VAustralia Lounge LAX TBIT terminal 3 ups and downs....

[chrisjrn]

LAX T3 Lounge Access

Anyone got any experience of the lounge access at LAX now that Alaska has moved over to T6?

I ask this because I've just taken a look at the relevant Velocity page, and here's what they've offered.




Particularly bad looks like the description of how to get an alcoholic beverage -- go to the lounge, collect a token, go down to the downstairs bar, have your drink, go back to the lounge -- is this actually how it's working now?

What other amenities are available from the lounge now? Can we expect food and soft drinks? Is there internet access available? Should I even bother?

 

[777]

I was put in the reLAX lounge in TBIT the other week. Very ordinary. I'm not sure whether this is an improvement or not TBH.

 

[MadFairlane]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

I'm hoping they swap to T5 before I fly back on the 5th of May...

Not holding my breath though lol

 

[chrisjrn]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

I was put in the reLAX lounge in TBIT the other week.

Did you depart from TBIT?


I gather that the lounge space they're using is the recently vacated Alaska lounge, but I'm more interested in what the offering in there is...

 

[777]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

Did you depart from TBIT?


I gather that the lounge space they're using is the recently vacated Alaska lounge, but I'm more interested in what the offering in there is...

No, someone came and got us just before take off. It was the week after the Alaska lounge shut down before the new arrangements were in place. reLAX is [-]airside[/-]landside - it's not an insanely long walk but the arrangement is cough and the lounge is sub par even for a priority pass type lounge.

 

[MattinCBR]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

Particularly bad looks like the description of how to get an alcoholic beverage -- go to the lounge, collect a token, go down to the downstairs bar, have your drink, go back to the lounge -- is this actually how it's working now?

What other amenities are available from the lounge now? Can we expect food and soft drinks? Is there internet access available? Should I even bother?

I am guessing this is about some liquor licensing problem - however seems pretty inexcusable, it's not like the Alaska move wasn't known in advance.

I am in the middle of a VA itinerary - after which I will requalify for Plat having had it comped last year.

This is my first time flying the long haul Virgin service, and so far I must admit I have been a little bit underwhelmed, the Air NZ lounge was packed on the way out of BNE (no available seats - I decided to hang out in the general terminal), the service on the BNE-LAX flight was a little bit odd (Friendly, but just a bit weird eg. we were asked for our full names when they took the dinner/breakfast order out of BNE, and I think more economy + than Qantas's business -).

Sorting out a decent lounge in one of their two international long haul destinations should be a relatively high priority IMHO - particularly given their desire to compete with QF (maybe the "we are not a LCC anymore" message needs further spreading throughout the company), I guess the upside is that if what is on offer is what is described above, it will make me feel better about the Oneworld TBIT F Lounge (and I note Qantas have announced at least a little bit of their plans for the new lounge complex in the TBIT extension, whereas VA seem to drip feed information about what is happening week to week at LAX.

With all that said, I was really impressed by the ground staff in BNE Domestic - it really did remind me of the best service I used to receive from AN, I had some mail that needed to go into a post box, I asked one of the Ground staff where the closest mail box was, and she stunned me by saying "If your happy for me to take the mail I would be more than happy to post it for you" - I was floored, particularly when I saw her sticking it in the post next to the T-Bus stop on my way out! Well Done! I so wish I had got the name of the staff member.

Matt

 

[777]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

reLAX is [-]airside[/-]landside

ahh, yeah. LANDside. oops.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

I was really impressed by the ground staff in BNE Domestic - it really did remind me of the best service I used to receive from AN,

Without wanting to stray OT, but in my experience the BNE DOM Lounge staff are bloody near excellent. They'd be hard to better anywhere, I should imagine.

 

[chrisjrn]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

I am guessing this is about some liquor licensing problem - however seems pretty inexcusable, it's not like the Alaska move wasn't known in advance.

I am in the middle of a VA itinerary - after which I will requalify for Plat having had it comped last year.

They had announced a few months ago that they'd be moving into T5 around the same time as Alaska moved into T6 (presumably to take advantage of Delta's lounge etc services at T5). Now the move's pretty much off the radar, and VA have no idea when it's happening.

That said, if you do go through the LAX lounge on your way back, I'd be very interested to hear about what the offering is like (i.e. food/beverage/internet options -- we already know that the venue itself is pretty coughpy).

--Chris

 

[MattinCBR]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

Happy to report back - not heading back for a couple of weeks (o one would presume if it is as simple as a liquor licensing issue it should be resolved by then, I really can't think of any other plausible reasons to send lounge guests to a bar outside the lounge.

 

[MandM]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

Happy to report back - not heading back for a couple of weeks (o one would presume if it is as simple as a liquor licensing issue it should be resolved by then, I really can't think of any other plausible reasons to send lounge guests to a bar outside the lounge.

I wouldn't hold my breath on the liquor license coming through - the new Alaska boardroom still doesn't have their bar operational yet due to a licensing delay!

 

[Jurahn]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

With all that said, I was really impressed by the ground staff in BNE Domestic - it really did remind me of the best service I used to receive from AN, I had some mail that needed to go into a post box, I asked one of the Ground staff where the closest mail box was, and she stunned me by saying "If your happy for me to take the mail I would be more than happy to post it for you" - I was floored, particularly when I saw her sticking it in the post next to the T-Bus stop on my way out! Well Done! I so wish I had got the name of the staff member.

Matt

We also found the Brisbane staff to be fantastic (Lounge staff on this occasion). We were feeling absolutely trashed after flying in on the red-eye from Perth last year (hadn't taken one of those late-nighters for a while and had forgotten how cough they make you feel when, like me, you can't sleep on a plane!) and had about 6 hours before our onward flight to LAX. We called in to the Lounge on our way through the terminal to see if they knew of any lounge at the international terminal that we could access, as we were only lowly reds then, and we were even happy to pay for day passes but no options unfortunately. I knew Lounge access wasn't available on incoming flights (again, no status), so we were amazed when the Lounge angel said "Please feel free to come in and use our facilities, have some breakfast and relax for a while before you go over to the International terminal". It was an absolute God-send and we were able to have something to eat and drink, freshen up and make ourselves feel human again before heading off for the next leg of our trip, which made a huge difference. The staff also made a point of checking with us a couple of times to see that we knew where everything was, and asking if we needed anything, and told us in detail about the express VA check-in desk, where to go and what we needed to do.

Big "thumbs up" to the Brisbane Lounge staff.

 

[xtoss]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but when I was there 2 weeks ago, they had changed the signs to Virgin Australia and the door said open from 4pm-12 (maybe 11pm) Anyways I was there at 10.30am so no going inside, I will be going through tomorrow night and will let you know what they have going on. It was weird seeing these signs in LAX though, I got excited for a second as only a month earlier it was Alaska

PS anyone know how to attach or upload pics slightly larger for future knowledge?

 

[chrisjrn]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

PS anyone know how to attach or upload pics slightly larger for future knowledge?

Can't say I've seen their sizes reduce before... but uploading to imgur.com may work if you can't get them to upload full-size here.

 

[xtoss]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

Thanks

Well I went past there last night, they are definitely serving alcohol there, had some wines, beer and a list of spirit drinks on offer, listed a screwdriver for example.


Any ways apart form the change in signage nothing seems to have changed, the internet wasn't working when we were there and apparently keeps cutting in and out according to one of the people who worked there.

Didn't stay long as it was stuffy in there and definitely felt as if it fit their definition of temporary.

funniest part was after we checked in and I was given an invitation to the lounge as well as my mate who was travelling with me (I'm a plat and he has no status).

We went to the lunge and the lady at the front takes the invites and boarding passes and says to me...

"Someone has made a mistake, he shouldn't have been given a pass"

I said "I'm platinum"

she said "only gold can be given a +1"

I said "platinum is higher than gold, how does that work"

she then stared blankly mumbled something about getting into trouble, looked at the computer while handed boarding passes back and we stood there for 5 seconds then just walked in...

it was funny any weird at the same time.. guess you had to be there.

 

[pythonisman]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

I may be a bit special (read: retarded) but I've got a flight upcoming SYD-LAX-SYD in a few weeks. My return flight is early June.

I'll be doing a road trip up and down the west coast with a couple of mates, ending in San Francisco. As I'm 'special' and I booked my return flight myself (what's a travel agent, amiright?), I've booked a one-way SFO-LAX flight with plenty of hours allowance to make sure I'm not going to end up missing my international leg home.

I've got two questions (one I'll put to VA as well, but worth asking), after doing a bunch of reading around etc.
I saw one reference stating that VA staff will be present at LAX terminal 3 from 3:30pm @LAX? I will land a little before this, and my flight isn't until 11 something that night - do VA Long haul have a "no check in prior to 3 hours before flight" rule similar to what we get domestically? (I'd assume so). If so, are there baggage hold / locker services that you can use to hold onto your bag(s) for ~6 hours?

Also, as I'm only a Velocity Silver (and damn sure not flying business, I wish!) I don't have lounge access (though the current VA Lounge situation in LAX seems woeful?).
Are there any paid lounge services (either airside or landside) that are good/worth it? I saw the "reLAX" lounge, but it seems a bit ordinary based on reviews and the inclusions seem basic (no shower, no alcohol?)

Alternately, for a ~8 hour layover in LAX (assuming my flights are all on time) any suggestions on the best way to kill some time? Hotel with day rates nearby? Decent place to chill with a beer and a burger, read a book or steal some WiFi?

Open to just about any ideas / suggestions / happy to be pointed in the right direction.
Cheers.

 

[Jurahn]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

We flew with VA from LAX-Sydney on our return flight in December. Although the VA website said the LAX staff would be in attendance from 3.30pm, we found that the VA desks actually opened at 2.30pm on the day we were there and we were able to check in as soon as they opened, despite our flight not being until about 9:30pm - so yes, they do allow you to check in well ahead of time, you don't have to wait until the 3-hour mark!

We didn't / don't have much in the way of status either (we hit VA Silver during that US trip), and no way our budget will stretch to Business, so no international lounge access for us either. The Alaska Airlines Boardroom was still operating at that time, so we bought two day passes ($45 each) - the lounge was pretty underwhelming, not much more than snacks available, the only real "food" was some vegetable soup, I don't drink and hubby hardly ever does so we weren't going in for the alcohol either! But at least we were able to sit down and put our feet up, I was coming down with the flu at the time, so was just thankful to be out of the main terminal area which got more and more packed as it got closer to flight time, and was an absolute zoo. Now that Alaska has moved out, it sounds like the lounge is still pretty basic, you'd have to check whether VA sells lounge passes or whether it's only Business/Gold/Platinum who can go in - but as you say, it does sound pretty woeful in any case!

When we arrived in LAX at the start of our trip, we had about a 5 hour wait until our domestic flight, so we were looking for somewhere to access a lounge as well. We'd landed at T5, made our way over to T1 to check in as Southwest opened check-in for our flight, then still had time to kill so wandered up to T3 to check it out, then up to TBIT to have a look. Hubby went in to check out the reLAX lounge, and wasn't impressed - he said there was practically no food out, no showers, not even any toilets in the lounge area itself - the girl at the desk said that quite honestly, most people who paid to get into the lounge only came in to use the WiFi! We ended up getting some hot chocolates and muffin from a cafe in the food court in T3 and just waited there for a while before making our back way to T1 amd going through security to await our flight. One bright note was that it was the day after the big Velasquez/Dos Santos UFC fight and whilst we were waiting in the Southwest terminal, we spotted quite a few of the trainers and the fighters, and even got to meet a couple of the "cut men" who were really friendly, so that helped to pass the time

 

[xtoss]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

Can confirm I was able to check in at 3 or so for that nights flight. Also I ended up going into LA with my mate as there is not much at the airport. reLAX lounge I would seriously not bother, it was bad. I wouldnt even pay for the Virgin Australia temp lounge (wifi wasnt even working properly when I was there a month ago).

If you don't want to leave the airport area, there is an In n Out burger joint about 15 mins walk away, good burgers and it will pass some time. There are some good lounges but the problem is they are airside and you need a ticket to get into that terminal

 

[pythonisman]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

Thanks for the replies guys. Checking in early sounds like a definite go-er (shed the suitcase ASAP). Depending on how soon I can do that, I'll have a few contingencies I can follow. I see there are some beach and shopping areas not too far from the airport so that's an option, or I might look at a day rate at a hotel, or work my way through the in'n'out "secret" menu (haha I've never been to the states and I googled it and it looks a bit crazy) or maybe just do some planespotting / take some photos in the arvo for a while.
Depends I guess what the weather's doing on the day as well!

I assume once you're airside @T3, LAX, that's where you're confined and there are basically zero lounge options (paid or otherwise) aside from this ... interesting temporary thing that VA speak about? I'd guess / hope there'd be a food court / bar / cafe / place you could chill for the last hour or two regardless? (I am a bit of a serial offender when it comes to having too much contingency).
I'll have to go research how to actually get around as it seems to be a pretty massive airport. Sorry for the basic questions, and thanks for all your help!

 

[dk4]

Re: LAX T3 Lounge Access

I've booked a one-way SFO-LAX flight with plenty of hours allowance to make sure I'm not going to end up missing my international leg home.

I've got two questions (one I'll put to VA as well, but worth asking), after doing a bunch of reading around etc.
I saw one reference stating that VA staff will be present at LAX terminal 3 from 3:30pm @LAX? I will land a little before this, and my flight isn't until 11 something that night...

If you are flying Delta out of San Francisco, then also show them your VA PNR details when you check-in at SFO, and ask if they can check your bags through to SYD (which IME they should be happy to do, even though your connecting flights are on different tickets).