Qantas will begin selling one-time access passes for entry to its domestic Qantas Club and international Business lounges.
Passes will be offered to Bronze and Silver frequent flyer members by invitation only. Eligible members will be emailed between two and five days before their flight with the offer to purchase access.
One-time access passes for domestic Qantas Club lounges, which are found at all major Australian airports, will initially cost either $49 or 7,000 points. Entry to international Business lounges will cost $69 and access to Qantas’ premium lounges in Singapore and Hong Kong will be priced at $99. These prices may change in future, depending on the initial uptake.
Some existing Qantas Club members have expressed concerns that this move could lead to overcrowding in some of Qantas’ already full lounges.
More money for Qantas, less amenity for its status and QP paying passengers.
This makes a mockery of those who pay good money for an annual membership, not to mention a joining fee, or those who give QF a lot of business being a QF SG member.
However, Qantas has promised that passes will only be sold to passengers travelling off-peak, when the lounges unlikely to be full. For domestic lounges, off-peak periods are generally during the middle of the day from Monday to Friday, Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings. Peak periods when passes are unlikely to be offered include Monday mornings, Friday and Sunday evenings, and school holidays.
The general consensus among our members is that this is a welcome move. The new lounge passes will give infrequent flyers an opportunity treat themselves to a little bit of lounge luxury. However, some members say they are unlikely to pay the prices Qantas is asking for lounge access.
I think all the prices are too steep – the QF lounges in Singapore etc. are nice but $99?
One member believes that the money would be better spent at a nice restaurant.
Could get a lot of good food in the airport in Singapore for $99!
If there are multiple passengers on your booking, you will be able to choose to purchase access for individual passengers. This could be useful, for example, if you already have lounge passes for two passengers but there are three people flying.
Passes will be offered at Qantas’ discretion by invitation only, and the entire process will be online. This means no physical lounge passes will be sent out. The shift towards online “virtual” passes is a move likely designed combat the ongoing “black market” sale of Qantas Club passes on websites such as EBay.
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