The Virgin Australia Perth lounge is one of the domestic lounges run for Virgin Australia passengers. I recently had to travel to Sydney, and as I was flying Virgin Australia that day, it was the lounge my Velocity membership gave me access to.
The lounge itself was originally built in 2015. This was done as part of the consolidation of the airport activities into Airport Central. This saw Virgin move from a space now occupied by Qantas.
The lounge in Terminal 1 serves passengers leaving from both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. As such, passengers in the lounge are heading to the eastern states, or to regional Western Australia.
Lounge location
The first trick, of course, is to find the lounge. It is pretty much directly after clearing security in T1. Keep your eyes peeled to the left and you should see the lounge.
Upon entering the lounge, you will find yourself in the reception area. At this point, a check will be made of your eligibility to enter the lounge. There are two ways to do this. Firstly, you can see the staff, and for some (such as those entering through one of the credit card partnerships) this may be the only way. Secondly, you can use one of the self-check-in machines.
Lounge Access
There is a range of passengers who are eligible to use the Virgin Australia Lounges before the flight. Lounge access is available to the following passengers:
- Business Class passengers: Virgin Australia Business Class passengers before the flight
- Velocity Frequent flyers:
- Velocity Platinum (+3 guests)
- Velocity Gold (+1 guest)
- Silver Velocity members may use one of their annual passes.
- Note that Velocity Platinum and Gold members may also enter the lounge after the flight
- Partner Frequent Flyers: Eligible elite status members of Air Canada, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, United Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic.
- Lounge membership: Passengers that are Virgin Australia Lounge Members (+ 1 guest)
- Casual Single Entry Pass: Holders of a Single entry pass (does not include guests).
- Credit card: Eligible Credit card holders can access the lounge before a same day Virgin Australia flight
That’s a lot of people – and from what I have heard it gets busy during the day. I had an evening departure and it was fairly quiet in the lounge.
Lounge Layout
On entering the lounge, the first impression is that it is just one big room. Nevertheless, the design has different sections catering to differing functions and styles. For example, there are a variety of seating options. In addition, there is a separate area for food and beverage service.
At one end of the lounge there are floor to ceiling windows that look out over the tarmac area. This may provide an interesting view during the day watching aircraft come and go.
Seating Options
Across the lounge, there is a range of seating options. In different sections, you will find communal workstations, bar seating, and more comfortable seats around a table.
The following gallery shows some of the seating options available in the lounge.
Food and Beverage
For the most part, Food and Beverage is served from a long snake-like counter. Along the length of the counter are sections for coffee and tea, hot food, the bar service area, a salad buffet, cakes, and cold refreshments.
Most of it is self-service, although on the night I was there you could not serve your own wine. The staff needed to pour a glass for you.
In addition, there is an espresso bar more centrally located, however, this was closed at the time of my visit.
Business Lounge
There is also a small business lounge, although nowadays it’s just a few seats and a bench. As such, you need to bring your laptop to do work. That said, it provides an alternative to the communal setup found in the main lounge.
Bathrooms
There are bathrooms and showers located near the reception area. In addition, there are additional male toilets located centrally.
Final Words
The Virgin Australia Perth lounge is a perfectly adequate lounge for what it is. It provides a good space to relax, and the food options when I was there seemed fine. While we could quibble on the pros and cons, I find that it is on a par with the standard Qantas lounges. Maybe not the Qantas Business lounges, but then Virgin Australia doesn’t really compete in that space any more.