Virgin Atlantic Gold Status Members Now Have Access to London Clubhouse

Virgin Atlantic has slightly enlarged the entrance to their Clubhouse lounge at Terminal 3 in London Heathrow.

Flying Club Gold members will be able to bring one guest with them when they fly Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic or any other class. Slowly, the carrier is opening up access to its legendary lounge in an effort to balance out capacity throughout the day. Here are the most recent lounge access rules.

Gold Members Welcome

Virgin Atlantic has been reserving its Clubhouse and Upper Class Wings for Upper Class and Delta One travelers traveling on the same date. Virgin Atlantic has changed its policies in response to its recent entry into the SkyTeam alliance and its partnerships.

Virgin Atlantic has extended this courtesy to all its members, according to a member of the Head for Points Forum. Gold Flying Club members will now be able use the Clubhouse for one guest, as long as the guest has a ticket to Virgin or Delta on the same day.

This list includes one guest who is traveling with Virgin Atlantic or Delta.

• Upper Class passengers plus one guest travelling on Virgin Atlantic or Delta
• Delta one passengers (no guest)
• Flying Club Gold cardholders plus one guest travelling on Virgin Atlantic or Delta
• Delta Sky Miles Diamond & Platinum Medallions plus one guest travelling on Virgin Atlantic or Delta
• Flying Blue Platinum Members and one guest travelling on Virgin Atlantic or Delta
• SkyTeam Elite plus members and one guest travelling on Virgin Atlantic or Delta
• Virgin Australia Velocity Club Gold and Platinum cardholders, as well as The Club members (no guests).

Does the experience suffer?

London Clubhouse was always a busy place, as Virgin had departures throughout the day. The lounge could become crowded quickly, now that elite members have access. There's no wonder that most airlines have two lounges in their hubs, to separate travelers based on their terminal or access level.

British Airways, for example, has three lounges at Terminal 5: two first-class, one business class and another in Terminal 5B. Singapore Airlines, on the other hand, has separate lounges for Star Alliance Gold Flyers (KrisFlyer Gold Lounge) and business class passengers (SilverKris Lounge).

Virgin Atlantic has only one seat, but in the future it would not be surprising to have another, possibly for SkyTeam members and Delta Air Lines partners.

Soon, more passengers will be arriving

Virgin Atlantic has just reopened another route on its network, Shanghai in China. Virgin Atlantic has resumed its 787-9 service from the Chinese hub after three years of COVID restrictions. This restores the entire network prior to the pandemic (except for some services that were axed, such as Hong Kong). This will result in more passengers using the Clubhouse. So, keep an eye on the feedback from the passengers over the next few weeks.

Source: simpleflying.com