Lounge access - gold card and kids?

We are gold club holders and have used the lounge when travelling without the kids.

We never thought to take the kids in before as generally we do twilight checkin and by the time we go through security next morning its such a short time till boarding we dont bother with the lounge.

This time however we are not doing twilight checkin so want to use the lounge - can we take our kids (age 7 and 5) in there as we have Virgin Flyer Club gold cards?

[Neil]

Yes you can, you are allowed 1 guest each if you are an Au card holder or flying UC.

thanks very much Neil.

Oh, this brings up something I hadn't thought of... my husband lost his AU status, but I have retained mine. Next year we will be flying with our new baby. Will I have to choose between baby & husband as to which one to bring into the CH? Or will they charge for one?

Perhaps I should leave both baby & husband outside and enjoy the CH myself! [}:)]

quote:Originally posted by stars
Oh, this brings up something I hadn't thought of... my husband lost his AU status, but I have retained mine. Next year we will be flying with our new baby. Will I have to choose between baby & husband as to which one to bring into the CH? Or will they charge for one?

Perhaps I should leave both baby & husband outside and enjoy the CH myself! [}:)

Hi Stars,

This question, or variations on it, come up fairly regularly. I believe the consensus is that any guest in excess of the allowed one is at the discretion of the CH staff depending on factors such as how full it might be at the time. In my experience of LGW in the morning there has not been a problem bringing in additional younger family members but access should not be assumed or expected.

There was something recently about Au holders paying for additional access - can't remember the details of it though - I thought paid access was limited to Virgin Holidays travellers.

Of course with a babe in arms they may be more symapthetic - after all he/she is unlikely to drink the bar dry - but then again they are also sympathetic to the likely (although unecessary) negative response from business travellers if baby kicks off - as they (sometimes) do.

Best of luck.

FM

quote:Originally posted by FamilyMan
[quote]Originally posted by starsbut then again they are also sympathetic to the likely (although unecessary) negative response from business travellers if baby kicks off - as they (sometimes) do.


...and this is something that has come up again too... I wouldn't say that such a reaction is unnecessary if someone has paid top dollar for a ticket and was hoping for a bit of peace and quiet in the clubroom...

*Opens can of worms*

I've seen other travelers in Y kick off when a baby is crying, and often the parents are doing the right thing to calm it down.

The good thing about the Clubhouse, is it has a children's area, and some side areas where you can go to try and calm the little one down.

Also, the said business traveler, who paid top dollar, has no idea if you are a guest or another top dollar paying customer, so it kind of negates any reaction on that front.

I would imagine with an infant, they will not count him/her as a guest, and allow the child in. They certainly did at the Heathrow Clubhouse for me last year.

Mark

quote:Originally posted by FamilyMan
There was something recently about Au holders paying for additional access - can't remember the details of it though - I thought paid access was limited to Virgin Holidays travellers.


Yes. Last time I did this it was GBP60 per adult and GBP30 per child. Available to Au members.

Chris

Thank you for the replies. Let's keep the can of worms closed. [:)]

I will, of course, report back to let you know what we did/how it was handled. This flight isn't for about 6 months, though, so it will be a while.