New Ability to Purchase Single-Visit Lounge Passes

[levelnine]

but when I took both my parents in before a flight, they were both reasonably impressed by the J lounge. And these are the likely candidates for purchase passes, the infrequent once in a while traveller who's also airline agnostic.

Exactly. These passes are going to fly off the shelf. I've guested in heaps of infrequent flyers over the years and they've almost always been impressed by even the worst Qantas Clubs. It's only through familiarity and comparison that you become indifferent and even jaded to lounges. I have family and friends that always ask me if I have any passes before they fly. While I give them away for free, they have always offered to pay me, and at rates that would make the Qantas bean counters salivate. Qantas is going to make a packet off these lounge passes and going to keep expanding and expanding the sale of them as a result.

The idea that Qantas won't pack as many people as it can into the lounges is laughably naive. I was in the US over Christmas and visited heaps of American lounges. Always packed to the rafters such that you'd have to walk for 15-20 minutes to find a spare set of 2 seats. And in the US, you typically have to pay big money for access even if you're a top tier flyer!! People will walk to the end of the earth and back for a 'free' packet of chips and a beer.

 

[ChrisMars]

Since we are a bit on the topic of overcrowded lounges, plus paid lounge access, I would be curious to hear if some here know some airport where it would be preferable to spend say the equivalent of 50AUD in a descent airport restaurant, rather than 50 AUD fee for an overcrowded lounge (with 10 min queue, packed seating areas, and over cooked rice + curry.


TL; DR, when (where) is the lounge not the lounge.

 

[encryptededdy]

I would be curious to hear if some here know some airport where it would be preferable to spend say the equivalent of 50AUD in a descent airport restaurant

When my friends from overseas visit, they're always very impressed by the Sydney airport (international) maccas' conveyer belt system

 

[UP4014]

Since we are a bit on the topic of overcrowded lounges, plus paid lounge access, I would be curious to hear if some here know some airport where it would be preferable to spend say the equivalent of 50AUD in a descent airport restaurant, rather than 50 AUD fee for an overcrowded lounge (with 10 min queue, packed seating areas, and over cooked rice + curry.


TL; DR, when (where) is the lounge not the lounge.

AUD50 unfortunately goes no where when you want to buy food and drink at an airport. That's why Maccas does so well.

 

[Princess Fiona]

as a bronze member I like the option to buy passes. Especially if I’m paying for a J flight, I would like the option to pay for the F lounge when F is not available on the flight.

For F lounge they might set rules on who can buy the passes eg. paid J tickets. Also I’m sure they will put rules on the volume of passes to be sold on a particular day / time period.

QF will not be selling passes to the Flounge.
Not in a million years.
They give P1 two passes a year to transfer to family/ friends.
No way will they be selling them to anyone flying J to use the Flounge.

As @justinbrett and others have said. There is currently no change to the current policy of sporadically allowing certain bookings to access a paid Qantas club pass.
The only change is that the portals have been clumsily merged by QF IT.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Since we are a bit on the topic of overcrowded lounges, plus paid lounge access, I would be curious to hear if some here know some airport where it would be preferable to spend say the equivalent of 50AUD in a descent airport restaurant, rather than 50 AUD fee for an overcrowded lounge (with 10 min queue, packed seating areas, and over cooked rice + curry.

Hobart would be a good example where you would be better off spending $50 at restaurants than the lounge. I think some would be so bold as to even suggest Sydney domestic as well.

QF will not be selling passes to the Flounge.
Not in a million years.
They give P1 two passes a year to transfer to family/ friends.
No way will they be selling them to anyone flying J to use the Flounge.

Completely agree with you here. Hell will freeze over before that happens. The point of the First class lounge is to provide a refined experience for Premium customers. Bumping shoulder to shoulder or having to wait to dine simply won't cut it. Having been now to three Qantas First lounges (SYD, MEL and LAX if you must know) it is a completely different experience. Unique from the countless lounges I have attended from LH, UA, AC, etc (including their premium business class lounges). At the end of the day, would Qantas benefit from making a couple thousand extra per lounge selling access versus the harm to customer goodwill it causes? I think on balance scaring away customers who put down tens of thousands on F fares (or by earning status) is not worth the additional revenue, but would love to be proven wrong here.

 

[MediumToast]

At the end of the day, would Qantas benefit from making a couple thousand extra per lounge selling access versus the harm to customer goodwill it causes?

Joyce was willing to tarnish the brand in the name of profit. Selling lounge passes doesn't sound so bad compared to the everything else.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Joyce was willing to tarnish the brand in the name of profit. Selling lounge passes doesn't sound so bad compared to the everything else.

Except this is exactly what Joyce and co would do. Pull back on longstanding benefits to loyal customers under the guise of "capacity issues" and "preserving the experience" or whatever other excuse.

Then a few months later, all of a sudden you can buy your way in with cash. I've got no problem with offering passes for sale but I do also believe it was unnecessary to pull the benefit of guesting from gold and platinums.

 

[Lynda2475]

believe it was unnecessary to pull the benefit of guesting from gold and platinums.

Gold and Platinums are still able to guest others into the lounges, this has not been removed.

 

[encryptededdy]

Gold and Platinums are still able to guest others into the lounges, this has not been removed.

I assume they meant guesting non-flying guests

 

[Brucetiki]

To be honest, I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner, given Virgin have been offering paid access to their lounges pretty much since they started operating lounges way back in the Virgin Blue days.

 

[levelnine]

As is expected for Qantas, the implementation is a dog's breakfast.

100 points for the MEL QC lol.

 

[DejaBrew]

100 points for the MEL QC lol.

 

[logicallysynced]

As is expected for Qantas, the implementation is a dog's breakfast.

100 points for the MEL QC lol.

View attachment 365563

Just to clarify, this was posted on the QFF subreddit and the OP said it was a custom offer sent to their email.

 

[levelnine]

Just to clarify, this was posted on the QFF subreddit and the OP said it was a custom offer sent to their email.

Correct. Seeing them pop up everywhere in the last couple of days.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Ouch, imagine paying to visit the HBA QP!

 

[justinbrett]

Oh, so it is still an offer and not just rolled out carte blanche?

 

[levelnine]

Oh, so it is still an offer and not just rolled out carte blanche?

Patience, grasshopper. They haven't even got the correct points cost set up for each of the lounges.

 

[justinbrett]

Patience, grasshopper. They haven't even got the correct points cost set up for each of the lounges.

But they've been emailing those offers in that exact format (not a single design change) for a while now.

PF's post from Jul last year: Qantas offering paid lounge access on invitation basis?

 

[levelnine]

But they've been emailing those offers in that exact format (not a single design change) for a while now.

PF's post from Jul last year: Qantas offering paid lounge access on invitation basis?

As with the other conversation, let's wait and see.

You clearly think nothing is going to change. Qantas would never screw over its loyal customers (lol).

I think Qantas is on a decade-long project to significantly expand the revenue it earns from its lounge offering. The first step was the switch from paper to electronic passes so it could more closely monitor lounge occupancy levels and it could become the exclusive seller of lounge access (ie stop the black market of paper passes). The next step has been to trial lounge access purchase offers to select people by email only. A further step was taken recently with the removal of non-flying guest access (can't have non-paying people occupying seats in the lounge). I see the step to this new platform as the expansion of that offering — indeed, why would Qantas spend all the time and money on creating a new platform if it weren't intending to expand paid lounge access? The MEL QC 100 points offer is a sign they're expanding it by adding new lounges to the purchase system (and some fat fingered intern didn't put in the correct points amount). Rome wasn't built in a day. It's being built out step by step.