Virgin Australia lounge membership fees rise on July 1

Virgin Australia is following Qantas in lifting the cost of its airport lounge program, through which economy travellers pay to use the airline’s domestic business class lounges.

From this coming Sunday July 1, 2024, membership in the Virgin Australia lounge program goes up from $399 to $450 per year.

Virgin is also reintroducing the $99 joining fee (which is waived at present) for all new non-Lifetime memberships, plus those who renew their membership more than a month after it’s lapsed. 

For those who can’t justify annual Virgin Australia lounge membership, one-off lounge passes remain at $65 for adults with $45 for children aged 2-17.

Virgin Australia lounge membership provides access to all seven of the carrier’s lounges in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra.

Of course, the airline’s Velocity frequent Flyers holding Velocity Gold or Velocity Platinum membership enjoy lounge access as one of the many perks of their status.

Lounge membership has long been a useful option for Velocity Red and Silver members.

As previously reported, Qantas ramped up the cost of Qantas Club membership in April 2024, with the one-year membership fee now at $699 on top of a $129 joining fee.

However, its worth noting that the Qantas Club program offers a far richer proposition than Virgin Australia’s program.

Not only are there some two dozen domestic Qantas Club lounges, but members also enjoy entry to the international lounges of Qantas and selected partner airlines.

There’s also a suite of non-lounge benefits such as priority check-in, an additional checked baggage, priority waitlisting on fully-booked flights and the ability to request last-minute ‘on departure upgrades’ to business class while in the lounge using you Qantas Points.

Is Virgin Australia lounge membership worth it?

Whether membership to Virgin Australia’s airport lounges makes sense will largely depend on your travel habits.

Traditionally, these memberships provide the best value for economy class flyers who travel regularly – but not quite often enough to gain Velocity Gold status, and thus lounge access for free.

They’re irrelevant for those travelling business class, where lounge access is already included with the fare, and for those who always fly with others (e.g. colleagues) who are themselves already members or elite frequent flyers, and can bring at least one complimentary guest into the lounge with every visit.

Consider this, too – with yearly membership costing $450, and single visits charged at $65, the cost of a membership swings into the traveller’s favour from their seventh lounge visit each year.

Is Virgin Australia lifetime lounge membership worth it?

For lifetime members, the full $9,750 rate is equal in cost to 150 individual lounge visits, or approximately 104 visits for those on the discounted senior rate.

These memberships only make sense if you plan to use the lounges at least as many times after joining, and where you couldn’t otherwise gain access, such as by flying business class or as a guest of another traveller.

Another way to look at it, is that the full lifetime cost is roughly equal to 21 years of consecutive annual membership, based on the new price.

Consider your current age, add 21 years, and ask yourself – will I still be flying regularly by then, when that investment would first start providing value versus paying a yearly rate?

But like any investment, there are always risks. It’s never certain whether any type of lifetime membership will survive until the end of your lifetime, or will conclude earlier, if a company or organisation no longer offers that service in the future.

Particularly as Virgin Australia’s Lifetime Lounge membership only ‘breaks even’ after 21 years of flying, and that available lounges can change from time to time, travellers might prefer to stick to annual memberships, which provide an exit if a product no longer suits, or is no longer available.