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Some photos of Virgin Atlantic’s new Eric Lanlard Afternoon Tea in the Clubhouse lounge

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As I wrote last week, Virgin Atlantic has launched a new afternoon tea service in the Heathrow Clubhouse in Terminal 3.

You will receive a stand of sandwiches and cakes plus tea or a glass of rose champagne.  This is a new collaboration with celebrity cake maker Eric Lanlard.  Everything is free, of course.

Here are a few photos from the launch yesterday, which do look very good.  Click on the pictures to enlarge:

Virgin Atlantic afternoon tea Heathrow Clubhouse

and

Virgin Atlantic afternoon tea Heathrow Clubhouse

and

Virgin Atlantic afternoon tea Heathrow Clubhouse

… and there is an ice-cream machine too!  The launch was followed by a flight to New York to showcase the Economy Delight product and to trial the on-board afternoon tea service.  A report on this will follow next week.

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 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 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus 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.)

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (98)

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

  • Rich says:
    24 Apr24 April 06:48

    ‘Everything is free – of course’ hmmm – ‘included in the fare’ is a better definition in my view Rob.

    • Rob says:
      24 Apr24 April 07:29

      Our US readers expect to pay for food and drink in lounges and Virgin charges for most Clubhouse spa treatments now, so it isn’t a statement of the obvious.

    • John says:
      24 Apr24 April 07:32

      Coming soon to a BA lounge… Upgrade from the premium gloop to the enhanced afternoon tea for £50

    • TGLoyalty says:
      24 Apr24 April 07:53

      Lots of lounges charge for premium services (better drinks and food, spa treatments etc)

      Also don’t forget those flying cheap economy with status and getting clubhouse access. Don’t think that fare has included anything specific for clubhouse access etc.

  • Mark says:
    24 Apr24 April 07:06

    O/T any more chat on the grape vine about Amex and increasing time to be eligible for a sign up bonuses? Things seem to have gone quite quiet unless I’m mistaken…

    • Rob says:
      24 Apr24 April 07:21

      Has gone quiet. Call centre was still telling people of changes 3 weeks ago but no reports since then.

  • Kipto says:
    24 Apr24 April 07:18

    Ssshhhh

  • Kipto says:
    24 Apr24 April 07:31

    O/T Companion voucher query. Due to a change of plan our intended trip next year has been brought forward. Although Amex informed me that they notified BA last Friday that I had qualified for the companion voucher it has still not shown up on my BA account. The call centre in India informed me that it can take 72 hours excluding weekends for it to appear although my own previous experience has shown it to be earlier. The flights I want opened up overnight -355 and I have booked two seats outbound. My voucher is still not showing. Am I right in thinking that my only option is to wait until the voucher appears, cancel my existing booking, hopefully within 24 hours of when I booked the flights to avoid a fee and hope that the flights reappear with the seats I booked and book again.? I don’t think BA will just amend the booking. I also suspect that I will have to cancel and rebook both seats and not just my seat as the companion voucher holder ?

  • Roger says:
    24 Apr24 April 07:51

    Amex Platinum Car Hire Insurance

    Do I need to book using Amex Platinum for car hire insurance, or any AMEX issued Amex would do?

    • Rob says:
      24 Apr24 April 07:57

      Any card. No Amex required for the car hire cover.

    • Anna says:
      24 Apr24 April 07:58

      I also need to know this! I have a hire car booked for next month but paid for it prior to getting the Platinum card.

    • Relaxo says:
      24 Apr24 April 13:14

      Sorry to piggyback on this but, am I correct in thinking that the benefit of Amex plat car hire insurance is that it is a zero excess policy? So no need to purchase additional zero excess cover from the supplier/3rd party? I could not quite wrap my head around the wording in the T&C’s

      • the_real_a says:
        24 Apr24 April 13:46

        Yes correct – although in the US (and some other countries) it goes further and you can decline all optional insurance. It is totally comprehensive. Last year i managed to pick up a mid range car in the US for £10 a day as they typically make money on all the extras.

        For the OP considering renting on a non-amex card – i would just add that should the worst happen receiving fictitious rental charges that AMEX are outstanding at charge backs. After declining the toll rental equipment in the US (at $30 a day!) and having it in the “closed” position, a toll bridge still picked it up triggering $300 in rental charges and a $10 toll – AMEX simply charged this back and i never heard anything more. Not sure i would get that from any other provider (not sure anyone else would understand the problem!)

        • Alex says:
          24 Apr24 April 14:19

          Can anyone pls confirm if Amex car hire insurance works in Israel (I think I saw a note at one of the car hire tills in TLV saying that they would need a written proof of that from Amex otherwise they would force a driver to pay for insurance)?

          • Rob says:
            24 Apr24 April 15:17

            Some rental stations will demand a credit card swipe with a pre-authorisation for the entire value of the car if you don’t take insurance. You can’t necessarily blame them.

        • Graeme says:
          24 Apr24 April 14:19

          With the Plat card does this mean then that you could book USA car hire through their .com sites which normally don’t include insurance in the initial quote unlike .co.uk sites? Thinking thrifty and dollar here. Thanks

        • the_real_a says:
          24 Apr24 April 14:59

          You can rent using any site, and decline any insurance (and use any discount code). Price-line was always the best for this.

        • xcalx says:
          24 Apr24 April 18:27

          I hate the toll system now in use in Florida the rental companies are taking the Michael with daily fee regardless of actually going through a toll station. Two week ago i received a toll fee from last November.

      • Rob says:
        24 Apr24 April 15:18

        You don’t need anything. You can decline everything. However, some insurance in some countries (including the UK) has to be included by law. You cannot decline that.

        • Marc says:
          24 Apr24 April 23:30

          Alex, it works in Israel but you need a letter confirmation from Amex. Hertz are very difficult and I avoid them.

  • Rob says:
    24 Apr24 April 07:53

    Sorry for O/T. How many MR points do I get if I have an Amex Platinum card and refer my wife for a BA Amex premium card?

  • Faithy says:
    24 Apr24 April 07:57

    OT. Do you have 24 hours cooling off to cancel a flight booked with avios for full refund? or is that only a cash booking?

    • Rob says:
      24 Apr24 April 08:32

      Even Avios bookings from my experience.

    • the_real_a says:
      24 Apr24 April 13:49

      I did this a few weeks ago on an AVIOS bought Qatar flight as i needed flight evidence for a visa exemption as I was waiting for an AMEX MR transfer to complete on an alternative program. Full refund of both fees and avios, although i had to remind the agent that the free should be refunded too. Also, the T&C`s are very clear that should your countries call center be closed, that the 24 hours is extended until the call center re-opens.

  • Kathy says:
    24 Apr24 April 08:02

    The afternoon tea looks lovely, alas that I can’t eat a single bite of it (or the ice cream).

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

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