EXCLUSIVE: Gatwick’s Virgin Clubhouse reopens as a Plaza Premium lounge

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• Pete M says:

  29 Sep29 September 10:58

  This is good news! I suppose we expect it to be the best lounge at LGW?

• Save East Coast Rewards says:

  29 Sep29 September 11:02

  That space used to be the BA lounge before VS and BA swapped terminals. I had wondered if BA could have taken over that space again while they’re stuck in the north terminal but now I see there was already plans for it.

  It would be nice if BA came up with an agreement with Plaza Premium for the small number of flights they operate at LGW each day it would be useful for both parties I suspect as BA would then have a better lounge which doesn’t risk getting overrun by Priority Pass customers.

  Are there any other airlines operating from LGW that might possibly want to make an arrangement with this lounge?

  • Rob says:

    29 Sep29 September 11:18

    Numerous, yes. Most currently have deals with No1, Clubrooms or Aspire but I can see this being far more attractive due to the extra space.

• Binks says:

  29 Sep29 September 11:36

  Hi Rob, is it a case of showing your ex plat card and you get access? I am travelling out of Gatwick in a few weeks with my 5 year old and 2 year old daughters. I recall reading somewhere it is free for kids under 5 – is that right? Can I bring a guest for free?

  • Rob says:

    29 Sep29 September 11:56

    Plaza Premium will swipe your Platinum card, so a cancelled one won’t work. It’s not Eurostar 🙂

    • Binks says:

      30 Sep30 September 20:06

      Thanks for confirming 🙁

  • CB says:

    29 Sep29 September 13:38

    I know it is slightly irrelevant but:
    this summer I was flying out of SAW/Istanbul that has a Plaza.
    I tried to check in with my Plat, their swipe didn’t work for some reason.
    So, the genius at the desk wrote down my card number in full with expiration date in a piece of paper so that they can enter it manually “into the system”.
    I protested. They got mad.
    They simply could’ve entered it manually to the computer rather than jotting it down!

    I read it somewhere, they open these nice and expensive lounges [hotels, restaurants etc], and employ the thickest people to ruin the experience for you.

    What a shame!

    • Rich says:

      29 Sep29 September 16:01

      I once called a local independent hire shop to make a reservation, and gave my card details over the phone.

      Turned up on the allotted day. “Let me have a look, ah yes, here you are Rich”. My name, card details and personal information written in their diary on todays date. Along with hundreds upon hundreds of other customers’ details for the whole year! Staggering.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      29 Sep29 September 20:18

      I don’t get the problem. Many places still have manual imprint machines as a back up which take just those details.

      Without your address and 4 digit number on the front it’s not not going to be much use and you’re covered by Amex for fraud.

      • Sam says:

        29 Sep29 September 21:17

        Maybe a violation of GDPR.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          30 Sep30 September 05:43

          It’s not.

        • @mkcol says:

          1 Oct1 October 01:27

          GDPR doesn’t apply in Turkey.

      • Can says:

        29 Sep29 September 23:17

        They didn’t. After all they are a lounge in Turkey who are just supposed to check the validity of my card with a swipe. I wouldn’t expect them to have the old school device. I know risk of fraud is low. But it is still nonzero which can turn into a headache for no reason.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          30 Sep30 September 05:45

          No they actually charge the card but it doesn’t show on your bill. I get given a receipt for £20 each whenever I’ve visited PP T5 alone or +1

      • JDB says:

        29 Sep29 September 23:32

        If the retailer leaves that sort of card data lying around, they won’t be covered though! You have to do annual PCI DSS training and warrant that you either destroy or keep that information securely and of course that is on top of GDPR issues.

        • Can says:

          30 Sep30 September 08:00

          Awe was that they didn’t care or seem knowledgeable about AnY credit card privacy despite my protest.

      • Can says:

        30 Sep30 September 07:59

        Using Amex in Turkey, I observed that only a certain bank’s card machine accepts Amex. If that one is not working, tough luck. It attracted my attention and I googled to realise that Amex cards are only given by a certain bank there. And you seem to need that bank’s card machine at the shop to accept Amex. I may be wrong but it happened to me few times.

        • Alex says:

          30 Sep30 September 17:37

          That’s pretty normal. The only reason almost all UK ATMs accept Amex is due to it being a member of LINK ATM network. Before that only certain ATMs accepted it

          https://www.link.co.uk/members/members/

• Bill says:

  29 Sep29 September 12:47

  I have a Platinum charge card and my wife is a supp. Can four of us get in with our kids (8 and 6)

  • Rob says:

    29 Sep29 September 12:53

    Yes.

• Dominic says:

  29 Sep29 September 13:00

  Not sure if just standard sales talk, but PP claimed on the phone last week that “we will be announcing (a) big new partnership(s) in the next few months” (this was after I suggested I would not be likely to recommend PP to a friend in their survey).

• Scottydogg says:

  29 Sep29 September 14:56

  This is ideal for me travelling through Gatwick next month . Was looking at the other PP lounges that seem to close at lunch times at the moment . staying open to 5.30 is ideal for my 6.10pm flight out

• David says:

  29 Sep29 September 17:46

  So that makes 3 lounges currently operating at Gatwick North Terminal for Amex Platinum card holders, and not one of them open at a time to suit an evening flight.

  I’m currently on my way there on my way back to Edinburgh after my first day in the office in 18 months. After 18 months of paying fee and not using travelling anywhere I’m a little miffed at not being able to make use of the most significant of the travel-related benefits when I finally do travel.

• Sam says:

  29 Sep29 September 21:20

  I just don’t get why Virgin would need two lounges back then, one for VS and one for V Holiday? Clearly they could have utilise the resource to open a V Holiday lounge, to another VS port instead. Also why would Gatwick decide to shut South Terminal but open North? South terminal has direct access to the train station – why not letting passengers save their travel time if they can?

  • Paul says:

    30 Sep30 September 09:50

    To your first point, LGW was VS’s leisure flight hub and they saw a market for a dedicated pre flight facility that they could offer to families. The VS lounge and the V-Room were very different offerings (once in the former, food and drink were free, and in the latter certainly alcohol was paid for) and though sometimes you could buy access to the lounge it was set at a level that would make it prohibitive for most families. Given the standard of the VS lounges was one of the key attractions of an Upper Class ticket or Gold level flying club membership they clearly wanted to retain a sense of exclusivity.

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