Perth Virgin Lounge below expectations

[DSFlyer]

Arrived at Perth airport this morning at around 6.30am for my 8am flight to Melbourne. The attached photos do not do justice to the state of the lounge when I walked in. There was not a single table or workspace that was not covered with dirty plates, glasses, coffee cups and papers. I have never seen a lounge anywhere in this state. About 20 minutes later the lounge manager decided to say something to the lounge staff and helped them clean up. It was extremely disappointing to see.

On the upside the J service to Melbourne was without fault.

I would send a feedback form but you cant attach images!

 

[tuapekastar]

Can't see any images, but thanks for posting the info. I have the pleasure of this lounge (though fortunately nowhere near as early as 0630 :shock to look forward to for the first time in a few weeks. I hope what you witnessed is an aberration (though the J service sounds promising).

Edit: OK I can see a pic now...doesn't look nice.
Edit edit: Another pic...they're multiplying as I type!

 

[yo yo ma]

There's a lot of yellow shirts in the second photo - the boys can do a lot of damage quickly! Glad the manager noticed and assisted though.

 

[DSFlyer]

Can't see any images, but thanks for posting the info. I have the pleasure of this lounge (though fortunately nowhere near as early as 0630 :shock to look forward to for the first time in a few weeks. I hope what you witnessed is an aberration (though the J service sounds promising).

Edit: OK I can see a pic now...doesn't look nice.
Edit edit: Another pic...they're multiplying as I type!

Sorry about that. Tried to upload pics from iPad and obviously didn't work!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Twice I have been in this Lounge when it was full of mine workers waiting to ship out - they literally vacuumed ALL food and drinks and left Lounge like a typhoon had been through it.

Took Lounge staff quite a while then to straighten the place up - appeared to me like they were overawed by the whole experience.

 

[DSFlyer]

Twice I have been in this Lounge when it was full of mine workers waiting to ship out - they literally vacuumed ALL food and drinks and left Lounge like a typhoon had been through it.

Took Lounge staff quite a while then to straighten the place up - appeared to me like they were overawed by the whole experience.

There were quite a few there but the issue seemed to be that there was no one actually out there cleaning up. Plates were being shuffled from one table to another by guests trying to find somewhere to sit.

 

[TonyHancock]

Maybe it is just me but I have found that the speed of clean up of tables in MEL and BNE a bit on the slow side too.

 

[DSFlyer]

Maybe it is just me but I have found that the speed of clean up of tables in MEL and BNE a bit on the slow side too.

I haven't struck anything this bad before and fly from Perth every 4 to 6 weeks

 

[thewinchester]

This lounge is the old AN Golden Wing facility, with the apron facing wall removed and replaced with a straight solid wall (was nice and angled providing decent views). and all the internal walls removed.

I did comment last year that this lounge was disappointing, specially compared with the old DJ Lounge at BNE. Sadly it will not be receiving any upgrades until they move into the new DOM pier being built onto T1.

 

[mavrick9]

... Sadly it will not be receiving any upgrades until they move into the new DOM pier being built onto T1.

Rumor is that part of that master plan includes a provision for costs associated with cleaning and wiping tables in late 2012. Representatives have been quoted as saying "this may happen before June 2012 and that there is also a possibility of serving the LMHD and cold beer, please also remember that we are 3 hours behind the rest of the world".

 

[Oneworldplus2]

There's a lot of yellow shirts in the second photo - the boys can do a lot of damage quickly! Glad the manager noticed and assisted though.

I concur captain, those 'rockapes' (as we referred to them onsite in WA) can do serious damage.

 

[Moopere]

I concur captain, those 'rockapes' (as we referred to them onsite in WA) can do serious damage.

Yes, I think this might be the answer in this case.

Must have been disappointing for you though.

I generally travel mid morning to mid afternoon and the lounge is as clean as a hospital. They never have any decent food in the PER lounge though. Its really only good for barista coffee where they do a good job. By comparison, was in the SYD lounge last night and tried out the beans and franks thing that DJ is doing now .. spicy and nice .. really good!! Hope some of this love makes its way over west.

 

[Justinf]

No excuses for having the place in that condition. That is absolutely pathetic. I have always found the speed of cleaning in my home port of MEL at the Lounge to be excellent, but there is no two ways about it, those photos are absolutely appalling.

 

[Simo]

IMHO the VA lounges just miss the standard that Qantas set in regards to food and also Cleaning up afterwards.

I notice in BNE lounge there are more lounge angels greeting people than staff looking after the place for cleaning and also keeping up with the food.

But the lounge angels do help with cleaning up after someone has left a table. They do put the dirty plates on the bench just near the coffee machine.

 

[DSFlyer]

I do a lot of travel and this is the first time I have ever struck a lounge like this, including Perth on many other occasions. It is not the norm however it does not excuse the fact that the lounge was allowed to get to this state. It was uninviting, and certainly not the level of comfort I am looking for before my flights.

 

[Boeta]

Sadly it will not be receiving any upgrades until they move into the new DOM pier being built onto T1.

I can happily report to you all that works are half completed to expand the size of the Virgin Lounge in PER. They are extending it out towards the apron (Gate 16) and should almost triple the size of the lounge as it is now.

So fortunately you won't have to wait until the T1 pier is built before you get a seat

(You can see the extensions from the windows near Gate 16 in the departure lounge)

 

[Verde]

I do a lot of travel and this is the first time I have ever struck a lounge like this, including Perth on many other occasions. It is not the norm however it does not excuse the fact that the lounge was allowed to get to this state. It was uninviting, and certainly not the level of comfort I am looking for before my flights.

I think I arrived at the Sydney lounge one evening when it was in similar condition. I assumed it was near closing time (I just arrived and thought I'd use any time access before heading to Central to get the train to Newcastle) and it was disconcerting when I first walked in, but by the time I left they had cleared most of it away and were obviously going to have it all done before going home. The other disappointment from arriving that late was most of the food was gone and they weren't replacing it (fair enough I suppose, no point closing the lounge with a full load of food out - just the couple of party pies were looking very sad, like they'd been there for hours).

 

[markis10]

I can happily report to you all that works are half completed to expand the size of the Virgin Lounge in PER. They are extending it out towards the apron (Gate 16) and should almost triple the size of the lounge as it is now.

So fortunately you won't have to wait until the T1 pier is built before you get a seat

(You can see the extensions from the windows near Gate 16 in the departure lounge)

They are running late given the expansion was to be completed by Dec when the expansion was announced as part of the Mackay lounge announcement, then again everything to do with any lounge is always running late in Wait Awhile!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

mine workers literally vacuumed ALL food and drinks and left Lounge like a typhoon had been through it.

There were quite a few there but the issue seemed to be that there was no one actually out there cleaning up.

Nice reply. Regardless of the guest, if there is no one cleaning up, it'll be messy. Surely the catering company knows the peak times and can roster on more staff to cope. Isn't that good management??

 

[DSFlyer]

Nice reply. Regardless of the guest, if there is no one cleaning up, it'll be messy. Surely the catering company knows the peak times and can roster on more staff to cope. Isn't that good management??

That is really the whole issue!