A few months back i was caught in a similar situation.
I landed at LHR on SQ322 travelling in J Class on a through ticket connecting to VS5 to MIA. We landed well ahead of time at about 5am. I couldnt get checked straight through in Singapore, so i went looking for a check in desk at the T3 transfer desk in order to pick up my boarding pass. But as my Miami flight was departing at 11.50am none of the Virgin check in desks were open.
I wandered round and no one was able to help. So then i went looking for a lounge. But the Virgin Clubhouse lounge didnt open until 07.30, neither did the Singapore Airlines lounge. NOt much else to do other than go to Starbucks and buy a paper.
After cruising the shops for an hour, I found someone from Virgin who said i could use the Arrivals lounge so I decided to go out and offically "Arrive" - as I have a British Passport.
However I was denied access as I wasn't PPS, I was
ONLY *G.
So I went back to the main check in desks to see if someone else could help me. Eventually, i chekced in and by then it was 07.30 and the Clubhouse was open.
So a word of warning. Even though they were selling the SQ/VS as a through ticket, there is defnitely a gap in providing services to transiting customers as none of the lounges were open. I tried getting in the other *A lounges, but becasue I was on a Virgin flight (codeshare all the same), they refused to let me in.
But when i did get into the Clubhouse lounge, I was very impressed
