Virgin Atlantic and Delta return to Heathrow Terminal 3

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Virgin Atlantic and its partner Delta Air Lines have announced they will be returning to Heathrow Terminal 3 next week for the first time in almost 18 months.

The move will happen on the 15th July, ie. next Thursday.

Terminal 3 has been shut for most of the pandemic and is currently the ‘plague terminal’ for red list arrivals. These flights will move to Terminal 4 once Terminal 3 re-opens.

Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse lounge Heathrow Terminal 3 to reopen

This is great news for anyone flying in Upper Class, as Virgin will also re-open its Clubhouse lounge. You’ll get the full Virgin Atlantic experience from beginning to end rather than being put up in a third party lounge. Our last review of the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse lounge in Heathrow Terminal 3 is here.

The good news is that the Virgin Clubhouse has always offered an a la carte menu that you can order from your table, so the experience will be very similar to what it was pre-Covid. Only a handful of areas will be out of bounds, including the pool table and bar seating. I imagine that this will be revisited from 19th July.

The Revivals (arrivals) lounge and the Upper Class Wing drive-thru check-in will also reopen.

There is no word yet on whether American Airlines will return to Terminal 3 or whether the long-term plans to move it into Terminal 5 will be brought forward. It is unlikely that British Airways will have enough demand to reopen its Terminal 3 facilities in the short term. Whilst Emirates flights will arrive at the ‘Red List’ Terminal 4, there are no departures from there so we could see them back in Terminal 3 soon.

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, one has a bonus of 15,000 points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

The UK’s most generous free Visa or Mastercard at 0.75 points / £1 Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 points bonus and the most generous non-Amex for day to day spending Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points:

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

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 30,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 30,000 Virgin Points:

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points.

(Want to earn more Virgin Points? Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

BuildBackBetter says:

6 Jul6 July 04:06

Amex gold card – 1 additional point per £1 upto 1000 points.
Also the Wheely and Gett offers are back.
- Harry T says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 06:30
  
  Thanks
- janolabs says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 10:57
  
  Is Wheely/Gett any good? I’m using Uber/Bolt and, to be honest, want to get from A to B for the lowest price. Thanks!
  - Rob says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 11:09
    
    If that’s your goal, then no.
    
    Wheely is chauffeur driven Mercedes (doors opened for you, free water, you pick the music etc). Gett is normal black cabs.
  - LS says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 21:17
    
    I used Wheely on an old offer, which reduced the price to below the Uber option. It was very pleasant, clearly a better class than uber. In reality I am not the type of person to need the extra luxury to justify the usual price premium.
Ancient says:

6 Jul6 July 05:14

Stayed in the Liverpool Pullman a few weeks ago. Our first time to Liverpool and we had a fantastic stay. The “exec floor” is the 2nd floor, with open mini bar, including alcoholic options. They also ran out(?) of check-in drinks vouchers, but reception just told me to let the bartender know my room number and we got our complimentary G&Ts on our first night :). Lounge wasn’t open during my stay.
The location could be better, unless you’re visiting for the exhibition/concert hall, to which the hotel is directly connected. The Hilton is probably better location generally, but the short walk to Albert Dock along the Mersey in the glorious Spring Bank holiday weather was no bad thing.
YC says:

6 Jul6 July 07:20

SQ deal – Is it just outbound by 31 Dec?
- Rob says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 07:40
  
  I know no more than you.
- Louie says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 07:45
  
  No. From the T&Cs at the bottom of the page linked to above:
  “The Redemption Transaction must be for tickets issued within the Promotion Period, for travel between 06 July 2021 (0000 hrs GMT+1) to 31 December 2021 (2359 hrs GMT+1) (“Travel Period”). If (i) any part of the itinerary is confirmed after the Promotion Period; (ii) or falls outside the applicable Travel Period; and/or (iii) contains an ineligible flight, the entire itinerary will not be deemed to be an eligible Redemption Transaction under this Promotion.”
  
  Note also that no changes are permitted. Risky.
  - YC says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 08:03
    
    Thanks. While no changes I was assuming the 50/75SGD cancellation fee would apply as per normal redemption tickets. Not booked this before so just googling this morning – I could be wrong
    - Sam G says:
      
      6 Jul6 July 08:09
      
      No – these promo tickets are no changes / no cancellations (T&C at the bottom of the page)
      
      There is a slightly ambiguous statement here
      
      For (i) any flights cancelled by SIA, or (ii) where a SQ-operated flight was removed from a Participant’s booking due to Covid-19 regulatory or governmental restrictions, even if the relevant flight is still operating, the miles redeemed in the relevant Redemption Transactions will be refunded into the relevant Participant’s KrisFlyer account and no additional fees will be charged for such refunds. However, requests to amend any booking details, or to retain the ticket for future use will not be granted.
      
      So if you couldn’t enter your destination then SQ would “remove” the flight from the booking and refund you?
      
      The only destination here worth booking for this year is Phuket, pretty much no chance on the rest
      - Axel Heyst says:
        
        6 Jul6 July 09:28
        
        There is a slim chance Jakarta will allow entry on the new Nomad Visas to help kickstart tourism by christmas
      - Sam G says:
        
        6 Jul6 July 10:46
        
        More likely they’ll follow the Phuket model first and want you to arrive directly into Bali I think, surprised that wasn’t included in the deals
Save East Coast Rewards says:

6 Jul6 July 09:29

“Emirates is presumably stuck in Terminal 4 until the UAE is removed from the ‘Red List’.”

The red list terminal is for arrivals only, the aircraft will go to its stand and then passengers will be bussed to T4, so EK could move back to T3 for departures and regain access to their lounge or stay in T2.

Those airlines that are usually based in T4 look likely to have to wait until the red list becomes a thing of the past.
- Rob says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 09:47
  
  Fair point!
- ADS says:
  
  6 Jul6 July 18:40
  
  Anybody know what the bussing experience is like to the plague terminal – do they have loads of buses so you aren’t crammed in ?
  - LS says:
    
    6 Jul6 July 21:19
    
    No. You are crammed in. Everyone on one bus together. And you have to wait whilst others arrive from other flights. A friend had to wait 1 hour on a bus with loads of others, and wasnt allowed to wait just outside the bus.
    If you hadn’t had Covid from your red-list country, you will have had it once you spent ages on the bus. Shambles.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 01:00
    
    You are aware it’s unlikely pretty unlikely they have it. And there more plague here than most of the destinations on the red list.
Mark says:

6 Jul6 July 15:28

Supposed to be flying Virgin mid sept to LA, still unsure if it’s going to happen, at least we’ll now get the club house if it does.
Tony1 says:

6 Jul6 July 16:22

Can Emir ? get any deals on the McGilvery Windsor ?
LS says:

6 Jul6 July 21:20

And boring question: what happens to flight attendants arriving from red-list countries? Do they have to isolate for 10 days too? That must be pretty restrictive if so!
- ChrisC says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 02:51
  
  Whole slew of requirements and exemptions depending if they live here or not
  
  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules