Chairman's Lounge

[Mr Ed]

So bringing it down to a basic common denominator, we need the CL to keep the pollies, Public servants, Entertainers and assorted hangers on away from the real people.
An invaluable service.

 

[djfuzz]

After all that, is anyone of those fortunate few to have visited the CL going to tease us with even a morsel of a description of what actually lays behind the doors marked "Private", and whether all that hooplah is actually worth it?

Must say I was underwhelmed the first time I visited a Dom J lounge, so surely they must go a few extra miles for their super elite.

 

[Selvfolgelig]

After all that, is anyone of those fortunate few to have visited the CL going to tease us with even a morsel of a description of what actually lays behind the doors marked "Private", and whether all that hooplah is actually worth it?

I have been to the PER CL and will be a regular at the SYD, MEL & CBR CLs in the near future due to work (boss is a CL member).

While I have never been to any airline lounge before (currently bronze but should be gold in a few months due to frequency of work travel in business), I didn't find the PER one that special.

As far as I can tell, the main advantages are less crowds and better availability of food/drinks. PER CL did not have a dedicated lounge attendant (entrance off to the side of Qantas Club entrance) and was quite small (maybe 20-30 chairs?). I believe SYD/MEL/CBR CLs are significantly bigger, have dedicated attendants and thus CLs receive slightly better service (eg they take your boarding pass off you at the entrance and return it to you at the latest possible moment to board the plane).

Decor isn't all that amazing (no better than what I imagine they have in the domestic business lounge) and PER CL had lots of alcohol but nothing special, at least in the beer/wine range. Although they did have a lot of spirits.

Had a few large screen TVs, free newspapers/magazines, meeting room, quite nice bathrooms.

This probably hasn't been much help. I will know a fair bit more in coming months as I visit other CLs.

 

[straitman]

So bringing it down to a basic common denominator, we need the CL to keep the pollies, Public servants, Entertainers and assorted hangers on away from the real people.
An invaluable service.

That is the best possible reason I can think of for keeping these lounges as they are.

 

[harvyk]

I have been to the PER CL and will be a regular at the SYD, MEL & CBR CLs in the near future due to work (boss is a CL member).

I wouldn't hold out my breath about the CBR one being large. The spot where the CBR CL lounge is (I'm assuming it's where the CL is now), used to be my favourite place in the CBR QP to wait as it was small and tucked away. My guess (and from what I have seen looking out the window of the plane whilst on the apron) is that more than 10 or 15 people in it and it would be overflowing. Also the room itself looks like a medium sized office, nothing more special than the QP or J Lounge.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

(eg they take your boarding pass off you at the entrance and return it to you at the latest possible moment to board the plane).

What's that got to do with anything? and how would that make your experience better? I'm a little bit lost on that one unless your getting an upgrade?

 

[dede]

What's that got to do with anything? and how would that make your experience better? I'm a little bit lost on that one unless your getting an upgrade?

They like to keep you guessing!

 

[estate]

Oneworldplus2 - they take the boarding passes off you because there're no flight announcements in the CL. When your flight is ready for you to board (once on Final Call) they come over to you, give you back your boarding pass and let you know to head down to the gate. It's so you're not constantly checking your watch while you're in there. Sometimes they've brought back new boarding passes with different (better) seats on them.

You can check-in in the CL as well, so you can also just hand over your CL card, and they bring it over to you with your BP once your flight's ready for departure.


As for what's inside - Sydney and Melbourne are both pretty big, probably 100 seats in each. There are about 20 computer desks in Sydney, perhaps 10 in MEL. There's a reasonable library on the back wall at SYD, with a few reference books as well as coffee-table type books.

The food selection at both lounges is relatively small (I'm afraid I can't compare to any of the QPs because I'm only an NB myself, so the only lounge I visit is the CL when travelling with the folks). It's very nice food though. Portuguese[FONT=&quot][/FONT] tarts, miniature pies, smoked salmon, capers, some cold meat, that kind of thing. Usually a soup as well. It's kept well stocked though - if something runs out it's replaced pretty quickly.

In terms of functionality as a lounge, I doubt it's that much better than a QP, or a J Lounge. What's nice is the quietness and the space. You can always find a seat, the TV's volume is low, and nobody's creating a big racket anywhere.

The real tangible benefit of the CL (setting aside the exclusivity that some people appreciate) in my view is the assistance from QF. Any seat you want, the odd upgrade, and you can seemingly switch to an earlier flight no matter your fare class*. I once flew SYD-BNE with my father, both booked on red-edeals. We walked into the CL and they said "The previous flight to yours is leaving now, would you like to see if there's space on it?" There were two spare seats, one in J, one in Y. So they bumped Dad to J and I got the spare Y seat.

When flying internationally, they call you 24 hours from departure, ask you what seats you'd like, and check you in. They keep your passport details on file. They give you the number for the kerbside porter to come and collect your bags when you arrive at Departures.

* I'm not saying this is policy or that it happens every time, but it does happen.

Dad says he gets op-ups about one every 6 flights (majority of his flying is domestic and TT, almost all Y). They're a bit more frequent than that on SYD-PER and TT runs though. Op-ups apparently weren't that infrequent when he was a WP though; he says the increase hasn't been that marked.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Thanks for the reply.

"The previous flight to yours is leaving now, would you like to see if there's space on it?"

l'm sure that there was a European carrier that did similar...

 

[dede]

"The previous flight to yours is leaving now, would you like to see if there's space on it?" .

"No thanks, I'd rather fight my way through the seagulls to grab another party pie" - oops sorry, wrong lounge!

 

[estate]

"No thanks, I'd rather fight my way through the seagulls to grab another party pie" - oops sorry, wrong lounge!

Actually I was a bit disappointed at that moment because that happened to be the very first time I'd been in the CL, and I never made it past the front desk!