Virgin's international lounge access - blatantly rubbish info on website

[Mal]

This intrigues me, as the BA LHR Arrivals lounge access is incredibly clear and simple. Under what circumstances were you denied access?

http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/showthread.php?p=83370

(Old thread.. 6 years old, but still annoyed me at the time).

 

[Mal]

Equally have been to the three above (albeit did not stay in the latter two for too long) without incident,

Agree. My point was that people can't just point at virgin and say they are bad... it happens in other airlines and alliances too. For example, aa used to have random policies about handing out drink chits at one stage too.

 

[grubbidok]

This topic doesn't need those last three words. Virgins's international lounge access is blatantly rubbish. Full stop.

They need to sort this out quickly. Quite clearly this whole 'custom alliance' strategy is a second-rate option for regular international travellers

 

[Velocity Frequent Flyer]

So Virgin's web page on international lounge access, for which they have a lovely little disclaimer - "

While every effort is made to maintain the accuracy of these details, access to the listed lounges cannot be guaranteed due to changes made by our partners or the third parties operating the lounges" -​

(which shouldn't give them the right to not bother keeping the page up to date), says that Platinum members travelling on Etihad should be able to use the Thai Royal Orchid Lounge in Bangkok.

Well it's 10pm Bangkok time (1am Aust time), I've had a fight with 3 different staff members at the Royal Orchid and Royal Silk lounges (one of which was apparently the manager), even showing them the Virgin webpage which says this.

Their response, in a typical Thai "I don't care, go away" attitude, is: "You no come in, we never take this card, it not star alliance!". No amount of reasoning was going to win against them.

Thanks Virgin, you've made my 6 hour layover even more pleasant now!! :evil:

Anyone else experienced inability to use lounges which Virgin says you can use?

We have an agreement with Etihad that allows Velocity Gold and Platinum access to Etihad’s worldwide contract lounges operated by third parties.
At Bangkok, Gold and Platinum members have access to the Royal Orchid lounge with 1 guest when traveling on an EY operated service.
We are reliant on our partner’s 3rd party providers at these ports to facilitate access, and operate within the terms of our agreement.

We can only belatedly apologise for your non-entry, and post here on AFF that we will bring this up with our partner to ensure their third party providers are adequately informed about Velocity lounge access entitlements.

 

[jneufeld]

We have an agreement with Etihad that allows Velocity Gold and Platinum access to Etihad’s worldwide contract lounges operated by third parties.
At Bangkok, Gold and Platinum members have access to the Royal Orchid lounge with 1 guest when traveling on an EY operated service.
We are reliant on our partner’s 3rd party providers at these ports to facilitate access, and operate within the terms of our agreement.

We can only belatedly apologise for your non-entry, and post here on AFF that we will bring this up with our partner to ensure their third party providers are adequately informed about Velocity lounge access entitlements.

Perhaps organising with your partners and stipulating on the website that partner contract lounges may only be entered with an invite from the partner airline would help negate this issue as Etihad staff are more likely to be aware of Velocity benefits.

 

[polishedarrow]

I was asked to leave a koru lounge on a domestic flight akl to wlg.....it was done in a crowded room, never been so embarrassed. I was allowed to enter then after an hour she decided she got it wrong. Made me put my drink down and leave.....it's made me really nervous about using my entitlements. Travelling to the states in 12 weeks, and have a long transit in bne and lax, just hoping to use the lounge to pass the time, any tips on how to ensure entry? When flying back from bne last week, I asked the check in lady to call ahead and make sure I could enter...not such a good experience.

 

[Airbumps]

Who are you traveling with BNE-LAX and onwards? BNE should be more than aware of your entitlements. LA

 

[bullerdude]

I was asked to leave a koru lounge on a domestic flight akl to wlg.....it was done in a crowded room, never been so embarrassed. I was allowed to enter then after an hour she decided she got it wrong. Made me put my drink down and leave.....it's made me really nervous about using my entitlements. Travelling to the states in 12 weeks, and have a long transit in bne and lax, just hoping to use the lounge to pass the time, any tips on how to ensure entry? When flying back from bne last week, I asked the check in lady to call ahead and make sure I could enter...not such a good experience.

That is seriously uncool - the VA website has long since stated that you are entitled to use the Koru club on domestic AirNZ flights. I think this is a AirNZ screwup and not wrong info on the VA website.

City	Lounge Name	Eligibility	Guests
Auckland	Air New Zealand Koru Lounge - domestic	Velocity Platinum membership	3

Personally, I would be on the phone to VA making a serious complaint. It one thing to deny you entry, but to publicly remove you from the lounge after granting entry is downright unprofessional.

Edit:

To answer your actual question, you should be fine if your on Delta, just make sure your VA number is on your booking so "Sky Priority Elite" (or whatever the actual phrase is) get printed on your boarding pass - that way you will get you benefits.

 

[MH_fan]

I was asked to leave a koru lounge on a domestic flight akl to wlg.....it was done in a crowded room, never been so embarrassed. I was allowed to enter then after an hour she decided she got it wrong. Made me put my drink down and leave.....it's made me really nervous about using my entitlements. Travelling to the states in 12 weeks, and have a long transit in bne and lax, just hoping to use the lounge to pass the time, any tips on how to ensure entry? When flying back from bne last week, I asked the check in lady to call ahead and make sure I could enter...not such a good experience.

This experience is worthy of a formal complaint! That is seriously bad.

 

[777]

I was asked to leave a koru lounge on a domestic flight akl to wlg.....it was done in a crowded room, never been so embarrassed. I was allowed to enter then after an hour she decided she got it wrong. Made me put my drink down and leave.....it's made me really nervous about using my entitlements. Travelling to the states in 12 weeks, and have a long transit in bne and lax, just hoping to use the lounge to pass the time, any tips on how to ensure entry? When flying back from bne last week, I asked the check in lady to call ahead and make sure I could enter...not such a good experience.

Hmm, the fact that it was AKL-WLG leads me to an obvious possibility: you hadn't booked a $29 "night rider" flight had you? Night Rider - New Zealand - Special Deals - Air New Zealand - New Zealand Site

Some specific AKL-WLG flights are advertised by Air NZ as "passengers travelling on these fares won't be eligible for Koru Lounge entry prior to departure". If so, this is not a breakdown of the partnership benefits but a quirk of a particular Air NZ flight sold dirt cheap on the basis that there will be no lounge access offered even for their own Koru members/ elites.

 

[polishedarrow]

Itll be with Virgin wlg to lax, and a codeshare delta flight lax to new orleans, with a 5 hour wait to change flights wanted to use lounge access at skyclub

 

[777]

Itll be with Virgin wlg to lax, and a codeshare delta flight lax to new orleans, with a 5 hour wait to change flights wanted to use lounge access at skyclub

Not sure if you caught my question above but is there any chance the one you were bumped out of the lounge from was a Night Rider fare?

 

[polishedarrow]

No, I dont believe so, only thing I forgot to add I had my 10 year old daughter with me, but thought my entitlements included a guest. Oh well, was a bit of a bummer. Even if it was a discounted fare seems like it would have been more appropriate to deny us at the door, than to let us in, then change your mind. Just a bit of reasonableness and decency goes a long way

 

[777]

No, I dont believe so, only thing I forgot to add I had my 10 year old daughter with me, but thought my entitlements included a guest. Oh well, was a bit of a bummer. Even if it was a discounted fare seems like it would have been more appropriate to deny us at the door, than to let us in, then change your mind. Just a bit of reasonableness and decency goes a long way

It does make a difference to whether the problem is that you were denied something you were entitled to or not. Was any mention made of the reason? Was it actually a nighttime flight?

Those nightrider fares are a bit of an oddity -- i'm not aware of any other airline offering anything like them. I read around the time that they were introduced that "Dirt cheap but no lounge access" rules were something to do with not wanting to keep the lounge in WEL open past a certain hour or some such. Frankly it's not a precedent i'd like to see other airlines copy but i'd understand that the rule applies regardless of whether your status is with NZ, VA or *A.

I agree it was badly handled but if you could dig up your original itinerary it would solve the mystery of whether you should have been allowed in or not?

 

[gwilli1]

You will be fine with Delta as long as your boarding pass has "SKY PRIORITY" on it and you have your VA Gold or Platinium Card. No questions asked when i was there in Feb . I used the SkyClubs at LAX , SLC & ATL.

Itll be with Virgin wlg to lax, and a codeshare delta flight lax to new orleans, with a 5 hour wait to change flights wanted to use lounge access at skyclub

 

[Jama]

I was asked to leave a koru lounge on a domestic flight akl to wlg.....it was done in a crowded room, never been so embarrassed. I was allowed to enter then after an hour she decided she got it wrong. Made me put my drink down and leave.....it's made me really nervous about using my entitlements. Travelling to the states in 12 weeks, and have a long transit in bne and lax, just hoping to use the lounge to pass the time, any tips on how to ensure entry? When flying back from bne last week, I asked the check in lady to call ahead and make sure I could enter...not such a good experience.

that is discraceful, if it had have been me I would have calling virgin direct from the airport demanding to speak to someone with influence.

Reading through this thread in general, I have to say its not our responsibility to be arguing with people to get stated benefits. If you have a status level with certain benefits you should expect to get them. It is VA's responsibility to ensure that we get what they promise us.

 

[tekkyy]

my experience with NZ has been better
VA did not issue me a card for their paid lounge membership (do they these days?)

for like a year after the partnership the computer system still did not recognize it
NZ Koru lounge staff were often confused but usually remain pleasant
they just make a note and let me through

 

[Deleted member 29185]

VA did not issue me a card for their paid lounge membership (do they these days?)

No lounge card as such (it's read via your velocity card) AFAIK.

Also, without checking, I believe paid memberships to the lounge are domestic only (I could be wrong though).

 

[Fruitcake]

Also, without checking, I believe paid memberships to the lounge are domestic only (I could be wrong though).

Pretty much. The only exception is that paid lounge members can access Koru Clubs when flying trans-tasman on any combination of VA or NZ codes or metal but could not, for example, use the AKL Koru Club before flying AKL-LAX in Y, which a Velocity status member could.