Virgin Atlantic’s San Francisco airport lounge joins Priority Pass

As of today, the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse in San Francisco has joined Priority Pass.

Don’t get too excited though.  It is only open to Priority Pass cardholders from 6am to 12.15pm.  These are times when Virgin Atlantic does not have any flights of its own.  You won’t be getting in with one during Virgin’s flying hours.

This is the fourth Clubhouse in the US to join Priority Pass, following New York Newark, Washington Dulles and Los Angeles.  The lounge only reopened on 10th December after a five week renovation and may now look different from the photo below.

You won’t get to experience the standard Virgin Clubhouse catering, because a substantially reduced offering is generally in place when the lounge is only serving Priority Pass customers.  With no Virgin Atlantic passengers to impress, it is purely open to make money for the airline, which means cutting the service available so it can make money off the £15 or so that Priority Pass will pay per guest.

That said, no-one loses here. Virgin Atlantic gets to generate some revenue, Priority Pass gets to increase its footprint and Concourse A passengers at San Francisco International get somewhere new to hang out.

You can find out more about the lounge on the Virgin Atlantic website here and on the Priority Pass website here.

You can buy a Priority Pass here.  Alternatively you receive two free Priority Pass cards, each of which allows a free guest (so a family of four is covered) with American Express Platinum.

Our full review of Priority Pass is here if you don’t know anything about it.

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, here are the three options to get FREE airport lounge access via a credit or charge card:

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here. 

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with two free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here. 

Additional lounge visits are charged at £20.  You get two more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network.  Guests are charged at £20 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.