Do I get Admirals Lounge access on Qantas Business reward U class?

[dkr]

Correction - All Admirals Clubs are terrible. They're all pretty much the same - crowded and offering soup and cheese in disposable containers. Alcohol costs extra, as does proper food ($14 for a toastie in the lounge anyone?)

The good lounges on the network are the flagship lounges and Soho/Chelsea/Greenwich in JFK.

The new AC at DCA is a great hard product as far as the space goes, but it's disgraceful that any decent food and bev is paid.

 

[kpro]

Incorrect on all accounts

Well I'm here in the States right now, and I remain un-impressed with the Admirals Clubs I've visited in the last week.

Granted I haven't fronted to the bar for any alcohol, I just assumed they still charged. So I take that back if it's no longer chargeable. Complimentary food remains poor IMO. They don't even seem to serve cookies anymore which I used to enjoy.

Substantial food - including sandwiches and toasties remain paid. There is a QR code at the seating areas which loads a menu.

And even then Qantas members accessing A/C's would get drink vouchers ...

Two vouchers - but don't forget to tip.

 

[justinbrett]

Well I'm here in the States right now, and I remain un-impressed with the Admirals Clubs I've visited in the last week.

Granted I haven't fronted to the bar for any alcohol, I just assumed they still charged. So I take that back if it's no longer chargeable. Complimentary food remains poor IMO. They don't even seem to serve cookies anymore which I used to enjoy.

Substantial food - including sandwiches and toasties remain paid. There is a QR code at the seating areas which loads a menu.

Two vouchers - but don't forget to tip.

As I said - it varies. I've been to good ones, I've been to bad ones.

This is the published menu:


The good ACs have the items with asterisks. I've certainly been to quite a few of them.

I'm not saying they're the bee's knees of lounges, but I don't think they're any worse than a domestic QP. You can't even get cheese in QF J lounges these days.

 

[serfty]

Two vouchers - but don't forget to tip.

I always went back to get more if required.

 

[SYD]

Two vouchers - but don't forget to tip.

As an aside, AS lounges have free booze and a no tipping policy!

 

[kpro]

I'm not saying they're the bee's knees of lounges, but I don't think they're any worse than a domestic QP. You can't even get cheese in QF J lounges these days.

I agree there are some areas where the experience has improved in the AC's. I personally still think I'd much prefer to be in a QP (or better yet a Dom J lounge), where I can grab a toastie and a decent barista made coffee.
We all are critics of Qantas here, and I don't think it would go down well either if they made the switch to permanent disposable cutlery/plates and paid menu options in their lounges.

You can't even get cheese in QF J lounges these days.

In regards to the cheese in the AC's - we're not talking camembert's and brie's here. They're cubes of cheddar which you could probably argue aren't much different to the slices of cheese QF put out in the toastie station.

Here's a picture I took yesterday, the cheese is towards the bottom left.

 

[Townsend]

Incorrect on all accounts, some are really nice and most are fine. PHX is especially terrible.

Food varies. Can be quite good. On average I‘d say on par with Qantas Clubs these days.

Basic beer, wine and spirits are free. As much as you want (no ticket system)

describing the ACs of 20 years ago.

I was in an AA lounge in Phoenix in Feb. Cannot remember which one but probably Flagship. Small lounge but had a staff member making toast with fresh salsa on it. Together with a free bloody Mary….I enjoyed it! I didn’t enjoy anything else about that airport!

 

[justinbrett]

I was in an AA lounge in Phoenix in Feb. Cannot remember which one but probably Flagship. Small lounge but had a staff member making toast with fresh salsa on it. Together with a free bloody Mary….I enjoyed it! I didn’t enjoy anything else about that airport!

There's no Flagship at PHX.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

AAdmirals Clubs have one thing going for them... generous pours of alcohol. No such relief in QF equivalents.

I actually find AA clubs ok. Q clubs and AA counterparts each have their pros and cons.

During IRROPS AA club angels work magic.

 

[ksthommo]

Two vouchers - but don't forget to tip.

Asked for vouchers last September at the Denver AA Lounge, told they were discontinued.

 

[serfty]

Asked for vouchers last September at the Denver AA Lounge, told they were discontinued.

There was a period pre covid where both the complimentary basic drinks and the vouchers were available. Later in this period, they tied the voucher to boarding passes, eventually discontinuing them.

 

[justinbrett]

There was a period pre covid where both the complimentary basic drinks and the vouchers were available. Later in this period, they tied the voucher to boarding passes, eventually discontinuing them.

Yep - it was there in Jan 2020, gone in Jan 2022 - my two trips either side of Covid.

Fair enough really, the complimentary drinks are fine, you don't get anything special in the QF domestic lounges. Especially because they can still do basic coughtails for free, they just use the house spirits (eg Margaritas / Bloody Marys). I think Mimosas are the only drinks they can't do for free as there's no complimentary bubbles.

You can't even get an off-menu coughtail at the QF F lounges these days.

 

[Lynda2475]

As OWE flying AA Domestic First (aka business) I know i will get Flagship Access at DFW and JFK, i was just disappointed to learn there isn't even an AC at MSY or IND. Will feel off having to slum it int he terminal with everyone else.

 

[serfty]

As OWE flying AA Domestic First (aka business) I know i will get Flagship Access at DFW and JFK, i was just disappointed to learn there isn't even an AC at MSY or IND. Will feel off having to slum it int he terminal with everyone else.

It happens. There is still no AC as LAS; back in the day I flew out of MCO a few times and the was no AC there either (there is now).

Always good to research (I have been known to take lounge availability and access into account as part of my travel decision making).

 

[SYD]

It happens. There is still no AC as LAS; back in the day I flew out of MCO a few times and the was no AC there either (there is now).

Always good to research (I have been known to take lounge availability and access into account as part of my travel decision making).

Staying slightly OT, the lack of lounge in YVR for AA and AS PAX hopping back States side is odd.

 

[justinbrett]

It happens. There is still no AC as LAS; back in the day I flew out of MCO a few times and the was no AC there either (there is now).

Always good to research (I have been known to take lounge availability and access into account as part of my travel decision making).

I went to pay for entry at The Club and the lady at the door talked me out of it

I've adopted Chili's as my LAS Lounge. A couple of margaritas and some wings passes the time quite well, and cheaper than a lounge day pass.

I also learnt on my last visit you're allowed to walk around the terminal with alcohol (just like the strip). There's a small bar near the AA gates that serves drinks in plastic cups.

 

[RichardMEL]

I've had experience of the AA CLT main (C gate iirc) AC over the past few months. The basic house wine, beer, spirts etc definitely free (and there was a busy queue and while there was a tip jar, there was no indication or pressure to tip, in fact they were getting through people on one occasion as fast as possible it somehow would have not worked somehow unless you were one of the bar flies, or buying a coughtail or "premium" beverage imo. Snacks were OK but not to a QC level )note all those people who whine about the domestic QC's) but not terrible - fruit, cookies, some chocolate brownies I may have eaten too many of lol, the salty snack mix/pretzel things, an fresh guac station in afternoons were popular(not my cup of terrible coffee).. soft drinks via those 50 bazillion flavour fancy machines, plus coffee, tea etc. Is it great? nope. Is it terrible? also no. I had to spend one layover of 4 hours there, and that tested me a bit (but had lunch at chick-fil-a out in the food court anyway) but was fine - if crowded at peak times - for charging points, drinks (alc or not) and light bites.

Of course, DFW flagship is lightyears ahead of this in many respects, but of course that's a different level of lounge (and lucky as OWE we can access before even dom AA/AS flights).

the US legacy airline lounges have usually been pretty low standard compared to what we've been used to with QC's, Korus and so on in our part of the world being quite a deal better, but the AA lounges I've visited (and yes I remember the PHX lounges too) have improved somewhat over the years.

Just need to go in with appropriate expectations imo.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Thanks - disappointing with a 3 hour layover in Phoenix!

Lounge access is a very difficult question to answer since it's based on a number of factors such as the class of service you are travelling on (and airline), your frequent flyer status (and with what airline), routings and a few other things. One thing you should always keep in mind when you are travelling is not to tie yourself to the lounge associated with the airline operating your flight.

In your example, flying American Airlines, you'll generally have access to OneWorld lounges which would include airlines like British Airways, Qantas, FinnAir, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysian, etc. Looking specifically at Phoenix, I see that there is really just one lounge (American) which unless you have frequent flyer status with a non-US airline (i.e. Qantas or British Airways) you wouldn't have access to. Now I haven't been to American Airlines Admirals lounges but from what I hear they are very much like lounges operated by other US domestic airlines (i.e. United). In other words not much to write home about. And from what I can see in general at Phoenix, there's not much in terms of lounges (indeed there's not a single priority pass lounge at Phoenix which says a lot). Having been to Phoenix a number of times, frankly I don't have much of a recommendation for you other than to bide your time with Starbucks or some bar at the airport.

-RooFlyer88

 

[Kangol]

I informed her we were flying out of EWR with SQ, her answer was why didn't we fly SQ from JFK so she could go to the AA lounge.

Did you have the heart to tell her that flying out of JFK on SQ would not give her access to the AA lounge?

 

[Matt_01]

Did you have the heart to tell her that flying out of JFK on SQ would not give her access to the AA lounge?

No need, I just told her we just had to check in early, walked them to the train and was in the UA Polaris lounge within 10-15 minutes. It took longer to get into the lounge than the travel time to get there. The UA Polaris lounge at EWR is a much better offering than the VS lounge that SQ contracts with. In saying this I was aware that the lounges are in different terminals but the easy part is the US don't have leaving rules.