'The House' 3 hour limit [Now rescinded for VA PAX]

[CPMaverick]

I dropped into the new 'The House' lounge today, in MEL and was surprised to find out they have a 3 hour time limit.

If you arrive more than 3 hours before your flight (not sure if departure or boarding?), they will charge you $25 for each person (guests included) per extra hour. Not sure how lenient they are on this, as I arrived several hours before the 3 hour cutoff.

I offered to pay and then the agents said the CC system was down and they only accept cash. I balked at that a bit, and they let me in for free as a one time courtesy, because they couldn't accept CC payments. Agents were very polite and apologetic, and voluntarily called management to confirm the rule, but this seems to be a hard and fast rule going forward. Or at least once they get their CC systems sorted.

I can't find anything about this in the lounge information from VA, and it caught me off-guard. Maybe I missed it, but just wanted to let everyone else know.

 

[Big Fella]

I read somewhere this is a rule for the other "The House" lounges they operate elsewhere, the only reason I remembered is because we are flying to LA next year and have a 4.5 hour stopover in Brisbane and am hoping the don't have the same rule for "The Lounge".

 

[odysseus]

I suspect an element due to its Etihad background.

 

[CPMaverick]

The Etihad lounge did not have this time limit. It's new, unless it just wasn't enforced before.

 

[henrus]

The Etihad lounge did not have this time limit. It's new, unless it just wasn't enforced before.

Remember this isn't an Etihad lounge anymore and they have no input into this type of thing.

The space was officially handed over to No1 lounges who now operates the lounge on behalf of Etihad and Virgin.

Unlike an actual Etihad or Virgin lounge (where they'd cover the full costs to operate the lounge), this lounge would instead work on a per entry basis. Virgin is probably only paying No1 lounge for 3 hours entry per person (probably written in some agreement somewhere) hence the additional fee has to be covered by the passenger instead.

No1 lounge hasn't announced anything yet but expect access to be sold online (like their other lounges) and potentially priority pass access (sometimes they offer this at their more upscale lounges where entry is £20 + a priority pass card swipe).

 

[CPMaverick]

Remember this isn't an Etihad lounge anymore and they have no input into this type of thing.

I know that very well. My post was in response to a mention that the time limit was somehow related to Etihad.

 

[henrus]

I know that very well. My post was in response to a mention that the time limit was somehow related to Etihad.

yep, An interesting data point would be if an Etihad Guest member was limited to 3 hours prior to an Etihad flight.

 

[Must...Fly!]

The home of Etihad Airways, Virgin Australia and other leading airlines...

Anyone else got a good joke?

This is pathetic, VA continues to frustrate with ridiculous rules (think of the arrivals access 60 minute limit) while trying to pretend it's taking innovative steps. And giving away lounge memberships in the thousands for free (see explore gold). What a slap in the face to loyal passengers.

 

[CPMaverick]

I don't mind the rule honestly. It seems logical as long as they aren't too strict with it (delays, etc). Just needs to be clearly stated on the lounge page so we know.

Not really a VA rule anyway, although I'm sure they could pay extra to eliminate it if they wanted to.

 

[henrus]

I don't mind the rule honestly. It seems logical as long as they aren't too strict with it (delays, etc).

100% agree with you there. I think there should also be some flexibility for those on 3-5 hour connections as well (anything longer then that is a stretch).

 

[odysseus]

I know that very well. My post was in response to a mention that the time limit was somehow related to Etihad.

Etihad is in the process of transitioning their lounges to a third party operator, with the addition of allowing other airlines to also use the lounge - an obvious approach to increase revenue.

As part of that new operation they have introduced a 3 hour time limit as standard; again this is an obvious way to increase revenue/cut costs. Both actions are consistent with what Etihad has done widely across all their operations the past year i.e. either cutting costs or increasing revenue. I'm not sure why you would think otherwise.

 

[odysseus]

Remember this isn't an Etihad lounge anymore and they have no input into this type of thing.
.

Wrong. It's run by another operator who was appointed by Etihad, with the arrangements and contractual agreement set up according to Etihad. In Etihad's words they refer to it as a partnership. They haven't just abandoned them, and it's quite incorrect to state that it's not an Etihad lounge.

Etihad certainly do have "input" - more in fact.

 

[CPMaverick]

Ugh. I really don't care why this rule is in place and wasn't trying to speculate on it. I purely meant to say it isn't a legacy rule from the previous Etihad lounge. That's it.

Gotta love the internet

 

[jamesakj]

What rubbish poverty stricken crack laden airline claims to be full service and accepts 3 hour lounge time limits on its high status members. Actually this is amazing for the very fact that it perpetuates the big "F U" that virgin has been consistently ramping up to its status members. I now have to freely admit to myself that the continued pursuit of maintaining virgin platinum is actually feeding some deep dark sado masochis_ fetish as rationally no other explanation for continuing to fly virgin makes any sense.

 

[docjames]

I would hope that there would be a right to waive excess charges for routinely booked (no alternative) long connections and/or IRROPs.

The impact here is only on a tiny percentage who would arrive more than three hours before their flight - given for most airlines (incl VA) checkin opens 3 hours before the flight, so only the HLO travellers will get in before then. COntaining costs in this way really only affects a smal percentage of the customer base, but that percentage is having a disproportionate impact on cost. Also, there’s plenty of screaming about lounge overcrowding, so restricting time allowed is one way to offset this problem.

But i can understand why AFFers are in uproar - the QF F lounge being a good example of why VA/EY/Lounge operator will have brought in this rule.......

 

[openseat]

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.

 

[CPMaverick]

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.

To be honest that's why it is a bit of a strange rule. I don't imagine anyone doing this if they had a reasonable alternative. It must be a rare thing, so why bother worrying about it?

I had 8 hours between separate international tickets at MEL and had to get some work done, didn't make sense to go home so was just planning to shower and work at the lounge. For 3 of those hours (after an Etihad departure and before late VA NZ departures) I was literally the only person in the lounge, so it was hardly overcrowded. There was no food on offer for about 2 of those hours. I had a couple drinks, that's about it.

Now that I know the lounge rules, if it happened again, I'd just go home. But for those that don't live in MEL, they don't have many other options. The international terminal at MEL is pretty bad.

 

[Pleb Status]

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.

Reading some of the threads on AFF, particularly on the QF side of things, even some of the more 'experienced' flyers appear to deliberately schedule flights just to get more 'lounge time'.

I do not think I have ever been in any lounge (including a large number of F lounges) that I would deliberately want to spend more than two hours in if I could avoid it.

 

[Ewing]

Reading some of the threads on AFF, particularly on the QF side of things, even some of the more 'experienced' flyers appear to deliberately schedule flights just to get more 'lounge time'.

I do not think I have ever been in any lounge (including a large number of F lounges) that I would deliberately want to spend more than two hours in if I could avoid it.

Agree.

If I'm travelling by myself, two hours is about my max. I had about 8 hours in the QF SYD F lounge once (combination of a connection and then a lengthy delay). I was so bored - there's only so much you can eat and drink. I ended up setting up in the corner and watched a few movies on my laptop.

Meeting up with others I will spend more time though

Having said that, as mentioned in this thread sometimes you have no choice when it comes to a long connection. I would be livid if they tried to pass on a charge in that circumstance. I dropped VA a while back after years of Platinum anyway for a number of reasons (the constant flip-flopping of lounges one of them) - have finally hit Velocity Red again and my last VA flight was in August last year (LAX-SYD in J).

 

[moa999]

Issue with not operating your own lounges.

Only going to impact a very very small minority who are connecting internationally, which isn't many at SYD