Virgin Australia increased the cost of its airport lounge memberships on 1 July. Instead of $399 per year, Virgin Australia Lounge membership now costs $450 annually. There’s also a new, one-off $99 joining fee for new lounge members.

That’s a fair bit of money for access to a network of just seven domestic airport lounges. Luckily, there’s still a way to access discounted Virgin Australia Lounge membership.

The trick to getting discounted lounge membership is to be a part of Virgin Australia Business Flyer. This is Virgin’s loyalty program for small to medium businesses.

The airline still offers discounted annual lounge memberships for $379 to anyone who is a key contact, account administrator, travel booker or traveller on a Virgin Australia Business Flyer account. Plus, the joining fee is waived for Virgin Australia Business Flyer members.

If joining the Virgin Australia Lounge as a new member, this means you’d pay just $379 instead of $549 – a saving of $170 in the first year. When renewing, you could save $71 each year via Business Flyer.

Note that you need to be flying on the same day with Virgin Australia to access the airline’s lounges. Lounge members may bring one guest with them into the lounge on each visit.

About Virgin Australia Business Flyer

It’s free to join Virgin Australia Business Flyer. All you need is an Australian Business Number (ABN) or Australian Company Number (ACN). However, note that travel agents, superannuation funds, travel management companies or anyone reselling air travel is not eligible to join.

Businesses can also list employee travellers on their account, who can access the lounge membership discount.

Other benefits of Virgin Australia Business Flyer include airfare discounts, access to Pilot Gold memberships, and the ability to earn Velocity points for the business when flying with Virgin Australia or shopping with program partners.

You can read more about Virgin Australia Business Flyer in our Frequent Flyer Training. (This unit is part of our second training course, which is free for all AFF members – you just need to be logged into your AFF account!)

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Access Virgin Australia Lounges with the Amex Platinum card

If you hold an American Express Platinum card, including the Platinum Business card, you can enjoy complimentary access to Virgin Australia Lounges whenever you fly with Virgin Australia – no membership required! Cardholders can also bring a guest into the lounge.

The Amex Platinum cards have relatively high annual fees, but the huge suite of travel benefits more than makes up for this. With these cards, you can also get unlimited access to Priority Pass lounges, Amex Centurion lounges, Delta Sky Clubs, Lufthansa lounges, and more. Plus, you’ll get various hotel statuses, credits and other benefits!

How to get discounted Qantas Club membership

The main alternative in Australia to Virgin Australia Lounge membership is Qantas Club membership. Qantas Club is more expensive, but members also get access to a much higher number of lounges at more airports around the world when flying Qantas or Jetstar.

There are a few ways to access discounted Qantas Club membership. Aside from joining a corporate scheme, you can access discounted rates through Qantas Business Rewards or as an ANZ Frequent Flyer Black cardholder.

You can also get a 20% discount off Qantas Club annual fees as an AFF Gold or Platinum member!

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & 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.