Disappointing Qantas Club Experience

[Spongbob]

... limp salads, dry pastas and the cheapest cheese/ham slices they can find.

Reminds me of home!

 

[DC3]

The OP seems to have moved on. As posted, it was just meant to be a rant.

 

[Cognac]

Lounges are a bit depressing at the moment. Pleasant enough sanctuary if you have to travel but I wouldn't be looking forward to the experience. My hot tip is that if you reckon you might be wanting two drinks, order them both when you're at the bar. I've seen Melbourne business queued back beyond the bathrooms (bathrooms, not toilets!) and one person serving drinks.

The domestic J lounge in Melbourne is so hit-or-miss. I've been in there and been the only one in queue for a coffee at 10am, but more often than not there's a 10+ person queue that never seems to diminish. Like, it's great when it's quiet, but when it's busy it's unbelievably busy.

 

[nutwood]

The domestic J lounge in Melbourne is so hit-or-miss. I've been in there and been the only one in queue for a coffee at 10am, but more often than not there's a 10+ person queue that never seems to diminish. Like, it's great when it's quiet, but when it's busy it's unbelievably busy.

My observation has been that it is very dependent on how many people they have rostered on. One person can be ok when it's just coffee, but midday clicks past and that one person is now doing bar and coffee.
Adelaide seems to do it better with regards to service but I have noticed that the dirty plates and glasses seem to accumulate far more than Melbourne. Different priorities.

 

[Lynda2475]

Qanats could reduce the size of the coffee queue if they offered larger sizes - the ceramic cups are super tiny (you need 3 to be the size of a normal takeaway medium coffee) and the take away cups are also small. So people end up going back multiple times.

 

[astrosly]

Qanats could reduce the size of the coffee queue if they offered larger sizes - the ceramic cups are super tiny (you need 3 to be the size of a normal takeaway medium coffee) and the take away cups are also small. So people end up going back multiple times.

I solve that by asking for a double shot. Staff always happy to do that

 

[justinbrett]

The domestic J lounge in Melbourne is so hit-or-miss. I've been in there and been the only one in queue for a coffee at 10am, but more often than not there's a 10+ person queue that never seems to diminish. Like, it's great when it's quiet, but when it's busy it's unbelievably busy.

I find a big problem in Sydney is they often have a single person working the bar / coffee in the afternoons - and if someone asks for a coffee the line grows very fast.

Although smaller I find Brisbane almost always has someone working the coffee and another the bar.

 

[RooFlyer]

I find a big problem in Sydney is they often have a single person working the bar / coffee in the afternoons - and if someone asks for a coffee the line grows very fast.

My first visit to the Sydney Biz lounge today for ages. The work flow behind the counters seemed to be poor. Lines of people waiting, but the staff mostly not serving, but doing other tasks. For a while, single person behind the food and OJ counter (OJ, soup, mains and sweets areas) and single person behind the bar.

If they put bottles of the wines they are serving up on the counter, people could see and the staff wouldn't have to answer every customer : "what white/reds are you serving?"

As I noted up-thread, the Hobart lounge has always been self-serve (its pretty limited!), including coffee. I can't see why coffee machines at least in the larger lounges can't also be self-serve again. Or are people in Hobart deemed (or actually) perfectly clean?

Gee its nice to be whinging about flying-related things again

 

[clifford]

My first visit to the Sydney Biz lounge today for ages. The work flow behind the counters seemed to be poor.

Perhaps it should be more like the HBA lounge. Help yourself...

Oh, heaven forbid.

 

[Virgin Bart]

I was in the Adelaide QP last week and the bread rolls with the soup were almost inedible they were so stale. It shouldn't be that hard to have a reasonably fresh bread roll

This is, in my experience, a recurring issue at the Adelaide QP. It's absolutely bizarre.

 

[justinbrett]

This is, in my experience, a recurring issue at the Adelaide QP. It's absolutely bizarre.

They’re stale because nobody eats them. Nobody eats them because they’re stale. It’s a vicious cycle.

 

[ramboflyer]

Mrs ramboflyer and I travelled from Hobart to Coolangatta return on Qantas recently and had stopovers in Sydney both ways. I had some Qantas club lounge passes thanks to credit cards and not flying during 2020. On the outward journey the 8am offering was a small roll, ham cheese and boiled egg. Also a nice small fruit bowl so not too bad but I was hoping for something cooked, even if it was a toasted sandwich.

A different story on the way home. Only offering to start with was a green curry rice dish and that was it. We passed. A little while later chicken wings were on offer with slices of onion! We had some but they were mostly dry and unappetising. Very disappointing.
As for what was served on the flights in economy we chuckled at the silliness of what they served. All packet stuff. The last lot was about 6 small biscuits with a sweet or sour dipping sauce.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Both QF and VA have very conveniently used Covid to its full advantage.

 

[jakeseven7]

One of the worst lounges you will find unfortunately.

VA lounge in HBA is worser

 

[Freq Flier 2013]

They’re stale because nobody eats them. Nobody eats them because they’re stale. It’s a vicious cycle.

And we will soon get an announcement “due to customer feedback the bread rolls will be removed as our customers do not want them” as part of enhancing the customer experience

 

[Hvr]

And we will soon get an announcement “due to customer feedback the bread rolls will be removed as our customers do not want them” as part of enhancing the customer experience

It's one way to save some dough.

 

[AIRwin]

It's one way to save some dough.

But it's a bread and butter issue...

 

[nutwood]

But it's a bread and butter issue...

That's a stale joke. I refuse to rise to it.

 

[VPS]

@Hvr et al - get thee to the humour thread -

 

[nutwood]

@Hvr et al - get thee to the humour thread -

They're pretty crummy jokes. Not really worth it.