No Lounge Access on Qantas Codeshares to Tahiti: Why Not?

Codeshare flights are, by definition, operated by another airline. But when you book a codeshare flight on the Qantas website that is marketed by Qantas and has a “QF” flight number, you would generally expect to receive the same frequent flyer benefits that you would if booking an actual Qantas flight. After all, that’s kind of the point of booking a codeshare.

QF-marketed codeshare flights that are operated by any other airline earn the same amount of Qantas Points and status credits as a “prime” Qantas flight. QF codeshares even count towards the minimum four annual Qantas or Jetstar flights that Qantas Frequent Flyer members need to fly each year to earn status, and towards the Qantas-marketed flight requirement for earning Platinum One status.

Qantas Club members should get lounge access on Qantas marketed flights

Furthermore, the Qantas Club page on the Qantas website states that “Qantas Club memberships allow access to eligible lounges when travelling on a Qantas (QF) or domestic Jetstar (JQ) flight number.”

This page goes on to say that: “Each time your next onward flight that day is on a Qantas or domestic Jetstar flight number you’ll have access to Qantas International and International Business Lounges when travelling internationally.”

That seems pretty clear, right? If you’re a Qantas Club member and book a Qantas flight number – regardless of the operating airline – you should have access to the Qantas lounge, right? Well, apparently this isn’t always the case…

Qantas flyers refused entry to Auckland Lounge

Numerous AFF members who are normally eligible for Qantas lounge access have reported being turned away from the Qantas Auckland Lounge, when flying to Papeete on a Qantas codeshare service operated by Air Tahiti Nui. For example, bPeteb who holds Qantas Platinum status wrote:

Turned away from the lounge this afternoon as WP on Qantas booked TN flight to PPT. Suggested we try Strata lounge. Um no. Told agreement with TN was ended a while ago.

bPeteb on the AFF forum

After following up with Qantas Customer Care, bPeteb received a series of conflicting responses claiming both that he should have been entitled to access, and also that he shouldn’t have been.

Another AFF member replied that the Qantas lounges in Singapore have also turned away Qantas flyers who are normally eligible for lounge access when flying to India on a QF-marketed codeshare flight operated by IndiGo.

But concerning if true. I’ve seen reports online of same problem in SIN those with a QF code on Indigo.

What good is buying the QF code if they’re going to pick and choose the benefits on the day.

henrus on the AFF forum

We understand that Qantas’ internal policy is indeed not to allow lounge access to frequent flyers or Qantas Club members travelling on codeshare services operated by partner airlines such as Air Tahiti Nui or IndiGo. But this seems unfair, especially when the information available on the Qantas website is conflicting.

How does Qantas advertise its lounge access policy on Air Tahiti Nui codeshare flights?

The Qantas webpage on Qantas and partner airport lounge access indicates that Qantas Club, Gold, Platinum and Platinum One members have access to Qantas International Lounges (like the one in Auckland) when travelling on a Qantas flight number:

However, Qantas attaches some fine print to this. Scroll down to the “Important information” section at the bottom of that page, and you’ll see that footnote “1” says:

The flight can be operated by a non-Qantas carrier, unless travelling with a Qantas Club Flexible membership. For eligible customers booked on a Qantas flight number on codeshare routes with partner airlines, refer to each individual partner page for lounge access eligibility.

If you then go to the individual partner page for Air Tahiti Nui, you’ll find the following table with information about lounge access on codeshare flights:

Indeed, this table does indicate that no access is available to the Qantas Lounge in Auckland when flying Economy on a Qantas codeshare service operated by Air Tahiti Nui – even for Platinum One members.

However, I think it’s also worth calling out that this table makes no sense. The table indicates that eligible Qantas flyers do get lounge access when travelling on a codeshare service operated by Air Tahiti Nui, “when departing on a Qantas operated flight”. Think about that for a moment. A flight operated by Air Tahiti Nui can never be a Qantas operated flight… because it’s operated by Air Tahiti Nui. 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Either way, case closed… right? Well, not so fast…

This contradicts the advertised Qantas Club benefits

Remember how Qantas Club advertises access to eligible lounges “when travelling on a Qantas (QF) flight number”?

The Qantas Club membership terms and conditions do not mention anything about an exception for codeshare flights operated by certain airlines. It seems pretty clear to me that Qantas Club members should be able to access a Qantas lounge when departing on a QF flight number, regardless of the operating airline.

So, what about Qantas Gold, Platinum and Platinum One frequent flyers?

Well, the advertised Qantas Gold status benefits say this about lounge access:

Here, the Qantas website says that Gold members need to be travelling on a flight that’s marketed and operated by Qantas, Jetstar (domestic only), Emirates, China Eastern or a Oneworld member airline to get lounge access. Air Tahiti Nui is none of these things… so according to this page, Qantas is correct to deny lounge access.

Qantas no longer explicitly advertises that Gold or above frequent flyers receive complimentary Qantas Club membership. Instead, it says that Qantas Frequent Flyer tier benefits “contain more widespread lounge access globally”, and therefore will prevail in the event someone with Gold or higher status is also entitled to Qantas Club membership (e.g. through Points Club Plus).

So, this probably isn’t technically misleading advertising when looking at advertised lounge access benefits for Qantas Gold, Platinum and Platinum One members. I’m less sure about that for Qantas Club members. Either way, this stuff is way too complicated…

Qantas should change this policy

Regardless of the semantics, the fact remains that Qantas has deliberately chosen not to provide access to its own lounges to its frequent flyers travelling on certain QF-marketed codeshare flights. This wasn’t always the case. Qantas used to provide lounge access in this situation, but no longer does.

This is disappointing because consistent frequent flyer benefits when flying international partner airlines is usually something Qantas does much better than its main rival, Virgin Australia.

I suspect most Qantas frequent flyers would be surprised and disappointed if they came across this policy and were denied lounge access after specifically choosing to book a codeshare flight through Qantas – and often paying more for that privilege.

This policy probably only affects a handful of people each day, so would it really hurt Qantas to change it?

Keep in mind that airlines make a commission for every codeshare flight sold. It seems Qantas wants to have its cake and eat it too.

Perhaps Qantas should also remember that denying lounge access to a loyal customer who believes they should be entitled to it is one of the quickest and easiest ways to lose that loyalty.

Qantas did not provide a response to Australian Frequent Flyer‘s questions about this issue.