Virgin America Loft

Virgin was amazing until they were acquired by Alaska airlines!!! The service is crap since then

Not a bad idea to get a few drinks in before the flight. Food was overpriced. TV sound was off and I asked the lady to turn it back on and she told me to do it myself. Alrighty then.

This place is so cool, it’s like a VIP experience. I wanted to check the Virgin Loft since my mom and I have never been to LAX Virgin America terminal. Rebecca who was working the front desk was really nice, let us take a look around the loft area and said that we could take a cookie from the buffet table. She told us that we could leave our bags with her, so we could look around. We asked her what is going to happen now that Virgin America has been acquired by Alaska airline. She said that they would go over to terminal 6.
Upon entering we were warmly greeted by Rebecca and she asked us where we were traveling to, I said we are flying home to San Francisco. I said we were here in LA for my brother’s graduation from USC with his Masters of public health, she was impressed and said congrats you must be proud of him. She seemed interested in talking with us. She explained how much it was for a day pass and what is included in the price. $ 60 seemed a bit much, so we decided not to do it. But it was fun to check it out because in SFO they don’t have a Virgin Loft like the one in LAX or any!

This place is so packed people wandered around waiting for other people to leave their seats, trash and used dishes everywhere. Another person in the lounge literally grabbed my backpack off a chair without asking and threw it on the floor. It landed with a thud because my laptop was in it!
I can’t imagine it’s like this all the time, but as I’m sitting here I’m regretting paying $ 30.

I tried out the Virgin American Loft located in the dilapidated Terminal 3. It is one floor above the general gate area. The design of the lounge and the mood-​lighting probably make the lounge appear more spacious than it really is. The agent at the reception desk was very friendly. I found a seat next to the windows which has a great view of aircraft traffic taking off and landing. I arrived shortly after noon and the food and drink selections were somewhat disappointing. The only complimentary food items were cookies, crackers and trail mixes, while the only complimentary drink items were beer, house wine and soft drinks. You do have the option of ordering other things for a charge (comparable to prices generally charged at airport). On the one hand, it is nice to have more dining options. But on the other hand, there should have been more free options.
The lounge was not crowded when I was there and I spent some time relaxing, and watching the planes. But would I pay $ 40 (the door price) for access to the lounge? Ahhh… No.

Not the best when it comes to airport lounges. Aside from the typical fruit, nuts and beverages (alcohol included), all food is for purchase. The chairs are comfortable. The restrooms do not offer showers. The ladies restroom on has 2 stalls and is a bit run down.
Food for Purchase: the menu is nice offering a selection of kale salad, chicken sandwiches, rice and other various items. Prices are reasonable no more than $ 12 I believe.
Ambiance: Great views of the planes taking off. It was never too noisy or crowded which was nice. I did not notice a lot of complimentary reading material. Charging stations with USB ports are abundant.
If you have lounge options at LAX, skip this one.

Really quite a pathetic excuse for a lounge. All it is is a upstairs restricted waiting area. Food and drink offerings ate slim. Not particularly clean either.

Even though Terminal 3 is a LaGuardia-​level hot mess, I still can’t recommend the Virgin America Loft for a paying passenger. If you get in for free with your business class ticket, Priority Pass, or some other way, you should go for it. Otherwise, there’s no need to waste cash on this sad lounge.
First, the positives: (1) It’s not the terminal downstairs. (2) It’s quite stylish and has amazing views of the tarmac. (3) It’s not the terminal downstairs.
But the negatives: (1) One verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry slow coffee machine. I got in right after the lounge opened, so I could get my coffee in peace, but by the time I left to board there was a long line waiting for coffee. When your airline operates long early morning flights, this isn’t acceptable.
(2) You have to pay for the food, if you want more than fruits and snack mix. Again, it’s not the Starbucks or BK downstairs with the long lines, but if you’re paying $ 40 to get in, you don’t want to pay more for food. I got a $ 9 egg sandwich that was reheated-​at-​Starbucks quality. There are also no signs indicating that you should order with the tablets by the bar. Very confusing.
(3) Rude staff in the front. I wouldn’t want to be dealing with groggy passengers at 6am either, but it’s just not cool to be condescending to customers.

Probably one of the worst lounges I have been to thus far… sad they can even call this a lounge honestly as many cafes and restaurants have better amenities.
The complimentary «food» they offer stale cookies and what looks like trail mix. If you want real food, you need to pay extra for it and it is all overpriced (ex: $ 12 for a turkey sandwich)…even a bag of chips cost $ 2! I have been to 6 or 7 lounges over the past 2 weeks alone and have never seen one where you have to pay extra for real food.
Also, the restrooms smell awful and are just as dirty /​gross as the regular airport bathrooms if not worse.
Lastly it is hard to find a place to sit as it is over crowded and the red fabric couches have odd stains all over them.
The only redeeming factor is that the staff here are super friendly. They really need to learn from Asia lounges and Asian airlines… if you are a priority pass member, the KAL lounge in the international terminal is awesome! Super clean lounge and bathrooms, spacious, lots of complimentary food and drinks, etc. Probably the best I have seen in the states.
2 stars since they actually brought out some butternut squash soup which was pretty good and there is a coffee machine hidden on the other side of the bar

I have to echo the sentiments of many others who have posted and remember a time when the Virgin Loft was a first-​class experience. Once upon a time, things like finger sandwiches, fruit and cheese, sushi rolls, hot soup, etc. were all complimentary. Same went for liquor. Now, the food selection is paltry at best and the liquor nor food is no longer complimentary.
Adding insult to injury is an excessively young and inexperienced staff– I’m assuming these are airport concessionaire employees that have nothing to do with Virgin Airlines– but for travelers who are paying a fee for an experience, Virgin should have some sway over the staff that is representing their image or at a minimum, the concessionaire staffing supervisor should take this into consideration. The staff on duty had no concept of what ‘customer service’ actually is– walking into the bar area with a mouthful of food, giggling around the corner about the boy that just called them on the phone, not knowing anything about the beer, liquor, or food they were selling, acting as though it is a chore to be here serving you, incessantly texting on their cell phones while standing at the bar, etc.
The only reason someone would come here anymore is that they are willing to pay $ 30 to be away from the rat race downstairs or they can (and want to) drink more than $ 30 worth of beer/​wine.
C’mon, Virgin– step it back up!

It’s better than waiting out there.
For Gold Members (or if you think you can drink $ 30 worth of domestic suds/​no-​name wine), you get some free WiFi and beer/​wine (don’t ask to see the wine list). You can buy some food, or enjoy the trail mix, cookies, maybe a piece of fruit. Serve yourself soft drinks and coffee drinks. The paid food, a microwaved fancy sandwich and salads, is better than the Burger King/​Starbucks or the over priced fish restaurant.
Someone from Virgin must have visited the Admirals Club and said «let’s copy that at the bare minimum of service»
Used to be cool but I guess when they decided that all their Gold Elevate members got in for free, they would have to make the service on par with United, American and Delta domestic clubs.
Virgin America:
Bring back the mixed drinks– doesn’t have to be top shelf, but even Delta and America have those for free (and they charge for top shelf)
Add a couple of food choices (America and Delta have started to do that too)
go talk to your counterparts at Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia — the know how to do lounges. Your the airline that is supposed to be different.

This is a great place to kill time while waiting for your flight. It is only accessible to Virgin America flyers, and while the tickets for flights are not particularly expensive to begin with, you pay an extra $ 30 for the Loft, which in my opinion is pretty worth it if you are hours early.
For $ 30 you get complimentary wi-​fi, wine, beer, soft drinks and snacks. The snacks aren’t too exciting– mostly just cookies and trail mix. There is a menu for food and mixed cocktails which are decently priced for an airport. This is actually an awesome deal if you are planning to have a few drinks before your flight because you would end up spending more at an airport bar on cocktails as opposed to sticking with free beer and wine. Everything at the airport is already overpriced and everywhere is crowded, so why not optimize your time and money here?!
They are also equipped with TVs, outlets, comfy chairs and couches and plenty of space, as it doesn’t seem like it gets too crowded. There is a digital board with all the Virgin flights that show boarding times and if they are on-​time or delayed. If you are a frequent Virgin flyer, I would recommend spending some time here from time to time!

Let’s see. What once was a Virgin America experience is now a Spirit-​esque experience. I’ll take away a star for each thing they used to do well but no longer.
–1 complimentary food (sushi rolls, pastries legit waiting food). Now you have soup and some Costco trail mix and cookies.
–1 complimentary mixed drinks. Now you’re limited to wine and beer. Mixed drinks are extra.
–1 they used to call your name and tell you when your flight was. Because my flight was delayed they even found me an earlier flight. What a great experience that was… Now they tell me to keep track of my time to not miss my flight.
–1 not allowed to bring in food? Well if there were adequate snacks. I wouldn’t need to buy outside food. Plus, I’m an adult and your gold member. Thank you for ALLOWING me to eat my food. I don’t need to be advised, about keep my eating low key. I’m not a child.
I’ll be happy to update this post if the service changes. It’s just not what it used to be.
+ bartender is nice.
Save your $ 30 for something else.

The last virgin loft I was in was in JFK. That was an amazing experience. With that said, I decided to go into the loft at LAX.
I ordered the fried egg Breakfast Sandwich and seasonal fruit plate.
The fried egg sandwich was ok. To much onion but pretty good. Worth $ 9?.. not really.
The seasonal fruit was a bowl of blueberries and strawberries. They were fresh. for $ 6.5. not bad.
The food that is «free» is cookies, crackers, pears and biscotti. Not particularly exciting.
The Loft is a great escape if you need to kill time. I just don’t see the value for the food. If I am paying for the lounge I don’t think the food should be full price. I felt I was in that realm. Considering when I was in the JFK lounge, this isn’t as good. It lives up to the Virgin service, but the food left things short.
If you have a few hours to kill and want to drink for free, I would go. Otherwise not worth it.

This lounge has really lost its luster. There used to be free drinks and prepared food. Then they gutted the quality food and drink, leaving mostly non-​perishable crackers. Now, the final straw, the food is back but as sub-​par $ 12 sandwiches! No free booze either.
Virgin, if you’re listening, stop cutting into your once quality brand!

Nice peaceful lounge with comfortable seats and insufficient outlets.
Skimpy offerings of snacks with the same stuff offered throughout the day/​night: just mixed nuts, crackers, apples, and cold cereal boxes. Really nothing! No hot meals or snacks.
Coffee from the coffee machine was awful no matter if it was cappuccino, café latte, or whatever.

It’s Fine for an hour or so for $ 30, particularly if you have a couple of glasses of wine or beer! A glass of Pinot Grigio at Gladstone’s downstairs is $ 22! The snacks are ridiculously limited. They serve yummy Carr’s crackers, but do not provide cheese or any dips, making the crackers extremely bland and dry. The selection of paid food is also limited. The friendly, five star staff let me bring outside food since I complained about their miserable selection. But, it is a nice environment and beats the mayhem downstairs at Gladstones!

Only good if you are going to be at airport for a bit or you plan on having more than 2 drinks and some snacks. I usually fly first but had first cabin select only available so had to pay $ 40 to use lounge.
It’s ok. I expected a bit more from the way the make it seem but it’s just a normal lounge that’s black and red and has dance music.
Not bad, friendly staff, unlimited drinks. Some snacks like muffins bagels cereal. I planned on having a few drinks and had time to kill so it was worth it for me

What a great deal when in LAX! As I understand it, when you are flying on VA or one of their partners you are eligible to purchase a day pass to the Lounge for a mere $ 40. For me $ 40, an open bar and a variety of snacks (plus free wifi and places to plug in) is a very small price to pay not to sit amongst commoners.
Overall, the club is pretty swank and true-​to-​brand as expected. One thing kind of threw me for a loop — it was dirty. The snack bar had crumbs all over it and the lights on tables across from the bar were dusty.
I would come back again, though and I’d recommend giving it a visit on a longer layover in LAX. The terminal downstairs is quite hot and outdated but this is a haven, of sorts, from that madness.
As for vegans, it appears as though the only snack we could have would be a plain bagel, maybe the bread, fruit and nuts. I hear there is soup coming out later but I’m guessing it won’t be vegan. For the non-​veg heads you have plenty of offerings: cheeses, yogurt, snack mix, muffins and cookies.

Out of all domestic airlines, I LOVE Virgin America. Being the Chicagoan that I am and having the Southwest Airlines credit card, I don’t get to fly Virgin America often. Since I was flying Virgin America from LA to Chicago, I HAD to try the lounge. The best part was that lounge access was complimentary thanks to my AMEX Platinum credit card (*kiss kiss*).
The lounge is very spaced out and not cramped by any means. The downside about this lounge is how discrete they are about their location! It’s like the equivalent of a speakeasy bar! I was looking at the airport directory trying to find this lounge since my phone internet wasn’t working, which wasn’t even listed on the directory! I had to ask the Virgin America employee behind the counter where the lounge was located, which turned out to be located on the 2^nd floor above the boarding area.
Since I was there in the morning, they had breakfast items out at the food bar. It was more like continental breakfast as opposed to a full breakfast bar. I got toast, Kashi cereal, biscotti, muffins, orange juice and hot tea. One negative thing was the soy milk. When I poured the soy milk into my bowl of cereal, it was smooth pouring until clumps of milk came out at the end. GROSS.
Not the most glamorous lounge since I’ve been spoiled by the Centurion and international lounges, but it sure beats American Airlines lounges and waiting out in the general boarding area though!