Aeroplan Elite Members Can Now Access Virgin Australia Lounges

Again in January 2021, Aeroplan and Virgin Australia joined up to variety a new partnership, in which Aeroplan users had been ready to make and redeem points on Virgin Australia steel.

Like Aeroplan’s other non-Star Alliance associates, the relationship finished there: you weren’t capable to entry lounges, get further baggage, or take pleasure in priority stability when travelling with these associates.

One of these is modifying as of now, as lounge obtain on Virgin Australia flights is now granted on the basis of Aeroplan Elite Status!

Lounge Entry with Virgin Australia

As of September 7, 2022, Aeroplan 50K, Aeroplan 75K, and Aeroplan Super Elite members will now be granted accessibility to Virgin Australia lounges when traveling on a similar-day ticket with Virgin Australia, regardless of the fare or course of service.

Applying your Aeroplan Elite Position to entry Virgin Australia lounges will get the job done incredibly similarly to accessing lounges in just the Star Alliance community: getting Star Alliance Gold will grant lounge obtain, although Star Alliance Silver will not. Equally, Aeroplan 50K and above members have access to Star Alliance member lounges as an elite benefit even when travelling in economy course, and this will now use to Virgin Australia.

In point, for the needs of lounge access, you can consider of Virgin Australia as a Star Alliance member, as you are going to be in a position to provide just one guest to the lounge with your Aeroplan Elite Position. Note that small business class passengers aren’t typically authorized friends, whilst elite customers are.

Virgin Australia lounges will enhance present Star Alliance lounges that Aeroplan 50K and previously mentioned associates by now have entry to in Australia, this kind of as the lounges operated by Singapore Airlines or Air New Zealand.

Virgin Australia operates a lounge in the pursuing airports:

• Adelaide
• Brisbane
• Canberra
• Gold Coast
• Melbourne
• Perth (Terminal 1)
• Sydney

All of these Virgin Australia lounges do not belong to any lounge network (i.e. DragonPass, Priority Move), so Aeroplan Elite Status is the least difficult way to attain entry for Canadians.

Personally, having lounge entry when flying economy class could be ample to sway me to e-book domestic flights in Australia making use of 8,000 Aeroplan points (at the shortest length band, which is the greater part of flights concerning populous cities). Furthermore, I could insert a stopover within Australia for an further 5,000 details, bringing the complete for two domestic flights to as couple of as 13,000 Aeroplan details.

This is approaching the identical charge as the very same flights booked with Avios, which may possibly only price tag 6,000 Avios on Qantas for each flight – but without having lounge access.

On a different notice, this lounge obtain agreement is reciprocal, so you can anticipate to see Virgin Australia Velocity Gold and Platinum members in Maple Leaf Lounges from now on.

A Refresher on Virgin Australia

As a reminder, Virgin Australia is an airline primarily based in Brisbane that principally flies domestic routes, with a several international solutions sprinkled in. You can believe of them as the WestJet of Australia, traveling mainly Boeing 737s all around the place.

Pre-pandemic, Virgin Australia made use of to have Boeing 777s and Airbus A330s as properly, which made available competitive lie-flat products and solutions. On the other hand, as a result of downsizing their operations because of to the difficult earlier couple many years, these are no extended provided.

Bali, Indonesia now signifies Virgin Australia’s principal global location, with immediate flights from Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. 

The airline at this time operates Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-700, Airbus A320, and Fokker 100 planes, but the the Boeing 737-800 signifies 79% of their fleet. If you fly with Virgin Australia, you are going to most probably be on this plane.

The company course cabin is constrained to recliner seats throughout the overall network in a 2-2 structure. Financial state class is in a typical 3-3 configuration.

Talking of hopping around Australia, traveling concerning any of Brisbane, Cairns, Sydney, and Melbourne from Brisbane will cost a mere 8,000 Aeroplan points in economic climate course or 20,000 points in enterprise course. The airline’s a lot more exotic places like Vanuatu, Fiji, or Alice Springs will price tag 12,500 details a single-way in overall economy course, or 30,000 points in business enterprise class.

Summary

From now on, Aeroplan 50K and higher elite members will have entry to Virgin Australia lounges, delivered they have a same-day ticket with the airline in any course of assistance. You are going to also be permitted to bring a guest, which represents a lounge accessibility coverage nearer to Star Alliance Gold than flying business enterprise class.

This is an outstanding new perk for larger-tier Aeroplan Elite Status users who have upcoming travel plans to Australia.

The price-include below is considerable, as none of Virgin Australia’s lounges belong to any third-party lounge network, so Aeroplan Elite Position is by much the least complicated way to accessibility these fancy spaces.