The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
What really goes on in an airport lounge
From celebrities and gatecrashers to champagne and stag parties, it’s all in a day’s work for Virgin Clubhouse staff at Heathrow’s Terminal 3. Chris Leadbeater goes behind the scenes
It is a little after 1pm on a wintry Friday afternoon, and the Virgin Atlantic lounge (officially the “Virgin Clubhouse”) at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 3 is in the grip of the lunchtime rush. Platters of gourmet burgers are delivered to tables, cocktails are prepared behind the long bar, and the influx of passengers at the entrance never seems to finish.
In the midst of the fray – conducting the flow of people much as air-traffic controllers guide planes from the tower outside – Holly Sherwood is in charge of it all (officially as “Clubhouse Experience Manager”). Out there on the floor, Joycelyne Sabbagh is one of the “Clubhouse Crew”, taking food orders and returning with laden trays.
Both women initially joined the Virgin Atlantic team in 2003, and together have more than 30 years of experience in the daily operations of an airport lounge. This means they have a wealth of stories to tell – about misbehaving passengers, missed flights and dealing with tetchy celebrities.
What does your day look like? Holly Sherwood: Every day is different. I might be tasting new dishes for our spring/summer menu one day, and in London choosing new wines on another. Or I could be here, dealing with a maintenance issue – such as a toilet blockage. It really can vary. Joycelyne Sabbagh: When it’s busy, I leave here like a zombie. If I’m on the morning shift, I get up at 3am, catch the bus at 4.30. Then I have to get through security, make my way to the Clubhouse and start setting up. By the time the doors open, I am ready. HS: In the morning, customers are in a rush. They may have been caught in traffic and haven’t got long. Often, they just want a coffee and to go. What are the biggest challenges you face?
HS: Keeping the lounge well maintained is a battle. We work hard, but some things are beyond our control. I have walked in before to find that the electricity is down. There have been days when I’ve had to run and buy sandwiches for the customers because the kitchen power is out. These things don’t happen often, but when they do your heart sinks. How often do people try to sneak in?
HS: Oh, all the time. Only last week, we had a guy who ran in and locked himthey self in the toilet. We had to wait and wait. Eventually, he came out. We asked to see his boarding pass. Surprise surprise, he wasn’t entitled to lounge access. Then he said he was looking for his mother. We checked his booking; he was travelling by himself. Then he said that his mum was on a separate booking. We asked for her name… Finally, he said he would leave. People go to great lengths to come in. They have elaborate stories as to why they should be in the lounge. And it is difficult, sometimes, to say no. But we have to protect the service.
What was the worst ever attempt to blag access?
HS: We often get: “My flight was delayed the last time I flew with you, so you should give me lounge access.” Or, “I didn’t get my first choice of meal on my last flight, so I should get lounge access for that.” Sometimes people have emails they have written to somebody. But when you read the email, haven’t been offered lounge access. Or they look up somebody who works for Virgin, then quote their name. They say “so-and-so told me I could use the lounge”. I get contacted on social media all the time. When you become a Clubhouse Manager, you automatically become very popular. Do you ever have to throw people out for poor behaviour? HS: I try not to get into a situation where I have to throw people out, but I’ve had to have conversations when people have had too much alcohol. We want people to come in and indulge, but there is a fine line, and we can’t send people onto an aircraft if they have had too much to drink. We often need to have discreet chats, and we try to do it in the nicest way, so that customers don’t feel embarrassed. We offer water, we offer coffee. But sometimes, they just don’t pick up on the hints. And then we have to have a more frank discussion. And some customers are fine about it; they get it and they understand. Some can get a little upset. That can be difficult. We want people to enjoy themselves, but we have to think about our colleagues in the air – and other customers. We have to be mindful of that.
Do you have a special protocol for celebrities?
HS: We do, in the sense that we try to be discreet and respect their privacy. The last thing a celebrity wants is to come to the lounge and be bombarded by people asking for selfies. Our team are told: photos can only be taken if the celebrity asks you and wants a photograph – maybe for social media. That does happen. It’s trickier with customers, because we can’t tell them not to approach a celebrity. If the celebrity requests it, we can put them in a more private area. Some do, but some prefer to sit with all the other customers. Who is the most famous person you have served?
HS: We can’t name names.
JS: [Shakes head]
Not even a clue?
Both: [Heads shaken firmly]
Have you ever been properly star-struck?
HS: Yes, a few times. You think: wow, I can’t believe X is in the Clubhouse.
JS: [Smiles, nods] You see them and you can’t believe you are talking to them. HS: Especially when they are really down to earth. When they come in, and they are a really big name, you do get a bit nervous – but they turn out to be lovely.
Have you ever had someone use the line ‘Do you know who I am’?
JS: I’ve had that.
Did you know who they were? JS: Yeah, I did. I knew who he was. He was complaining about the bread from the deli bar. He thought it was dry.
HS: I’ve heard that line a lot – especially from celebrities who come to the lounge but don’t have access. They try to use the lounge based on who they are. And that line gets chucked at us. Some of them – when I’ve said: “Yes, I know who you are, but you are not flying in Upper Class so you don’t have lounge access” – have got a bit upset with me. In terms of bad behaviour, does anything shock you?
JS: Swearing. I really don’t like people swearing.
HS: I once had a stag group come in, all of them wearing T-shirts with something very explicit printed on the front. I had to ask them to take the T-shirts off. They got upset. They said: “We’ve paid just as much as everyone else in this lounge; we can wear what we want”. I had to explain that what they were wearing wasn’t appropriate. There were children in the lounge. I asked them: “Would you want your children to see what’s on your T-shirts?” After that, they took the T-shirts off. The stag himself was dressed as Donald Trump, as I recall it.
JS: You really do see it all. Some people come in here, and their clothes are not appropriate. So revealing. It’s too much. But I’m here to do my job, serve them, and look the other way.
Do you ever have to deal with customers being… shall we say, excessively affectionate, before they leave the lounge? HS: We have never had to throw anyone out for that, but we have sometimes found things in the toilets where [pulls a face] you realise that certain things have gone on. You can’t ever accuse anyone unless you know for sure. But yes, sometimes people have had lots of fun in here [laughs].
JS: Somebody was having fun in the shower room two weeks ago…
HS: [Laughs again] Oh yes, that’s right. Yes, it happens.
Do things get stolen – and which items?
HS: Lamps. And the shower gel and shampoo, even though they are screwed in on brackets. People pull them off the wall. Cushions. The Virgin design book is very popular. The table numbers – we had to stop putting them on the tables. Salt and pepper pots. Sometimes people have tried to take bottles of champagne. The things stolen most are the Perspex-box QR codes for ordering champagne. People have posted the QR codes to social media, and then we have had orders for 50 glasses of fizz. People can scan the codes with their phones, even if they aren’t in the lounge. But the codes are very Instagrammable, because they say “scan for champagne”. People often take photos of them and post them online. It’s great advertising for Virgin – but it can cause difficulties. JS: You go over to a table with a tray of drinks to find that no one is there… Do customers ever get so comfortable that they miss their flight?
HS: When we reopened after Covid, we stopped making boarding announcements, to try to create a more tranquil environment. But customers complained, because they would get too relaxed, forget about boarding, and be late for their flight. We have had a couple of occasions where customers have missed their plane entirely. We had an incident last week where a young lady came to the desk, thinking her flight had departed. It turned out that she had missed it by an hour. She was going to Miami. The next direct flight was the next day, so we had to reroute her via New York. We have now gone back to making announcements.