Virgin Domestic Lounge access

[dkmajm]

Greetings, we arrive back at BNE from LAX on July 18th (flying VA in PE) both myself and wife are Plats, have 2 children with us on same flights. Our domestic flights out of Brisbane to home have to be with Qantas (whom we have no status) due to timing, my question is regarding Lounge Access at Brisbane Domestic Airport, with virgin having same day access for the lounge if flying/flown on Virgin Metal, does the international flight on Virgin Australia arriving that morning count for the mid/late morning access to the lounge in Domestic!?!!? cheers Darren

 

[bullerdude]

Should be fine, especially when you are both Plat and have come from an arriving flight.

 

[notzac]

Yup, arrivals access is explicitly allowed (subject to space restrictions) - from Virgin Australia's Airport Lounges | Virgin Australia:

Members

If you are a Virgin Australia lounge member or Velocity Platinum or Gold member, present your membership card and your flight itinerary (or boarding pass) – for onward domestic travel with Virgin Australia on the day – for access to the Virgin Australia lounge.

Subject to space availability, Velocity Platinum and Gold members can access the Virgin Australia lounge on arrival with an eligible day of travel Virgin Australia or partner airline itinerary (or boarding pass).

 

[ap_spd]

access should be allowed and space I think should not be a problem considering they have a spare lounge (or so I think), however, VA and Qf fly out of different terminals, so having to move thru between terminals and thru security (QF may be busier and I think u have no priority access on QF side) may restrict ur movement. but then again I dont know how long u have between flights, also, BNE immigration / quarantine can take really long to exit.

 

[Fruitcake]

access should be allowed and space I think should not be a problem considering they have a spare lounge (or so I think), however, VA and Qf fly out of different terminals, so having to move thru between terminals and thru security (QF may be busier and I think u have no priority access on QF side) may restrict ur movement. but then again I dont know how long u have between flights, also, BNE immigration / quarantine can take really long to exit.

There's no airside barrier between the VA and QF departures areas at BNE domestic. Walking from The Lounge to one of the gates at the end of the QF pier does take a moderate amount of time (perhaps five to seven minutes) but there is no need to pass through security.

 

[serfty]

access should be allowed and space I think should not be a problem considering they have a spare lounge (or so I think), however, VA and Qf fly out of different terminals, so having to move thru between terminals and thru security (QF may be busier and I think u have no priority access on QF side) may restrict ur movement. but then again I dont know how long u have between flights, also, BNE immigration / quarantine can take really long to exit.

The OP is referring to BNE, where domestically both QF and VA use the same airside area - albeit some 100's of metres long.

 

[ap_spd]

sorry serfty, been to BNE only once and saw separate entry points for VA and QF and hence my ignorance.

 

[Clivem]

You just have to pass through what the BAC calls on their plans the 'Common User Terminal' (tiger/Jetstar/alliance) area - there is as others have noted, no physical barrier as such ...... it just the 'demilitarised zone' that keeps VA and QF apart - It is also a 'PA system' no mans land for the respective parties once you cross the boarder - with signs in place noting that.


Re BNE - a major upgrade to the prime mechanical service plant for the domestic terminal is about to kick off and it will be in full swing over the cooler months this year. A lot of work will happen over nights but there will be a lot of major 'lifts' occurring to get very large A/C chillers and Cooling Towers etc in and out -

Given the lifts have to be from the front central apron road into the prime central plant area, and the fact there will be some very significant temporary crane set ups to effect those lifts you may see a bit of added pressure / disruption getting into and out of the terminals in the evenings and early morning at times - Expect diversions to normal paths of travel etc.

BAC will tell you there will be no issue but those doing the work know better .................... We are talking BAC here after all. Watch this space.

 

[mooingchicken]

Just out of curiosity Clivem, How do you know about the plant upgrade? Just that its a project im involed in

 

[Clivem]

Just shy of 35 years in the Mechanical Engineering game Mooingchicken ..........and a very long tie to many BNE airport projects going all the way back to the ‘Temporary’ International Terminal on the other side of the air-field that Brisbane endured for years ......


I was also the mechanical services PM on the ‘then’ new control tower project way back around 1987ish I think. – The control tower was actually free standing with no supporting building around it for quite some time (almost a year or more I think) and it was actually cooled by a temporary chiller we managed to source from the Barossa Valley of all places that was normally used a peak time in various wineries – the free standing chiller still had its ‘winery odour’


Following from that I was actually the commissioning manager for the then new Domestic Terminal that opened in 1988 just prior to Expo 88 if I recall – that being the current terminal today. Haden Engineering was the Prime Mechanical Services Contractor.
The first day the Domestic terminal opened was on a weekend – that being ‘slower’ days, even more so that today. While Haden did the main central plant works they also did the Ansett terminal fit out – Ansett offices – the Golden Wing lounge – the Premier Lounge (Yes they even had very ‘high end lounges’ way back then) – the Ansett ‘satellite arm’ etc.

Another contractor ‘Environ’ performed the whole ‘Qantas’ fit out works. On opening day, ‘DAY ONE’, all hell broke loose in of all places the ‘Qantas Club’ lounge.
A control valve shut quickly and a major ‘hammer’ went through the chilled water pipe work loop – following ‘Murphy’s Law’ to a tee a major connection in the chilled water loop in the ceiling directly above the lounge failed monumentally flooding the whole lounge and it got into some switch boards below the lounge.– The lounge was about less than a third of its current size back them.

Talk about an all hands on deck situation to help out our competitor through that very disastrous day for then !

I’ve also had my fingers in the base build and various extensions at the international terminal.

As well the main plant chiller works at the domestic terminal I think I’m going to be involved in the major upgrade of the Airservice plant at both the control tower and main Brisbane (Aust North) ATC Centre if AirServices can pull their finger out an actually award a contract -
I have also been involved in a lot of other Airservices Aust. projects and it never ceases to amaze me that they always seem to have twice as many people ‘administering a project’ than are actually doing the work – I guess that is why landing fee keep going up!

Biggest job / best project I’ve worked on was Chek Lap Kok …hands down.

 

[ap_spd]

respect ! CliveM

 

[dkmajm]

thanks all, it seems to be the common consensus that as we have flown Virgin metal (into BNE from LAX) that morning, we will get lounge access for that day even though our next flight is on Qantas and apart from the walk between the 2 areas (easier in Brisbane than Sydney) it shouldn't be a problem (have about 3.5 hours from touch down on VA8 at international terminal till we flight out domestically)....

Another question quickly, save a new thread hopefully... Delta is a VA partner, so we get status credits etc. but does that count on a booking (done thru delta website) from New York to Nashville when you are put on a delta subsidiary such as GoJet?

thanks again, Darren

 

[notzac]

Another question quickly, save a new thread hopefully... Delta is a VA partner, so we get status credits etc. but does that count on a booking (done thru delta website) from New York to Nashville when you are put on a delta subsidiary such as GoJet?

If it is a Delta Connection carrier, then yes. When you do a flight search on the DL website, you'll see the operating carrier called out like this:

Operated by: 1 GoJet DBA Delta Connection

The DBA Delta Connection bit tells you you'll get points and SCs

 

[dkmajm]

Thats great, thanks...

 

[ADLFF]

Must admit there has been times I could really use lounge access when arriving, but never have.

Thanks AFF for pointing this out!

Will probably use it Sunday for a attire change and coffee upon arrival!