some advice ?

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pacblue

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Dec 2, 2005
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Hi,

I'm new here, having just returned from a five year posting in the US.

I've been offered a two year deal on QC membership on salary sacrifice and am wondering whether or not to take it.

I'm usually pretty much on time for my flights and don't have much downtime.

Besides the lounge - are there any other benefits/advantages to QC - or like most of the US airline clubs - is it just a waste of time - mainly because they let anybody who can pay into the club ?

I've seen enough rednecks and hillbillies sucking on free Coors beer to last me a lifetime.
 
Welcome to AFF pacblue :)

Most likely you're getting heavily discounted rate (through corporate deal) - a great deal especially with tax advantage of salary sacrifice.

Most domestic Qantas Clubs are far better than the US-based lounges that I have seen. For starters there's free real drink not pale imitations, and food/snacks. No mucking around with chits and tipping.

Domestic business class is not good enough to get access to the lounge - need OW Sapphire or Emerald, or paid QC membership.

Where I think lounge access comes into its own is during irregular ops. Can beat the hordes by dealing with lounge staff for making last minute changes, etc.

QC membership will also provide (unless already high status) slightly higher priority for seating, upgrades, check-in etc.
 
Kiwi Flyer ...

Thanks for the info.

I've now realised that most of my fellow workers are also members, so I'd look pretty sad and lonely sitting in the airport coffee shop.

I'm actually off to SYD on Thursday morning, If I join QC today, can I get access on Thursday, without QC card, but with credit card receipt ?

I'm flying J class - does that help ?

Pacblue
 
pacblue said:
I've now realised that most of my fellow workers are also members, so I'd look pretty sad and lonely sitting in the airport coffee shop.
You can always ask them to take you into the lounge as their guest. A member can take in one guest each time they visit, providing both the member and guest are flying.
pacblue said:
I'm actually off to SYD on Thursday morning, If I join QC today, can I get access on Thursday, without QC card, but with credit card receipt ?
Yes, just make sure you get your membership number when you join and make sure that number (is also your FF number) is associated with the booking. Your status will appear on the boarding pass and that is all that is needed to enter the lounge.
Pacblue said:
I'm flying J class - does that help ?
Flying in business class on a domestic itinerary does not entitle you to lounge access. The benefit in flying business class is that you earn Status Credits faster and hence reach Gold FF status faster, at which point you receive a complementary Qantas Club membership for the duration of your Gold FF membership.
 
NM said:
Yes, just make sure you get your membership number when you join and make sure that number (is also your FF number) is associated with the booking. Your status will appear on the boarding pass and that is all that is needed to enter the lounge.

If wishing to collect to another FF scheme (eg AA if an AA member from time in the US) don't put the new freshly minted QF number in the booking. Just take a note of it and when you get to the lounge, just give them your number and they will be able to verify your membership on the system

Dave
 
Hey, thanks guys for all the tips.

Have joined QC online using CC.

Just called Qantas Club/FF line, they say everything shoud be fine, but have printed receipt just in case.

I guess the QC card takes about a week or more to arrive (she told me up to 10 days) ?

Anyway thanks again ... lots of great info on this site.

Pacblue
 
I'd say it's definitely worthwhile. I joined last year after having a number of delays and having to hang around at the gate lounges, which are not all that nice, and the rest rooms at the QC are miles better than the public facilities too.
 
Yada Yada said:
I'd say it's definitely worthwhile. I joined last year after having a number of delays and having to hang around at the gate lounges, which are not all that nice, and the rest rooms at the QC are miles better than the public facilities too.
Absolutely; I'm in BNE finally after a 40 minute delay this morning that came out of the blue.

This was far more comforatbly spent in MEL QP than the 'coffee shop'. (BTW, many QP's have nice automatic coffee/cappucino machines as well.)
 
The QP is also nice when having carry on luggage when, after clearing security you can check in at the terminals inside the lounge. Don't forget the on departure upgrades for those times when you've had a really cough day and you want a nice seat for your return home, and you can only get these inside the QP.
 
NM said:
Flying in business class on a domestic itinerary does not entitle you to lounge access.

Has this always been the case? I thought that was one of the benefits of J
 
I have been reading these posts about no access to the QP if flying J and thought it must have been some sort of mistake, but have now checked the Qantas website and there is nothing to indicate that domestic J pax have access to the lounge.

On the other hand, is states that as an international Business customer, before your flight, you are invited to access any Qantas Business lounge. Where a Qantas lounge is not available you can also access the lounges operated by a oneworld airline. The oneworld airlines are Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia and LAN.

Although this might sound very informative and looks like I knew about it, it is something I have just learned.
 
stuandmel said:
NM said:
Flying in business class on a domestic itinerary does not entitle you to lounge access.
Has this always been the case? I thought that was one of the benefits of J
Lounge access with Intl J. Why they don't offer it domestically with J, I don't understand!
 
odoherty said:
Why they don't offer it domestically with J, I don't understand!

because they do not feel that there is a competitive need to do so

Dave
 
NM said:
You can always ask them to take you into the lounge as their guest. A member can take in one guest each time they visit, providing both the member and guest are flying.
At the domestic QPs, the guest doesn't need to be flying - only the member.


stuandmel said:
Has this always been the case? I thought that was one of the benefits of J
As far as I can recall it has always been that way. In the days of 3 class domestic ops, F got you into the QP but J didn't.
 
stuandmel said:
NM said:
Flying in business class on a domestic itinerary does not entitle you to lounge access.

Has this always been the case? I thought that was one of the benefits of J
Yes, this has always been the case with Qantas Club access. May have been different in the days of Australian Airlines Flight Deck lounges.

J gets you lounge access on an international itinerary. This includes and domestic sectors on the same itinerary and you will need to show the ticket (e-ticket receipt is ok) to the lounge agent to get access.
 
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NM said:
... J gets you lounge access on an international itinerary. This includes and domestic sectors on the same itinerary and you will need to show the ticket (e-ticket receipt is ok) to the lounge agent to get access.
One trick if you have the timings allow is to take domestic sectors of international flights in Business.

This does give J lounge access in the international terminals. The only issue here is that there are not than many flights.

I had a work associate who was top level Ansett when they went under. He became an expert at taking the old QF21 MEL-SYD evening sector in J. By the time that flight was discontiuned he was already a SG, so he had QP access anyway.
 
serfty said:
NM said:
... J gets you lounge access on an international itinerary. This includes and domestic sectors on the same itinerary and you will need to show the ticket (e-ticket receipt is ok) to the lounge agent to get access.
One trick if you have the timings allow is to take domestic sectors of international flights in Business.

This does give J lounge access in the international terminals. The only issue here is that there are not than many flights.

OFFICIALLY, it doesn't get you QP access, however it is rarely enforced.

Dave
 
[/quote]NM wrote:
You can always ask them to take you into the lounge as their guest. A member can take in one guest each time they visit, providing both the member and guest are flying.[/quote]

I'm collecting friends from Adelaide at BNE terminal tomorrow and will see how my esteemed QC and/or PS status gets me and Mrs Groundfeeder in for a coffee or 3 beforehand.

In my experience (when not flying on the day) QP staff have never refused this request throughout Strailya.
 
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