We arranged with our pet airport taxi driver "you were only supposed to blow the bl**dy doors off" Don to pick us up at 1600 which should give us plenty of time to explore/enjoy all the Virgin lounge has to offer, even if we get stuck in traffic, as our flight isn't until 2210..
Luckily though the traffic was fairly light and we arrived at Heathrow T3 about 1745 and gave our names over at the barrier to gain access to the Upper Class Wing.
Virgin boasts on its website that As your car pulls up, we'll be ready to greet you,
process your baggage and give you your boarding pass. Be whisked through our
private security channel straight to our Clubhouse. It's queue-free and
totally A-List ..................... unfortunately
for us that wasn't quite the case as we arrived behind two mini buses crammed
full of people travelling to Delhi who had THE most enormous stack of suitcases I have ever seen,
so we sat quietly and waited for their Mr Fix-It, who monopolised both check-in
desks, to finish.
Security was manned by a very charming Moroccan gentleman who commented on my shoulder bag (a "wedding favour" from Ian's Nephew's wedding in Morocco 2017) although he did manage to almost lose my boarding pass for me. Whereas the BA First Class check-in/security takes you straight into the lounge, this one just deposited you in the main security area so we then had to run the gauntlet of Duty Free before wandering around the airport looking for the lounge. It wasn't far and access was via a lift; just one floor up and the only lift I've ever seen with seating inside.
One thing I will say in Virgin's favour - repeatedly - is how fabulous the staff is; every single person we had dealings with was friendly, engaging and an absolute delight to talk with.
I checked that it was OK to take photos and as I've already said, this is our one and only time so I'm going to snap away at anything and everything.
The lounge is huge and as you can see it wasn't particularly busy when we arrived.
We decided to have a quick glass of bubbly before exploring the delights on offer.
There is a small gym area overlooking the runway with bikes for use.
Although needless to say we didn't actually give them a try. There were also lots of "cool" seating areas like these little booths where you can have a quiet nap.
Quirky hanging chairs
And this floral wall where apparently "everyone" takes a selfie. As we all know selfies are really not my thing so Ian stepped in to help.
He couldn't get a good enough angle though to include the sign.
We then wandered upstairs to the mezzanine area - yes, those two glasses on the right hand side are ours.
I almost walked straight into this huge mirror on the way up to the roof terrace (I have past form of this since I was a kid).
You're not allowed to take food and drink onto the terrace which is a shame as the evening was quite pleasant and it would have been lovely to sit outside and breathe in the aviation fuel.
So we headed back downstairs to find something to eat. There is a massive cold counter with lots to choose from.
And a wide choice of hot dishes.
As we'd be eating on the plane we decided one course would be enough and both settled for Fish & Chips. I know photographing your food is the "in thing" but I really haven't got it yet and so forgot until I'd taken a couple of mouthfuls - delicious!
After eating we found somewhere to settle down for the next few hours.
Cocktails anyone?
Just to prove we did drink something other than alcohol.
This is the lovely Amy who is training to be a commercial pilot having already got her private licence (age 21) and as it costs a fortune to train she works as a waitress here to help with the cost. She said it's her dream job as once she's qualified and had a couple of years experience with a budget airline, being already known to Virgin she'll stand a good chance of a pilot's job. She writes an instagram blog so I must try and work out how to follow her.
A few more random snaps as I wandered around.
Only an hour before we take off, hope these clouds don't give us too much turbulence.
The time went really quickly and it was soon time to board. Virgin employ mood lighting onboard which gives everything a hideous pink glow but I've done my best to tone it down.
The seat and surrounding area is really rather small and there is no storage whatsoever apart from the foot well where you're not supposed to store anything!
And sadly the Amenity Kit is not a patch on the beautiful leatherette one I got from Qatar Airlines in 2020 - although it is allegedly environmentally friendly!
The Loft at the rear of the cabin was a total disappointment, I'd assumed it would be like the bar area on Qatar but in actual fact it was just a couple of seats and a TV showing the view from the tail camera.
Although they say the meal will be served "shortly after takeoff" it was about 90 mins later and by now I was rather tired. The choice of food was good though
I thoroughly enjoyed the Hot Smoked Salmon followed by Fig & Goat's Cheese Tart and although I'd intended to have Cheese & Biscuits I was so stuffed I had to pass. I then changed into the rather unimpressive PJs (too long in the arms and too short in the leg) and attempted to make my bed. A helpful steward came along to assist but he was too tall to get the mattress cover over the foot end and so it moved around until sometime in the middle of the night when I was finally able to secure it. Although I've not tried it yet, I imagine it was rather like trying to sleep in a coffin; impossible to turn onto your side or move your arms/legs anywhere but I nevertheless managed a few hours sleep and woke up to Orange Juice, Tea and a Warm Bacon Roll shortly before landing.
All in all it was a good experience but given the hype on Virgin's website I had expected more.
