Qantas Club lounge Canberra

[ossigeno]

I have Qantas Silver and was wondering if it was worth aspiring for Gold and the free lounge access it brings. Well I am sitting (after 10 minutes of looking for an empty seat) in the Canberra Qantas Club lounge. Granted it is 5pm on a Friday evening but the place is packed to the rafters.

The food is mediocre but the drinks are as much as can be consumed. Luckily I am experiencing this by way of a complimentary entry - there is no way I would pay for this kind of experience.

I conclude it is not worth aspiring for Gold if it was to gain lounge access.

 

[clifford]

I have Qantas Silver and was wondering if it was worth aspiring for Gold and the free lounge access it brings. Well I am sitting (after 10 minutes of looking for an empty seat) in the Canberra Qantas Club lounge. Granted it is 5pm on a Friday evening but the place is packed to the rafters.

The food is mediocre but the drinks are as much as can be consumed. Luckily I am experiencing this by way of a complimentary entry - there is no way I would pay for this kind of experience.

I conclude it is not worth aspiring for Gold if it was to gain lounge access.

It's Canberra. What more can one say?

But the DJ Lounges are definitely nicer.

 

[markis10]

You found a seat at 4PM on a Friday - thats GOLD!

 

[Aenveigh]

You found a seat at 4PM on a Friday - thats GOLD!

If it helps the OP feel better, it's been just as bad in the economy lounge...without the drinks. I was wondering about QP membership for Cbr waits but it doesn't sound attractive so far!
Doesn't help with weather delays either.

 

[Cyclogenesis]

Canberra QP lounge is well known as one of the most crowded...

As I mentioned in another thread: get back to me when enjoying a fresh shower, quality beer and food in one of the OW J lounges after travelling for 8+ hours and with 15 hours to go...

Judging lounge benefits by one lounge and one experience is, in my opinion, unwise.

 

[AnonymousCoward]

On the other hand, if OP is based in CBR, then something approaching 50% of their lounge experience would be the CBR QP, which is all levels of crowded at 5pm every day.

 

[jamesatfish]

Both Qantas lounges in Canberra are insanely busy before 9am and between 4-7pm on weekdays, but if you don't need to fly at those peak times then you'll find the QC especially a much nicer place to visit off-peak.

For instance, at about 9:15am yesterday morning (Friday) I took my father to the airport and into the QC (I wasn't flying so no J lounge this time). Having just missed the rush period the lounge was only about 20% full - plenty of spare seats either by the windows or back in the first section closer to the entrance, breakfast had just been restocked and it was quite a nice place to be.

Alternatively, if you often take one of the early morning turboprop services to Sydney then regardless of how busy the QC or J lounge can be the breakfast and coffee are a million times better than what you'll get on the aircraft.

 

[coco50]

On the other hand, if OP is based in CBR, then something approaching 50% of their lounge experience would be the CBR QP, which is all levels of crowded at 5pm every day.

This means that the other 50% of lounge experience won't be in crowded CBR. I had "free" QP membership for 6 years by virtue of WP and SG status. Alas am now a NB but I bought a 4 year QP membership. I figured that I had nearly had the equivalent in drinks during the "free" time.

 

[harvyk]

I don't think CBR is a good lounge to base your whole lounge experiences on... (I'd personally have saved my lounge pass, rather than use it in CBR)

Whilst I have never seen CBR that packed (ok most of my flying from CBR is early or mid morning), as a lounge it is nothing special.

The lounge experience really shows itself when you use an airport (or terminal) with a lot to be desired (eg LAX TBIT) or after stepping off a long haul flight and being able to have a shower, something to eat and a decent cup of coffee, eg SYD T3 after stepping off a SFO - SYD flight whilst then waiting for my SYD - CBR flight...

 

[albatross710]

If it helps the OP feel better, it's been just as bad in the economy lounge...without the drinks. I was wondering about QP membership for Cbr waits but it doesn't sound attractive so far!
Doesn't help with weather delays either.

I was at CBR on Friday afternoon too, this time in the NB lounge. Is it strange that they don't have a drink/cafe/food operator selling in the departures area? Even a coffee cart would be better than current.

I accept that going back to security to Virgin area is an option but that requires passing through security twice more.

 

[openseat]

I was at the CBR QP on Thursday for the first time in years and it was packed. Hardly pleasant at all.
Our Dash 8 was also chockers and had a number of problems before take off (including a non working headset for the co-pilot - but it was decided that we could go). Then, because of the full load and the heat we had to take off to the south which meant a long wait as everyone else were landing and taking off to the north!! A good number of us had connections which we missed. Felt sorry for the guy next to me. He had been op-upgraded on his next flight but missed out.

With all the building going on outside - will there be a new QF terminal and QP?

 

[Aenveigh]

I was at CBR on Friday afternoon too, this time in the NB lounge. Is it strange that they don't have a drink/cafe/food operator selling in the departures area? Even a coffee cart would be better than current. I accept that going back to security to Virgin area is an option but that requires passing through security twice more.

Yes, I've always thought it a bit weird that there's nothing in there at all - maybe to encourage QC membership? It's quick enough getting through security but they -always- seem to think I need to be bomb-checked.

A coffee cart would make a mint, I would have thought... maybe once it's all been rebuilt or whatever they're doing it might be included!

 

[levelnine]

With all the building going on outside - will there be a new QF terminal and QP?

Yes, I believe the new terminal will be for QF.

It is set to open in the middle of next year.

Yes, I've always thought it a bit weird that there's nothing in there at all - maybe to encourage QC membership? It's quick enough getting through security but they -always- seem to think I need to be bomb-checked.

A coffee cart would make a mint, I would have thought... maybe once it's all been rebuilt or whatever they're doing it might be included!

Agreed. It is silly that there is a fully fledged cafe in the DJ waiting area but nothing in the QF area. Although, I'd hate for them to remove any more seating to fit in a cafe or coffee cart. The area is pretty packed as it is.

 

[harvyk]

I actually believe that they are effectively tearing down the current terminal and building a new building (in stages so the airport remains open). So both QF and DJ will get the new terminal.

I have also heard that QF and DJ will be swapping ends, but I can't confirm that...

Originally when the DJ end was Ansett there was only one security screening point where the current DJ \ TT securitry screening is now. When DJ started operating from CBR QF built a new security point so that their pax didn't need to mingle with the LCC pax...

 

[N860CR]

If you mainly fly out of Canberra and can handle the walk between DJ/QF, perhaps Priority Pass to give you access to The Lounge is a good option. Its certainly the better of the two lounges in Canberra.

Otherwise, just get Lounge membership and start flying DJ!

 

[markis10]

If you mainly fly out of Canberra and can handle the walk between DJ/QF, perhaps Priority Pass to give you access to The Lounge is a good option. Its certainly the better of the two lounges in Canberra.

Otherwise, just get Lounge membership and start flying DJ!

Problem with going between DJ and QF in CBR is the need to redo the security screening again, at least it was a few months ago when I was there!

 

[openseat]

If you mainly fly out of Canberra and can handle the walk between DJ/QF, perhaps Priority Pass to give you access to The Lounge is a good option. Its certainly the better of the two lounges in Canberra.

Otherwise, just get Lounge membership and start flying DJ!

I agree the Lounge in CBR is great - probably the nicest in the system since it has good views (though there is barely any movement in CBR on the best of days)

 

[thewinchester]

I'm in the CBR lounge right now, and it's about 80% full. I've no complaints about the place at all save for people who can't turn their phones to silent and get rid of obnoxious ring tones.

Got in here about 15min ago, seats are still easy to come by and everyone is courteous if a jacket is taking one up. Noise is virtually non-existant above the usual humm, and everything is fully stocked with quite a few bottles of bubbly being popped - about 1 every minute for the last 5.