Inside the New Escape Lounge at Cairns Airport

The Escape Lounge opened in the international terminal of Cairns Airport in February, taking over the space of the former Reef Lounge. Initial reviews are quite positive.

Who has access to the Escape Lounge in Cairns?

The international Escape Lounge is available to Business Class passengers and eligible frequent flyers travelling from Cairns with Singapore Airlines, Fiji Airways and Cathay Pacific.

It also accepts DragonPass, so CommBank Ultimate Awards cardholders can use their two annual DragonPass lounge visits here. It just recently started accepting Priority Pass, too!

Alternatively, anyone departing Cairns on an international flight can pre-purchase access online for $60 or pay $70 at the door.

What’s the Escape Lounge in Cairns like?

An AFF member recently visited the Cairns Escape Lounge and sent us some photos to include in this article.

While it’s not quite up to the standards you’d expect of some of the top international lounges at Sydney Airport, it’s a quiet space with fast Wi-Fi and solid food and drink options.

There’s plenty of seating for the relatively small number of people using the space.

In addition to the buffet, more food is available to order from the kitchen, either from the brunch or lunch & dinner menu depending on the time of day.

The lounge recently received its liquor license, so there’s now a selection of red, white and sparkling wines available, including this sparkling wine:

There’s also a decent selection of spirits available. That’s in addition to beer, cider, soft drinks and hot beverages.

Here’s what AFF member Zinger recently wrote about the Escape Lounge in Cairns’ international terminal on our forum:

Staff are very welcoming, efficient and happily volunteered information about what’s available and where in the lounge.

There’s plenty of room to sit and there are also plenty of power points to recharge devices.

Food is quite adequate as are the drinks available. There’s also the menu for more substantial food offerings but I’ll save room for what’s on my flights. 

Overall the lounge is so much better than what I was expecting. A bit basic but everything I was hoping for is here.

Zinger on the AFF forum

New lounge to open in Cairns domestic terminal?

There’s a rumour going around that the same lounge operator could also soon open an Escape Lounge in the domestic terminal at Cairns Airport. This would use the site of the old Virgin Australia Lounge in Cairns, which closed in 2020 and never reopened.

We’ll have to wait and see if this does indeed happen. If it does, and the new lounge accepts Priority Pass, that would be another great addition to Cairns Airport – in the absence of Virgin Australia reopening its lounge there, anyway.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to more than 100 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.