Lounge Access

[papermate92]

Hi all
I'd first like to thank everyone who helped me with my last post, most appreciated.
I have an upcoming trip to Europe and New York and was just wondering if I will have access to any lounges. I currently have a Qantas Club Bronze Membership, it puts me to shame just to mention my low level on this forum.
Here's a look at part of my itinerary:
LHR (Terminal 1) > DUB on BA
LHR (Terminal 5) > JFK on BA
JFK (Terminal 8) > CDG on AA
On all these flights i'll be travelling in economy :|

Thanks in advance

Hannah

 

[tuapekastar]

Hi all
I'd first like to thank everyone who helped me with my last post, most appreciated.
I have an upcoming trip to Europe and New York and was just wondering if I will have access to any lounges. I currently have a Qantas Club Bronze Membership, it puts me to shame just to mention my low level on this forum.
Here's a look at part of my itinerary:
LHR (Terminal 1) > DUB on BA
LHR (Terminal 5) > JFK on BA
JFK (Terminal 8) > CDG on AA
On all these flights i'll be travelling in economy :|

Thanks in advance

Hannah

Do not be ashamed! Many of us started this caper with QC membership.

That said, QF and BA had something of a falling out about lounge access a year or two ago, and it appears to be unresolved. Access has been limited considerably from what it was previously. The relevant 'rule' from the QF website is quoted below - you would need to check whether your flights met those conditions (and work out what 'connecting with' means in these circumstances - my best guess is same ticket, less than 24 hour transit, but it is only a guess).

The good news is that AA access at JFK should be OK.

Access to Partner airline lounges

In addition to Qantas Club lounges, you can relax in American Airlines® Admirals Club lounges. For applicable lounge locations please visit American Airlines - Airline tickets and cheap flights at AA.com.

Qantas Club Members travelling between Australia and the UK via Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong on Qantas or British Airways services, or travelling on other British Airways flights connecting with these services, can access the British Airways Terrace, Executive and Galleries Lounges. Access to the British Airways Lounge in New York is also available for Qantas Club Members travelling on the QF108. We are currently working with British Airways on the recent changes to their lounge access policy.

To access a partner airline lounge, simply present your Qantas Club card or Platinum or Gold Frequent Flyer card at check-in and again with your boarding pass at the lounge reception. You may also invite a guest. Note: both you and your guest must be travelling together and have onward travel that day on a flight marketed and operated by the partner airline whose lounge you wish to visit.***
*** Marketed and operated means a flight operated by the same airline whose flight number appears on your ticket. Includes American Airlines® and British Airways operated flights with a 'QF' flight number on your ticket.

 

[Jack_OC]

I currently have a Qantas Club Bronze Membership

Just wanted to check something - do you mean you have Qantas Frequent Flyer (QFF) Bronze membership, or Qantas Club (QC) membership? They're two very different things.

I suspect you meant QFF Bronze membership, as to the best of my knowledge there is no such thing as Qantas Club Bronze membership (I believe you are either a QC member or you're not). Also, it would be a bit surprising if someone had QC membership but doesn't fly a lot, as it normally costs $485 per year (and even at the corporate rate of $300 or whatever it would be hard to justify unless you fly a fair bit).

Anyway, if you do have QC membership, then the reply above from Tuapekastar explains your entitlements, but if you just have QFF Bronze membership, I'm afraid that would not entitle you to anything.

There are potentially other ways of getting lounge access though. In some airports you can just turn up and pay into certain lounges, and I believe DUB is one of them. Or you might be able to persuade someone to sign you in as a guest!

 

[yo yo ma]

Just wanted to check something - do you mean you have Qantas Frequent Flyer (QFF) Bronze membership, or Qantas Club (QC) membership?

I gather that the OP has both - QFF and QC membership.

 

[muppet]

Just wanted to check something - do you mean you have Qantas Frequent Flyer (QFF) Bronze membership, or Qantas Club (QC) membership? They're two very different things.

I suspect you meant QFF Bronze membership, as to the best of my knowledge there is no such thing as Qantas Club Bronze membership (I believe you are either a QC member or you're not). Also, it would be a bit surprising if someone had QC membership but doesn't fly a lot, as it normally costs $485 per year (and even at the corporate rate of $300 or whatever it would be hard to justify unless you fly a fair bit).

Qantas Club Bronze is how it appears on the boarding pass when you have paid QC but no status. The OP has the correct terminology.

Heaps of people waste the $485 each year despite making 3 or 4 flights.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Maybe the OP has QC life. . We gave master FM a life membership for his 18th birthday. He has been bronze for a number of years but happily uses the QC on his one or two trips a year.... Welcome to the board Hannah - people are very helpful here.

 

[Jack_OC]

Qantas Club Bronze is how it appears on the boarding pass when you have paid QC but no status. The OP has the correct terminology.

Heaps of people waste the $485 each year despite making 3 or 4 flights.

Thanks for the clarification. Perhaps the OP can confirm if that is the situation in her case, and if so, do you mind me asking why you pay for QC membership?

I forgot about the joining fee, so it costs even more than I thought ($855 for individual membership in year one or $630 for corporate, then $485/$400 per year thereafter). The only people I know who have paid for QC membership are in that unfortunate position of doing 1-2 short domestic trips in restricted Y every month, which means they comfortably get to Silver but are nowhere near Gold. For them I can see the logic, although to be honest I’d say it’s still questionable whether it’s worth paying $15+ per QC visit. For people who only travel occasionally, I just don’t get why they would even consider paying for QC membership.

 

[mannej]

Thanks for the clarification. Perhaps the OP can confirm if that is the situation in her case, and if so, do you mind me asking why you pay for QC membership?

I forgot about the joining fee, so it costs even more than I thought ($855 for individual membership in year one or $630 for corporate, then $485/$400 per year thereafter). The only people I know who have paid for QC membership are in that unfortunate position of doing 1-2 short domestic trips in restricted Y every month, which means they comfortably get to Silver but are nowhere near Gold. For them I can see the logic, although to be honest I’d say it’s still questionable whether it’s worth paying $15+ per QC visit. For people who only travel occasionally, I just don’t get why they would even consider paying for QC membership.

I believe that the OP would have QP membership in conjunction to their QFF membership.

As for the costs - they are not set in concrete, corporate rates do differ, and QF do hold sales on QFF memberships, namely no joining fees, 2 for 1 type deals etc.

There are many reasons as to why people will sign up. Not everyone uses it for the Lounge access, the extra baggage allowance may be worth it depending on where you do travel.

Financially it may not make sense, but it may be that compromise that the infrequent traveler may be after.

 

[MrJetset]

The OP asked a specific question about lounge access. How does that descend into the rationale of why one buys QP membership?

And yes, the member is a Qantas Club Bronze member.

If you are flying into LHR and immediately connecting to DUB, yes you have access at T1. There is no access at T5 to JFK. There is access to the Admiral's Club at JFK to CDG.

 

[craven morehead]

Maybe the OP has QC life. . We gave master FM a life membership for his 18th birthday. He has been bronze for a number of years but happily uses the QC on his one or two trips a year.... Welcome to the board Hannah - people are very helpful here.

Can you still get QC Life??

 

[samh004]

Can you still get QC Life??

No, but plenty got it when it was around.

You can get VA Life if you have the cash though!

 

[Pvcmenace]

Qantas ends lifelong club memberships | News.com.au

My partner and I have had QP life since 2004, 6 years as NB and 3rd year as PS, well and truly worth the money spent, especially when you take into account delayed flights, travel with friends and family. So far around 100-110 flights, so the average cost is coming down. Hopefully we live for at least another 40 years and Qantas too. should work out to be a good investment.

 

[Jack_OC]

The OP asked a specific question about lounge access. How does that descend into the rationale of why one buys QP membership?

If you read my initial post, I suspected the OP was not actually a QC member. That really is a crucial point when it comes to answering her specific question, so I just wanted to make sure the information she had been given was correct for her circumstances. I acknowledged in my first post that if she is indeed a QC member, then she has been given the correct info re lounge access.

One of the reasons I suspected she did not have QC membership was that IMHO it does not seem to make sense to buy QC membership if you don't fly much, and that's how we got onto that topic. I also think the OP’s comment “it puts me to shame just to mention my low level on this forum” is an incredibly strange thing for someone to say about holding paid-for QC membership!

And yes, the member is a Qantas Club Bronze member.

As I mentioned earlier, I was not aware of there being any such thing as QC Bronze membership. And if you read the relevant section of the Qantas website I still think what I said is correct. However, as Muppet helpfully clarified, when people have both QC membership and QFF Bronze membership, it states “Qantas Club Bronze” on their boarding cards. I didn’t know that before, since I have never paid for QC membership. Now that has been pointed out, I agree it seems likely that the OP does indeed have QC membership. If you feel it was unreasonable for me to then ask her why she chose to pay for that membership, fair enough, but I thought I phrased the question politely.

Not everyone uses it for the Lounge access, the extra baggage allowance may be worth it depending on where you do travel.

At the risk of further upsetting Jock28 by not staying on topic: All QC membership gets you on domestic Y is an extra 9kg, but you still only get to check in one bag. Alternatively, you could just pay $20 for an additional 23kg bag. On international flights, QC membership gets you 3 x 23kg bags instead of 2, but again anyone could just pay extra for the same privilege (the most an extra bag costs is $90 per flight). So I still don’t see much value there unless you fly often (with a lot of luggage).

 

[MrJetset]

If you read my initial post, I suspected the OP was not actually a QC member. That really is a crucial point when it comes to answering her specific question, so I just wanted to make sure the information she had been given was correct for her circumstances. I acknowledged in my first post that if she is indeed a QC member, then she has been given the correct info re lounge access.

One of the reasons I suspected she did not have QC membership was that IMHO it does not seem to make sense to buy QC membership if you don't fly much, and that's how we got onto that topic. I also think the OP’s comment “it puts me to shame just to mention my low level on this forum” is an incredibly strange thing for someone to say about holding paid-for QC membership!



As I mentioned earlier, I was not aware of there being any such thing as QC Bronze membership. And if you read the relevant section of the Qantas website I still think what I said is correct. However, as Muppet helpfully clarified, when people have both QC membership and QFF Bronze membership, it states “Qantas Club Bronze” on their boarding cards. I didn’t know that before, since I have never paid for QC membership. Now that has been pointed out, I agree it seems likely that the OP does indeed have QC membership. If you feel it was unreasonable for me to then ask her why she chose to pay for that membership, fair enough, but I thought I phrased the question politely.



At the risk of further upsetting Jock28 by not staying on topic: All QC membership gets you on domestic Y is an extra 9kg, but you still only get to check in one bag. Alternatively, you could just pay $20 for an additional 23kg bag. On international flights, QC membership gets you 3 x 23kg bags instead of 2, but again anyone could just pay extra for the same privilege (the most an extra bag costs is $90 per flight). So I still don’t see much value there unless you fly often (with a lot of luggage).

And yet, you still have not provided any assistance, or answered the OP's questions, despite your verbose response.

I believe I answered it in a single sentence.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Can you still get QC Life??

No which is really annoying - we bought for the two oldest - just scraped it in with Master FM but the youngest Miss FM missed out which created a lot of whining.
It was a fantastic deal for young people, but I can see why Qantas stopped it...... Must be around 6 years ago it went.

 

[Jack_OC]

And yet, you still have not provided any assistance, or answered the OP's questions, despite your verbose response.

???? Perhaps you missed this part of my original reply:

Anyway, if you do have QC membership, then the reply above from Tuapekastar explains your entitlements, but if you just have QFF Bronze membership, I'm afraid that would not entitle you to anything.

There are potentially other ways of getting lounge access though. In some airports you can just turn up and pay into certain lounges, and I believe DUB is one of them. Or you might be able to persuade someone to sign you in as a guest!

 

[The Rok]

DUB has a pay on entry lounge run by DAA. It's fairly new, I think entry is €35, that's very steep and your unlikely to drink enough to recoup your money.

 

[papermate92]

WOW! Never did I think my simple question on lounge access would evoke such rage against forum members.
Thank you to those who helped answer my question - lounge access at JFK is great to know
To those questioning my rationale behind having my Qantas Club Bronze Membership (yes, that's what is says on my member page) it's no ones business, but to help settle all this, my employeer had an offer for Qantas Club Membership for $200 and somebody purchased it for me as gift.
I'm sorry for all the drama I have caused and I hope everybody had a Happy New Year

 

[Flying mermaid]

WOW! Never did I think my simple question on lounge access would evoke such rage against forum members.
Thank you to those who helped answer my question - lounge access at JFK is great to know
To those questioning my rationale behind having my Qantas Club Bronze Membership (yes, that's what is says on my member page) it's no ones business, but to help settle all this, my employeer had an offer for Qantas Club Membership for $200 and somebody purchased it for me as gift.
I'm sorry for all the drama I have caused and I hope everybody had a Happy New Year

Don't worry about it - some people just like to argue - a bit like that Monty Python skit You learn to ignore those diversions and just look at the answers - some of the people who argue the most are also the ones with the most knowledge, so you just take the good with the bad.

 

[Limewood]

Papermate92, please don't get too excited about AA lounges in USA, all the ones I've been left a lot to be desired, nothing like our Qantas. Any Tom, Dick n Harry (or Shirley) can purchase a single entry for $15, most are old and run down but you do get an allowance of one drink!.