Clubhouse entry travelling PE

Hi guys. Just wondering, has anybody been able to obtain access to the clubhouse whilst travelling in Premium Economy and if so, were you just sweet as pie and asked them or what were your circumstances? The reason I ask is I`m travelling to HKG in Jan and just wondering what the chances are of getting to use the clubhouse when I`m only in PE.
Thanks in advance
Neil

[Bazz]

Without a UC ticket, Gold FC membership or the Amex Centurion Card you have very little chance of getting in. Keep an eye on the Itineraries section maybe some kind v-flyer will offer to take you in.

As Bazz said, pretty much nil on your own merit.

VS.

You used to be able to buy a clubhouse pass for about £60 from Virgin Holidays, but I have a feeling those have now been stopped. If they weren't they were on a first come first served basis so I doubt there would be any left for January by now.
Regardless of this, enjoy your time in HKG - its a fantastic city!

Dean

[Neil]

Originally posted by Wolves27
You used to be able to buy a clubhouse pass for about £60 from Virgin Holidays, but I have a feeling those have now been stopped. If they weren't they were on a first come first served basis so I doubt there would be any left for January by now.
Regardless of this, enjoy your time in HKG - its a fantastic city!

Dean

You can still buy CH tickets through VH for £60pp but you have to have either a package or accom booked with VH also, you cannot just buy CH tickets on their own.

Neil:)

Originally posted by Attitude23

You can still buy CH tickets through VH for £60pp but you have to have either a package or accom booked with VH also, you cannot just buy CH tickets on their own.

Are you sure? Unless its changed, but I was travelling with someone in June this year, completely independent of VH and they booked the CH access pass through them..

Dean

[RichardMannion]

http://www.virginholidays.co.uk/extras/airport_lounges/

Thanks,
Richard

We must have got lucky [y]

dean

[Decker]

Well the "Please tick this box to confirm that you have booked a Virgin Atlantic flight through Virgin Holidays." on the Virgin Holidays page suggests that this might be a manual process and therefore worth a speculative punt.

[Nottingham Nick]

Originally posted by Decker
therefore worth a speculative punt.

Not so sure about this. The check in procedure at the entrance to the CH seems quite strict. That touch screen monitor that the staff use has all the UC pax and Golds listed for each flight. I assume they have all the other people entitled to entry listed as well. It wouldn't take much to have a system that matches VH bookings with CH passes, or am I being overly cautious?

£60 seems a lot to shell out to be turned away at the door. [}:)];)

Nick

[Decker]

Ah but then you would claim your money back if you have EVER booked a flight through Virgin Holidays as you were simply confused. You might even try any way as they should not sell you something you can't use. Somewhat like selling someone a car on their assurance that they have a valid driving license. Must stress I don't ENCOURAGE this behaviour but I become annoyed when companies put rules in place without systems/processes to enforce. Like the "you can only prebook treatments if UC or Au" but actually anyone can as they either don't know the rules at the coal face or can't check.

Unfortunately my recent experience of the Gatwick clubhouse was disappointing. There were a lot more people in the clubhouse with PE and economy luggage tags than UC tags (including a large family group who were making alot of noise and had to be asked to calm down), making it difficult to find a seat [:?] I also witnessed 2 people refused entry - they advised they had brought access through VH but had no paperwork. However, the thing that annoyed me was the fiasco with treatments. As UC passengers we had prebooked our treatments only to turn up on the day and be told my friend's booking had been 'lost'. First of all they advised they probably would not be able to fit her in, whilst at the same time 'squeezing' in 3 PE passengers who said they'd paid for access and they should have treatments [V] Eventually, after a bit of pushing/reminding we were UC, my friend did have her treatment.

Originally posted by firsttimer
Unfortunately my recent experience of the Gatwick clubhouse was disappointing. There were a lot more people in the clubhouse with PE and economy luggage tags than UC tags (including a large family group who were making alot of noise and had to be asked to calm down), making it difficult to find a seat [:?]

To me it sounds like maybe its something to do with the fact that LGW flights have less UC accomodation than the LHR flights so they must've either opened it up to PE/Economy pax that day for a fee. But I don't know so I will keep schutm!

P.S. Sory to hear about your poor experience of the LGW Clubhouse.

Originally posted by Attitude23

Originally posted by Wolves27
You used to be able to buy a clubhouse pass for about £60 from Virgin Holidays, but I have a feeling those have now been stopped. If they weren't they were on a first come first served basis so I doubt there would be any left for January by now.
Regardless of this, enjoy your time in HKG - its a fantastic city!

Dean

You can still buy CH tickets through VH for £60pp but you have to have either a package or accom booked with VH also, you cannot just buy CH tickets on their own.

Neil:)

I called Virgin holidays last week and booked the clubhouse for Gatwick for Vegas trip in Feb, no problems at all- despite what it says on the web, I have not booked flights or accomidation through them, this was not a problem.

Gavin

Those that have paid for access certainly should not have priority over others. Back on topic, you could try buying access to another lounge or join priority pass...

VS.

AFAIK, according to the VH brochure, there is no problem buying stand-alone lounge access. [That is if you want to stand alone [:$] ]

must check spelling, must check spelling, must check.................

[Neil]

Originally posted by Gavin
I called Virgin holidays last week and booked the clubhouse for Gatwick for Vegas trip in Feb, no problems at all- despite what it says on the web, I have not booked flights or accomidation through them, this was not a problem.

Gavin

How strange, if VH are selling CH tickets without restrictions then surely anybody flying any airline could use it anytime they wanted [n] (as long as VH have availability), and this surely goes against the idea of making a "special" area for UC/Au pax.

When I enquired about buying CH ticekts as part of an Accom only booking a couple of months ago the person had to check if I was allowed to book as it wasn't part of a package, which was allowed, so it seems that even the VH CC staff aren't 100% sure.

Neil

[/quote]

How strange, if VH are selling CH tickets without restrictions then surely anybody flying any airline could use it anytime they wanted [n] (as long as VH have availability), and this surely goes against the idea of making a "special" area for UC/Au pax.

When I enquired about buying CH ticekts as part of an Accom only booking a couple of months ago the person had to check if I was allowed to book as it wasn't part of a package, which was allowed, so it seems that even the VH CC staff aren't 100% sure.

Neil
[/quote]

The only restriction that I could see was that you had to be on a VS flight and present your boarding card and the VH voucher to get access, it seems the rules are a bit of a fudge!

According to the BMI website...

"Virgin Atlantic

gold diamond club members may use the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at London Heathrow Terminal 3."

So that is another route in !