VIRGIN AUSTRALIA: Re-opens Melbourne and Brisbane premium entry. Sydney still closed.

If you are travelling in Business Class, or have premium frequent flyer status with Virgin Australia, and are travelling from Melbourne or Brisbane, then you are in for the return of a treat. Premium Entry at these two airports is re-opening.

In Brisbane, you get a dedicated security checkpoint which means you can skip the main terminal if you only have hand luggage. You can still access premium entry even if you need to use the bag drop facility in the terminal.

In Melbourne, the Premium Entry screening lane operates in T4 now that T3’s security lanes have been closed. That means the VA lounge is now after security.

But things are not totally back to pre-pandemic levels of service. Premium Entry is yet to re-open in Sydney, and in Brisbane and Melbourne, it will operate on restricted hours – that is, from 5 am to 10 am on weekdays, not 7 days a week, all day into the evening.

Using Premium Entry

You will need to be a Gold Velocity member or above, hold a business class ticket, or a qualifying passenger on an international partner airline like Qatar, Singapore, or Etihad.

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

Damn! still not available in Sydney. When premium entry re-opens in Sydney, hopefully for more than a 5 hour morning window, I might consider braving T2 in Sydney and travelling on Virgin Australia again.

Come on, Virgin it’s now been more than two years since you closed the pioneering Premium Entry direct to the lounge in Sydney. It is definitely time for it to re-open. Get Sydney Airports on board, and reopen!