Hi everybody
I have held onto my Amex Platinum since relocating to Australia. It’s been great in allowing me access to Virgin domestic lounges.
However whilst I understand that officially it doesn’t get you access to the international Virgin lounges, does anyone have any anecdotal evidence to suggest otherwise? If so, which Virgin international lounges have you had success with and how? Keen to hear your thoughts.
Cheers
Ben
Rules are rules. You need to have a Virgin ticket to access the lounge. Another thing is that Virgin Australia lounges are domestic and in the case of Brisbane and Sydney, it requires taking a shuttle bus to a completely different terminal to access them. Not sure that’s worth the hassle.
It’s a bit of a strange question because, apart from Wellington, Virgin doesn’t actually have any international lounges.
In addition, the Priority Pass membership that came with the AmEx Platinum, or the AmEx itself, will either (a) enable you to access the same lounges that Virgin uses anyway (eg. the Manaia Lounges in NZ), or (b) give you access to other lounges in the international terminals in Australia that will do just as well as, if not better than, the lounges Virgin uses (eg. the Plaza Premium and/or AmEx Lounges in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane).
Thanks @sixtyeight.
Maybe I should have been more explicit in my question - by international Virgin lounge access I meant Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses.
And I didn’t think much of the Amex lounge in Melbourne when it first opened. Has it improved since? Or perhaps I was being overly critical!
As far as I know, 2 Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses are a part of Priority Pass. The LAX and Newark lounge is open to priority pass at certain limited hours. So you can get into these two clubhouses using the priority pass with your Amex.
The melbourne AMEX lounge is quite small and you really have to manage your expectations. It’s basically a Plaza Premium lounge with fancier decor. The food is even provided by Plaza Premium!