Gold Card - Shared lounges

Hi,

Due to a number of work trips, i recently became a Gold Flyer. Im going to Barbados next week for a holiday and am travelling both ways in economy

I know im allowed to use upper class check in desks for both legs, but do i also get access to the shared lounge at Barbados Airport? I know i can use all Virgin Upper class lounges (Gatwick, Heathrow etc) but am unsure what the rule is for these shared lounges

Was also wondering what the deal is with using the premium security queue at Gatwick as i understand you need to scan your boarding pass to enter this. As i have an economy ticket, do i need to ask for a separate pass when i check in?

This is the first time i've had an economy flight whilst being a gold flyer so apologies for all the questions!

Hi Phil,

Yes you may use premium security at LGW; when you use UC check-in they should add the authorisation to the boarding pass. Normal security is usually quite efficient though so you may find that they are running faster than premium.

If I recall correctly the Au lounge perk only applies to VS Clubhouses as opposed to the shared lounges which are used for the VS UC guests. No harm in asking at check-in though. Sorry I cannot give you a definitive answer on that one.

I've been in the Escape Lounge at Manchester and there have been way more Virgin passengers in there than Upper Class seats - some had Premium Economy / Economy boarding passes (passports & BP's on view on their table).

Can't give a definitive answer as they could have either been FC Gold or they could have paid for entry. What I can say is that they were not knocking back the booze in order to get their moneys worth for paid entry, so I suspect some may have been gold card holders.

It's a bit much for Virgin to restrict the lounge access for FC Gold card holders to only the locations where they have Clubhouses. Two airports spring to mind where Virgin have a lot of flights & no Clubhouse - step in Manchester & Orlando. A Clubhouse in Manchester may happen as part of the T2 expansion - as to Orlando, it'll never happen as it's a bucket & spade route and Delta have a decrepit Sky Club that Virgin can use.

I have travelled in Economy as an AU and, from memory, have been able to use non Clubhouse with AU Status, i.e The Club at LAS.

If I recall correctly the Au lounge perk only applies to VS Clubhouses as opposed to the shared lounges which are used for the VS UC guests. No harm in asking at check-in though. Sorry I cannot give you a definitive answer on that one.

Sorry to say but I think you may be wrong there - when travelling from LAS-LGW and DXB-LHR I've been given invitations to use the shared lounges as a gold member travelling in Y/PE.

If I recall correctly the Au lounge perk only applies to VS Clubhouses as opposed to the shared lounges which are used for the VS UC guests. No harm in asking at check-in though. Sorry I cannot give you a definitive answer on that one.

Sorry to say but I think you may be wrong there - when travelling from LAS-LGW and DXB-LHR I've been given invitations to use the shared lounges as a gold member travelling in Y/PE.

Happy to be wrong. I have just checked the VS lingo on the Au perks and it does only say VS Clubhouses (in bold) but, thinking back to the days of LR, I did use my Au card for an invite to the Escape lounge at MAN and also the lounge they used at LHR.. looks like my first statement was wrong, my bad.

I am now lifetime Au and travel in Econ and PE a lot more and I've used the BGI lounge many times. It's not the greatest of lounges but plenty of drinks and snacks.

You can also take in a guest with you if they're travelling on the same flight.

Jilly