Melbourne Virgin Lounge using old "The Club" Space - Overcrowded!

[jakeseven7]

I'd say they need to get their act together and open the old space up ASAP....the online QR code ordering is a novel idea but it needs more work and is frankly unnecessary for if you want a soft drink or beer or pre-packaged sandwich. It is too long to wait in the busy times for catering.

They need to ditch the stupid online ordering agreed - just copy and paste what QF are doing with plates, they are able to serve large volumes of people very quickly.

 

[cityloop]

MEL lounge situation is quite poor currently. Currently a 25 minute wait to get into the lounge and those with a boarding time of 30 minutes or less being turned away and told “they won’t have enough time to get into the lounge”
With the increase in passenger traffic over the last few weeks it appears the lounge simply can’t cope. Perhaps they need to temporarily limit entry by status or class?

When is the main lounge at MEL meant to re-open?

 

[Astro]

When is the main lounge at MEL meant to re-open?

I went past this week and there is still no carpet in the main area that I could see.



I haven't been in the lounges much but it looks like a slightly upgraded menu? Is this new?

Both in BNE and SYD today:




Thai beef salad was quite nice.

 

[BNEFlyer]

I went past this week and there is still no carpet in the main area that I could see.



I haven't been in the lounges much but it looks like a slightly upgraded menu? Is this new?

Both in BNE and SYD today:

View attachment 246712View attachment 246713


Thai beef salad was quite nice.

That's a massive improvement compared to what they had (which wasn't much really).

 

[bladeau1981]

I went past this week and there is still no carpet in the main area that I could see.



I haven't been in the lounges much but it looks like a slightly upgraded menu? Is this new?

Both in BNE and SYD today:

View attachment 246712View attachment 246713


Thai beef salad was quite nice.

Thai beef salad was good in Adelaide, extremely avg. in Brisbane this week. In fact everything in Brisbane was average at best.

 

[AFF Editor]

Virgin has informed me that it is opening a second temporary lounge in Melbourne from next Monday morning, to alleviate some of the overcrowding issues at the "The Club" space until the main lounge reopens mid-year.

From Monday, only Velocity Platinum members, Business class passengers and "The Club" members will have access to the current space. Everyone else (Velocity Gold, Lounge members, frequent flyers of eligible partner airlines, etc.) will have access to a second temporary lounge near AFL Kitchen & Bar, located before security in MEL T3.

Virgin Opens Second Temporary Melbourne Lounge

Virgin Australia will open a second temporary lounge at Melbourne Airport on Monday morning (3 May 2021) to ease overcrowding at the existing temporary

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[jase05]

Virgin has informed me that it is opening a second temporary lounge in Melbourne from next Monday morning, to alleviate some of the overcrowding issues at the "The Club" space until the main lounge reopens mid-year.

From Monday, only Velocity Platinum members, Business class passengers and "The Club" members will have access to the current space. Everyone else (Velocity Gold, Lounge members, frequent flyers of eligible partner airlines, etc.) will have access to a second temporary lounge near AFL Kitchen & Bar, located before security in MEL T3.

Virgin Opens Second Temporary Melbourne Lounge

Virgin Australia will open a second temporary lounge at Melbourne Airport on Monday morning (3 May 2021) to ease overcrowding at the existing temporary

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Excellent news.
Hopefully the constructive feedback myself and others supplied has helped

 

[hydrabyss]

Update - Virgin Australia Opens Second Temporary Melbourne Lounge

Someone made a comment about making the temporary lounge Platinum only but I did not think they would actually do it.

 

[hydrabyss]

It will be interesting to see by how much the numbers drop as I would take a guess Gold and Lounge members would have to account for more than half.

 

[flyingfan]

Look forward to seeing if this lifts the experience. I’m passing through The Club weekly and have always been able to get a seat but have come out and seen the agent stop people from entering due to capacity.

 

[jase05]

Someone made a comment about making the temporary lounge Platinum only but I did not think they would actually do it.

Yes, that was me.
I did email VA with my thoughts too

 

[jakeseven7]

Excellent news.
Hopefully the constructive feedback myself and others supplied has helped

Well apparently there were ‘hundreds of direct complaints’ so maybe you did!
Apparently the much hated app is on the way out too.

 

[hydrabyss]

Well apparently there were ‘hundreds of direct complaints’ so maybe you did!
Apparently the much hated app is on the way out too.

I love the app.

 

[hydrabyss]

Yes, that was me.
I did email VA with my thoughts too

Next thing will be a roped off VIP section for Plats at the other lounges.

 

[aaronm]

Next thing will be a roped off VIP section for Plats at the other lounges.

Great idea, I'm going to suggest it next time they send a survey.

 

[Spacetravel]

Good to see the app is on its way out, I was in the lounge yesterday during a very busy time. I didn't mind the actual ordering experience what drove me insane was the kitchen side of the app "rings" every time someone makes an order. Due to the volume of orders it was non stop ringing, ie no longer than 30 seconds with silence and several minutes at a time where it was consistently ringing. After I had my sandwich (that took 25 minutes to deliver) I left the lounge for some peace outside in the terminal.

Also good to see VA trying a platinum vs gold lounge experience. I wonder if this is a sign of things to come?

 

[AFF Editor]

There are some pictures of the new pop-up lounge here:

Photos: Virgin Australia's New Melbourne Pop-Up Lounge

Virgin Australia has opened a second temporary pop-up lounge at Melbourne Airport to ease overcrowding at the airline's existing temporary lounge, housed

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Astro]

There are some pictures of the new pop-up lounge here:

Photos: Virgin Australia's New Melbourne Pop-Up Lounge

Virgin Australia has opened a second temporary pop-up lounge at Melbourne Airport to ease overcrowding at the airline's existing temporary lounge, housed

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Looks good. The extra charging ports is a really good idea. Many of the tables in The Club didn't have them which was another issue when it was busy.

You'd have to assume the original lounge is a fair way off if they have gone to the trouble of rolling out another lounge.

I'm through there this week and I'll see if I can sneak into the new one. I wonder if you can visit the new one for a sticky beak if you are entitled to use The Club lounge.

I'd also make the point that VA is in need of kudos as they are responding to feedback quickly.

 

[dk4]

There are some pictures of the new pop-up lounge here:

Photos: Virgin Australia's New Melbourne Pop-Up Lounge

Virgin Australia has opened a second temporary pop-up lounge at Melbourne Airport to ease overcrowding at the airline's existing temporary lounge, housed

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Actually, as a concept I think it is quite clever.

Make your base entry level lounge highly visible, so that non-members can easily look and see whats available and happening inside, then they might decided to pay for entry: plus it might also appeal to people who want "to be seen" in the lounge - "look at me" types (as long as there is space at the back for more privacy for those who don't).

And make your top level lounge highly discrete and private, as that is probably an important aspect of the lounge for those customers,

 

[BNEFlyer]

Actually, as a concept I think it is quite clever.

Make your base entry level lounge highly visible, so that non-members can easily look and see whats available and happening inside, then they might decided to pay for entry: plus it might also appeal to people who want "to be seen" in the lounge - "look at me" types (as long as there is space at the back for more privacy for those who don't).

And make your top level lounge highly discrete and private, as that is probably an important aspect of the lounge for those customers,

The MEL lounge is already reasonably "seen", particularly for anyone heading towards the T4 gates. The pop-up lounge is there because there was a space available for it. And the new lounge won't look anything like the pop-up (which is a bit unfortunate as it looks great).