No more Clubhouse access for Gold members on non-Virgin Atlantic flights

Virgin Atlantic has quietly curtailed one of the unwritten benefits of being a Flying Club Gold member.

Historically, Virgin Atlantic has always been strict with who it gives access to the Clubhouse to. You either have to by flying in Upper Class or Delta One, or a top status member with either program.

That said, there was an unwritten rule that Flying Club Gold members could use the Clubhouse even if they were flying another airline, at the discretion of the lounge manager.

TLFL recently tried it and was rebuffed, so we reached out to Virgin who confirmed the change:

“The trial allowing Gold Flying Club Members into the Clubhouse when flying any airline from Terminal 3 is not currently live. However, they are still welcome when flying with us or Delta in any cabin.”

The bottom line is that the Heathrow Clubhouse (review here) is simply not big enough to cope with the volume of passengers that have access to the lounge.

It will get even worse when Virgin joins SkyTeam next year and will almost certainly be necessary to open or use an additional lounge space to cater for all the SkyTeam frequent flyers. Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss hinted as much during the press conference.

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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):

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.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 Virgin Points.

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

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.)