'The House' 3 hour limit [Now rescinded for VA PAX]

[CPMaverick]

Not according to post #34. You pay even if your flight is delayed.

Sorry somehow I missed that bit. Yikes.

 

[openseat]

Some of us on domestic transfer have to!

Connections. If I'm on a single booking with a long connection then I'd expect to be able to use the airline's lounge if access is otherwise OK

I don't deny that transfers might require more than three hours. My point was simply one of not wanting to be in a lounge for more than two hours.

While No.1 will operate the Lounge, there is nothing to say what rules will be in place on the Virgin website. In fact the current page offers nothing to say there will be a three hour limit. As always, YMMV.

 

[CPMaverick]

While No.1 will operate the Lounge, there is nothing to say what rules will be in place on the Virgin website. In fact the current page offers nothing to say there will be a three hour limit. As always, YMMV.

Maybe you should try reading this thread from the start. The 3 hour rule at 'The House' is not speculation, it is being enforced.

The whole point of this thread is that there is nothing on the VA website to suggest this, yet it is happening.

 

[jase05]

I’m not normally one to make a scene but if this was in place a few weeks ago I’m not so sure I could say how I would have reacted.
We flew ADL-MEL and had a 3 hour connection to VA69 which turned into just over 4 hours with the delay. Would of hated to be charged for another hour through no fault of our own.

 

[hossein_au]

It says before your 'flight time' which I assume is scheduled departure time. So I suspect delays will be accommodated without issue.

I was thinking of when everything looks fine, you rock up to the lounge, you are let in, and then the announcement comes through that the flight is delayed...

 

[Cryptarcadian]

Related but different scenario — I've been in a Priority Pass lounge before, where our flight was delayed after we entered the lounge, and we were advised that we'd need to swipe our cards again if we wished to continue staying in the lounge. Turned out to be a 13 hour delay and ended up getting a hotel, but that's another story...

You wouldn't expect this at the primary branded lounge for VA, on home turf no less, even if its operation is contracted out. I'd be livid. I hope it's just a teething issue, or else they quickly negotiate some contractual certainty with No 1 to avoid this.

 

[Bagpuss]

Note, I just looked at the No 1 lounge website and they spell out this policy as below. Note that 'The House' is not technically a No 1 branded lounge. But No 1 operates it. So I'm guessing this is the origin of the policy, although if you were searching for information and didn't know the company that operated 'The House' you'd never find this otherwise.

Bad news is, it appears to go off of departure time. So, it's more like a ~2.5 hour limit.

Faq - No1 Lounges

According to their website they don't even operate in Australia and are only in the UK.
So there is a chance the operational rules may be different in Australia or possibility for the Brisbane lounge.

From the Virgin Australia website https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/experience/at-the-airport/international-lounge-access/

"All you’ll need is your same-day boarding pass and Velocity membership card or lounge membership card to access lounges operated by our airline partners or third-party operators."

 

[CPMaverick]

According to their website they don't even operate in Australia and are only in the UK.
So there is a chance the operational rules may be different in Australia or possibility for the Brisbane lounge.

I attempted to explain that clearly in my post that you quoted. The rules MAY be different for 'The House' ... But we just don't know. I only posted the No 1 rules because they are the closest available to documentation of a time limit in their lounges.

It's been clearly explained from the start that VA don't say anything about a time limit, but one is clearly being enforced. Not sure why the VA website's lack of a time limit keeps being brought up when the entire purpose of the post was to point out the discrepancy.

Note that a VA employee was present and called her management (voluntarily) to confirm the rule when I was there.

 

[PineappleSkip]

All you’ll need is your same-day boarding pass...

In the absence of something more specific, I'd read that as VA's advice about time limit. Reasonable implication is that you can come in any time on the same day. Supported by past practice.

cheers skip

 

[babysun]

Oh, I would scream like a stuck pig. Let’s see how well they tolerate regular blow ups at the counter.

Me three! I love lounge access the most when my flight is delayed. It takes the sting away when you're in a comfy chair with something to eat and drink etc.

 

[NateB]

Hope this isn't the case going forward, is going to be a hassle flying from Perth, our connection time through to LAX is usually 5 hours. Our connections to NZ can also be as long as 5 hours. I'll be flying through Sydney in two weeks with a 5 hour connection so we'll see how it goes!

 

[JohnK]

Apart from the initial stage of having lounge access, I can't understand why you would want to spend more than two hours in a lounge, let alone three.

End of this month I have ~6 hours in SIN between flights. It was either that or leaving ~2 hours connecting from 3K to QF and I wasn't comfortable booking that tight a connection even on same booking.

P.S. I will be bored after the first hour or so.

 

[Bagpuss]

AusBT is reporting it to be a 4 hour time limit but waiting on Virgin to confirm for Brisbane.
Virgin Australia's new international lounges have a 4 hour time limit

 

[Mr Pumblechook]

Policy on the run. Now there's no time limit.

Virgin Australia: "no time limit" for new international lounges

So the lounge agents are enforcing a three hour time limit in accordance with VA policy, the contracted lounge operator thinks it's a four hour time limit in accordance with VA policy and VA says it's policy is that there's no time limit.

It's hard to not come out of that looking like you've rushed it and haven't really thought it through, which sounds about right for them at the moment.

 

[CPMaverick]

AusBT is reporting it to be a 4 hour time limit but waiting on Virgin to confirm for Brisbane.
Virgin Australia's new international lounges have a 4 hour time limit

Article has been updated to say there is no time limit! What a mess... but hopefully that is the policy going forward! Guess I got to be a guinea pig.

 

[Virgin Bart]

Bloody laughable. Makes me want to change my name on here.

 

[Must...Fly!]

It's hard to not come out of that looking like you've rushed it and haven't really thought it through, which sounds about right for them at the moment.

Bingo...usual thing at VA. Doesn't look like changing any time soon.

 

[Bagpuss]

Virgin Australia: "no time limit" for new international lounges

Does anyone have Kieran Debney's mobile, office and home phone numbers?

 

[alviau]

It's hard to not come out of that looking like you've rushed it and haven't really thought it through, which sounds about right for them at the moment.

To be fair, a lot of the “controversy” would have been avoided had the publisher of the article waited to hear from VA (you know, the main relevant party) rather than publishing the article with some of the information. But I guess that generated a lot of clicks.


Not denying of course, that there seems to be some miscommunication regarding the policy between the relevant parties.

 

[serfty]

Not denying of course, that there seems to be some miscommunication regarding the policy between the relevant parties

I doubt there was miscommunication with the on the spot information imparted to the OP (who is VA WP) by the Melbourne lounge manager ...

VA managment is in flux at the moment with Borghetti marking time until a replacement is found.

I suspect an order came down from said management (flux or not) once this implication of the No.1 lounge philosophy became public.

Thanks to @CPMaverick for starting this thread.