Qantas Club members, as well as Gold and Platinum frequent flyers, have access to Qantas lounges when flying Qantas or Jetstar. In addition, Gold and Platinum members can access the lounge when flying on Emirates, or any of Qantas’ oneworld partner airlines. But does this extend to Fiji Airways?
Does anyone know if you can access the QF First Lounge in Sydney when booked on Fiji Airways under the FJ code as a QF WP?
Fiji Airways is a Qantas partner airline. Qantas points can be earned and redeemed for flights on Fiji Airways. But this arrangement does not officially extend to lounge access.
No you can’t. Both times I’ve been on a QF flight number they’ve made a very big deal of that when entering the lounge. It was almost weird.
There is one exception to this rule, and that’s if you’ve bought a codeshare ticket. Qantas sells tickets on Fiji Airways flights under its own “QF” flight numbers. If you buy the ticket through Qantas, and you’re booked on a QF flight number, then you will have access to the Qantas lounge.
The advantage of booking a QF code is that the flight is treated just like a normal Qantas flight in terms of frequent flyer benefits. This means not only that you’ll receive access to the lounge, but also more points and status credits. Qantas-coded flights that are operated by other airlines also count towards your loyalty bonus and the 4 annual flights required to retain status with Qantas. This applies to any flight with a QF code, regardless of the operating airline.
So if you’re planning a holiday to Fiji, it’s worth comparing prices with both Qantas and Fiji Airways. You’ll be on exactly the same aircraft, but you’ll receive lounge access and other aforementioned benefits by booking through Qantas.
Although there can be a price difference between booking the QF or FJ (Fiji Airways) code, this is usually minimal. One member found that the fare difference on a random date was just $1.
Actually, looking at a random date (07 Mar 2017). Booking FJ whY one way SYD-NAN is $1 more than same flight with QF flight # ($250 v $249). If you have QF 1st or J lounge access, there really shouldn’t be a question about booking QF flights (also better SCs). If, for some reason, there is a price difference, you could book oneway flights over and separate back. QF over for 1st Lounge access and FJ back still should give you Tabua Lounge access.
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