Virgin Atlantic: 10 minutes from check-in to lounge put to the test

On Saturday, I flew with Virgin Atlantic out of London Heathrow for Tokyo Narita airport.
I had not flown with them since they started advertising their new “10 minutes from limo to lounge” based on the new check-in and security set up they have put in place.

If you fly Upper Class you can get collected by a limo and taken to the airport. You get met at a special drive-in area in Terminal 3 and then there is a special passage that leads to a dedicated Virgin Atlantic security station and so usually no queue. You then come out next to the general security area. This is the first time you come into contact with the madness that is Terminal 3.
From there to the stunning Virgin lounge (see the posting on this and my photoset) does not take long.

The Virgin seats, which quite a few airlines are now using, are good as they give you a feeling of privacy and with the seat flipping over onto a smooth flat bed are usually good for a good sleep.
I went off Virgin badly after a bad experience where they handled things poorly, but this experience has put them back on the list (as it were).

Once of the worst parts of flying these days is the airport experience, and while Heathrow is one of the worst as so busy, it is the security process that has had to be put in place that takes so much time and is stressful as queuing and time it takes is so unpredictable. So the added feature Virgin has added is a good marketing one in my book!