Qantas Chairmans Lounge

[Danger]

Business bosses hide out in the Qantas Chairman's Lounge | afr.com

"Membership of the Chairman's Lounge is elite, small, and hermetically sealed from the rest of the world – a perfect metaphor for the leadership of big business in Australia. As with all such groupings of limited size, the pressure to conform is high. The global business elite have Davos at which they can assuage their guilt for getting paid many multiples of the average wage for doing not much at all. In Australia we have the Chairman's Lounge.

. . .

Few Chairman's Lounge members would notice if their family electricity bill went up by $100 a year because of climate change policies. And because government red tape hurts small business much more than big business, which is one of the reasons why so few business leaders talk about the need to reduce excessive regulation.

A CEO of a big business in Australia is most likely to have attained their status, and therefore their membership of the Chairman's Lounge, not because of their creativity or their skills of entrepreneurship for example, but because they can play corporate politics. The reality is that many CEOs of big businesses in Australia are company bureaucrats. And the companies they work for are bureaucracies that have a culture of bureaucracy.​

 

[chooms]

Another CL thread...

They are basically invitation only Dom F lounges with free pour booze. Enjoyed S+P squid in the PER CL lounge late last year along with a couple JWB's.

SYD CL lounge is dated and pretty ordinary IMO. Still better than the J lounge, but F lounge is still much better.

BNE and ADL lounges tie for the most ordinary, but at least BNE is getting an upgrade with tarmac views.

I am not a member, but I have worked with people who are (including those with access to private jets). You can still see them get their thrill about walking through the 'Private' door and getting shown to a nice plush lounge before being asked for food/drink orders. Auto upgrades (if available), most change requests looked after, personal service, basically fawned over by QF to make sure their business stays with them.

Yes, they are a sanctuary for those who are members not to be seen by outsiders, but they are also a place where many members WANT to be seen by other members.

As for the difference between CL and The Club, think of it as 'new money' versus 'old money'... if you get my drift.

 

[Rono]

I got invited into the CL at Sydney airport by a colleague - he was the CEO of a business that turned over $500m - not all that much I know - anyway it was a different experience. Don't know it it's me or not but I didn't get into the decor - maybe it means my tastes are dated.

Cheers
Rono