AWS re:Invent 2025 - Scaling Globally: Priority Pass's Journey with AWS Amplify (DVT319)
Source: Dev.to
Introduction
In this session, Fred Hoskyns and Richard Reid explain how Priority Pass modernized its web platform using AWS Amplify to serve millions of global users. The migration moved from a legacy Sitecore CMS on EC2 to a Next.js‑based architecture with Contentful headless CMS hosted on Amplify. The project delivered dramatic improvements:
- Hosting costs dropped from $180,000 to $20,000 annually.
- Deployments increased from twice weekly to hundreds per month.
- Traffic‑related outages were eliminated.
Key technical decisions included a mono‑repo with NX tooling, Terraform for infrastructure management, and GitHub Actions for CI/CD. Direct collaboration with the AWS Amplify product team accelerated the go‑to‑market timeline. The session demonstrates Amplify’s capabilities for server‑side rendering, ephemeral environments, and abstracted infrastructure while maintaining global performance through CloudFront.
Setting the Stage: What Is AWS Amplify?
AWS Amplify is a set of tools and services that simplify building, shipping, and scaling full‑stack web and mobile applications. It abstracts much of the complexity involved in developing and deploying applications, allowing developers to focus on code rather than infrastructure.
Core Features
- Git‑based workflows – Connect any Git branch to automatically deploy front‑end code and provision backend resources.
- Global edge delivery – Deployed applications are served worldwide with low latency via Amazon CloudFront.
- Full TypeScript support – Leverage the breadth of AWS services directly from a familiar front‑end development experience.
- Managed CI/CD – Environments (e.g., production, staging) are isolated, each with its own front‑end and backend resources.
- Backend integration – Easily add databases (DynamoDB, RDS), APIs, functions, machine‑learning services, storage, and real‑time capabilities through Amplify libraries.
- Custom resources – Use the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) to define any of the 175+ AWS services as code.
Framework Support
Amplify works with a wide range of frameworks and platforms, including:
- Server‑side rendered apps: Next.js, Nuxt, Svelte
- Single‑page applications: Angular, React, Vue, JavaScript
- Mobile apps: native Android, Swift, cross‑platform Flutter, React Native
Priority Pass: Business Context
Priority Pass, managed by Collinson Group, provides airport lounge access to millions of members worldwide. The service is often bundled with premium credit cards (e.g., AmEx, Chase) and serves as an alternative lounge option for travelers without airline‑specific lounge privileges.
- Traffic characteristics: Extremely bursty, mirroring global flight patterns across multiple time zones.
- User base: Hundreds of millions of members; >100 million website visits per year plus several hundred million app sessions.
- Core functionalities:
- Digital membership card (QR code) generation
- Pre‑booking lounge access
- Location‑based service search
- Payments and profile management
The platform needed to handle both static, CDN‑friendly workloads (e.g., search) and dynamic, API‑driven workloads (e.g., digital card rendering) without becoming operationally burdensome.
Challenges with the Legacy Platform
- Outdated CMS: Sitecore running on EC2 with extensive custom integrations.
- Scaling limitations: Inability to meet global performance expectations for a highly bursty traffic pattern.
- Operational overhead: Managing a monolithic stack made rapid iteration and deployment difficult.
The Migration to AWS Amplify
Architecture Overview
- Front‑end: Next.js application built in a mono‑repo managed with NX.
- Content management: Headless CMS (Contentful) for content authoring.
- Infrastructure as code: Terraform provisions Amplify environments, CloudFront distribution, and supporting AWS resources.
- CI/CD pipeline: GitHub Actions triggers builds and deployments on branch pushes.
Key Decisions
| Decision | Reasoning |
|---|---|
| Mono‑repo with NX | Simplifies code sharing across multiple apps and enforces consistent tooling. |
| Terraform for IaC | Provides declarative, version‑controlled infrastructure management across environments. |
| GitHub Actions | Native integration with GitHub, enabling fast, automated CI/CD workflows. |
| Direct collaboration with Amplify product team | Accelerated feature adoption and resolved edge‑case challenges quickly. |
Benefits Realized
- Cost reduction: Hosting expenses fell by ~89 %.
- Deployment velocity: From bi‑weekly releases to hundreds of releases per month.
- Reliability: No traffic‑related outages after migration.
- Performance: Consistent low‑latency experience worldwide via CloudFront edge locations.
Conclusion
The Priority Pass migration showcases how AWS Amplify can modernize a high‑traffic, globally distributed web platform. By leveraging Amplify’s managed services, CI/CD pipelines, and seamless integration with a variety of front‑end frameworks, Priority Pass achieved significant cost savings, operational efficiency, and reliability improvements while delivering a superior user experience to millions of travelers worldwide.