Qantas has permanently closed another of its Qantas Club airport lounges. Qantas Club members and other eligible customers flying from Bangkok are now being redirected to the Louis Tavern CIP Lounge in Concourse G.
A number of members believe the change is a detrimental one as the CIP lounge is not up to the same standard as the former Qantas Club lounge. In addition, some passengers who would previously have had access to the Qantas Club will not be admitted into the new lounge.
Nonetheless, the closure does not come as a surprise to some members. Qantas operate only one flight a day to Bangkok, and the existing Qantas Club was reaching a stage where imminent refurbishment might have been necessary.
Eligible Gold and Platinum frequent flyers continue to have the option to visit other oneworld lounges instead, as well as the Emirates lounge. Many consider the Cathay Pacific and Emirates lounges to be better options anyway, as they offer better facilities and a wider selection of food and drinks. However, paid Qantas Club members do not have the luxury of choosing to visit another lounge.
First reaction was slight disappointment, but after more thought, probably a smart move by QF. BKK is unlikely to be a priority in the future. With EK and CX lounges offering high quality alternatives, no big loss for OW elites. QP members will be worse off it seems.
Some members opine that Qantas Club membership is increasingly losing its value, particularly for international travellers. Just a few years ago, Qantas Club members lost access to British Airways lounges. The list of available lounges in overseas airports has been in a slow but steady decline since.
Although Qantas Club members will have access to the CIP Lounge in Bangkok when flying on Qantas marketed flights (e.g. QF24 to Sydney), they will no longer have access when flying Jetstar. Jetstar fly from Bangkok to Melbourne, Singapore, Fukuoka, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This loss is lamented by numerous members.
Also regularly used the lounge whenever I had to fly to SIN for the day on J* (when QP membership was a good idea) – would like to know what value QP really is these days to anyone flying internationally; seems an awful lot of money without really getting value back.
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