Virgin Atlantic’s San Francisco airport lounge joins Priority Pass

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• Simon says:

  16 Dec16 December 12:10

  O/T Rhys, any news on the Christmas party?

  • Rhys says:

    16 Dec16 December 12:17

    Announcement imminent! Will be January.

  • Rob says:

    16 Dec16 December 12:17

    Monday 20th January, with 90% certainty, in Mayfair

• Big Ernie McCracken says:

  16 Dec16 December 12:12

  Bits so O/T. We had a bad flight last week and it has put my wife of flying for at least the foreseeable future.. I have 200k plus Virgin Miles and know I can convert these to HH. Is there any legitimate and worthwhile transfer for Avios. I focus on Hilton but with approximately 270k Avios happy to consider another scheme. Any thoughts most welcome.

  • Grant says:

    16 Dec16 December 12:15

    You can do Virgin > IHG > Avios but I imagine the conversion rate will be terrible.

    • Rob says:

      16 Dec16 December 12:17

      You can also redeem for hotels via Kaligo.com for roughly 0.6p per mile, which is better than moving to IHG or Hilton.

      • Henry says:

        16 Dec16 December 13:03

        Kaligo offer great value for some hotels with Virgin miles
        Atlantis the palm for 40000 is a steal as rooms are always over 300 quid a night
        Do you know if paying through Kaligo you have to pay the taxes and resort charges or are they void when using points similar to when using Hilton points in Hilton hotels?

        • The Savage Squirrel says:

          16 Dec16 December 13:19

          Might be tricky to get there without flying though. :D. I’ve had a couple of decent value Virgin Kaligo redemptions in London. The process is a bit faffy as you have to phone Virgin and get them to convert miles to the voucher and send it over if I recall.

• Anon says:

  16 Dec16 December 12:32

  Question on the rocketmiles promotion going on – are some chains likelier than others to recognise your status / award you points on top of the rocketmiles points you get? Otherwise might use it to stay in an independent.

  • Rob says:

    16 Dec16 December 12:58

    Not these days. Marriott was the last hold-out until the rules changed in February.

    I used the promo at a Marriott and got nothing as Titanium, but it was a ‘arrive late, leave early’ stay and I had breakfast at the airport.

• Pid says:

  16 Dec16 December 12:45

  OT – any recommendations for lounges in Singapore and Melborne? My friend will be travelling with Priority Pass and Amex Plat. He has no airline status and is travelling economy. Thanks.

  • The Original David says:

    16 Dec16 December 13:55

    Singapore: forget the lounges and go to the rooftop swimming pool. $17 and includes a free drink.

    • Pid says:

      20 Dec20 December 19:19

      Thanks good tip.

• Rash says:

  16 Dec16 December 13:18

  OT: In case others are ever impacted. My IFE wasn’t working from SFO to LHR last Friday, already had 15,000 Avios deposited for the inconvenience and I haven’t even complained – although my seat number and the issue was noted by the staff.

  • Lady London says:

    16 Dec16 December 20:56

    What status do you have and what class were you seated in @Rash?

    I believe BA’s generosity in compensation is scaled by these, looking for a data point.

    • Mr. AC says:

      16 Dec16 December 21:33

      Same happened with me, flying in CW on an Avios ticket, Silver at the time. I believe “IFE not working” is a standard issue with a standard goodwill measure. I had way worse issues with BA, incl. after I became Gold, and I got zilch even after them admitting they’re at fault.

      • Rash says:

        17 Dec17 December 09:25

        Silver status and I was flying CW

• Liam says:

  16 Dec16 December 13:53

  OT — I flew United’s Premium Plus (premium economy) seat ORD-LHR last night. They’ve only introduced this product relatively recently so the seat felt very new. Decent recline, footrest (can’t remember if this is standard in PE; I flew WT+ on BA a couple of years ago and can’t recall having one), 13″ IFE screen, 2-2-2 cabin layout, pretty good amenity kit (for PE, anyway) and Saks Fifth Avenue pillow. I’m pretty sure the food was the same as was on offer in economy, but it was served in china plates/bowls rather than plastic, and you were given a printed menu at the start of the flight. I upgraded from economy at check-in for $459; the cabin wasn’t full and I ended up having a free seat next to me. (Polaris was available for ~$800.)

  • Rhys says:

    16 Dec16 December 14:32

    BA have foot rest on their A380s but not sure if that’s standard

• Liam says:

  16 Dec16 December 14:01

  OT — I have to fly ARN-LHR-LAX in February. I’ll be on BA and currently the ARN-LHR leg is in Y. If I were to upgrade this leg to J, would I get access to the BA lounge at LHR (the two flights are on the same day) ahead of the LHR-LAX leg (I’ll be in WT+) or does lounge access require the onward journey to be in J? I have Amex Platinum/Priority Pass so not the end of the world if the BA lounge is out of reach.

  • Andrew says:

    16 Dec16 December 14:09

    As far as I recall it’s the long haul leg that needs to be in J to get lounge access so the other (more expensive) way round to what you’re suggesting unfortunately.

    • Shoestring says:

      16 Dec16 December 14:23

      ISTR that LH or SH isn’t the important factor – eg it could be Economy Edinburgh-LHR, connecting to LHR-PARIS in Business, and both legs get Business treatment in terms of lounges

      but I don’t know about an out & back (2 legs) on the same route, same day, one of which flights is in Business – I think it probably is not OK to get 2x Business treatment for lounges as there’s no *connecting flight* – but you could nicely make the point & see if they let you in

    • Rhys says:

      16 Dec16 December 14:34

      Doesn’t necessarily have to be long haul, just the onward leg (it is called a departure lounge after all!)

  • Lady London says:

    16 Dec16 December 17:47

    If lhr-lax is in J same day then you can access the lounge in arn evening arn- LHR is Y. It’s a One world rule. You might want to take some kind of printout with you from the airline, or from One world website, in case you get untrained check-in or lounge staff (get it confirmed by check-in staff in case if lounge error).

    I was incorrectly denied the same in AKL but LATAM and everyone there seemed to use outsourced Air New Zealand staff who of course would be more familiar with their own Star Alliance rules. It’s defo in the Oneworld rules though. Lounge access is always based on a departure flight rather than the class you arrived in except for Arrivals lounges.

    • Cat says:

      16 Dec16 December 18:31

      “Lounge access is always based on a departure flight rather than the class you arrived in except for Arrivals lounges.”
      It didn’t seem to work like that in Hong Kong with Cathay lounges – I flew in from London in first then out in business to Manila and was allowed access to the first class lounges between flights. I’m not sure if the same applies to other OW carriers though.

      • Lady London says:

        16 Dec16 December 21:00

        There are a few little quirks Cat and you may have benefited. Lucky for us because your reviews were great 🙂

        • Cat says:

          16 Dec16 December 22:24

          😊 Especially lucky for me though! 😁

      • Genghis says:

        16 Dec16 December 21:02

        Yep. OW rules.

    • pablo says:

      17 Dec17 December 04:36

      Connecting between oneworld marketed and operated flights:
      First and Business Class customers connecting on the same day of travel, or before 6am the following day, can access the lounge when travelling between an international long haul (a oneworld international long haul flight is defined as an international flight marketed and operated by any oneworld carrier with a scheduled flight time longer than 5 hours) and an international short haul or domestic flight (and vice-versa).
      Lounge access will be determined on the international long haul ticketed flight (either First of Business Class) regardless of the ticketed class of travel on the international short haul or domestic flight.
      You must be prepared to show your boarding pass or itinerary showing travel in First or Business class on the international long haul flight, in order to access the lounge before your international short haul or domestic flight.

  • BJ says:

    16 Dec16 December 19:51

    Lots of confusing comments and advice here, none of which hits the nail on the head lol. You would be best just to ignore it, keep the flights you’ve got and head to Plaza Premium with your platinum card. BA lounges at T5 are dire to say the least.

    • Anna says:

      16 Dec16 December 22:42

      They really are; I don’t know if I can face them again after Qantas and Cathay last week! I’ll just have to fly in F or out of T3 from now on 😂

    • Jill (Kinkell) says:

      16 Dec16 December 23:34

      I was in Galeries North yesterday. It took me nine attempts to find a charging point. So many not working. I wondered why there were so many vacant seats for once!
      The BA loungesin T5 are in desperate need of a refurb.

• Benilyn says:

  16 Dec16 December 14:15

  OT: Looking to book car for 2 days in AUH in Jan-20. Usually just book the cheapest thing available cash, usually Thrifty, but are there any good points deals around? Or one that would get me a upgrade, should still have all the Amex Plat car rental status.

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