I have had enough.... [Offloaded after Flight not called in VA lounge]

[amaroo]

Many airlines don't do lounge calls.....EK lounge SIN didn't call our QF6 flight a couple of days ago.

Doesn't make for an enjoyable relaxed experience.

Chairmans Lounges don't do calls!

Forgot to add - it wasn't even on the board.

Premium lounge, premium airline.......no call, no board:evil:

 

[JohnK]

Yes it is my fault for not being at the departure gate. Let's just give Virgin a pat on the back for doing a great job. And while you are giving Virgin a pat on the back Aussie_flyer take the opportunity to put me down as well.

So, you were in the Lounge and no boarding call. Nor personal call. Do they check the BP when you enter? Like others, there is no point to the Lounge if you have to worry about missing your flight. Not good enough.

I did not hear a boarding call. No personal call. Boarding pass was checked when I entered.

Please explain to me the purpose of the lounge. I heard countless flights called. I heard countless pages of people who had failed to board and flight was on final call.

The board went from departure times updated from 17:10 to 17:15 then 17:20 and no status to CLOSED and I had already been off loaded by ~17:25. How? What is the point of the board?

But delays are fairly common for me so no point going to desk every 5 minutes.

Now I am in OOL airport and I am stuck going half around Gold Coast and I will maybe be in Central Station at 11:30pm.

Fantastic service by a great airline that likes to take care of its customers....

 

[muppet]

Chairmans Lounges don't do calls!

I prefer no calls, a la AA Admirals Lounges. However, boards MUST be accurate for it to work.

 

[haydensydney]

I tend to take on the responsibility of ensuring i'm boarding on time, rather than on relying on others (or potentially inaccurate technology) to do this for me.

I watch the clock like a hawk and am borderline OCD with ensuring i'm on the plane. Never missed a flight for this reason.

 

[medhead]

I'm certainly not saying someone at virgin didn't stuff up. But one rule I always use, to protect myself, is to make sure I'm at the gate at the usual boarding commencement time. 20 minutes before scheduled departure. It is a protection for me, regardless of what the airline does or doesn't do. cough situation for the OP. but a learning opportunity all the same.

 

[beardoc]

I prefer no calls, a la AA Admirals Lounges. However, boards MUST be accurate for it to work.

Don't expect the AAdmirals Club boards to be correct. I have missed flights that have left before the board changed to "boarding" (flights boarded and left early). Had to wait 3.5 hours for the next flight. I learnt the hard way that you can't wait in the lounge for an AA flight, and started to feel grateful for QANTAS' flight calling system.

 

[leemin]

Chairmans Lounges don't do calls!

Yes but you are told that.

It's actually better to have a non existent service and plan for that, rather than having a service that isn't reliable and you don't know that.

I took oz_mark's comment as a bit tongue in cheek. IME in the CL, card is handed over, any flight details (seats etc.) are confirmed and you take a seat. The angel then comes and hands you your boarding pass later; "your flight is now ready to board, Sir"

 

[tickthelist]

You got a rough deal, clearly the board was not updated correctly and they didn't page you which is poor,given they check you in when you enter the lounge.

However:

Please explain to me the purpose of the lounge.

Complimentary food and drinks, papers, charging station, place to work, clean toilets, etc.

 

[oz_mark]

This is a problem at Virgin, and it is significant, and it effects their best customers.

Must get eastwest101 to make sure it is on the list (I'm sure it's sabre's fault somehow )

 

[anat0l]

If Virgin want to do boarding calls in the lounge, then they'd better get it right. Period.

But for my own sanity (and not having to go through the recovery processes of a new flight), I take charge of my own time. Which means I hardly rely on boarding calls - if they are there, bonus.

Not to mention that I've been in several lounges around the world - good lounges, good airlines - no boarding calls. Thankfully, the FIDS do work most of the time, but:

• I always note the boarding time on my BP, and take that as the boarding time.
• Around boarding time (depending on how far to the gate the lounge is), if the boards don't show the flight is boarding, I ask at the desk for the flight status.

Otherwise, I usually leave around boarding time. Especially depending on whether it's international/domestic, and where in the world, there's often no reason to push your luck on boarding the flight. After all, we've all had a crack on about having to wait at the gate for close out and push back, because one tardy idiot is in the terminal, they can't find their luggage and they're not presenting themselves for boarding at the gate (then they turn up and they have to tell the baggage people to stop looking, shut up and close out).

As I said, if airlines want to do boarding calls, then at least they should do them properly. But I take my own precautionary steps in any lounge to make sure I make my flight on time, whether or not there are boarding calls or not. Some will argue that it the buck shouldn't stop at me, I should be served correctly by the airlines and that all I'm doing is wasting "good lounge time" by going to the gate, perhaps prematurely (e.g. in the case of a delay). In the end, as someone said, it's my responsibility to make sure I present myself for boarding at my flight - whether or not the airline (or lounge operator) is partly liable to answer for my inability to board the flight successfully is another thing, but rarely is an airline fully liable for such an act. And their lack of making a boarding call whilst I'm not making any effort to monitor the time myself is not something I would call on as full liability (that is partial liability).

 

[docjames]

I think it has to be either no calls at all, or 100% calls.

In between leads the the situation as described by the OP.

 

[bullerdude]

I too am one of those people that generally heads to the gate on-time regardless of what the boards say as I have had a couple of near-misses. One of these was actually a gate change that wasn't shown on the boards in the lounge :shock: so even turning up at the right time didn't work in this case, as i turned up at the wrong gate...

I think the VA inability to fix these problems is quite unprofessional. The boarding time written on the boarding pass is effectively a schedule time, not an actual time. The point of the boards and announcements is to help passangers arrive at the right place at the right time based on when a plane is actually ready. When neither of these work then it somewhat unfair on the passanger as its very difficult for them to know whats going on without up-to-date information.

I would be very interested to hear from our new resident VA rep - not too admit a problem as such - just to acknowledge the feedback and perhaps indicate if VA is willing to look into the display boards and announcement procedures.

 

[JohnK]

There have been many times where I have left the lounge when the board says boarding or Final call only to get to gate and boarding process has not yet started. I do not want to sit at the gate watching people board. In my experience the lounge announces a boarding call after the boarding process has started and when it gets close to closing flight.

And yes missing the flight as is my responsibility but the staff who are there for customer service failed miserably.

You either call all flights or don't call any flights at all. It cannot be a random process as to which flight is called. And as I mentioned earlier I did hear multiple calls for the MEL flight, the ADL flight, the BNE flight etc.

Also when a passenger is a failed to board why wouldn't you page them in the lounge if they have lounge access? The gate failed to inform the lounge? I heard numerous of these pages during my time in the lounge today.

And when I confronted the lounge attendant she knew they had stuffed up. And if it was my fault that I missed why did she quickly offer to put me on next available flight with a guilty look on her flight.

 

[LiamR]

Procedure is that the gate will call the lounge just before boarding is to commence, once the call is received the lounge makes a PA. Sounds to me as if the procedure has broken down somewhere, and SYD has a reputation for this IMO.

Although I believe it's my responsibility to get on the plane, it does after all say on your boarding pass at what time you should be at the gate.

 

[AstroDamo]

I've had a similar situation happen to me in BNE. Waiting in the lounge watching the boards no change, listening for the announcement plane was already 30 minutes late. Then suddenly I hear my name and 2 other passengers names if I'm in the lounge please come to the desk, so I wandered up and then the man says hurry your flight if fully boarded. So ran over to the gate luckily it wasn't too far away. I got to the gate and was handed a replacement ticket also, 1E instead of 1A just to make it even worse I'd been checked into a seat that didn't exist on the plane. I was the last on the plane which I hate cause I know how I always feel when I'm sitting on a plane wondering why on Earth one person is so slow getting to the gate.

I guess I was lucky I was called by person but I assume that would of been the Gate call the lounge to ask for me and the two others, but it lists as one of my most embarrassing moments in flying and definately didn't help that the flight was after my status match and part of me giving Virgin a try to see if I should come across from Qantas.

 

[tuapekastar]

I get a little antsy when the boarding time comes and goes without a lounge announcement (particularly if the board indicates 'on time'), and tend to either check at the desk or just head on down to the gate. At AKL last week we headed off at the scheduled boarding time (no announcement yet) only to be told by the Lounge front desk attendant that there was a 'medical' on the incoming plane and boarding would not commence for another 15 to 20 minutes. This despite the (airport controlled) board saying 'boarding'.

I think JohnK has a valid gripe here, simply not good enough for the airline to not announce the boarding, but as I said, I get a little nervous and check anyway.

 

[Mal]

As has happened to me (and another affer) on Qantas, an excuse given could be "we called it in the lounge, you just didn't hear it". Very hard to prove you were in the right.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Happened to me a heap of times on various airlines....it's not a Virgin thing.

Lesson learned now I'm at the gate early every time*

*unless at an AFF meet

 

[Flashback]

can't disagree, but isn't it supposed to be a benefit of being a status member that you can enjoy the lounge and get a boarding call after the hoards so you're not hanging around on the plane waiting to leave. There is nothing worse than going down to the gate without an announcement only to have it delayed and then you sit there waiting when you should be killing the time in the lounge.

Surely it is up to the lounge to make sure announcements are made for flights. Whilst yes, the passenger needs to be mindful of the departure time, if you are in a dedicated airline lounge you would expect the airline to look after its own clients.

Many airlines don't do lounge calls.....EK lounge SIN didn't call our QF6 flight a couple of days ago.

Doesn't make for an enjoyable relaxed experience.

Forgot to add - it wasn't even on the board.

Premium lounge, premium airline.......no call, no board:evil:

Pretty common everywhere except Aus to not have boarding calls, so travelling like that all the time now I appreciate that it's just a bonus when you do get one and work on the basis of sorting myself out. If you get to the gate and it's delayed, you can always head back to the lounge if you really need that extra drink.

 

[nlagalle]

Happened to me a heap of times on various airlines....it's not a Virgin thing.

Lesson learned now I'm at the gate early every time*

*unless at an AFF meet

Or sitting in the F lounge!