V-Flyer

On a recent return trip to London, I used my VA GOLD Flying Club card to use the Newark clubhouse with my husband as my guest. My husband was denied access being told that they expected a large volume of people so they were restricting access to guests. I have found no references in any of VA's literature that suggest that this may happen. To make matters worse, out flight was delayed by over an hour. It is very annoying since a main reason I fly Virgin is to keep my tier points up to gold level so I and my husband (who doesn't travel as much me)can use the clubhouse. Has anyone else had this experience? Any ideas on what I could do to keep it from happening again?

I've checked the T&Cs and I can't find that referenced anywhere. Seems a tad harsh and a depletion of the Au benefits. I could FULLY understand if you were a premier with the other airlines who use the lounge but not a VS Au. Might be worth dropping Customer Services a line.

10k miles...whats the bet.

Don't you just love it when staff make up their own rules.

Hi Francine, welcome to v-flyer, we hope you enjoy the site.

I think that is a deplorable way for the concierge to treat you and would suggest, as Decker has stated, that you definitely write to customer services. They can't undo what has happened and as Scrooge says you may get a gift of miles but more importantly, they should be made aware of this and you should ask them for a clear policy statement. Please share any response with your fellow v-flyers.

Thanks.

Concur with all of the above advice.

If VS are going to start refusing access to Gold's guests, then they should make it clear in the Gold T&C that this is a 'space available' perk.

BTW - welcome to the site. [y]

Nick

I remember some strange exception for EWR in regards to lounge access, though I thinnk it was in relation to SQ PPS and Solitaires. There used to be a rule in place to prevent access to Platinum and Centurions if the lounge was busy.

I've not been to EWR CH for a while, do they still share the facility?

Indeed - arrive early and there are others there

Thank you, all. I will write to customer services and let you know what happens.

Originally posted by RichardMannion
I remember some strange exception for EWR in regards to lounge access, though I thinnk it was in relation to SQ PPS and Solitaires. There used to be a rule in place to prevent access to Platinum and Centurions if the lounge was busy.

I've not been to EWR CH for a while, do they still share the facility?

Richard,
Yes, EWR is a shared lounge -- with nearly every airline out there, apparently. On a trip to Rome aboard Alitalia in "J", I assumed we'd be directed to the NW lounge. Instead we were sent to VS.

EWR is quite a small CH, but it is branded as VS and as others have said, the (outsourced) employees should know the rules.

Chuck-

I'm not sure that the Newark CH is "shared". Everything in the clubhouse
is "VA." and all the staff wear VA uniforms. On the door it says only Virgin Atlantic and only VA flights are announced. I couldn't find it listed among the "shared lounge facilities" on the VA website either. Am I missing something?

In this context "shared" is being loosely used to refer to lounges that may be used by other airlines with the permission of VS rather than the VS website definition of a lounge "that belongs to another airline".

Thank you, Decker, for the explanation. It seems to me that before VA starts turning away the guest of it Gold member, it should restrict access to use by other airlines, if space is such a problem.

I am composing my letter now and will add this to my argument.

Thanks for your support, everyone.

Francine - that is - I believe - the pivotal point. Guests of other airlines are doubtless subject to capacity control. Guests of a VS Au ought not to be so I would contend that the door person made a mistake.

I, too, believed that the door person made a mistake, so I asked for the manager who told me that they must restrict the CH to upper class flyers and Gold card members only, with no guests. I then called the dedicated Gold member's help line. The representative said she had never heard of such a policy, put me on hold and called and spoke to the manager herself. She told me that the manager reiterated what I had been told...that they expected the lounge to be past capacity and they had no choice but to disallow guests. The manager said my husband could stay until 8:00 when they expected the real crunch. At 8:00 we were told he could stay because they had turned away so many people that there was now room. Though my husband was permitted to stay, I was still upset that this could very well happen again and by the implicit unfairness and arbitrary decision=making. So it seems that the managers are allowed some discretion when it comes to the potential for an overcrowded CH.

Umm...

So, what you're saying Francinek is that your guest WAS actually allowed access? (Your originating post falsely indicated otherwise.) [:(]

While the policy does need clarification, you were not denied any service in the end (frustrating though it may be to have got there through that longwinded route).

I see a trend......

Originally posted by preiffer
Umm...

So, what you're saying Francinek is that your guest WAS actually allowed access? (Your originating post falsely indicated otherwise.) [:(]

Misleadingly rather than falsely. Her husband WAS denied access. Her husband was also allowed access.

By being misleading one hardly sets the stage for subsequent helpfulness but occasionally the internet as an imperfect medium allows the potential for misunderstandings to occur. Hell F2F conversations in RL allow this. Given that Francine drops this information in so readily it would seem she considers it less relevant.

Francine - your case is somewhat weakened by this admission as you got the service you were entitled to. Is your question "I don't believe I should have this hassle in getting the service to which I am entitled? Any suggestions to avoid this in future?"

If I was Francine, I'd still be writting that letter.

The fact the Clubhouse initially refused entry, and then only bregrudingly allowed access for a limited timescale goes against the service delivery promise from Virgin. The Manager made decisions that were not agreed options in the contract between customer and company, which caused hassle and inconvenience to Francine; and that's not what you expect when what you actually want is an oasis of calm prior to your flight.

So it was going to be busy; but that doesn't give the Manager the right to change the rules.

I don't think there is any dispute that the letter should be written, and that the embarrassment of being initially refused entry was out of order.

However if the letter is on the same lines as the OP stated in her first post i.e. "My husband was denied access" and ..... "To make matters worse, out flight was delayed by over an hour." with no hint that during the delay both pax were in the Clubhouse, then misleading is the mildest adjective I can use.

Nick

Originally posted by Bazz
Hi Francine, welcome to v-flyer, we hope you enjoy the site.

I think that is a deplorable way for the concierge to treat you and would suggest, as Decker has stated, that you definitely write to customer services. They can't undo what has happened and as Scrooge says you may get a gift of miles but more importantly, they should be made aware of this and you should ask them for a clear policy statement. Please share any response with your fellow v-flyers.

Thanks.

I stick by my original post in this thread, I don't think the delayed flight has a place in any complaint letter and I do think it a pity that you didn't flesh out what happened subsequently when you composed the OP Francine.

Decker, you are not letting text speak sneak into you site vocabulary are you "F2F" & "RL" ... for one gifted with such a command of the Queen's English, it pains me to see this

one's tastes are catholic in these matters Barry. Better to be familiar with the argot but eschew its habitual usage rather than reject it in its entirety.

One agrees, one thinks [?]

...reaches for lexicon... again [:?]

argot ['A:gEU] noun
slang or jargon peculiar to a particular group, esp. (formerly) a group of thieves

[C19: from French, of unknown origin]
argotic [A:'gQtIk] adjective

See how precise language can be? [:p]

Hmm, a group of thieves; possibly French... yes I see [|:)]