LOUNGE REVIEW: Canberra Virgin Australia Lounge

I just had my first experience of the Canberra Virgin Australia Lounge. Yesterday, I spent time in Canberra seeing the Arthur Boyd tapestries at the National Gallery of Australia and the John Brack and Noel McKenna exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.

I had one of those lingering credits with Virgin Australia which had to be committed to by the end of June, and these were two exhibitions I wanted to see. Add to that a points redemption stay at the Park Hyatt Canberra, and there was a trip!

The travel on two Link Airways flights in SAAB 350Bs was a little unremarkable, and blessedly short. So, I won’t be reviewing them here. But it was my first visit to the Virgin Australia lounge in Canberra, so I thought it was worth a review. It was also blessedly quiet, so less difficult to photograph.

Introduction

Canberra is not Virgin Australia’s largest hub, but its lounge is one of the better examples in the airline’s domestic network.

It has what the much busier Sydney and Melbourne lounges struggle to provide, and that’s space and relative tranquillity – outside of school holidays (as I discovered). High ceilings, large windows and a broad range of seating make it feel much more substantial than the number of Virgin Australia flights from Canberra should warrant. Although surprisingly, Virgin Australia does run direct flights to Denpasar, Bali, out of Canberra.

I can see why some other reviewers have rated this lounge highly. It’s not a destination lounge, and nobody should visit purely for the catering. But in practical terms, as somewhere to eat, work, stare at aircraft and relax before a domestic flight, it works.

At the airport

Canberra Airport, befitting a national capital, is one of the more civilised places in Australia to take a domestic flight. It is modern, manageable and has not yet turned into a shopping centre that also happens to have flights like Sydney or Melbourne.

Location

Once through security, the Virgin Australia Lounge is upstairs on Level 3 of the Western Concourse. Follow the signs towards the international departures area and then look for the lounge entrance. Don’t look for a screaming red sign either. This is Canberra; signage is discreet. Instead, look for the silver flying lady motif on the wall behind the entrance glass.

The lounge opens 60 minutes before Virgin Australia’s first departure and remains open until the final scheduled Virgin flight is called for boarding. That includes the Link flights.

The upstairs position is one of the lounge’s greatest strengths.

Design

Once inside, you leave much of the terminal activity behind. The large windows bring in plenty of natural light and provide views across the apron and runway.

The design is recognisably Virgin Australia, although perhaps from an earlier generation of the airline’s lounge aesthetic. There are glass walls, reflective surfaces, neutral colours and a mixture of armchairs, dining tables, communal work benches with bar seating and window seating for viewing activity on the apron.

It is not as fresh as Virgin Australia’s newest Adelaide lounge, and some of those bucket chairs have a pedigree dating back to the 1990s, but otherwise the design holds up well. Light and utility never go out of fashion.

I gravitated towards the windows with their apron views, and monitored another Link flight arriving. There are also high benches with power for those who must conduct loud online meetings. There are the aforementioned softer tub chairs for those who have abandoned the pretence of work entirely. Or, when I was there, occupied by families with barely controlled feral children.

There are some lower tables, but the seating arrangements don’t look conducive to no back strain if you were tied to your laptop on one for more than a few minutes.

Food and drink

I like Virgin Australia’s domestic lounge catering. To some extent more than Qantas. Its wraps are just fresher-feeling than the bread-based focaccia, pies, sliders, or Pizza that Qantas Business lounges seem to hero. They usually have a good range of soups, and there is a jaffle maker with build-your-own toastie ingredients adjacent.

Soft drinks and beer are available on tap, and several white and red wine options are always open. My only criticism is that there is no full bar. You can’t get champagne or spirits, so no gin & tonic for me, then.

There is barista coffee available throughout the day. The bar opens from noon.

It’s a limited offering, but the quality is good, and that lack of choice also adds to the efficiency of service.

Bathrooms

The bathrooms are inside the lounge and, importantly, there are shower facilities. The dark tiling and design aesthetic belies the cleanliness of the facilities.

The separate shower rooms include a toilet, basin and shower, with towels available from reception.

The showers are important, as the lounge also supports the airport’s international capabilities. Remember those flights to Bali?

Wi-Fi

I didn’t sample the wifi, since I was just reading my book. By all reports, it is good, but performance depends on how many fellow travellers are conducting loud Teams meetings at the same time.

Power is reasonably available around the work areas, although the lounge would benefit from more contemporary USB-C charging rather than requiring everyone to travel with an archaeological collection of adaptors.

Departure

When it was time to leave, I simply headed back downstairs and towards Gate 3, which is housed on the level below in the same Western wing of the airport.

2PAXfly Takeout

I was in the Virgin Australia Lounge Canberra for about 1.5 hours. I got fed and watered. My plates and used napkins were cleared, I watched aircraft on the apron, and didn’t feel crowded or harassed.

With runway views, the Canberra Airport design aesthetic, and fewer people competing for seats, this was a good experience.

The real luxury here is space. In an era when too many Australian airline lounges can feel like crowded food courts with better carpet, Canberra still manages to feel like somewhere you might actually want to wait for a plane.