Congratulate me. I’m now a Southwest Airlines A-List member. I have status! Primarily, I can board the plane before other people. It’s a long slide down from my days of having Virgin Atlantic Gold status. Oh, the shoe shines! The haircuts! The perks!
I used to fly Virgin Atlantic all the time, from the days when I lived in Britain but came back to the US for work visits and conferences. Somehow, I managed to earn gold status back in 2004 or 2005. Probably the most important perk was having access to the Virgin Atlantic lounge at my then home airport, London Heathrow.
This was my first airport lounge, and I mistakenly assumed all lounges were like it. The Virgin Lounge at Heathrow is a huge place, two stories and seemingly acres of space. As I got to know it, my visit before a flight would go typically like this:
- If wearing leather shoes, drop them at the entrance to have them shined
- If running late and dashed out of the house, head to the shower to freshen up
- Get my haircut, for free, if it had been awhile
- Have a nice cooked breakfast. Pancakes? Bacon roll with ketchup? So many choices.
I never found time to use the sauna, a tanning booth or shoot a game of pool, or just hang out and watch TV. There was all that, and more.
Typically I’d fly in and out of New York or San Francisco, where Virgin had smaller but still attractive lounges. My rude awakening came when I flew out of Boston, one year. I entered a lounge that Virgin borrowed. I think it was the Northwest lounge. I remember looking for the bar, for the ample food court area. Instead, I found a drink dispenser and some terrible looking sandwiches under a plastic cover.
I’ve since learned that this is typical of many airline lounges. I’ve had a few surprises on the odd occasion I’ve managed access to another one — but nothing has matched the Virgin lounge at Heathrow, so far.
Virgin Gold also meant I often got upgraded, for free. Book a premium economy ticket, which often was oversold, and it was the Virgin Gold people who got bumped up to Upper Class. That means a fully-flat bed, a nice dinner, snacks throughout the flight, a large entertainment screen. Sweet.
Ah, those were the times. Now I fly mostly within California, on Southwest. In fact, I’ve flown so much that just as I’m about to lose my Virgin status (I dropped to Silver last year; in about a month, I’ll be nothing), I’ve gained status on Southwest.
Access to the massive Southwest lounge? Uh, no. Upgraded to first class? Yeah, there’s no first class. Shoe shines? Get real. Southwest is a bus, but one that I’ve learned to love. And A-List status means I get to board the bus early. That’s pretty much it.
My Southwest Airlines Flying Tips post goes into more detail about the unique boarding policy that Southwest has. No seats are reserved, and the earlier you check in, the earlier you can board (to get a good seat). So far, being A-List has worked well. I’ve had a high “A” boarding pass in the past two flights, and I didn’t have to pay extra for it. I even got one only a few hours before my flight. In the past, that would have meant a lowly “B” or “C” pass.
I also get access to the Southwest Fly By priority security lanes. Since Clear no longer works, this is a perk I really appreciate. And I still have my memories of Virgin Gold.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Did you really just blog that “I’m about to lose my Virgin status “?
Have you checked out Virgin America yet? For your routes, it seems like a good fit. They don’t have the frequencies or service to SJC, but it’s an incredible airline.
No shoe shines, but great IFE and in-flight WiFi. Their first class is better than almost all domestic first.
Rocky, I have. That “Southwest Airlines Travel Tips” post I mentioned above gets into that. I’ve found them way overpriced compared to JetBlue. I want more from my airline than just a hip attitude. JetBlue is far better value, I’ve found.
Sometimes their availability is tighter than others, so it can drive the price up.
You’re absolutely right about the Heathrow Clubhouse, though. I haven’t been to any club nearly as nice. Even the Concorde room back in the day wasn’t up to the Clubhouse standards. (But seeing Gwyneth Paltrow at the Concorde Room was a treat!)
The clubs operated by U.S. airlines are especially pathetic — United is at the bottom of the pack. Continental generally has the nicest.
As usual, both you AND Rocky are spot-on with travel stuff.
Expanding upon one of Rocky’s points: I’ve been stunned at just how much nicer non-U.S. lounges are than U.S. lounges. Both in many airports in Asia and in Europe, the Star Alliance lounges have open bars, plentiful (and tasty!) warm food, sometimes even cooked to order and so on. And if I remember correctly, the *A lounge in Seoul even had a grand piano, with the rest of the lounge blessed with wood paneling and huge glass windows.
Not sure why the U.S. lounges compare so unfavorably, but whatever the reasons, it’s definitely a bummer!
Adam- Too funny. I think this is the first time I’ve bumped into you here.
Yes, there is a piano in Asiana’s business class lounge. I was so impressed I took a picture:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/asmythie/3161305317/
Next time you’re through, you’ll have to entertain the club with one of your medleys.
BA’s Terraces lounges are generally very nice, too.
Now I just need to find an excuse to use a Singapore lounge.
Amazing, today’s frequent fliers think buy a coach fare they should be bumped to first class. Whatever happen to the old days, I mean just a few years back when you sat in first class you paid first class and all the passengers were well dressed and normally the cabins were not full so the service was excellent and now look around the business and first class sections of airplanes, jeans, shorts,etc
And they had those cool wicker chairs in first class, too
Seriously, what’s happened is with the economy, they’ve dropped the fares, so more people are moving up.
In addition, they’ve reduced legroom so much in the back that more people are considering a jump up just to make it through the flight.
Can’t say on the dressing. I don’t think that’s a case of the lowly masses moving up. I’ve been on flights with celebrities a couple of times. They dress down, too. Flying’s just flying these days, not an event you dress for, I guess.
Ahh, The Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse – it truly is a treat to spend time in there. As a British flyer I’ve not had the ‘pleasure’ of trying Southwest but it sounds pretty much like the UK’s Easyjet – a no frills ariline although with Easyjet you can now get queue jumping passes and first boarding passes for a fee.