Worst Domestic Qantas Lounges & What Can be Done About It?

[kangarooflyer88]

I've noticed over the past few days that some of us have been griping about the state of Qantas lounges, particularly across the domestic network with some arguing that the QF J lounge is actually worse than the Qantas Pub in SYD, or @RooFlyer arguing that the QF Pub at their home airport of HBA being an absolute disgrace.

Hence, I thought I'd start a thread to discuss the shortcomings of the Qantas lounges, and also to poll the community to identify what they think the worst domestic Qantas lounge is. If you were Uncle Alan and could wave a magic wand to fix a lounge which one would you choose and how would you make it tolerable?

Notes: For polling purposes I make no distinction between Qantas Pub versus Qantas Business Lounge. I simply list the airports, and let you choose which one you think is the worst. Also, apparently the polling feature doesn't let me specify more than 10 choices despite Qantas having domestic lounges at 24 airports.

-RooFlyer88

 

[RooFlyer]

No surprise with my vote Despite my general contempt for Qantas these days, and its overcrowded Hobart lounge with public-toilet standard toilets and minimal catering, I don't lay all the blame on them. I'm equally contemptuous of the management of Hobart Airport who keep ballsing up their 'Master Plans'# and won't spend the capital to give us a decent terminal building.

# They keep underestimating the traffic numbers & had to abandon the last Master Plan 1/2 way through when they realised it was inadequate. Now focussing on soaking the Feds for $100m+ to strengthen their runway, having extended it a few years ago, but not constructed strong enough to take the fully fuelled larger jets that the extension was built for.

 

[#flying]

Surely OOL should be an option?

 

[jase05]

For the Capital cities it’s a closely run race between SYD J lounge and HBA with HBA “winning” the title due to its third world loos. Less chance of catching something from a hole in the ground in Mumbai than daring to enter the HBA cesspit. A bulldozer is the only thing that will fix that lounge.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

No surprise with my vote Despite my general contempt for Qantas these days, and its overcrowded Hobart lounge with public-toilet standard toilets and minimal catering, I don't lay all the blame on them. I'm equally contemptuous of the management of Hobart Airport who keep ballsing up their 'Master Plans'# and won't spend the capital to give us a decent terminal building.

I thought about the options and whilst I'm not a huge fan of SYD QF lounges as they tend to be overcrowded, at least you've got options with the QF Executive Lounge with its good runway views (formally the QF Club) and the QF Business lounge (with it's quality selection of $10 rosé sourced from the finest goon in ADL).

Surely OOL should be an option?

Would love to include Gold Coast and other airports, but as noted above, the system only lets me provide 10 options so I had to stick with the "major" airports. Whether OOL is a more significant airport than HBA is up for debate, these days!

 

[dkr]

I would've focussed on the 10 most likely to be in the worst condition, including SYD, HBA and OOL. Listing CBR, MEL, BNE seems like a waste of those 10 precious slots.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I would've focussed on the 10 most likely to be in the worst condition, including SYD, HBA and OOL. Listing CBR, MEL, BNE seems like a waste of those 10 precious slots.

Those airports were added simply because they represent the capitals of their respective states/territories. An argument could be made that the MEL and BNE QF Pub ain't so great on account of the limited apron views.

 

[SYD]

Those airports were added simply because they represent the capitals of their respective states/territories. An argument could be made that the MEL and BNE QF Pub ain't so great on account of the limited apron views.

If that’s one of the important criteria, you are going to wet yourself when you finally make it into the SYD QF F Lounge….

 

[Lynda2475]

MEL QPub and J Lounges are amongst the most recently renovated, so shouldt expect anything further anytime soon.

Whilst HBA is absolutely woeful, Id argue that SYD domestic lounges are most deserving of the next upgrade given they serve the most flyers on any given day. The difference between the QPub and the J lounge is barely noticeable, Rose aside. Whereas in MEL and PER the differentiation between QPub and J Lounge is far more obvious.

 

[Mrsfefe]

Newcastle Airport, where the airline lounge is so bad it doesn’t exist! 13 th busiest airport in the country, 1.2 million passengers a year, no airline lounge of any description. Can’t get much worse than non- existent.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Newcastle Airport, where the airline lounge is so bad it doesn’t exist! 13 th busiest airport in the country, 1.2 million passengers a year, no airline lounge of any description. Can’t get much worse than non- existent.

Given the strong restaurant and shopping option at NTL, I reckon many folks on this forum who are based on HBA would resent that comparison!

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Also I just flew Virgin from OOL to ADL in J and boy was I surprised with the quality of the lounge. Way better food spread than Qantas lounges, arrival lounge access as a Gold/Business traveller in ADL, giving me time to freshen up and grab a to go coffee before my bag arrived out on the conveyor and guess what? Actual seating options!

 

[Princess Fiona]

Newcastle Airport, where the airline lounge is so bad it doesn’t exist! 13 th busiest airport in the country, 1.2 million passengers a year, no airline lounge of any description. Can’t get much worse than non- existent.

Regardless of pax numbers there are absolutely miniscule QF flights out of NTL.
3 to BNE and 2 to MEL

Nowhere near enough to support a lounge.
I actually don’t mind the bar at NTL. It has great views.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Also I just flew Virgin from OOL to ADL in J and boy was I surprised with the quality of the lounge. Way better food spread than Qantas lounges, arrival lounge access as a Gold/Business traveller in ADL, giving me time to freshen up and grab a to go coffee before my bag arrived out on the conveyor and guess what? Actual seating options!
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A bit off topic for your thread though

 

[kangarooflyer88]

A bit off topic for your thread though

Respectfully disagree. Using the word worst implies that there is some sort of comparison going on and comparing it to its domestic rivals seems reasonable.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Respectfully disagree. Using the word worst implies that there is some sort of comparison going on and comparing it to its domestic rivals seems reasonable.

The comparison with your poll is other QF lounges.
There is plenty of discussion elsewhere on the forum on the relative merits of VA and QF lounges.

<ADMIN HAT
Please stick to the topic of Worst QF Domestic Lounges. Other posts may be deleted or moved.
ADMIN HAT>

 

[Matt_01]

Regardless of pax numbers there are absolutely miniscule QF flights out of NTL.
3 to BNE and 2 to MEL

You forgot ADL Not sure how often it operates but there is a direct QF flight (well at least the flight number) ADL-NTL. It got me to/from the AFF gathering and even better the VIP team upgraded me on the way there , love the single seat on the A side.

 

[Matt_01]

Notes: For polling purposes I make no distinction between Qantas Pub versus Qantas Business Lounge.

How does this make sense 5 out of the 10 lounges you listed have J lounges. The other 5 are not major business hubs although I think I read somewhere that QF is planning a J lounge for ADL, go figure.

 

[RooFlyer]

How does this make sense 5 out of the 10 lounges you listed have J lounges. The other 5 are not major business hubs although I think I read somewhere that QF is planning a J lounge for ADL, go figure.

It doesn’t matter what other lounges are in the poll. Pro rata, the Hobart lounge will win every time.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

The comparison with your poll is other QF lounges.
There is plenty of discussion elsewhere on the forum on the relative merits of VA and QF lounges.

<ADMIN HAT
Please stick to the topic of Worst QF Domestic Lounges. Other posts may be deleted or moved.
ADMIN HAT>

Fair point, and I think bringing the comparison I made to the Virgin lounges back to the topic at hand, there are some clear things Qantas could do to improve the lounges:

• Food: Offer more than scraps like lettuce, ham, slices of cheese to build your own toastie. I'm sorry but that's really starting to get tired. Good lounge would spice things up by rotating what's available on the menu so that dining at the lounge will actually be something you look forward to. Even within the lounge network, I think we could agree that we see some variance in the quality of food (and I would argue Sydney is amongst the worst in terms of lounge food aside from the eye sore across the Bass strait).
• Hours: One of the issues with QF domestic lounges is the hours vary a lot from lounge to lounge. Yes large airports like SYD and MEL have lounges which operate an hour before the first flight takes off till the last QF flight. But other lounges like HBA or DRW are timed so it opens exactly one hour prior to a QF take off. Contrast this with Virgin, where so far as I can see they are consistent: an hour before first Virgin flight till the last Virgin flight. I can't tell you the number of times I've been surprised to show up to the airport 2 hours prior to departure only to see the Qantas lounge is closed. Moving to a Virgin model would elevate the status of the lounges in those regional centres, and would provide Qantas Group with a more differentiated product offering. After all, if I'm gonna get more or less the same thing flying Virgin or Qantas out of HBA and Virgin is offering me a lower fare and more status credits, why bother with the roo?
• Seating: Some QF lounges do a good job at providing adequate seating for members like MEL or BNE. SYD post-lockdown has been a mess and I've always struggled to find a spot.
• Views: Yes please! This is apparent in the SYD J lounge where at most you'll get hangar views whereas the SYD Pub gets good take off and landing views. The QF J lounges at BNE and MEL also offer decent views and penalize those who are in the QF Pub, whether that is right or wrong, I'll leave the up for debate, but at least no one can argue that QF has their priorities mixed there! Other lounges like CBR and ADL provide acceptable views.
• Business Centre: Perhaps I've been as blind as a bat the last few times that I've been to the QF lounges domestically but I don't see any! Sure there are little areas where you can sit down with your laptop and work away, but not a proper business centre like you would see in North American domestic lounges that have things like cubicles, printers, etc. Now look I'm not an ASX type dude who needs to get a hardcopy every time I visit the QF lounge, but from time to time having that facility can be useful.

How does this make sense 5 out of the 10 lounges you listed have J lounges. The other 5 are not major business hubs although I think I read somewhere that QF is planning a J lounge for ADL, go figure.

If anyone can suggest a list of 10 airports that they think are contenders for the worst QF lounges in Australia, I'd love to hear it! I have no issue changing the poll around if my obvious choices aren't relevant for the discussion.

-RooFlyer88