Virgin Perth Lounge Opens for Evening Departures

12 October, 202212 October, 2022 Matt Graham

Virgin Australia Perth Lounge — Virgin Australia Lounge, Perth. Photo: Matt Graham.

The Virgin Australia Lounge at Perth Airport is now once again staying open until the evening red-eye flights depart, rather than closing at 6pm every day.

Two months ago, Australian Frequent Flyer reported that the Virgin Australia Lounge in Perth’s terminal 1 was not staying open for the late-night overnight departures to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. In addition, Virgin had made no alternative arrangements such as meal vouchers for passengers flying overnight to the east coast who would normally be eligible for lounge access.

According to the Virgin Australia website, the Perth lounge is now open “daily from 60 minutes before first Virgin Australia flight departure until last Virgin Australia flight departure”. This was recently confirmed by lounge staff at Perth Airport.

A cost saving, but at what cost?

The early closure of Virgin’s Perth lounge appeared to be a cost-saving measure as the three red-eye departures leaving between 11pm and midnight, some of which are not daily, are the only Virgin domestic flights departing Perth after 6pm. The airline apparently either couldn’t get enough staff, or had decided it was simply not worthwhile to keep the lounge open an extra 5 hours just for three flights.

But those red-eye flights can be brutal for passengers, making lounge access before departure particularly important. The ability to have a shower, a meal and a drink before boarding a short overnight flight can make a huge difference in helping passengers to maximise their rest on board the plane.

Ultimately, some Perth-based passengers may have chosen to fly Qantas or cancel their lounge memberships over this move. Thankfully, it was only temporary.

The lounge will still be closed on Saturday nights, but that’s just because Virgin Australia does not currently have any red-eye flights scheduled to depart on Saturdays.

“Lite supper” service

Overall, it’s great news that Virgin has now reopened its Perth lounge during the evening. Virgin Australia passengers arriving in Perth during the evening will also be able to take advantage of this if eligible for lounge access on arrival. However, Virgin isn’t providing full lounge catering after 6pm.

The Virgin Australia website states that a “Lite supper service” will be served from 6pm. It’s not exactly clear what this means, but it could mean that only packaged snacks are available rather than hot food or fresh salads. We expect that a full bar service would still be offered.

At other times of the day, when the majority of Virgin’s flights depart from Perth, the lounge catering is quite good. For example, this is a selection of items on this week’s breakfast menu:

Breakfast at the Virgin Australia Lounge in Perth. Photo: Brandon Loo.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Virgin Lounge in Perth closed prior to the redeye departures?

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 80 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.

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Community Comments

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N Notyourbag Aug 07, 2022 #1

Interesting. Last data point from me was from April and it was definitely opened for the red eyes.

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HeavyElectricity Aug 08, 2022 #2

I was in the Perth lounge on 24th June for a 18:00 flight to Melbourne (delayed until 18:40), and it was the last of the batch of flights departing around that time until the ~23:00 batch.

The lounge staff were putting things away and setting up breakfast items (e.g. cereal, juice) which I thought was strange - but makes sense if the lounge was closing after we left.

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j jakob01 Aug 08, 2022 #3

Last Friday night (05 August) the Virgin lounge in Perth was definitely closed at 6pm, despite three red-eye 737's departing later that evening. I expect these were all pretty full, so this would affect of lot of customers who would otherwise enjoy lounge access. This seems the new-norm and not a one-off. Of course it makes sense financially, given the gap in flight times just to tend to the needs of customers flying out at midnight. However, it's pretty poor form given that is a benefit of status you now don't have. There was a sign on the door saying they would re-open at 5am and that they "apologise for the inconvenience." I will agree on that - it was certainly an inconvenience ! It now makes their competitors more attractive if you're heading out of Perth at that hour..

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a amcmahon Aug 08, 2022 #4

Having a look at the VA website, it says that the Perth lounge in Terminal 1 "opens daily from 60 minutes before first Virgin Australia flight departure until 6pm each day".

Domestic lounge access

Explore our array of domestic lounge locations at Virgin Australia.

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www.virginaustralia.com

Virgin has 3 redeye departures from Perth to the east coast on some days. There's a flight to Brisbane leaving at 23:30, Melbourne at 23:45, and Sydney at 23:55.

Is the Virgin lounge not open prior to any of those late evening departures? And does anyone know if Virgin is giving food vouchers or something in lieu? If not, that seems pretty poor.

I can confirm that the lounge was shut when we flew the red eye last month. No signs, no notice. Couldn't believe this was the case before the red eye and topped things off after no priority/business check in and only one bag drop operating. At the time, this information was not on their website.

There was nothing in the way of vouchers (though this would also mean they need staff at check in to give such vouchers which didn't exist

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B Bagpuss Aug 08, 2022 #5

When I flew on a red eye in 2021 from Perth during the brief time borders we opened the lounges were shut. I emailed someone very high up and got a response ... I think they then opened up the lounge for the red eyes the following week.

(I noticed pre-covid which still seems to be the case for a Sunday (only) I think there's a Melbourne flight at 5PM and no more outbound until the red eyes. I used to wonder the efficiency of keeping the lounge open for so long with no outbound flights. )

It's strange because Virgin seems to have a good foothold on the Perth market.

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N Notyourbag Aug 08, 2022 #6

Looks like VA572 PER-SYD is the only daily red eye ex Perth at the moment.

VA473 to Brisbane & VA698 to Melbourne also fly Sundays.

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m mrmerc500 Aug 14, 2022 #7

Thanks for the heads up on this Mattg, certainly a little disappointing but understandable considering the significant down time until the Red Eye’s.

VA are running 4x weekly flights to MEL & 3x weekly to BNE with an increase to daily from Dec.

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t trisreed Aug 15, 2022 #8

Have experienced the 'difference' flying ex PER to MEL/SYD on the redeyes twice in the last fortnight - the first time two weeks ago (a Thurs night), VA emailed me to say that the lounge would be shut and there was a sign on the door. On (last) Friday night, no notification whatsoever - email or signage. The only places open airside were the WHSmith ('general store' with cold food) and Toby's Estate (cafe), which was absolutely heaving being the only one of the two that is licensed. Coming back last night around 2330 however the cafe was very quiet - however I think the last flight was about to board!

Surely VA can take a leaf out of the international players' and have a split opening for the lounge - could shut at 6PM and reopen at 10PM - I guess there are also practicalities to consider with respect to staffing it.

Agreed regarding food vouchers and the lack of staff to even ask - the first time two weeks ago, there was literally zero ground staff airside to converse with (with the lounge closed, both service desks empty and gate agents appearing at the gate only just in time to do their thing).

Certainly the redeye schedule appears to be 'unusual'/irregular - I flew VA698 on Friday night, but it appears to have been a 'one off' for a Friday (VA698 (VOZ698) Virgin Australia Flight Tracking and History - FlightAware).

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m mrmerc500 Aug 15, 2022 #9

When I flew on a red eye in 2021 from Perth during the brief time borders we opened the lounges were shut. I emailed someone very high up and got a response ... I think they then opened up the lounge for the red eyes the following week.

(I noticed pre-covid which still seems to be the case for a Sunday (only) I think there's a Melbourne flight at 5PM and no more outbound until the red eyes. I used to wonder the efficiency of keeping the lounge open for so long with no outbound flights. )

It's strange because Virgin seems to have a good foothold on the Perth market.

Yes it’s fortunate that VA are still operating which continues to provide the mining sector & WA communities with essential flight services. Although QF is still very dominant, I was surprised that VA only had 2 less weekly flights to Kalgoorlie so they certainly have increased frequencies.

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