Guest List Question

Looking to use the guest list for me, my wife and her 2 children. Mainly because I know I won't ever have enough miles (or cash!!) to let the children experience upper class.
But was wondering how strict the 3 hour limit is?
Do Virgin come find you and say 'get out yer times up''? Or announce it or other?

Any info greatly appreciated.

PS It's the LHR lounge we would be booked into.

Cheers

I really don't think they would evict you but would do it by adjusting your arrival time.

So say your flight was 4.00 they would time your arrival at LHR for close to noon (to allow for 50 mins boarding) and work back. So you likely wouldn't be able to ask for a 8.00 pick up if your trip to LHR only takes an hour.

Are you certain you could never afford the flights with miles/money.

Have a read of the Ex Dub thread - you can pick up UC flights from Dublin (or other European airports) with a bit of planning for £1k each (to NY for example). Alternatively there are lots of sign up bonuses with various cards, Tesco club card vouchers, Shops Away, Top Cashback, the list is long.

Guest List IMHO is very expensive for what it is.

Looking to use the guest list for me, my wife and her 2 children. Mainly because I know I won't ever have enough miles (or cash!!) to let the children experience upper class.
But was wondering how strict the 3 hour limit is?
Do Virgin come find you and say 'get out yer times up''? Or announce it or other?

Any info greatly appreciated.

PS It's the LHR lounge we would be booked into.

Cheers

Have you booked flights yet ? If no where are you looking at going to ?
As marshy says there may be other options like Booking with Expedia Ex Dublin where some cracking deals can be found

Have you booked flights yet ? If no where are you looking at going to ?
As marshy says there may be other options like Booking with Expedia Ex Dublin where some cracking deals can be found[/quote]


I've used virtually all my miles with 2 x Gs for me and my wife this year. And the last of them for 4 x premium econ for the upcoming holiday so no upper class upgrades for a while....sadly.

And the DUB trick is not gonna work for this holiday due to various reasons.

I don't actually mind the price for guest list, but speaking to a Virgin rep yesterday he said if they are busy then we won't get to enter until 3 hours pre flight. Which is a bit sad as we would leave to board 45 mins pre flight. So actual time allowed is only 2:15 and not the 3hours.

Will have a ponder.... And then decide.
Thanks for the feedback.

Does the rep on the door of the clubhouse actually have access to the technology which will tell her which passengers are 'guest list' and therefore subject to this 3 hour limit?

Whenever I've been in there, it's been a fairly straightforwards BP check against a list of names on a computer screen. Question is... does that screen say 'no entry' at more than t-3 hours.

We used the Gust List when we flew to JFK on a day flight in PE. These were cash fares and I didn't seen the benefit of UC on a medium-haul flight when we would be awake all the way.

We were in the CH for 4 hours, probably 4-5 hours before we left for the gate. We were not advised at the time of CH arrival that we had to leave after 3 hours (though did know that was the "rule". No staff sought us out to evict us.

But the CH was not especially busy that day. It may be different depending who is on the desk and how busy it is?

Also we used the chauffeur service at arrivals rather than departure as we were staying at LHR the night before. The car in to Manhattan was more beneficial for us.

Enjoy your trip.

[mitchja]

Not sure if they do know or not (though I suspect they will), however, when I did Guest List last year whilst flying Premium (a VH booking), the agent in DTCI had a boarding pass ready for me and she had written 'Guest List' on it.

I was there about 3 hours before the flight though anyway.

Like many airline rules I imagine the level of enforcement depends on many factors including who's on duty at the time, how busy it is and to what extent you're trying to bend them.

Four hours on a quietish day? Probably not a problem. All day when it's busy? That'll be a no.

As I read the Guest List rules, it sounded like they would not admit you to the CH until 3 hours before your scheduled departure, which would mean about 2 hours in the CH before you would need to leave for boarding.

But it sounds like that has not been the experience of others who have actually used the service.

It is pricey for what it is. I'd only consider it on a flight out of LHR if I would be traveling with my family. In that case, I would be booking a car service anyway, and Guest List would give us DTCI and the LHR Clubhouse.