Virgin First Class lounges

[MidnightFlyer]

Which begs the question, why don't Preston or Glasgow have one?

There are at Preston, as well as at Warrington BQ & Stockport. Not sure about Glasgow Central though.
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Preston soon will have one as part of the improvements although quite where they're going to put it is anyone's guess. They can't build a new one as it's a listed building and I don't know what could be converted :?

Plans are to demolish p7 at Preston (the disused one), widen 5 & 6, and put station buildings/facilities here, so it could go here.
It will be interesting though:
Glasgow/Edinburgh services use p3, as does the Sleeper in both directions but
London/Birmingham New St services use p6, so do they put it on 5/6 for London passengers, or 3/4 for scotland passengers?

 

[route101]

It does seem strange that one of the biggest train stations in the country , Glasgow Central dosent have a first class lounge.

 

[badzena]

I was allowed to access the Virgin 1st Class Lounge at Man Picc with a £8ish FC Advance ticket from Manc to Stoke. The amount of freebies I got in the lounge and then on the train must have nearly amounted to the cost of the ticket!

 

[ChrisTheRef]

You can turn up on the day, wanting to go STD to London. If you have time to spare, buy a First Single from Picc to Stockport, and you get lounge entry at Picc AND Euston!!

FYI, that ticket would be £3.40!!

 

[Edvid]

AFAIAA you won't find better than a £2.20 Coventry - Brum Int. single for lounge entry.

 

[lm321412]

I have personally used a 1st single from Birmingham International - Birmingham New Street in both lounges too, so I believe they permit you to?, or is it down to which staff are staffing the lounge???

 

[Edvid]

As long as your ticket is valid on the day and Virgin services cover it, you can use any of their lounges. I've actually paid a visit to all four West Midlands lounges during the same day before (Cov/Brum(Int+NS)/Wolves).

 

[route101]

it amazes me how staff dont stop this . Has anyone tried the scotrail lounge at waverley?

 

[ChrisTheRef]

Stop it?
It's perfectly legit!

 

[wintonian]

AFAIAA you won't find better than a £2.20 Coventry - Brum Int. single for lounge entry.

£1.45 with a railcard

Though I prefer the £4.60 to Rugby option in order not to be to cheeky.

 

[Aictos]

it amazes me how staff dont stop this . Has anyone tried the scotrail lounge at waverley?

Yes I have, one thing which I would like to know is the wifi offering.

Does all three offer it as it just says wifi is available but not if it's limited to specific lounges.

 

[wintonian]

Free WIF in Virgin lounges (Birmingham New Street and Internationl and Euston at least) and on trains in 1st though I have never been able to make it work on the train.

Last time I was at Paddington the WIF was chargable through Openzon I think.

And that pathetic excuse for a 1st class lounge at Southampton Airport dosn't even have WIFI.

 

[route101]

so is the wifi free onboard virgin trains now or is it still t mobile?

 

[wintonian]

so is the wifi free onboard virgin trains now or is it still t mobile?

Free in 1st class and still T-mobile.

But like I said if you can get it to work your a better person than me.

Linky: http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/trains/wi-fi/

 

[Aictos]

Free in 1st class and still T-mobile.

But like I said if you can get it to work your a better person than me.

Linky: http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/trains/wi-fi/

Last time I went with Virgin Trains, I had no real trouble getting it to work.

If anything, I find the wifi setups to be anti Blackberry as my Blackberry can discover the networks but I can't connect properly as I found out on my last trip to Sunderland.

 

[jamesontheroad]

It does seem strange that one of the biggest train stations in the country , Glasgow Central dosent have a first class lounge.

I believe there used to be one in the freestanding building / structure next to the elevators and stairs down to the low level ticket office and platforms. I believe it was wound up because Virgin didn't / couldn't want to agree terms with other operators to keep it open for the longer hours for non-Virgin services (eg the Caledonian Sleeper, which departs much later than the last Pendo or Vomiter).

It's used for ScotRail ticket inspectors to sell tickets to arriving passengers in the peak, and once or twice a year I've seen it used by the University of Glasgow or Strathclyde as a welcome and orientation centre for international students arriving in the city for the first time.

 

[Edvid]

And that pathetic excuse for a 1st class lounge at Southampton Airport dosn't even have WIFI.

They have a lounge there even though Waterloo doesn't? I've never been there, but it sounds like the lounge at Liverpool Street which is basically a waiting room with a coffee machine (and no control over entry).

 

[route101]

what a shame , there is no virgin lounges north of preston . with east coast offering free wi fi i think virgin should offer it free aswell . it was interesting to note the other week a lot of passengers expecting wi fi on a tpe 185 the other week .

 

[Pumbaa]

Tried it today in Piccadilly - worked fine. The bloke in the ticket office wasn't too happy though - he looked he knew exactly what I was going to do!

Even managed to 'acquire' some extra bottles of water for my onward journey too, and at £3.45 you can't complain. You get far more in freebie value!

 

[Geezertronic]

I can't go First Class anymore for work, Standard for me now. Just means I have to put up with the idiots in Coach A (Pendolino) who can't understand the concept of a quiet coach

 

[transportphoto]

I can't go First Class anymore for work, Standard for me now. Just means I have to put up with the idiots in Coach A (Pendolino) who can't understand the concept of a quiet coach

In that case contact the TM - (s)he may be an idiot too and not care but they should do and the majority do care!

 

[Pumbaa]

I can't go First Class anymore for work, Standard for me now. Just means I have to put up with the idiots in Coach A (Pendolino) who can't understand the concept of a quiet coach

Stock up on witty one-liners that act as punishing putdowns for anyone talking. That's what I do! And its a whole lot worse coming from Manchester too!

 

[ChrisTheRef]

Stock up on witty one-liners that act as punishing putdowns for anyone talking. That's what I do! And its a whole lot worse coming from Manchester too!

Such as...

 

[neil9327]

You can turn up on the day, wanting to go STD to London. If you have time to spare, buy a First Single from Picc to Stockport, and you get lounge entry at Picc AND Euston!!

FYI, that ticket would be £3.40!!

That's given me an idea for getting a place to work if you are in London or another Virgin-lounge-located city:

1. Log onto www.virgintrains.com (using your phone) and purchase a "First Anytime Day Single" from Edinburgh Waverley to Edinburgh Haymarket, selecting a train departing on the same day around 3 hours later than the current time. The cost of this is £2.40, and you need to specify that you will collect the ticket from the "Fast Ticket" machine at London Euston (you need to change this from the default of Edinburgh Waverley).

2. Go to London Euston, find the fast ticket machine, insert the credit card used to book the ticket and it will print the ticket.

3. Go into the Virgin first class lounge there, and benefit from free wifi, comfortable seats, powerpoint for the laptop&phone, free non-alcoholic drinks and biscuits, and relative peace and quiet (although it is a bit overrun at the moment by weekend-advance ticketholders and their grannies...)

I would try it myself except that I am currently in said first class lounge, having arrived from Manchester this afternoon on a first class single ticket (cost £34 booked 2 days ago on www.thetrainline.com, cost of a standard ticket was around £54) somewhat amazed that it is open on a sunday, and will be until 23:00

Thank you Richard Branson.
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Glasgow Ctl used to have a First class lounge, but it was closed for some reason.

It was because the scottish passengers kept on drinking the free whisky

 

[bengolding]

I don't think you're right that a First Class single on any part of the Virgin network allows you access to all Virgin Lounges that day, e.g.a Manchester-Stockport First Class single gains you entry into the Euston Lounge. Surely the attendant checking tickets at Euston would deny you entry as the staions on your ticket are nowhere near Euston?

I don't think Virgin will introduce any more Lounges now until the outcome of the new franchise is decided. Some stations definitely deserve one, e.g. Preston and Glasgow - both of which get a higher frequency of Virgin services than the spacious but useless Lounge at Wolverhampton, where there are even more XC services than Virgin.

 

[ChrisTheRef]

You can enter a Virgin lounge if you have a First Class ticket valid on that day to cover all or part of your journey from that station.

Therefore, at Birmingham New Street, you could enter with a Carlisle to Glasgow ticket, but not a Llandudno to Holyhead ticket as you can't complete that journey on a direct Virgin service from New Street. Simples!

 

[neil9327]

You can enter a Virgin lounge if you have a First Class ticket valid on that day to cover all or part of your journey from that station.

Therefore, at Birmingham New Street, you could enter with a Carlisle to Glasgow ticket, but not a Llandudno to Holyhead ticket as you can't complete that journey on a direct Virgin service from New Street. Simples!

I don't think that's quite right.

http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/routes-stations/first-class-lounges
says:

To enter the First Class lounge, just show your valid Virgin Business, First Anytime or Advance First ticket. Naturally, you can only enjoy our lounges on the travel date shown on your ticket.

This does not say the ticket has to be valid for a journey taken from Euston, merely that it has to be valid. I might be taking a private jet up to scotland and want to make the train journey in 2 hours time for all they know. And there is no mention of the first class lounges in the separate "terms and conditions" link:
http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/terms-conditions/

And looking again on the same website I can right now book a "First Anytime Day Single" for the 21:41 service from Edinburgh Waverley to Haymarket.

 

[transportphoto]

Neil, I saw that you mentioned earlier that you book your tickets through 'thetrainline', it works out cheaper to by your tickets from a TOC's website, as these often offer discounts on the price of their cheapest advance tickets and then do not add on charges ontop of the price of the ticket.

 

[route101]

I wonder if anyone would buy the Edinburgh to Haymarket first class to travel? Yeah Glasgow does need a 1st Class lounge .

 

[ApAp]

Neil, I saw that you mentioned earlier that you book your tickets through 'thetrainline', it works out cheaper to by your tickets from a TOC's website, as these often offer discounts on the price of their cheapest advance tickets and then do not add on charges ontop of the price of the ticket.

As well as that the East Coast website (and others that use the Atos Origin booking engine that was originally developed for GNER) has what many people consider a more usable interface. Other TOC's use thetrainline interface, so even if you prefer that you don't need to be fleeced by thetrainline.

I wonder if anyone would buy the Edinburgh to Haymarket first class to travel? Yeah Glasgow does need a 1st Class lounge .

I did buy a couple one time when I was a few pounds short of qualifying for GNERtime (the East Coast Rewards scheme before NXEC let the best benefits escape).