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Virgin Atlantic launches afternoon tea – on the ground and onboard

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One thing about running HfP is that you meet a far broader range of people than you ever do working in the City, as I did. 

Eric Lanlard is one of these people – I never really expected that I would get to know one of the best pâtissiers in the world, and owner of Cake Boy, the destination café, cake emporium and cookery school.  However, via various Starwood Preferred Guest events (he did a lot for Starwood), I did.

Lanlard has now partnered with Virgin Atlantic to launch afternoon tea.  From Monday, a formal afternoon tea service will be available – for free – in the Heathrow Clubhouse from 3pm to 5.30pm.  Banish images of the British Airways Club Europe afternoon tea from your mind!

Eric Lanlard Virgin Atlantic afternoon tea

You will get a pot of tea or Lanson rose champagne and a bespoke stand filled with items including:

  • Prosciutto, sunblushed tomato and rocket on a stone baked Campagne brown roll
  • Smoked salmon, cream cheese and dill mint mini croissant
  • Broccoli, goat’s cheese and cress savoury tart
  • Homemade plain and sultana scones with strawberry preserve, lemon and clotted cream
  • Eton mess verrine with strawberry coulis
  • Apple and blackberry cake
  • Dark chocolate brownie with salted caramel sauce

More interestingly, the service is launching onboard from “late Summer”.  Upper Class passengers will be able to have afternoon tea at the bar, whilst Premium and Economy passengers will receive a selection of items at their seat.

I have a friend in the Clubhouse on Monday so hopefully we can get some images.  


How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (October 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points

(Want to earn more Virgin Points?  Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)

Comments (126)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Cate ⛱️ says:

    OT as bits, is anyone going to move their stays to another provider from Marriott and to who?. Going through the figures although we can do without lounge access the lack of breakfast plus lack of elite benefits on booking more than room means we’ll probably shelve them for the foreseeable future.

    • Alex W says:

      Hilton- free brekkie with gold

      • Cate ⛱️ says:

        Thanks Alex W, we’ve dropped Hilton and won’t pick back up for the foreseeable future.

        Anyone who runs a business here got a view? i’m thinking general employees for IHG HIX and biz meetings and entertainment perhaps Hyatt or MO location dependent.?

        • Pangolin says:

          Cste, mind saying why you dropped Hilton?

          For me it would be the obvious alternative to someone leaving Marriott.

          Are you sure that 50 nights is out of bounds? Remember that if the Marriott CC comes back in August we will hopefully get the 10 elite nights credit. That would mean 40 nights – the same as for Hilton Gold. Marriott Platinum will be a lot better than having that.

        • Cate ⛱️ says:

          Hi Pangolin, short and sweet Hilton took us for granted for too long and mistakenly thought we were loyal….

          It’s not about getting the status back with Marriott, we have plat anyway because we go away most weekends. It’s that the new changes mean it doesn’t matter how many rooms we book for a night only one of those rooms will get breakfast. So if we have nine contractors come down only one is getting breakfast.

    • Alex W says:

      I don’t know any chain which gives you 9 breakfasts based on your status?!

  • Jtz says:

    OT but I’m itching to make a RFS redemtion just for the sake of it on a weekend break or upcoming bank holiday weekend…any good ideas for destinations around 9000 avios return…something to just unwind from the daily grind…or places that have good availability on weekends
    Also does more availability come up closer to the date?
    Thanks

    • Londonsteve says:

      The trouble with bank holidays is that all the obvious spring holiday destinations are oversubscribed, thus no availability. Optimum choice for 9000 Avios is probably Munich. It’s perhaps slightly more of a business destination, so passenger traffic tails off during holiday times, yet it’s also one of Europe’s nicest cities. The spring weather will be marvellous this time of year and it’s a nicely relaxed place to visit. Prague is lovely but also high on the hit list of holidaymakers. Budapest magnificent and cash flights with low cost carriers are super cheap as it’s a hotly contested route, but UK BH weekends and school holidays result in the large Hungarian diaspora filling up planes, so again, no RFS availability. If you don’t insist on using Avios, I’d go for Budapest with a cash ticket and relax in the myriad thermal baths under the spring sunshine.

      • Lumma says:

        Budapest isnt 4500 avios each way either. The late flight out of Heathrow is often quite cheap though and means you can maximize the time in the terminal 3 lounges if you have status. Ibis styles hotel at the airport is usually decent value for the first night and you can enjoy a full day in Budapest the day after

      • Jtz says:

        Thanks for the info….will check out Munich…yep if Budapest out other European cities are really cheap as cash tickets would prefer to pay cash….
        I’m also considering Portugal And Malta

        • Lady London says:

          Lisbon excellent but think it’s a bit more than 9k. Barcelona has to be visited if you’ve not been recently.

    • Anna says:

      Paris usually has decent availability due to the number of flights per day, and other French cities like Nice and Marseille are the same avios price. I’m sure you’ll find something – personally I would spend 18000 avios (or less if off peak) and thoroughly enjoy the travelling as well as I only travel for leisure and am therefore not too jaded about lounges and CE refreshments!

      • Jtz says:

        I didn’t think I would be jaded with lounges too until recently..used up my lounge club Amex gold passes in plaza premium on our way to Marrakech Easter half term…we decided with the regular priority pass offers it would be worth it for us to pay for it Too! Had an excellent meal and coffee. Would have stated for a virgin mojito too but we were getting late for out flight
        In essence we would have probably paid £30 plus in terminal restaurants and cafes anyway

  • john says:

    OT: how does one claim Avios on Vueling flights? Before the flight there was a field for entering an avios.com number, but this was only for the booking as a whole (not per passenger). I entered mine on there. These have credited to my avios.com account (150 one way, 195 the other). How does the other passenger claim their Avios? (And is there a way to do this in advance not arrears for future reference?) Wondering what will happen with this on avios.com retirement also.

  • flyforfun says:

    Looking at those seats makes me thinks its Easyjet in BA clothing.

    • Thomas Howard says:

      Its easyJet/Ryanair at BA prices – the question is, how long will people be fooled by it?

    • Alex W says:

      Don’t flatter BA, doesn’t easyJet and Ryanair have more legroom than BA?

  • JPV says:

    OT: Told by staff that avios.com will no longer allow creating / converting new household accounts.

    Any other routes for free avios transfers?

  • Pangolin says:

    Pardon my french but holy f*** those seats look awful.

    I’ve seen seats on Arriva buses that look more comfortable and spacious than that.

  • Lee says:

    OT – SPG started another round points sale with 35% off, it should be the ever last sale

    • Rob says:

      This is VERY interesting when combined with the 60,000 points (ie 20k SPG) redemption cap which will run from Aug to Dec.

    • JamesB says:

      Thanks, where are you seeing this, I cannot see it on the home page? Have they lifted the 30k purchase limit?

      • JamesB says:

        Thanks, was on the page but missed the 35%. Don”t see anything about limits being lifted so not an option for me.

  • Boi says:

    OT:
    I have reached target for PRG and really want to upgrade to platinum but am waiting on the 5000 MR for spending £500 on companion cc. Questions:
    1. Does anyone have link for upgrade?
    2. Would I still get my 5000MR even if I go ahead and upgrade now
    3. Can I later cancel the gold cc and get platinum companion cc for another 5K

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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