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New Border Force strike
Yet again Border Force at all Heathrow terminals are planning to strike and work to rule again for 23 days from 31 August. This is the same dispute that has been rumbling on for months about changes to their terms of employment.
Members of the PCS union will go on strike from 31 August to 3 September, at which point a work-to-rule period will be in place until 22 September. This may mean they are short-staffed due to a lack of overtime.
Virgin app improvements and new cheap points option
I recently updated my Virgin app and have been impressed with the changes. It has taken a long time, but you can now see your progress towards the next voucher, and you can also see your vouchers on the Flying Club website. It has a voucher section on the app, but mine is empty as I signed in with Virgin Red, although in my Flying Club account on desktop, I can see one. So don’t be alarmed if you don’t see yours.
When you go into the updated app again, you will probably need to log into your Virgin Points account, where you will see the points symbol.
To see the progress to your next voucher you need to click on your card number at the top. This will take you to this page where you need to select the Virgin Atlantic Rewards Lounge.
Then, you can see your progress towards your next voucher and the date you need to achieve it. This page has many handy links to Virgin Red and Virgin redemptions. If you are not sure how to use your vouchers, there is also a useful voucher guide there.
You can now also convert your cashback from the Virgin Atlantic MasterCard to Virgin Points. You can exchange them at 1 point per 1p. It’s an easy way to rack-up Virgin Points. My £8.85 will convert into 885 points which is a decent deal.
Cathay Pacific First lounge Heathrow changes
One of the biggest perks of flying from Heathrow T3 is the fantastic choice of lounges there. Cathay Pacific is my favourite closely followed by Qantas. There have been reports on Flyertalk recently about customers on Finnair who are Oneworld Emerald (BA Gold) being denied access to the First class section of the lounge on the afternoons.
Cathay is Finnair’s official lounge, since they don’t have their own one. The customers are still being given access to the Cathay Pacific business class lounge, which is still a great place and has noodles and dim sum like the first class lounge. However, it now appears that they are also denying access to other oneworld emeralds during the afternoon, not just those on Finnair. So, if you are planning to spend a few hours exploring the lounges and want to visit the First Lounge, it may be worth trying to avoid the mid-afternoon period with Cathay Pacific.
5 comments
“it now appears that they are also denying access to other oneworld emeralds during the afternoon, not just those on Finnair.”
Interested to know where they’ll be directing people flying CX Business with BA emerald status?
They would be directed to the business class section.
I flew LHR T3 to ATL last month in BA First and was denied access to the CX First Lounge. Flight departed 1615 so I was there around 1300. Was very unimpressed as was looking forward to the service. I was offered the Business Lounge but went back to the BA F Dining and worked through a couple more bottles of Pommery. 🙂
That’s a real shame that they have taken this policy. I have never been in there when it has been really busy. At least now the BA F dining is a reasonable alternative.
That’s a shame, I was in the CX F lounge less than 3 weeks ago on a BA J ticket with Emerald status, went in at about 2pm on a Saturday afternoon – it was busy, but still plenty of seating round the back to the right as you go in. The restaurant was full though with a short queue so maybe that’s influenced the decision. They’ve become a victim of their own success.
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