"Nah, it's alright, I'll wait"
*wanders over to bar*
"I'll have $xx worth of whatever's in that fridge thanks. Be back in 10mins for $xx more"
Yeah, that would be my reaction too! However, when you say "worth" do you mean what it's worth to you, or what it costs VA? Because the reality is, if you mean cost to VA, the xx is not likely to be a very high number. You can buy the beer they supply for less than $2.50 a bottle in
Dan Murphy’s, and VA would obviously be paying a lot less than that at wholesale rates. The wine is cheap too, and of course they don’t serve spirits. So let’s say you have 10 or even 15 (!) drinks while you’re waiting – that would still be no big deal in terms of cost to VA, and clearly very few people would consume anything like that amount. I know there is “food” too, but again, the cost to VA is negligible, and most people won’t decide to just continuously eat for several hours because they’re waiting for a flight! I know in my case, the difference in what I consume over a 3 hour period in the lounge versus 45 mins is probably less than $10 - in terms of cost to VA that is. The value to me - i.e. my saving compared to retail prices outside - would be much higher, but that’s irrelevant to VA.
So the only real impact of no fly ahead that I can see are (a) causing annoyance to customers who want to avail of it but can't and (b) overcrowding in the Lounge, which will cause serious annoyance to a whole load of other people too.
By the way, I have still had no response to the email I sent VA early last week on behalf of my wife and I (both Platinum), to complain about these changes. So unfortunately, it's clear that VA couldn’t care less about annoying its customers, Platinum or otherwise. Definitely the end of the road in either of us making any effort to fly with VA or its partners.