Terminal c virgin lounge

I’m in a Facebook group and someone’s posted that apparently a second lounge has opened In MCO terminal C just for Virgin upper passengers. They’ve said the foods not amazing but everything else seems good and more peaceful than the plaza Lounge.

Any one know about this or what it could be like? I wasn’t keen on the plaza lounge from reviews so if this is true it could help with overcrowding coming home

[mitchja]

The VS MCO airport guide webpage actually mentioned 2 slightly different lounges at MCO now depending on which flight you are on.

The Plaza Premium Lounge for VS92 and VS140 pax.

Everything else used the Plaza Premium Lounge, Level 4.

Both links take you to the same lounge online website.

I’m there in a weeks time so will report back unless anyone beats me to it.

David

Friday 31st for me on VS50

So sat in the “new” lounge eventually. You access it via a lift near the trip advisor/ chick-fil-a store. That’s when the lift actually works.

It didn’t the first 2 times and I wondered along to the “other” lounge entrance. It was pretty poor. Very busy with people / bags everywhere.

This lounge, which I believe is only for certain flights numbers as mitchja says is actually very nice.

There’s seating for maybe 30 including the dinning area as well as the obligatory bar.

There is a virgin rep here as well so I’m guessing the usual escort to the gate still happens.

It’s just a pity she hadn’t been stationed at the lift when the lounge had opened.

Will post some pics shortly.

David.

Just a wee update. The Virgin rep did escort me (and only me) to the gate. A bit surreal so the rest of the guys must have been on the other flight that was allowed into the lounge.

I know it’s early days but if you split your upper passengers between 2 lounges it’s gonna cause real problems. There is no comparison between the general lounge and the “special” one accessible by the lift.

David

Level 4 Lounge for the two London Flights, Level 2 Lounge for Manchester Flights.?
I don't know enough to comment on why they have done this but what I do know is the Level 2 Lounge last year was rammed and was not a patch on what a Lounge should be.
Users of Level 2 Lounge please let us know!

[mitchja]

Those 2 flights VS list as using the new lounge are 1 LHR flight (the 92) and 1 MAN flight (the new 140 flight).

All I can think of is VS are basing this on the flight departure times?

VS will be op’ing upto 6 flights a day to/from MCO during peak summer season this year (3 from LHR & 3 from MAN and on some days 1 of the MAN departures is replaced by an EDI departure ).

Is that nearly back to pre-COVID capacity levels?

It’s gonna get messy with all those upper passengers. Was actually thinking about that early this morning. The last 3 flights I’ve been on have been in A330-300’s and upper has been full to bursting on every one. I wonder if they have messed up with having a leisure config as all those flights have been to and from MCO.

James - pre Covid but on massively smaller planes. Remember pre Covid had 747’s and on some days there was more virgin jumbos at MCO than LGW.

The larger lounge did seem to have a bit at the back sectioned off but the experience will be very different to the smaller one. (If the sectioned off bit is for Virgin)

David

(Oh and speaking of lounges, BA’s galleries south at Heathrow is the quietest I’ve ever seen it after their “clear out” of status customers. There’s actually multiple empty seats this morning)

Some pics of the “new lounge” and the lift (that sometimes works

IMG_5264.jpeg (375.68 KiB) Viewed 475 times

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IMG_5262.jpeg (440.58 KiB) Viewed 475 times

David

Those 2 flights VS list as using the new lounge are 1 LHR flight (the 92) and 1 MAN flight (the new 140 flight).

All I can think of is VS are basing this on the flight departure times?

VS will be op’ing upto 6 flights a day to/from MCO during peak summer season this year (3 from LHR & 3 from MAN and on some days 1 of the MAN departures is replaced by an EDI departure ).

Is that nearly back to pre-COVID capacity levels?

So only 2 flights allowed in at one time? I’m coming back on vs136. Would I be allowed in the Virgin lounge area? I’ve read some horrible reviews about the lounge and people found being out in the terminal a better experience. Just a shame they cannot invest into bigger lounges in the US side

Currently on the delayed VS74 back to MAN. At check-in the agent said to use the main Plaza Premium Lounge and claimed she had not heard any negative comments about it. I did suggest to her that a quick to TripAdvisor may be an idea.

Once airside I went to the main Plaza Premium Lounge & the agent on the entrance desk took one look at my VS boarding pass and sent me to the "other" smaller lounge. The lift was working and there was even an A4 (or it's US equivalent) piece of paper taped above the lift call button saying "Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Lounge". Found somewhere to sit, but AC power ports are few and far between in here unless you sit at the bar. Lounge was OK, albeit small. Food offering better than the Delta Sky Club IMO.

The big let-down was the delay. Wandered down to the gate at the boarding time on the BP (19:45) and the agent was saying "yes, we're on time". Then passengers all started receiving schedule change emails from Virgin. The gate agent was somdewhat bemused and could not update the screen behind the gate to reflect the delay. I would suggest that the agent knew 100% about the delay.

Back to the lounge and got a table by the window looking down onto the terminal near Chick-fil-A. Interesting to note that the crew for our flight wandered past exactly an hour before the intended new departure time of 22:40. So the delay had been planned all along - they [Swissport who ground-handle Virgin in MCO] chose not to communicate it to passengers.

If I read timings correctly Kraken, your delayed flight may have been due to Tuesdays VS73 MAN - MCO.

Initial 80 mins delay departing ,and on arrival at MCO circled for an hour for a thunderstorm. Running low on fuel so on to TPA for a 2 hour refuelling, re-board and back to MCO. One further hour for luggage.
Needless to say Virgins Flight Status did not reflect the reality.

Are those passengers entitled to something?

If I read timings correctly Kraken, your delayed flight may have been due to Tuesdays VS73 MAN - MCO.

Initial 80 mins delay departing ,and on arrival at MCO circled for an hour for a thunderstorm. Running low on fuel so on to TPA for a 2 hour refuelling, re-board and back to MCO. One further hour for luggage.
Needless to say Virgins Flight Status did not reflect the reality.

Are those passengers entitled to something?

Weather delay, so no EU261 compensation as outside of the airlines control. You are just entitled to "reasonable assistance" once the delay is over 90mins (so a food voucher / reimbursement for reasonable food). Virgin only give you a letter confirming this on arrival in Manchester - so next to no-one will claim as the receipt will be in a bin in Orlando. Smart trick there Virgin.

As to Orlando, Virgin normally rotate the aircraft there, so an inbound from Manchester will form a return to Heathrow & an inbound from Heathrow will head back to Manchester. So the late incoming VS73 had no impact on my flight. It was the severe thunderstorm over Orlando that basically shut the ramp down due to lightning & caused Tamps diverts. The rampers can work in the rain and get soaked, but as soon as lightning is around, no workers allowed out in the open.

The best bit about the delay was the look on the Swissport gate agents face at gate 253. He was telling us "Yes, the flight is on-time and will be boarding in a few minutes" [total 100% lies] and then the passengers all got the schedule change emails and showed him them. Suffice it to say he wanted the floor to open so he could vanish as he had been lying to customers. Even when we boarded 2hrs later they were still refuelling, so the guy had no idea on the progress of the flight turnaround. (And no, he did not have an "I'm training" badge / sticker on his shirt - he needs one though).

[mitchja]

You are just entitled to "reasonable assistance" once the delay is over 90mins (so a food voucher / reimbursement for reasonable food). Virgin only give you a letter confirming this on arrival in Manchester - so next to no-one will claim as the receipt will be in a bin in Orlando. Smart trick there Virgin.

Good luck claiming expenses with VS as well. When my VS7 got delayed in February and had to go back on to stand due to a faulty spoiler after a short taxi from the gate, whilst VS paid my the UK261 delay compensation without any hassle; as I finally got to my final destination over 6hrs late, VS dug their heels in big time with my expenses claims. The first response was a flat-out 100% refusal, after pushing back, their second response was an offer for about 20% of my total claim. I ended up taking them to ADR (and won 100% of the claim without any hesitations). Keep pestering VS if they deny your claim the first or even the second time.

I was on VS74 on Tuesday 14th, writing a trip report with more detail about it as we speak...

Boarding was meant to start at 1950, at 8pm the flight was still showing as on time (scheduled departure 2030) meanwhile the aircraft was still on the ground in Tampa full of VS73. The plane finally arrived at 2034.

On arrival at Manchester the next afternoon, 3 hours late (I timed the door opening), I was handed a letter.
[Paraphrasing]
Sorry, late, thunderstorms, if you've incurred any out-of-pocket costs relating to the delay, please keep hold of any receipts for consideration of reimbursement for reasonable expenses. There was a QR code that linked to vir . in / disruption

The best bit about the delay was the look on the Swissport gate agents face at gate 253. He was telling us "Yes, the flight is on-time and will be boarding in a few minutes" [total 100% lies] and then the passengers all got the schedule change emails and showed him them. Suffice it to say he wanted the floor to open so he could vanish as he had been lying to customers. Even when we boarded 2hrs later they were still refuelling, so the guy had no idea on the progress of the flight turnaround. (And no, he did not have an "I'm training" badge / sticker on his shirt - he needs one though).

I think I had the same fella for check-in, he was definitely training because he thought my bag weighed 50kgs (he had the scales set to lbs) and had to call a supervisor because my son was on a different booking reference and didn't know how to handle it.

I was on VS74 on Tuesday 14th, writing a trip report with more detail about it as we speak...

Boarding was meant to start at 1950, at 8pm the flight was still showing as on time (scheduled departure 2030) meanwhile the aircraft was still on the ground in Tampa full of VS73. The plane finally arrived at 2034.

On arrival at Manchester the next afternoon, 3 hours late (I timed the door opening), I was handed a letter.
[Paraphrasing]
Sorry, late, thunderstorms, if you've incurred any out-of-pocket costs relating to the delay, please keep hold of any receipts for consideration of reimbursement for reasonable expenses. There was a QR code that linked to vir . in / disruption

The best bit about the delay was the look on the Swissport gate agents face at gate 253. He was telling us "Yes, the flight is on-time and will be boarding in a few minutes" [total 100% lies] and then the passengers all got the schedule change emails and showed him them. Suffice it to say he wanted the floor to open so he could vanish as he had been lying to customers. Even when we boarded 2hrs later they were still refuelling, so the guy had no idea on the progress of the flight turnaround. (And no, he did not have an "I'm training" badge / sticker on his shirt - he needs one though).

I think I had the same fella for check-in, he was definitely training because he thought my bag weighed 50kgs (he had the scales set to lbs) and had to call a supervisor because my son was on a different booking reference and didn't know how to handle it.

You didn't have the same check-in guy, it was a female agent I had on the UC check-in desk. I do look forward to reading your TR though as I was on the same flight.

The best bit about the delay was the look on the Swissport gate agents face at gate 253. He was telling us "Yes, the flight is on-time and will be boarding in a few minutes" [total 100% lies] .

You'd think the lack of a rather large Airbus parked behind him would have gave it away !

[I do look forward to reading your TR though as I was on the same flight.

Noooo! I missed an opportunity to meet you!
(also, no chance you could have signed 5 of us into the lounge )