Qantas First Lounges to Reopen

[Ansett]

Speaking with Lounge staff in Melbourne today, who were previously First Hosts, they confirmed that the First Lounge in Melbourne will reopen with the start of the Trans Tasman Bubble.

In Melbourne they will not reopen the International Business Lounge at this stage, so all members that are entitled to use the business lounge will be diverted to the First Lounge. They were unsure as to how Sydney would go.

There is no details yet as to whether the Day Spa will be open however it was thought it was highly unlikely in either Sydney or Melbourne.

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

Woohoo.

Looks like I'll have a visit next week after all. Will report back.

 

[sudoer]

Excellent news.

I assume the spa will be closed, and they'll downgrade the F&B to Intl J standards, like they did when QP/SG members could access Dom J.

 

[mviy]

Will be interesting to hear what the standards are like with just the one lounge open.

As much as I'd like to visit the FLounge as a SG I'd be wanting that trip to be to the UK not NZ so I'll just have to content myself with reading of other's experiences.

 

[aus_flyer]

I would have thought the F lounge in Melb would have some serious capacity restraints - with Business Class, Chairmans, P1, Platinum, Gold and Qantas Club members all allowed access - plus their OW equivalents.

 

[mviy]

I would have thought the F lounge in Melb would have some serious capacity restraints - with Business Class, Chairmans, P1, Platinum, Gold and Qantas Club members all allowed access - plus their OW equivalents.

It does, but there are limited flights at the moment. The number of premium cabin/status passengers on a QF A380 or 787 is likely to be much more than on a 737 or A330 to NZ. I expect QANTAS Club lounge invitations won't be accepted but the First lounge invitations possibly might subject to what demand they expect.

Once it gets to the point where there are too regularly serious capacity problems leading to turning many passengers away then they would likely look to open up the business lounge as well.

 

[aikman]

Flights to all 4 NZ destinations depart between 8am and 9.15am so I can see potential overcrowding.

 

[RooFlyer]

I wonder if the recently announced relaxation of capacity limited for ‘ticketed venues’ will mitigate the crowding issue spoken of? The ‘ticket’ of course is eligibility criteria.

 

[aus_flyer]

The number of premium cabin/status passengers on a QF A380 or 787 is likely to be much more than on a 737 or A330 to NZ.

You're not comparing like with like..

Old world - A380 / 787 = Only F pax and WP/OWE can access First lounge
New world - 737 / A330 = Every man and his dog except Bronze and Silver

 

[mviy]

Even so with less flights one would hope that QF had done some modelling to estimate how many would likely have access and concluded that just the First lounge being open would be sufficient.

If not it’ll be interesting to read how they decide who gets access. Those travelling in J and those with WP and above status should have priority but will they in practice?

 

[Matt_01]

@mivy I doubt QF has done any modelling, out of curiosity have you been in the MEL F lounge, it is not large. As @aus_flyer points the old world was different and the MEL lounge could become crowded (in F lounge terms) as QF flights were not just limited to the a380 and 787, there was also the mix of 330s and 737s servicing Asia and NZ and OW aircraft leaving MEL. The lounge had to cater for all PAX, the F PAX would have been a small number, the OWE including guests, kids traveling in J, Y+ and Y would have been the large percentage. Another factor that contributes to crowding is the percentage of PAX who show up hours in advance just because it is the F lounge. With the F lounge being open to all, I suspect there will be number of PAX that show up early to gain entry to the F lounge as they may not have had access in the past and when the J lounge reopens will not have access in the future i.e J PAX without OWE status, QP and SG card holders. As mentioned 4 flights in a 75 minute window capacity will most likely be an issue.

As to your second point in my experience traveling last year QF did not seem to have a priority system it was just first in basis until capacity was reached and had noticed PAX with WP cards being informed the lounge was full and come back later.

 

[mviy]

Yes, I have been in the FLounge multiple times back when I had WP status, once in the morning and a few times in the evening. I suspect that having a fraction of the usual flights on will mean less demand for the lounge than what would normally be expected even though allowing for lower status travellers entry. It's not just less QF flights but also less OW, EK flights etc.

I could be wrong on the lounge being less busy than usual though.

On most flights the majority of the passengers probably would be flying economy with Silver or Bronze or equivalent or no status.

 

[k_sheep]

I guess anything is better than the dungeon that is the J lounge. But without the spa or good food ... meh.

 

[JohnPhelan]

There was an article on Executive Traveller back in December, where Stephanie Tully said the First lounges may well open before the international Business lounges, based on numbers. Same as was done with the domestic Business lounges opening before the Qantas Clubs.

'As on the domestic front, where in most capital cities the Qantas Business Lounge opened before the Qantas Club and became the single shared lounge for all passengers, "we might open one of the international lounges to start with – and that doesn't mean necessarily the business lounge, it could be the First lounge because the size is smaller."

"It will depend on what the demand looks like. If the commercial demand is not large, because the bubble is more contained, it makes sense to open the more premium lounge." '

Whole article is here: Qantas eager to reopen its international lounges

 

[gwilli1]

The F lounges in both MEL & SYD, will more the cope with the initial NZ bubble capacity . I could only see them being open AM only which covers 5/6 of the daily NZ flights initially from both locations + NKL ex SYD . With the PM AKL service from both locations , maybe QF and NZ might come to arrangement with lounges in the initial period of the bubble.

 

[Ms_KH]

What are the chances they'd also cover off Emirates/OneWorld flights? There are still regular flights on Qatar, AA, Malaysia, JAL...

 

[sudoer]

What are the chances they'd also cover off Emirates/OneWorld flights? There are still regular flights on Qatar, AA, Malaysia, JAL...

Entry should be possible if the opening hours line up with your departure

 

[mviy]

What are the chances they'd also cover off Emirates/OneWorld flights? There are still regular flights on Qatar, AA, Malaysia, JAL...

Do they depart around the same time as the NZ flights? I suspect the QF lounge will open prior to the first QF flight and close when the last QF flight is called. If there's a gap of several hours between flights then the lounge would presumably be closed for a lot of time unless they're getting significant payments from partner airlines to justify keeping the lounge open which would seem surprising. QF is keen to do everything they can to keep costs under control at the moment.

If e.g. an Emirates lounge is open they may try and suggest you go there if you're flying Emirates but still let you in.

 

[Beano]

All good news. But there are evening flights to each NZ city so an evening opening should be OK. Emirates is an option, but in Sydney it is along walk there and back unless Qantas is boarding at that end of the terminal.

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

All good news. But there are evening flights to each NZ city so an evening opening should be OK. Emirates is an option, but in Sydney it is along walk there and back unless Qantas is boarding at that end of the terminal.

Pre covid a lot of the 738 flights to NZ did leave from that pier, although more common in the morning than in evening when most gates were occupied.