Hopeless Virgin Australia experience at LAX

[ng100]

Has anyone flown through T3 at LAX lately onto a Virgin Australia flight? I've gone through a few times and the last couple have been hopeless.

This time the queue was 30 minutes to get a boarding pass. No apologies from staff, and no lounge invite. Despite the boarding pass printing Gold status (even though I'm Platinum) I got attitude from the staff for even asking and had to produce a Velocity card to get an invite. Not that it matters much since it's standing room only in the Alaskan lounge anyway.

I noticed Alaska's moving terminals in March - what's happening to lounge access for Virgin's flights to Australia?

 

[777]

Has anyone flown through T3 at LAX lately onto a Virgin Australia flight? I've gone through a few times and the last couple have been hopeless.

This time the queue was 30 minutes to get a boarding pass. No apologies from staff, and no lounge invite. Despite the boarding pass printing Gold status (even though I'm Platinum) I got attitude from the staff for even asking and had to produce a Velocity card to get an invite. Not that it matters much since it's standing room only in the Alaskan lounge anyway.

I noticed Alaska's moving terminals in March - what's happening to lounge access for Virgin's flights to Australia?

Virgin Australia are moving departures to terminal 5 (The Delta terminal) at some point in the next few months from what i heard somewhere.

 

[Jack Melon]

Virgin Australia are moving departures to terminal 5 (The Delta terminal) at some point in the next few months from what i heard somewhere.

Correct, Virgin will move into the Delta terminal very shortly.

 

[Rotation]

I had no problem getting a boarding pass when I checked in, not a soul in line when I rocked up. The problem with T3 was the line for security. Dear god, that was the most painful of the entire trip over the USA.

 

[smit0847]

Has anyone flown through T3 at LAX lately onto a Virgin Australia flight? I've gone through a few times and the last couple have been hopeless.

This time the queue was 30 minutes to get a boarding pass. No apologies from staff, and no lounge invite. Despite the boarding pass printing Gold status (even though I'm Platinum) I got attitude from the staff for even asking and had to produce a Velocity card to get an invite. Not that it matters much since it's standing room only in the Alaskan lounge anyway.

I noticed Alaska's moving terminals in March - what's happening to lounge access for Virgin's flights to Australia?

What time did you check in at LAX? I believe they open check in 10 hours before departure which is extremely generous IMO. There wasn't anyone in the line when I checked in at about 4pm for an 11pm departure.

 

[maninblack]

Virgin are promising quite a bit on the premium end but failing to deliver yet in some circumstances. They must get their act together pronto or risk losing the customers that they have been trying to entice. Without a daily MEL-LAX service they are barely in the game anyway. I really see them as a domestic/trans Tasman airline and competitor to QF on that front, with the benefit of the SQ, NZ and DL alliances internationally. They are not "really" an international airline.

 

[777]

What time did you check in at LAX? I believe they open check in 10 hours before departure which is extremely generous IMO. There wasn't anyone in the line when I checked in at about 4pm for an 11pm departure.

Somehow i don't think checking in 7 HOURS EARLY for a flight is the answer somehow.

Personally i had no problem when i was in LA last but i don't doubt the OP's experience.

Virgin are promising quite a bit on the premium end but failing to deliver yet in some circumstances. They must get their act together pronto or risk losing the customers that they have been trying to entice.

Aren't comments like this ("They need to do something about this!") kind of redundant in circumstances where Virgin have identified the issue and have a plan in train to address it?

 

[Saji]

A colleague of mine took the VA flt from T5. Had all praises for both ground and inflight experience. Not sure where he lounged as I am sure he had a few hours in LAX to lounge away.

 

[maninblack]

Aren't comments like this ("They need to do something about this!") kind of redundant in circumstances where Virgin have identified the issue and have a plan in train to address it?

Promises Promises! If you open a bar it's best to have beer in the fridge, spirits on the shelf and wine in the cellar, not tell the customers that it's coming sometime in the future. When the barman tells me the beer is arriving sometime next year I will go elsewhere for a drink.

As I have said before, this isn't Kindy. If Virgin wants to go up against QF they are going to have to do it better...and stop with the "it's coming" line.

Believe me, I want them to succeed but not everyone is so patient.

 

[markis10]

Somehow i don't think checking in 7 HOURS EARLY for a flight is the answer somehow.

Personally i had no problem when i was in LA last but i don't doubt the OP's experience.

7 hours at LAX is not my idea of heaven!

 

[777]

Promises Promises! If you open a bar it's best to have beer in the fridge, spirits on the shelf and wine in the cellar, not tell the customers that it's coming sometime in the future. When the barman tells me the beer is arriving sometime next year I will go elsewhere for a drink.

As I have said before, this isn't Kindy. If Virgin wants to go up against QF they are going to have to do it better...and stop with the "it's coming" line.

Believe me, I want them to succeed but not everyone is so patient.

Well, they *really* are moving terminals. It's a 2 stage process and stage 1 (moving the arrivals) has already been completed. I suspect that as with all of these things they are bound by contractual agreements, timelines and other factors that preclude things being changed overnight. There's also the small issue of giving passengers adequate notice about little things like changing departure terminals.

Your bar analogy is misplaced in any case. They are clearly offering the service they are claiming to offer from LA and despite one person (the OP who i note has a grand total of ONE posts on this forum) clearly having a long wait for a boarding pass and being subjected to the indignity of having to actually SHOW HIS CARD to enter the lounge I would suggest that these things are fairly minor in the grand scheme things. I'm sure even QF FF'ers have the occasional long wait for a boarding card or get a once over from a lounge dragon.

 

[dk4]

stage 1 (moving the arrivals) has already been completed.

Have to say that T5 arrivals (after the oddly concocted walk round'n'round up'n'down all the corridors) can be a fantastically expedited arrival into LAX.

Now if only VA allowed the same carry-on bag weight as its partner Delta, then plane door to ground-side exit, when amongst the first off the plane without checked bags, could be done in less than 7 minutes [including fingerprints and photos at immigration :shock:]... :arrow: sooooooo fast. :arrow: :arrow: :arrow: LAX T5 VA arrivals

 

[BAM1748]

Somehow i don't think checking in 7 HOURS EARLY for a flight is the answer somehow.

Personally i had no problem when i was in LA last but i don't doubt the OP's experience.

To save 30 mins in the queue. :mrgreen:

Matt

 

[maninblack]

Your bar analogy is misplaced in any case. They are clearly offering the service they are claiming to offer from LA and despite one person (the OP who i note has a grand total of ONE posts on this forum) clearly having a long wait for a boarding pass and being subjected to the indignity of having to actually SHOW HIS CARD to enter the lounge I would suggest that these things are fairly minor in the grand scheme things. I'm sure even QF FF'ers have the occasional long wait for a boarding card or get a once over from a lounge dragon.

Just because the OP has only one post does not mean his story is not credible....nevertheless, yes the old QF lounge at Tom Bradley was a stinker and the newer OW lounge not much better. But being just as bad as your opposition is not an adequate ambition in business and is unlikely to win you new customers. Especially when the opposition has a rather venerable history.

 

[777]

Just because the OP has only one post does not mean his story is not credible.

I'm not saying his story isn't credible but people who have just joined with one post tend to be reacting strongly to a single event whereas most other posters here tend to represent more of the average over time. While i believe it the OP had this experience or something like it it seems to be a bit of an outlier and i'd think the actual experiences of the other passengers noted here represents the average/ normal/ baseline experience a little better.

On the one occasion i've used T3 at LAX for VA i found the checkin to be fast (Gold, travelling in J and no one was waiting), security to be quick and painless and the Alaska lounge to be... well... pretty cough... but better than terminal.

 

[medhead]

. But being just as bad as your opposition is not an adequate ambition in business

Funny, I've said almost exactly the same about Qantas, only to get shouted down.


Sent from the Throne (80% chance) using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[Mh4k]

It's a shared terminal. The extent to which security will be congested on a given day is going to vary depending on which other flights are operating, how heavily loaded they are, how familiar with screening procedures the other PAX are, and can be impacted by staffing issues or equipment issues at the security point. When I've flown out of T3 I've always breezed through security in under 90 seconds but I'm willing to believe it may not be that easy 100% of the time. But I'd also recognise that a single incidence of a massive queue doesn't necessarily mean there's a massive queue every time.

I was checked in quickly as a Goldie and received no attitude. I presented my card and received a lounge invite but then I always present my card at checkin. T3 does suck though and the lounge's only redeeming feature is that it's not the gate.

 

[smit0847]

Somehow i don't think checking in 7 HOURS EARLY for a flight is the answer somehow.

Personally i had no problem when i was in LA last but i don't doubt the OP's experience.

I only ask because I'm interested to know at what time the check-in lines are at their longest. Obviously if you spread check-in over 10 hours there are likely to be less queues than if everyone is trying to check-in 2 hour before like they might in MEL. Its a good idea as a lot of people are coming off domestic US flights and onto the VA flight at various times.

7 hours in LAX was not the best day. The only reason I was there so early was because my flights were changed due to a cancelled flight and I arrived from NYC earlier than expected. I didnt have status or J so couldnt do the lounge but I enjoy the variety and mystery of large international airports and the random people who pass through them so I kept myself entertained for several hours walking through every single terminal.

For such a security obsessed country I still can not get over how domestic and international flights leave from the same gates!

 

[markis10]

For such a security obsessed country I still can not get over how domestic and international flights leave from the same gates!

Out of sight out of mind mentality when it comes to departures perhaps, kind of makes sense!

 

[JohnPhelan]

For such a security obsessed country I still can not get over how domestic and international flights leave from the same gates!

They don't really care who's leaving; it's only those coming in that interest them!