V-Flyer

Unfortunately it looks like the HKG Clubhouse will be closing on Feb 5th, customers will be able to use the one opposite the Clubhouse.

How different VS are treating HKG now, it used to be a big operation there.

2 daily flights (for a short time)
Flight to SYD
Clubhouse
Contact Centre
City Ticket Office
Large Overseas crew base (now tiny)
Larger Aircraft
Virgin staff at the airport, now only a small handful.

Are Virgin no longer committed to the HKG route, is this the beginning of the end of HKG for Virgin or even the end of the slow withdrawal from there?

Thoughts please.

Wasn't it only refurbed 18 months ago ?

What a shame :( We will be flying out of HKG in January, so I guess it will be our last visit to that CH.

Shame but can't have been a cheap CH to have given how expensive Hong Kong is property-wise. Especially for only one flight a day.

Shame the Delta flight leaves at noon.

Hi

Might I ask where you saw this news?

property1925 wrote:Hi

Might I ask where you saw this news?

It's confirmed on the VS Facebook page. Someone asked them on thir page and they have positively confined that it will be closing

That is a real shame

I don't want to any set alarm bells ringing here but I was thinking about HKG for next New Year but when I looked at a VHols package, I couldn't find any VS flights to HKG, they where offering virtually every other airline apart from VS.

Since DL got their claws into VS it's becoming more and more clear now that they really only seem to be concentrating on TATL routes now.

It is a shame but commercially totally understandable. In the past I have enjoyed the HK Clubhouse on many occasions, sometimes a little too much.

I think James is right. Virgin's commitment to HKG has gone down since the cancellation of SYD.

I like the HKG Clubhouse, and the Plaza Premium lounge is hardly comparable.

This is yet another example where the supposed 'alliance' with Delta only benefits them. Delta pax get to use the huge new Skyteam lounge.

Nick

The DL joint venture only applies to Transatlantic routes. VS are on their own everywhere else and as they're not a member of SkyTeam there's no reason why SkyTeam would let them use their lounge.

I've never used the Plaza Premium lounge at HKG but the one at LHR T2 is one of the best shared lounges I've been in.

gumshoe wrote:........I've never used the Plaza Premium lounge at HKG but the one at LHR T2 is one of the best shared lounges I've been in.

I've been in lots of Plaza Premium lounges in Asia, because they are Priority Pass lounges. They are nice, but they are all several notches below the HKG Clubhouse IMHO.

Nick

Another very sad decision of a once highly innovative and distinctive airline whose brand is now fast becoming simply bland and 'just another airline'.

But a number of questions arise from this -

1. will other lounges around the world where there is only one flight day now close? Boston? Washington? Johannesburg? More costs savings by using Delta lounges instead? Delta staff on VS planes?
2. VS talk about possible new alliances but clearly nothing is happening with respect to East or South East Asia which I find most surprising and worrying given the importance and future growth of the AEAN economies.
3. I don't think it is the lack of slots at LHR that constrains VS these days but their American owner instead .

What a great shame that there is no stopping VS's rapid decline to mediocrity

It is a shame, I remain a supporter of VS but it has been noted on this site many times that the VS experience, particularly in UC has been slowly declining over recent years.

Thanks for the info.

LHR - HKG is my main VS route where most of my TP and miles are earned - so I'm always asking myself whether I should change to Oneworld. The BA/Cathay/VS PE experience is pretty similar but the LHR Clubhouse keeps me loyal. And at least VS make you feel as if they want you on the aircraft!


mitchja - I've already booked 5 VS flights to HK next year, up to March, so the schedule is at least published and bookable. I know - as others have experienced - that they can be cancelled, but no sign of it. Certainly VS crew think its continuing - but they might be the last to know!

I have used Air New Zealand to HK a few times in the past, I am not sure though if they still fly that route. As many here will know, their business class uses same seats as VS UC but imho service, food & wine are far superior to the VS offering.

Edinburgh Castle wrote:Another very sad decision of a once highly innovative and distinctive airline whose brand is now fast becoming simply bland and 'just another airline'.

What a great shame that there is no stopping VS's rapid decline to mediocrity

Trouble is in the cut-throat airline industry where margins are small, innovative and distinctive doesn't make money but bland and mediocre does. Just look at BA.

Even Emirates, long regarded as one of the best long-haul carriers, is reportedly seeing loads drop off and has just deferred its next delivery of A380s - unthinkable even a couple of years ago.

Just look at any high street for evidence that the vast majority of people are more than happy with bland and mediocre, particularly if it means lower prices. Investors demand higher returns and customers demand lower prices so it's inevitably a race to the bottom.

oldboy wrote:I have used Air New Zealand to HK a few times in the past, I am not sure though if they still fly that route. As many here will know, their business class uses same seats as VS UC but imho service, food & wine are far superior to the VS offering.

That ended in 2013. Why? Because the "far superior" offering wasn't making any money.

https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/air-n ... 33345.html

IMO the writing has to be on the wall for VS Clubhouses in locations where they only have one flight per day - unless the flight is very full fare J class / FC Gold card heavy on a regular basis. Any airport lounge costs a lot to run & the Clubhouse offering is above average, so the costs must be higher - how long Virgin can justify those costs for at an airport only served by one daily flight remains to be seen... especially if Delta have a Sky Club in the same terminal that VS can dump it's passengers onto.

Simply put, a Clubhouse does not fill an aircraft, competitively priced tickets do. Look at the competition & what they are offering - people will settle for a less lavish lounge offering if the price is right / they have no choice.

The staff at HKG CH are the best in the network and if it were only for one flight a day I can understand the high cost being an issue. However, they do cater to other airlines as well during the day (can't recall exactly which right now - could be EVA) and for a while they handled the DL flights.
Plaza lounge is ok (by co-incidence I went for a snoop round a few weeks ago) but it is not very big and is pretty bland. However, maintaining the route (which means it must make a profit) is more important.

Whilst DL's main agreement is on the American routes as a major shareholder VS are not really free to do as they please in the rest of the world. In fact several of the non USA routes are also code shares with DL.

VA will start flying to HKG soon so hopefully that will help with the loads - although for the last few months the loads have been great.

I agree that this is a shame but at the end of the day we have to remember VS is a business and like any business must adapt and adjust if it will improve and secure the future of that business. Ultimately its not VS's aim to disappoint even a small portion of its customers or throw away its key selling points, but if it means VS is around in another 10 years+ then its a necessary evil.

In such a competitive market Eastbound due to the mammoths of the ME3 let alone larger networks of BA and the like I think the future of VS in the East will stay fairly limited

HK is still on my dream list though so hope it can be on VS metal

This news definitely makes me sad and I am half tempted to sneak in a trip to HKG to say goodbye to the CH before closure... that isn't too crazy is it?

Wow, is this for real? What a crying shame. Loved that lounge. Won't be flying VS to HKG anymore, then, plenty of better carriers now the lounge has gone.

What a shame... I was looking forward to my first visit the end of Feb

This is one of my routes also, into Shanghai, out of Hong Kong, next exit from HK is 25th February.

daviis wrote:

property1925 wrote:Hi

Might I ask where you saw this news?

It's confirmed on the VS Facebook page. Someone asked them on thir page and they have positively confined that it will be closing

I am not on Facebook, so do not have access to the thread --- is this 100% confirmed?, I love the hustle and bustle of HK but the lounge was a great way to slow down and relax before the lengthy flight home

International Hitman wrote:I am not on Facebook, so do not have access to the thread --- is this 100% confirmed?, I love the hustle and bustle of HK but the lounge was a great way to slow down and relax before the lengthy flight home

Yep 100% confirmed closure on the 5th Feb

I am trying to head through there before then for one last goodbye.