New Qantas Domestic WP & Business Lounges

[Ikara]

Having travelled through Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane in the last week I still can't see anything that looks like the new WP & Business Lounge that is supposed to open in May.

Does anyone have better eyesight than more or know what is going on?

JB

 

[moa999]

Suggestion is that the current "Business Centre" will be making way for the lounges in SYD and MEL

 

[Homer]

Suggestion is that the current "Business Centre" will be making way for the lounges in SYD and MEL

The January frequent flyer email newsletter from QF included some brief information about the new Business Lounges (no more than has been released elsewhere) and this was tacked on to the article:

"We are also building new Qantas Meeting Rooms in Sydney T3 (opening late February) and Melbourne (opening early March). The opening of the Qantas Meeting Rooms will coincide with the closure of the current Qantas Club Business Centres and the introduction of new worksuites and PCs within the Qantas Clubs."


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So reading between the lines, it does seem that the business centres will be the location for the new lounges.

 

[jpk]

Sydney QP yesterday had started boarding up the area between the 2 bars (near where the AMEX stuff usually is) with signs saying it is for the new lounge. I couldn't figure out how that was supposed to work space-wise though...

 

[simongr]

Isnt this exactly what people expected - no net increase in space just a reallocation between pax based on status? In fact potentially a reduction of space due to the creation of more divisions/entry gates etc.

 

[jpk]

Yeah sorry I wasn't too clear there - basically the boarded up bit is in the middle of the current lounge, like an island. As in you can walk around all 4 sides of it. So maybe this is just to hold equipment, or maybe its to build new service/entry desks while keeping the rest of the lounge open. What confused me was trying to figure out how its going to work...

Its possible that the far end of the lounge (the bar that only opens in the evenings, the big screen etc) will be cordoned off to be a separate lounge, but they will try and keep it open as long as possible until the rest of the rennos are done.

 

[serfty]

The less used Northern end of the MEL T1 lounge was closed off toward the end of January and fixtures removed.

Hoardings were put up sometime 1st/2nd February.

The current CL is adjacent to this area; I believe it may be absorbed by this new Business lounge.

Or perhaps, this will become a new PC/Workstation area.

Given the location of the escalators and lift, I think the former.

 

[simongr]

Yeah sorry I wasn't too clear there - basically the boarded up bit is in the middle of the current lounge, like an island.

No need to apologise - my comment was more at a tangent to yours in that when this was first mooted people were wondering where this "extra" space would come from and this (with serfty's pics - which bizarrely have made it through our webfilters) confirm that there is in fact no extra space...

 

[ANstar]

It is a very clever way of degrading the current lounges. I owuld expect hot food etc and maybe even spirits to disappear from the QF club lounges.

In Sydney if it is up towards the end of the heritage museum it would make sense as there is already and entrance desk, bar and kitchen.

 

[serfty]

I... In Sydney if it is up towards the end of the heritage museum it would make sense as there is already and entrance desk, bar and kitchen.

That was the CL area prior to it moving upstairs beside the QP.

 

[Mwenenzi]

The lounge changes seem close to that described is this thread Disturbing 2nd Hand Info about Cost Cutting & Lounges (post takeover) - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[Homer]

The lounge changes seem close to that described is this thread Disturbing 2nd Hand Info about Cost Cutting & Lounges (post takeover) - FlyerTalk Forums

I am not worried about the regular Qantas Club lounge getting smaller or having less food, etc because I'm a WP and I always fly in J.

The Qantas Club has become its namesake on this forum. It used to be quite nice and comfortable but it is now more like a pub than a club. So many Mr and Mrs Stringbags can now pay their couple of hundred bucks a year and join "the club" so they can arrive early and stuff themselves full of cheap food and beer.

The new domestic J/WP lounges can't come soon enough for me...

 

[Yada Yada]

Isnt this exactly what people expected - no net increase in space just a reallocation between pax based on status? In fact potentially a reduction of space due to the creation of more divisions/entry gates etc.

Yes, it's exactly what I expected - smaller QP with less facilities. It will be the first step towards AA type lounges where you get free tea/coffee (as bad as the coffee is) and as much trail mix as you can eat.

 

[serfty]

Yes, it's exactly what I expected - smaller QP with less facilities. It will be the first step towards AA type lounges where you get free tea/coffee (as bad as the coffee is) and as much trail mix as you can eat.

Not going to happen like that; DJ are ensuring it! (see me next post. )

BTW, I would never refer to the dark liquid that comes out of the taps in the AC's as tea or coffee.

 

[serfty]

The lounge changes seem close to that described is this thread Disturbing 2nd Hand Info about Cost Cutting & Lounges (post takeover) - FlyerTalk Forums

That was one of the conjectures before the APA bid failed, both the original and the adjusted!

The landscape has significantly changed since then, especially in respect to lounge access; DJ flyers can purchase lounge access regular get status and really regular DJ flyers get complimentary access to "The Lounge".

Qantas have to compete - Certainly, there will be a difference in catering standards between the QP and lounges, but I'm sure spirits will be retained in the QP's, if nothing else than to make them different from "The Lounge"'s.

One thing I am thinking, is that "will CL's still exist at airports with both Qantas domestic business class lounges and QP's?".

 

[justinbrett]

I doubt they will remove spirits from the clubs and keep beer and wine.

The wholesale price of spirits per nip is less than a single beer. (But the markup on spirits at pubs and clubs is so much more than beer).

 

[ANstar]

Was in the SYD lounge today and noticed the works that were menitoned earlier in the thread. They seem to have dug up a square shape of the floor in the northern end, but left access around it (ie the old service desks that were hardly ever manned were accessible)... you could also walk all the way around if you chose to....... it looked rather strange and random...

 

[simongr]

Perhaps, and this might be a stretch, that this square might some form of "glass elevator" to the new lounge?

 

[QF WP]

Speaking to the BNE QP Manager a couple of weeks ago, the changes in BNE are mooted to start at the end of February. Looks like the FT AGM #6 will be our last one in the current styled QP.

Alas, looks like I won't be able to partake of the new Business Lounge unless I'll be flying in J....