Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse San Francisco Review

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The Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse San Francisco is located on level 5 of the SFO International A terminal. It’s worth noting that if you’re connecting from another terminal that there are two International terminals.

I made a Monkey-brained mistake and arrived 5 hours before my flight to take advantage of the lounge, and also my positioning flight was rescheduled an hour early. The check-in and the lounge were both closed and did not schedule to open until 1:50 and my flight was 5:50. So I waited an hour and was the first to check in!

I got my invite to the Clubhouse! WOOT WOOT!!!!

The lounge is landside ( pre-security).

A lot of people think this is a drag because you’ll have to clear security after visiting the clubhouse. For me it worked out great. I was ready after waiting so long to check-in to just sit down, have a bellini and order some food. Plus I was thinking about visiting the Centurion Lounge as well and this would mean one less trip in and out of security, however those thoughts

There is a business center immediately to the right after you enter.

 

Down the hallway are a few bathrooms. The first two have showers with shrink wrapped towels.

The Clubhouse isn’t really that big compared with other international lounges. Later in this trip I was able to visit both the United Business Club as well as the United Global First lounges and say this would compare in size to the Global First…as well as being able to order from a menu.

I was starving!! But also fancied a Bellini.

NUTS!

The menu was great, although slightly different than what was listed online.

    

I had also asked about the Hell of High Watermelon Wheat Beer from 21st Amendment Brewery. It had just been delivered so they were going to chill it while I enjoyed my drink and had some food.

I chose the Pacific smoked salmon bruschetta, Seared Tilapia, and the Lemon Posset. The Salmon Bruschetta was much larger than I was anticipating but delicious!

The seared Tilapia was restaurant quality and outstanding!

The beer was chilled and soon delivered!

I ended up just craving some fruit for dessert! Bananas!!!!!

I really enjoyed the Virgin Clubhouse San Francisco. The wifi was quick, the staff was very polite and efficient, and the menu offerings were delivered quickly and with style. The food was fantastic, far better than the traditional buffet style business class lounge food. I ultimately left far before the boarding call for my flight, but I know that they do come around and help escort you through fast track security when they start to board. While it’s not as extravagant as some other international lounges and lacks a spa, salon, and other amenities some of the other lounges offer ( even Virgin clubhouse JFK or LHR) it suited the purposes I required.

The only thing I felt could be really improved upon was the fact that I could acquire a boarding pass before check in opened. This meant that conceivably I would/should have access to the lounge ( although without the invite) but I had to linger around the check-in area for an hour. Would have been nice to visit the lounge in that time and then come back to check-in to drop my bag off.