Does Qantas Club work for me [value wise]

[jasonfungsing]

I am thinking of joining the Qantas Club with the discounted joining fee and 1st year fee with my ANZ frequent flyer black card.

Instead of paying relugar $399+$540=$939, I am paying $442. After one year, I will be on an employee rate, which is around $400 per year(can’t remember the exact number).

About my travel, QF bronze status, don’t think will get Sliver. Travel domestic with QF or JQ 3~4 times a year, CX once or twice to HKG a year, JAL once or twice to Japan, all in economy. I don’t have status(Silver or up) with QF, CX or JAL. I am based on SYD.

Will the roughly $400 per annual worh for me? Thanks.

 

[benjy]

How much is using the Qantas Lounge worth for you for the times you visit?

How much is worth to you for being able to sit in the lounge waiting for the flight instead of the gate?
How much would you usually spend in the airport for food or drink if you didn't have lounge access?

Plenty more questions, only you are able to decide if $400 a year for lounge access it worth it for you.

 

[TomVexille]

Bearing in mind that QC membership will not get you lounge access when flying CX and JL, that's about $50 a visit assuming 4 return domestic trips, maybe less if flying JQ exSYD (and not wanting to terminal hop).

In that case it's not worth it to me. If your HKG and Japan trips were on QF, then it's closer to decent value.

 

[jasonfungsing]

How much is using the Qantas Lounge worth for you for the times you visit?

How much is worth to you for being able to sit in the lounge waiting for the flight instead of the gate?
How much would you usually spend in the airport for food or drink if you didn't have lounge access?

Plenty more questions, only you are able to decide if $400 a year for lounge access it worth it for you.

Thanks for the questions, this makes me do more calculations.

I normally eat in the airport for around $20-30, sometimes more, no drink though. Based on my annualy travel, I would say around 10-20 times(if I can access overseas/partner lounges at HKG, Japan and New Zealand).

 

[jasonfungsing]

Bearing in mind that QC membership will not get you lounge access when flying CX and JL

Damn it, just checked on QC website. Onward flight need to be QF or JQ.

Thanks for the info.

I guess in case I opt in all QF flights, not worth for me.

 

[moa999]

can access overseas/partner lounges at HKG, Japan and New Zealand

Nope.
Qantas club is generally only Qantas and AA lounges, with a few exceptions detailed on the site.
It's not a oneworld membership.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Don't do it. After 10 years of membership I gave my Qantas club up in 2018.

 

[juddles]

.. no drink though......

Bingo. Not worth it. Despite how expensive airport food is, for $40-$50 per airport visit you can do so much better than a QC lounge.

IMHO.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Paying for Qantas Club membership for the food is, in my opinion, not worth it.

CX and JL travel wont let you use the Qantad Club as a Bronze or Silver member. That perk only applies if you get to Gold status (or equivalent) with any of the Oneworld members.

If you book all your CX and JL travel using your QFF membershop, you might get to QF Silver status. From memory Qantas gives you 1 (or is it 2?) Complimentary passes to the QF for getting to Silver status.

 

[opusman]

There are also a number of credit cards that give you a couple of QC lounge passes every year. For 3-4 visits a year it doesn't sound worth joining to me, especially if you don't drink.

 

[Daver6]

Not sure where your domestic flights are to, but perhaps a Priority Pass membership might be more beneficial. Sounds like the 10 visit level might be the best option, but you'd need to do the maths. Another option is a credit card that gets you PP access, assuming the other benefits are of use to you as well.

I tend to think if the main benefit someone is looking for is food, then food outside of a lounge is usually better in terms of both quality and choice (obviously some exceptions).

 

[samh004]

Not sure where your domestic flights are to, but perhaps a Priority Pass membership might be more beneficial

I was thinking similarly, especially with dining partners coming online in airports around Australia that don't offer a lounge, where you get a credit for food essentially. Even I'm looking at that for the future and I've been chasing LTG for the past 10 years.

 

[andye]

Think about Amex Plat Charge.
Priority Pass x 2 and Amex Lounges in SYD/HKG as well as all the other benefits.

 

[Daver6]

Think about Amex Plat Charge.
Priority Pass x 2 and Amex Lounges in SYD/HKG as well as all the other benefits.

And additionally Virgin lounges in Australia (OP might consider changing airlines given lack of status) plus Plaza Premium lounges in HKG, SIN and elsewhere. Not forgetting the Amex departure lounge in SYD too. In fact, this is probably a much better option than QP membership if you can make use of the $850 worth of travel credits to offset the cost.

 

[Austman]

Lounges are basically:

Food, drink, showers, relaxation.

Only the best lounges offer good food, close to restaurant standard. But most offer something at least halfway decent.

Drink can be important if you enjoy alcoholic drinks which can be expensive to buy at airports.

Showers are great before/after (when in transit) a long flight or a long day. But not all lounges have showers.

Relaxation is lovely, and more so if your flight is delayed.

 

[cvmceg]

Not worth it. Unless you value the unquantifiable 'feel' of a lounge.

A lot of the time I dont arrive early enough to use them properly

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

If work covers all of the QP/QC, then its worth it.
And If you made many more QF/JQ flight trips than you currently do.
But if you have to pay $400/$440 or $939, I think its just too much.
2 years I paid for QP/and was QF SG for 3 years, total 5, I have let it drop.
Not really worth it.
Being a QP member, QF won't get you a shadow, you still sit in whY, you are still squashed like a sardine in Y.
Not like as if QP member gets you a shadow, or an empty seat next to you, if it did, then, yes, it would be a plus to join QP.
You know what, rather than paying QP, I would go and buy a comfort seating request for all my QF longer sector flights, and eat in the eateries around the departure zone.
QP is a zoo a lot of the time, VA the lounge is also a zoo a lot of the time.
If you want a place of peace, maybe the dom J lounge could be a goer, but not QP.
QP still has a lot of kids, people misbehaving (legs on seats, bags on seats, tables still manky, sometimes it takes a bit of time to clear tables, floor still a mess, people talking loudly, kids talking loudly...).
After 5 years of QF lounge access, as mentioned, I have it drop.
QP is not a peaceful abode, so to speak.

 

[Austman]

Remember too that the international lounges tend to have a different vibe to the domestic.

And that, depending on your situation, Qantas Club membership can be a tax deduction.

 

[33kft]

I've never really been able to reconcile the value, even on heavily discounted intro QC offers. Typically you get to Gold before you get true value unless you fly a lot of short domestic sectors. Taking up a few Credit Cards easily covers off most gaps (even low end AMEX gets you 2 entries per cal year, some like the Q Ultimate also give you 2 AMEX lounge entries for a total of 4 lounge entries per cal yr). You could put the QC fee towards an AMEX annual fee for the Qantas Ultimate ($450) and then reclaim it through lounge access, $450 travel credit and statement credits.

Tax deduction is interesting where it applies but still wouldn't maximize the investment in my eyes. It's a lot of money for a ho-hum experience.

 

[tdimdad]

For your trips to HK and Japan, one option might be to sign up (and pay) for the CX Marco Polo Club and pay for access through them. If you concentrated your international flights to them, you might even get to their silver and have free access to their lounges.