Change to Qantas Lounge Pass Transfers Effective July ‘26

[VPS]

I know I'm going to get flamed but I really couldn't care less about this. The four passes that I received each year (2 X amex, 2 X PC) meant zip to me. They were transferred here, or to friends. If this reduces overcrowding in lounges then I'm not going to be complaining.

I’m not going to flame you, but I did enjoy being able to give friends that wouldn’t ever normally go into the lounge a couple of passes and they used to get so excited

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

I’m not going to flame you, but I did enjoy being able to give friends that wouldn’t ever normally go into the lounge a couple of passes and they used to get so excited

Agree with this as well. My elderly parents and the occasional friend here or there really enjoyed their visits to the lounge when I could gift it to them and I always enjoyed being able to extend the gesture to see people get so much more excited about it than I do as a regular. These are people who'd otherwise never see them and so for them it was a special treat that invariably left them excited and speaking highly of Qantas.

But I suppose goodwill like that is irrelevant these days.

 

[bPeteb]

I’m not going to flame you, but I did enjoy being able to give friends that wouldn’t ever normally go into the lounge a couple of passes and they used to get so excited

As did my friends VPS but some even said no when I asked if they’re wanted them. Definitely sad for the recipients.

 

[HMcM]

I know I'm going to get flamed but I really couldn't care less about this. The four passes that I received each year (2 X amex, 2 X PC) meant zip to me. They were transferred here, or to friends. If this reduces overcrowding in lounges then I'm not going to be complaining.

Not going to flame but would say its a kick in the pants to make an incentive valueless only to your most frequent flyers. The lounge passes now have the same value to NBs but pretty much zero value to SG and above.

If they're going to make them valueless to the people most likely to be spending money with QANTAS then maybe they should just get rid of them as a card benefit.

 

[bPeteb]

Not going to flame but would say its a kick in the pants to make an incentive valueless only to your most frequent flyers. The lounge passes now have the same value to NBs but pretty much zero value to SG and above.

If they're going to make them valueless to the people most likely to be spending money with QANTAS then maybe they should just get rid of them as a card benefit.

I think that’s where we’ll have to disagree. The passes are not a benefit for QF's most frequent flyers. They already have lounge access. The passes are provided due to credit card spend, nothing to do with flying. I’m not WP due to credit card churning or spend.

 

[MooTime]

If they're going to make them valueless to the people most likely to be spending money with QANTAS then maybe they should just get rid of them as a card benefit.

There's a lot of ppl travelling with QF that aren't status holders, fly outside of peak times & the priority line is not going around the corner.
These lounge passes do offer nice value to everyday Australians holding a credit card, & the stat of Aussies holding a QF earning credit card is extraordinary high, not all come with 2 annual lounge passes of course.

To state they are useless to those spending lots on QF & to remove them completely is a little off imo.

This move limits lounge fullness by a degree while keeping everyday twice or so yearly flyers happy with QF. Win I'd say.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

I see both perspectives here, and while I think the actual impact on crowding will be trivial (consider how restrictive AMEX has become in the US which has so far had marginal impact on AMEX and Delta lounge crowding), some will see more upside to the changes and others more downsides.

Ultimately the strategy is pretty clear: Qantas wants you personally to have a credit card, pay for one-off access, or chase status --- preferably some combination thereof, especially as they move towards status-earning possibilities on the ground with said credit card.

Restricting lounge pass transfers to pax travelling on the same flight cleverly renders them useless to anyone with SG/WP in most cases. Literally can't even give them away for free. In practice, that means your everyday punters now need their own credit card or to pay for access. No more free-loading = opportunity to upsell / generate revenue.

Ultimately, the motivation for the change and the winner is Qantas. That's always been the game, though in my view, sometimes it's better to simply state the new policy than try to come up with silly justifications for it (e.g., "we need to stop unauthorised transfers", "reduce crowding", "protect FIFO workers having pints and corporate bros on their Zoom calls from the uncivilised riff-raff," etc.).

 

[SYD]

I see both perspectives here, and while I think the actual impact on crowding will be trivial (consider how restrictive AMEX has become in the US which has so far had marginal impact on AMEX and Delta lounge crowding), some will see more upside to the changes and others more downsides.

Ultimately the strategy is pretty clear: Qantas wants you personally to have a credit card, pay for one-off access, or chase status --- preferably some combination thereof, especially as they move towards status-earning possibilities on the ground with said credit card.

Restricting lounge pass transfers to pax travelling on the same flight cleverly renders them useless to anyone with SG/WP in most cases. Literally can't even give them away for free. In practice, that means your everyday punters now need their own credit card or to pay for access. No more free-loading = opportunity to upsell / generate revenue.

Ultimately, the motivation for the change and the winner is Qantas. That's always been the game, though in my view, sometimes it's better to simply state the new policy than try to come up with silly justifications for it (e.g., "we need to stop unauthorised transfers", "reduce crowding", "protect FIFO workers having pints and corporate bros on their Zoom calls from the uncivilised riff-raff," etc.).

In some ways, it’s just reverting to how it was some years ago - although still probably better.

As a QP member, we’d get issued a bundle of paper passes. You could guest 0 or 10 (pick a number), so long as you had those physical passes with you. The passes were useless in the hands of a non-QP / non-status holder. The Guest(s) had to be in company with a QP member / status PAX. I even took my mom and brother into the SYD QP before a flight to PER (I wasn’t flying).

Now, the infrequent flyer (non-QP, non-SG) can treat themselves + 1 (or however many they can access) using CC passes or PS passes.

Even SG and higher presumably can still use them if they’re travelling with family/friends?

Although, I imagine a lot go unused. I only get them from PC and give them away when I can.

 

[HMcM]

To state they are useless to those spending lots on QF & to remove them completely is a little off imo.

To SG and above they are now almost useless. The only time they would be useful is when an SG or above is flying on the same flight with 2+ guests (not including their under 18 children) and those guests themselves don't hold status. I would estimate that is a tiny minority of the flying that SG and above do.

 

[kookaburra75]

In some ways, it’s just reverting to how it was some years ago - although still probably better.

As a QP member, we’d get issued a bundle of paper passes. You could guest 0 or 10 (pick a number), so long as you had those physical passes with you. The passes were useless in the hands of a non-QP / non-status holder. The Guest(s) had to be in company with a QP member / status PAX. I even took my mom and brother into the SYD QP before a flight to PER (I wasn’t flying).

Like these too on Ansett - I'm still digging around to find my old Qantas Club ones

At the time I had both Qantas Club and Ansett Golden Wing memberships, as I was running associations and could guest in the members of the board into either lounge when they were flying out from meetings. I used to buy extra lots of 10 for each lounge - it wasn't that much from memory.

 

[SYD]

Like these too on Ansett - I'm still digging around to find my old Qantas Club ones
View attachment 501580
At the time I had both Qantas Club and Ansett Golden Wing memberships, as I was running associations and could guest in the members of the board into either lounge when they were flying out from meetings. I used to buy extra lots of 10 for each lounge - it wasn't that much from memory.

Yep, I found two unopened bundles of those a while back…