Qantas Lounge Pet Peeves

[justinbrett]

Another pet peeve at the Brisbane domestic J lounge - there is no self-service coffee machine meaning you have to queue up at the bar to get a coffee made which admittedly isn't a big deal if the lounge isn't busy but can be quite annoying when you're travelling at peak times. Meanwhile the QF Club at BNE has such self-serve coffee machines. Also, I think the QF Club at BNE offers better views of the tarmac. Taken together this seems to suggest that BNE suffers from Sydney domestic lounge syndrome.

-RooFlyer88

Because most Australian coffee drinkers would prefer to queue for a barista made coffee than drink the swill that comes out of an automated coffee machine. Even in peak times I've never had to wait more than a few minutes, they've usually good a good production line going.

As for view you can't even see the tarmac (apron) from the QP. The view in the J lounge is the view from the old QP before it was split, the QP inherited the boring view on the other side. It's better now there's a second runway, but not as good as the J lounge. In most parts of the QP you can't even see a window.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Because most Australian coffee drinkers would prefer to queue for a barista made coffee than drink the swill that comes out of an automated coffee machine. Even in peak times I've never had to wait more than a few minutes, they've usually good a good production line going.

I’m with KF88 here. I’m not a coffee connoisseur. I’d rather get my own coffee in 30 seconds than wait five minutes for someone to make it. Even if I wait 2 minutes… with 80+ domestic lounge visits a year I’m spending more than 2 hours waiting for coffee.

This is about choice. Why not just have one if people want it?

 

[SeatBackForward]

I drink black coffee mostly, so the auto machines are about 80% the same anyway.

 

[justinbrett]

I’m with KF88 here. I’m not a coffee connoisseur.

Obviously!

You can walk 50m to the one in the QP (The BNE lounges are really one big lounge with an inner priority area. Formal entry checks are done entering the QP, you just have to flash your WP card to get into the J lounge).

There’s never a queue because even QP guests are lining up to get it from the barista.

 

[exceladdict]

You can purchase USB cables with the data pins disabled, so power only.

IIRC the new qf fleet was going to have 65w in seat usb-c ports in lieu of any AC adaptors? Wonder how this will work here as cables need to have certain things to enable particular charging speeds?

Not really. OP was a pretty specific issue but an easily worked around peeve.

A recent rental car didn’t have Bluetooth AirPlay but had moved to USB-C. But I‘d forgotten to pack a USB-C cable…

My phone uses usb-c but I usually pack an A-C cable for android auto, and was surprised when a brand new rental didn't have an A port! All of my c-c cables were at the hotel with my chargers.

I’m with KF88 here. I’m not a coffee connoisseur. I’d rather get my own coffee in 30 seconds than wait five minutes for someone to make it. Even if I wait 2 minutes… with 80+ domestic lounge visits a year I’m spending more than 2 hours waiting for coffee.

This is about choice. Why not just have one if people want it?

Anything that feels like a slippery slope towards not providing a current benefit it is scary. Eg. If some choose to use the machine or use it because they don't realise the barista coffee is free and available, QF may be tempted to cut back barista hours. Fortunately though I can't see it happening any time soon.

 

[aikman]

Arriving between 11am and noon during the breakfast/lunch changeover. There is no food available except for the salad bar.

 

[BAM1748]

As I don't see a thread started about this, I thought I'd create one. The purpose of this thread is primarily to document the ongoing issues noticed at Qantas lounges both domestically and internationally.

I'll begin this thread with my report:

Airport: Brisbane Domestic Airport
Lounge: Qantas Business Lounge
Issue: Most of the power points don't offer sufficient clearance to plug in power adaptor:

View attachment 355688

To plug in "your" power adapter, all mine plug in with out a problem.

Post automatically merged: Dec 4, 2023

My pet peeve is that the breakfast menu doesn’t seem to ever really change (except for the First Lounge, which I don’t get too often). I much prefer the food available from lunch onwards and the bar is closed at domestic lounges till lunch time.

More bacon, less chicken sausages.

 

[offshore171]

Here's mine

Airport: All
Lounge: All
Issue: "Loud Phonecall Guy"

Airport: Brisbane Domestic Airport
Lounge: Qantas Business Lounge
Issue: Most of the power points don't offer sufficient clearance to plug in power adaptor:

If you regularly travel with the laptop in question, I'd be jumping on Amazon and picking up a more compact USB C power supply. Leave the big brick at work or the office. There's a lot of lounges, hotel desks, trains etc, where that brick isn't going to fit.

You can also get a flexible extension for those particular chargers, but I'd just grab something more compact for travel.

Post automatically merged: Dec 4, 2023

Lol. I actually LOVE chicken sausages!!

Gotta use the beaks and feet for something right?

 

[RichardMEL]

Here's mine

Airport: All
Lounge: All
Issue: "Loud Phonecall Guy"

I think this could be extended to include those people who just have to do (without headphones) phone calls, speaker phones, games, watching tv/video, facetimes and the like. Bonus points for the "Look I'm in the "First" Class Lounge!" people in the QP.

basically put under inconsiderate and selfish people with no concept of consideration for others.

 

[randompunter]

cough beer selection in most lounges. No I don't want to choose from 5 mega swill lagers or the awful 150 lashes with its weird quasi ale chemical vibes. Give me some decent craft options please.

 

[KSC]

Because most Australian coffee drinkers would prefer to queue for a barista made coffee than drink the swill that comes out of an automated coffee machine. Even in peak times I've never had to wait more than a few minutes, they've usually good a good production line going.

As for view you can't even see the tarmac (apron) from the QP. The view in the J lounge is the view from the old QP before it was split, the QP inherited the boring view on the other side. It's better now there's a second runway, but not as good as the J lounge. In most parts of the QP you can't even see a window.

Brings me to my point, get rid of Vittoria coffee and start showcasing some better Australian specialty coffee like Market Lane.

I guess with Neil Perry on board this will never happen as he uses Vittoria in all his establishments. I was glad when Heston was in Melbourne he had better sense and went with Proud Mary’s.

I’m not sure how much better the humans are at making coffee at the lounge, than an automated machine. I have seen some pretty bad practices, such as making a heap of espressos in advance and having them sit there waiting for customers.
I would like to see more automation for workers in the lounge such as auto milk frothers (they can now be faster and more accurate texturing than humans and you can set the tempretures), auto tampers (device to compress the coffee puck in the portafilter handle) and grinders with auto dose by weight (accurate dosing of ground coffee). This would take out allot of manual steps to increase consistency and speed.

I’m probably the minority that is a coffee snob that cares about these things.

Also some attention should be spent that the largest growing verticle in alcohol consumption is non/low alcohol beverages. Having some of these choices would be great to see.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Airport: All
Lounge: All
Issue: "Loud Phonecall Guy"

The worst are the ASX types, which if you've been in the lounge long enough have experienced. These are the types who run a small business in Port Macquarie but think they're running a business on the ASX 200. Like, dude, we don't care if you closed a sale for one box of paper to some business in Townsville. And yes it's always a dude that is doing this. I don't see businesswomen behaving in this manner.

If you regularly travel with the laptop in question, I'd be jumping on Amazon and picking up a more compact USB C power supply. Leave the big brick at work or the office. There's a lot of lounges, hotel desks, trains etc, where that brick isn't going to fit.

I have a portable 65w LG fast charger that I'll use for now I guess. The issue I have with most chargers, is they don't have replaceable plugs so that I can change the plug type based on the country I am in. This is equally painful for flights with Qantas and most international carriers where Australian plug types simply aren't accepted (simply the EU type). And for those chiming in saying you technically can plug in an Australian plug to these "international" outlet types. You are absolutely correct. The problem is it often slides out of the plug and often doesn't engage with the receptacle to cause power to flow to the device. Only the EU (or Korean) style plugs to my knowledge work all of the time.

You can also get a flexible extension for those particular chargers, but I'd just grab something more compact for travel.

I notice that some chargers have the replaceable IEC (cloverleaf) cables. The issue I have is it does add some bulk especially when you are travelling since you'd need multiple cables.

I think this could be extended to include those people who just have to do (without headphones) phone calls, speaker phones, games, watching tv/video, facetimes and the like. Bonus points for the "Look I'm in the "First" Class Lounge!" people in the QP.

Getting back on the topic which is that of lounge gripes, one gripe I have with all Qantas domestic lounges except Qantas' Flagship lounge at ADL, is the lack of private rooms to take phone calls. If they had a small cupboard for that, then perhaps this would reduce the number of Worldly people on their phone roaming around the lounge like a giraffe looking for vegetation.

-RooFlyer88

 

[sudoer]

Because most Australian coffee drinkers would prefer to queue for a barista made coffee than drink the swill that comes out of an automated coffee machine.

Not according to kangarooflyer88!

 

[justinbrett]

Not according to kangarooflyer88!

Pretty sure he's Canadian! My point exactly.

 

[SYD]

Pretty sure he's Canadian! My point exactly.

I’m sure there are more Starbucks per capita in Vancouver than anywhere else in the world. Sad but true….

 

[justinbrett]

I’m sure there are more Starbucks per capita in Vancouver than anywhere else in the world. Sad but true….

I would have guessed Timmies would be #1 there but you are correct.

 

[exceladdict]

Brings me to my point, get rid of Vittoria coffee and start showcasing some better Australian specialty coffee like Market Lane.

I guess with Neil Perry on board this will never happen as he uses Vittoria in all his establishments. I was glad when Heston was in Melbourne he had better sense and went with Proud Mary’s.

I’m not sure how much better the humans are at making coffee at the lounge, than an automated machine. I have seen some pretty bad practices, such as making a heap of espressos in advance and having them sit there waiting for customers.
I would like to see more automation for workers in the lounge such as auto milk frothers (they can now be faster and more accurate texturing than humans and you can set the tempretures), auto tampers (device to compress the coffee puck in the portafilter handle) and grinders with auto dose by weight (accurate dosing of ground coffee). This would take out allot of manual steps to increase consistency and speed.

I’m probably the minority that is a coffee snob that cares about these things.

Also some attention should be spent that the largest growing verticle in alcohol consumption is non/low alcohol beverages. Having some of these choices would be great to see.

Id appreciate a better brand (of cafe quality) alternative milks too. But can't see that happening either for some reason

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Because most Australian coffee drinkers would prefer to queue for a barista made coffee than drink the swill that comes out of an automated coffee machine. Even in peak times I've never had to wait more than a few minutes, they've usually good a good production line going.

Depends on the lounge I suppose. Are the coffees produced by the barista better than those produced by the machine? I am not so sure about that. I would argue that it is the beans and milk used that determine coffee quality versus whether a barista was involved. I've had better coffee produced from my Nespresso machine than lattes at some cafes.

As for view you can't even see the tarmac (apron) from the QP. The view in the J lounge is the view from the old QP before it was split, the QP inherited the boring view on the other side. It's better now there's a second runway, but not as good as the J lounge. In most parts of the QP you can't even see a window.

Are we talking about the same Qantas lounge here? I am referring to the one at Sydney domestic. Also, I should point out that I am not the only person on this forum who find the views from the business lounge lacking (when compared against the Qantas Pub).

cough beer selection in most lounges. No I don't want to choose from 5 mega swill lagers or the awful 150 lashes with its weird quasi ale chemical vibes. Give me some decent craft options please.

There's also a lack of international beer options. Where's the Fuller's London Pride?

I would have guessed Timmies would be #1 there but you are correct.

Doesn't surprise me one bit given Starbucks HQ is in their backyard (Seattle). It makes sense though since Starbucks NA makes the best coffee North of the 49th (Peets obviously being the better coffee if you're in the lower 48). I won't comment on the quality of Starbucks RoW other than to say it's not the same as Starbucks NA.

Brings me to my point, get rid of Vittoria coffee and start showcasing some better Australian specialty coffee like Market Lane.

If I'm not mistaken, Vittoria coffee is even "featured" in the Qantas First lounge. One would expect that they would provide better quality coffee in the international First lounges or maybe even provide customers with some options too. Then again, I suspect Qantas could negotiate an excellent deal on the coffee having a single tender contract for the whole lot.

As for coffee brands, yes some niche coffee brands would be nice. It would also be nice if they had Foldgers drip coffee for those of us who have a fine taste in coffee. Or better yet, Juan Valdez 100% pure Columbian coffee:

 

[Seat0B]

Anything that feels like a slippery slope towards not providing a current benefit it is scary. Eg. If some choose to use the machine or use it because they don't realise the barista coffee is free and available, QF may be tempted to cut back barista hours. Fortunately though I can't see it happening any time soon.

Noooooooo!! I would be really unhappy if they took away my real coffee privileges. It's one of the the things I use the most in any lounge I visit. And as per my recent post #1902 here, I would undergo quite a lot of annoyance to get a real coffee over a coffee machine one, anytime, anywhere.

 

[justinbrett]

Are we talking about the same Qantas lounge here? I am referring to the one at Sydney domestic. Also, I should point out that I am not the only person on this forum who find the views from the business lounge lacking (when compared against the Qantas Pub).

You said BNE in your post ("I think the QF Club at BNE offers better views of the tarmac"), and went on to say it suffers the same problem as SYD, so doesn't seem like an error.

Are the coffees produced by the barista better than those produced by the machine? I am not so sure about that. I would argue that it is the beans and milk used that determine coffee quality versus whether a barista was involved. I've had better coffee produced from my Nespresso machine than lattes at some cafes.

I definitely agree that a bad barista made coffee can be worse than an automated one (but don't even get me started on Nespresso - water "inspired" by coffee) however the barista has to be pretty bad. Seriously we live in Australia, every second person is a trained barista. I've never had a bad coffee at a QF lounge. Not saying it's the best, but definitely passable, and definitely superior to anything out of a machine. The best beans in the world won't save a bad barista.

They've come a long way in automated coffee machines, but haven't been able to automate the process of moving the tamped coffee from the grinder and locking it under the brewhead. In the Breville Oracle (which I think is probably the best semi-automated coffee machine on the market), that is the single step that requires human interaction. Oracle - Super Automatic Coffee Machine | Breville