefit.

Best Higher Income Cards (RM100k to RM190k)

The AmBank Enrich Visa Infinite offers access to Malaysia Airlines Golden Lounges with 1 guest. It’s best suited for occasional flyers / domestic flyers who don’t fly enough yet to get Enrich Gold/Platinum which already provides lounge access. Note though, that you can’t stack the Ambank Enrich VI guest entitlement with Enrich Gold/Platinum to bring 2 guests.

Our pick for the best card to access Plaza Premium First is the Maybank World Elite Mastercard, offering 16 visits annually, the highest quota among all cards (excluding Alliance VI of course, which requires RM120k). It’s not great for miles earning, but occasionally offers attractive 1-for-1 Business Class deals. Throw in 1 DragonPass visit and a first-year annual fee waiver, and it’s a pretty good deal.

But overall, the UOB Visa Infinite is our top pick in this income category. With 12 DragonPass visits per year to over 1,500 airport lounges, plus a flat 0.83 MPR on overseas spend, no other card in this category offers better value.

Best Premium Cards (RM190,000 and above)

³ Unlimited access to Centurion Lounge, unlimited access using Priority Pass, and 12x access to PPF, PPL, and Travel Club Lounge

The Maybank Amex Platinum Charge remains the King of Lounge Access for 2027, with unlimited visits, great lounge selection, and access for guests and supplementary cardholders. Perfect to bring the whole kampung during family travels!

The only catch is that Plaza Premium First (PPF) access for Maybank Platinum Charge is only limited to KLIA, unlike Maybank WEM, which covers PPF worldwide. So if you’re visiting the new PPF in Bangkok, you would want to bring your Maybank WEM instead.

With CIMB adding 12 DragonPass visits, the CIMB Travel World Elite (TWE) is now our pick for the second-best lounge card, with an annual fee around RM2,000 lower than the Maybank Platinum Charge. Combined with the widest range of miles transfer partners, CIMB TWE is now a solid travel card for earning miles and enjoying lounges.

Priority Banking

⁴ 8 visits a year, shared with supplementary cardholders

Banks are increasingly using credit card benefits to attract the growing number of affluent customers into Priority Banking, offering a more exclusive, atas experience. These cards usually come with no annual fee, although you need to meet the bank’s AUM requirement.

The CIMB Preferred Visa Infinite is a great travel card, although we wish CIMB had added DragonPass, which is not possible since it is not a Mastercard. Still a great card with the lowest entry point of RM200k AUM. The only catch is that you must appoint a Member Assignee before your supplementary cardholder can access the lounge.

The SCB Beyond is a good middle ground at RM350k AUM which gives access to nicer lounges without committing RM500k AUM to UOB Priority Banking.

Our top pick for Priority Banking category is the UOB Visa Infinite PB, with 12 lounge visits, a flat 1 MPR on overseas spend and no annual fee at RM500k AUM.

Private Banking

If you’ve made it to Private Banking, you’d expect the best cards for earning miles and lounge access, without dealing with any limits and shenanigans. Unfortunately, some banks still nickel and dime their wealthy customers with average MPR and lounge benefits. That’s why we’ve picked only 3 cards in this category.

The HLB Opus is a good card, although it’s strange that it doesn’t come with Priority Pass when the lower-tier HLB VI P does. If you have this card, perhaps you could give HLB some feedback! 🙂

Our top pick is the UOB VI Metal, with unlimited DragonPass access, one of the best MPR rates in Malaysia, and guest access. If you qualify for this card, life is good.

The SCB Beyond Priority is another great choice with unlimited LoungeKey and 2.14MPR for Overseas Dining and Overseas. But the draw for parking your AUM here is perhaps SCB’s wider international Private Banking network in places like Hong Kong and the UK (which UOB and HLB are not present), along with its wider range of investment products.

Which Cards Are Best for Friends and Family?

Many of our readers travel with family, so guest and supplementary card access are important. Guest access is usually better, as you can bring anyone along, including kids, relatives and friends.

Our top pick is the Maybank Platinum Charge, which offers both guest and supplementary access. Maybank WEM and the premium UOB cards (VI PB, Zenith and Metal) also offer guest access.

For supplementary card access, CIMB cards are the main choices. Just make sure your partner has a supplementary card so you can enjoy the lounges together.

Popular Cards that Didn’t Make the List

In case you are interested, here’s the “graveyard” list covering HSBC and AmBank cards. They simply offer less value than other cards in the same category. If you have one, it might be time to consider better options.

The Smart Traveller App

Previously, you had to bring your physical credit card to access Plaza Premium Lounges. Now, you can store your card digitally in the Smart Traveller app, just like Apple Pay, and use it for lounge access.

You can also check your remaining visits, find eligible lounges and view your visit history. And if you need a referral code:7KEC28.

Conclusion

Malaysians are spoilt for choice when it comes to lounge access in 2027. For mass-market cards, our top picks are Maybank Platinum Charge and CIMB TWE/TW, followed by UOB VI and Maybank WEM.

For Priority Banking, we favour UOB VI PB and CIMB Preferred VI, while UOB VI Metal is our best all-round pick for Private Banking.

But hey, at the end of the day, the best lounge card isn’t necessarily the one with the most visits, but the one that best suits your travel needs and budget.

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