DH and I are flying VA to London at the end of the month and we splurged for upper class seats. The sales agent was emphatic about taking advantage of the Revivals lounge on arrival and departure. We plan to sleep on the way over and she suggested getting breakfast in the lounge before meeting our car service, which sounds very civilized since we probably won't be able to check in our hotel right away. If we arrive on time at 7:05, how much time should we allow for customs and breakfast to schedule the service to meet us? And on the way back, is it worth getting to the airport early to take advantage of one of the spa treatments?

What denomination? Do they have their own tent on the airport grounds? )

I haven't flown Virgin Upper Class to the UK but have done a lot of overnight Club flights on BA to London. You should get priority access to clear Customs & Immigration, which will shorten that experience to some extent (count on 30-40 minutes, including the time to walk from the plane to C&I, and then the time to walk to the Revivals Lounge). It could be shorter than that (e.g., 20 minutes), but might be 40 minutes total.

In the BA Arrivals Lounge, there sometimes was a bit of line to use the showers. (It wasn't an actual line. They would hand you a beeper, so that you could go sit down and then they'd beep you when a shower was free.) But if the same sort of thing happens in the Virgin Revivals Lounge, you might want to count on spending 75 minutes or so on a combination of breakfast and getting cleaned up. Then you need 10-15 minutes to exit and find your car.

But one thing you might want to consider is skipping the car service from the airport. It can take ages, and be VERY expensive, to take a car service from the airport into the city. It is much more efficient to take the Heathrow Express (fast train) from the airport to Paddington Station, and then take a taxi from Paddington to your hotel. That way you don't have to plan for a precise pick-up time with your car service.

"<i> It is much more efficient to take the Heathrow Express (fast train) from the airport to Paddington Station, and then take a taxi from Paddington to your hotel. </i>"

The HEX costs more than a car service --and that doesn't even take into account the taxi from Paddington onward. Plus the HEX plus a taxi requires luggage schlepping at both the LHR end and at the Paddington end. Plus there is often a looooong taxi queue at Paddington. IMO the HEX only makes sense if one is staying right at Paddington. A car service is door-to-door and would usually be faster than the HEX. (no walking to the LHR train station, or waiting for a cab)

meant to add a car service such as justairports.com will run about £30-£5 into the west end -- the HEX costs that much for a couple just to get to Paddington.

Thank you! I had heard of that site and also Ray Tanner's service. I really appreciate your advice.

That would be Ray Skinner, and he is very good too. But there was a thread a couple of weeks ago about problems reaching Ray/London Transfers. Maybe he was ill or something -- but I don't think the mystery was solved.

He's emailed me twice and I went to the site and put the info in, but I haven't gotten a confirmation. Hmmmm. ...

If you've paid for your Upper Class tickets, Virgin Atlantic offers complimentary ground transfers, unless you booked a discounted fare. Frequent flier award tickets don't qualify for the ground transfers either.

It's been years since I've flown Upper Class, but I remember the arrivals lounge being fairly nice. I do remember being able to transit through customs fairly quickly using the priority access line and my baggage did come out right away.

I didn't have to wait to get a shower, and breakfast was fine. I remember that I got into LHR very early in the morning, so being able to stop and get a shower was very nice as I wouldn't have been able to check into my hotel until later that day. I believe they also offer a pressing service and shoeshines.

It is absolutely worthwhile getting to the airport early to take advantage of the Virgin Atlantic clubhouse at Heathrow. Remember to book ahead for any of the spa treatments. This is the best lounge I have ever seen.

You might want to check out the Virgin Atlantic forums for more recent and detailed information:

http://v-flyer.com/forum/

Thank you for the info! Yes, we got "discounted" (LOL) upper class tickets, so it didn't include the transfer. I still haven't gotten a reply from Ray, so I'm cancelling the online reservatino we made and will rebook with another company. I hope he's all right and that it's just a miscommunication.