Readers have shared a frustration by e-mail and in the comments to various posts about access to Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses in the U.S. using their credit cards which are supposed to provide them entry.
Access rules can be complicated, but it appears that especially for the San Francisco lounge, a manager there has instructed staff to in essence violate their contract and deny access out of an antipathy for credit card guests.
Denied entry to Virgin Clubhouse SFO. I have both Amex Plat and Venture X. Stated no longer part of the program despite earlier 2023 confirmation otherwise. Was this a mistake denial?
— Erik (@AZTravelGuy) May 31, 2023
Comment
by u/Street_Proposal_9845 from discussion VentureX and access to Virgin Clubhouse Plaza Premium Lounges
in CreditCards
There are several Virgin Atlantic lounges in the United States, and you are supposed to be able to access these via Capital One Venture X or American Express Platinum and Centurion cards: San Francisco, New York JFK, Newark, Boston (currently closed), and Washington Dulles. That’s separate from Priority Pass access to Virgin lounges, and each method has their own published hours. This is often before Virgin flights, where the airline is still paying on the space but isn’t really using it.
Virgin Atlantic no longer even flies to Newark but there’s still a lounge. The airline is attempting to monetize the space. During the pandemic Plaza Premium Group received the contract to run these lounges, but acknowledged labor and supply challenges to me – in other words that they didn’t perform as expected or hoped. They were facing staffing challenges while working towards launching their own new U.S. lounges as well as the Capital One lounge at Dallas – Fort Worth and it was difficult to scale up everything from Asia given pandemic travel restrictions.
While Virgin moved to Sodexo to staff and provision their U.S. lounges, it’s been explained to me that the contract for Plaza Premium Group to deliver guest revenue remains in place.
To be sure, lounges can limit access based on capacity. However some Virgin Clubhouses have been improperly denying Venture X cardmembers at certain times. San Francisco especially is known to turn people away from empty lounges because local management doesn’t like to allow entry – essentially local Virgin staff violating their contract.
This is very much developing, because as I say there is a contract that’s being violated. It’s a contract between Virgin and Plaza Premium Group, and Plaza Premium then has separate contracts with credit card issuers. This is complicated to work through, since it involves those U.S. banks dealing with a company in Hong Kong which must then deal with a company in London which then must deal with its staff in the U.S.
I would think, though, that getting Virgin to honor its contracts by controlling its staff would be the logical outcome (unless London management has actually instructed local managers to violate the contract though this would surprise me). In the meantime the bad experience for cardmembers could lead banks to remove access to the lounges altogether because that experience reverberates back on member perception of their relationship with the bank. So we’ll see where this goes.
Hoping this gets resolved. This year I’ve been turned away twice and let in once at SFO (before Amex Plat was removed). Very frustrating, though I’m certainly not going to stand there and argue with the employee. I have Venture X card as well.
Gary – Did you contact these companies to help get it sorted out or for comment?
My Priority Pass app does not show the Virgin lounges at SFO or at EWR as options.
Every time I’ve had a great airport lounge or restaurant benefit it has ended in less than two years, usually less than one year. Great deals don’t last. United even stole my unlimited lifetime access to United Clubs. Every company wants to gain market share until they add up the cost.
Had this exact experience at the Virgin clubhouse at JFK about a month ago. As soon as I had my Venture X and Platinum cards ready, the front desk lady said “No credit card access”. I was confused and after a brief pause, she said “Maybe if you come back in an hour or so.” I came back and she said still no access for credit cards, but since she told me to come back, she would honor it. It was a great lounge experience, but access seemed arbitrary and unclear.
Side note– I’ve also run into a similar issue at the Aspire lounge in ONT (which I think may also be managed through the same group/agreements with Capital One/Plaza Premium?) As soon as I presented my card, I was told no credit card access, and that the lounge was now reserved for China Airlines passengers. I was super confused as this was the first time I had run into this. Can lounges essentially convert to a dedicated airline lounge on the spot?
Those here who have been refused should document this and reach out to the credit card companies. You should get some sort of compensation for this issue. If you dont speak up, nothing will happen. They are proting this as a benefit and not delivering on the benefit.
Plaza Premium is showing the SFO VX lounge as “temporarily closed” … probably to indicate lack of access (for Capital One cardholders, at least): https://www.plazapremiumlounge.com/en-uk/landing-pages/capitalone
Wait, is the SFO VS Clubhouse *still* supposed to be accessible via AX Plat? It’s no longer listed as a lounge option in the AX app (and hasn’t been since the temporary lounge closure / contract switch).
I got into the VS lounge at JFK last weekend with a Venture X, but then had to awkwardly kind of hide the card while others lined up behind me because the check in lady was doing us a favor. She initially said we’d have to wait 2 hours.
@Daniel – I have had several conversations with people involved across the various companies, including with the Deputy CEO of Plaza Premium Group
Gary, thanks for writing this. I no longer bother trying the Virgin Lounge in SFO with VentureX. It used to be a smooth process before the Sodexo/Plaza Premium switch, but I’m glad you’re following up publicly for accountability on promised services and stating the complications in contracting.
The kind gentleman working the Virgin lounge can now be found at the far too small China Airlines lounge.
Last month it was not listed under amex lounges virgin sfo.
Was told only for virgin ticket flyers now.
They pulled out of other programs.
Are there any real Virgin employees at these lounges? If Sodexo manages and operates the lounge and Plaza Premium markets it, what role or authority would a Virgin employee have (if there was even an employee)?
Another no vote for JFK in May. Was told no credit card access. When I pushed back nicely, I was told they had six of their own flights going out that evening so no room for credit card people. Ended up at Centurion Lounge instead (which was very near capacity).
@FNT Delta Diamond – lounge entry is handled by Virgin staff, not Sodexo (Sodexo does not staff the check-in desk)
Everyone complains endlessly about lounge overcrowding but don’t like it when something is done about it. Don’t assume to know what one was thinking when implementing this. This one is clearly a boo hoo occasion.
CR-
Things people do not like:
1) Lounge overcrowding
2) Businesses not honoring their own published rules
The only boo hoo is that your intellect is too poor to process the fact that both of the above are valid at the same time. If Virgin wants to turn off the US credit card spigot, go for it but don’t claim to take credit cards and then not take them. That’s called dishonesty.
Has anyone actually checked the websites? Capital One website for Virgin SFO says ‘Coming Soon’. Why are people surprised that they don’t have access if it’s not even listed on the website for access? How is this a “contract violation” if it’s not even listed for access?
Additionally, Plaza website for Virgin SFO says “Temporarily Closed”.
I assume they are reworking their contracts or something similar. This article makes no sense.
Funny I just used the playhouse at JFK.
No problem getting admitted, but thinking back, I only showed my PP card, forgot to show my CSR cc.
It is a very nice lounge, and it made our trip more pleasant.
Plaza Premium at LHR T5 is similarly arbitrary. Plaza Premium seems to be a used-car dealer who got into running lounges and didn’t realize the two products are not the same.
Low-grade service throughout.