Qantas First Lounges to Reopen

[jakeseven7]

Nah, still there, nothing has changed at all!

Must have just been painting or something had scaffolding everywhere. Thanks for the update.

 

[nancypants]

There hasn’t been a palpable public outrage over taxpayers subsidising Harvey Norman’s doubled profits and the like so I suspect the idea of taxpayers taking umbrage with other taxpayers getting a glass of champagne is unlikely to be a major issue

 

[mckma]

In the Melbourne lounge at the moment. Certainly more J lounge in an F space rather than the lounge of old. Worst part is that all the champagne except for one bottle was corked... They opened more than half a dozen bottles with no luck. So that’s an inauspicious start!

 

[Berlin]

In the Melbourne lounge at the moment. Certainly more J lounge in an F space rather than the lounge of old. Worst part is that all the champagne except for one bottle was corked... They opened more than half a dozen bottles with no luck. So that’s an inauspicious start!

But you are saying that there IS indeed proper champagne?

 

[mviy]

In the Melbourne lounge at the moment. Certainly more J lounge in an F space rather than the lounge of old.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Well, considering how things were just yesterday, even having the lounge open is a big improvement. One step at a time...

I'd like to get back to the FLounge, but unless I can go to the UK before late next year I'll need my friends I usually travel with to get another status extension to have a visit (sadly no ability to upgrade to F on QF flights to the UK until they bring the A380 back or bring in Project Sunrise flights). I can't see myself going on a QF flight to NZ or only as far as Singapore (once that bubble opens) unless I get desperate enough to try to use that as a loophole to go to the UK.

 

[Virgin Bart]

In the Melbourne lounge at the moment. Certainly more J lounge in an F space rather than the lounge of old. Worst part is that all the champagne except for one bottle was corked... They opened more than half a dozen bottles with no luck. So that’s an inauspicious start!

Awesome. Thanks.

How does one "dine"? J style of F style? ... If that makes sense ..

 

[mckma]

But you are saying that there IS indeed proper champagne?

There are/were bottles of mumm and pommery however all bar one were unfortunately undrinkable. They were serving Aus sparkling when champagne was requested unless you were very very specific...

Dining is like the F of old albeit with a more limited menu and a much busier lounge.

It is fantastic to be back here and much better than no lounge at all, but don’t expect the Flounge of old quite yet.

 

[Berlin]

There are/were bottles of mumm and pommery however all bar one were unfortunately undrinkable. They were serving Aus sparkling when champagne was requested unless you were very very specific...

Dining is like the F of old albeit with a more limited menu and a much busier lounge.

It is fantastic to be back here and much better than no lounge at all, but don’t expect the Flounge of old quite yet.

Thanks for all the info! Don't you worry, I am always very VERY specific with my champagne

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Dining is like the F of old albeit with a more limited menu and a much busier lounge.

It is fantastic to be back here and much better than no lounge at all, but don’t expect the Flounge of old quite yet.

No doubt one of the reasons for using the F lounge was that tables are already there and spaced appropriately apart. Same for some of the big lounge chairs which are individual units and well spaced.

I suppose they could have moved the tables from the F to J lounge... but maybe the kitchen wasn’t suitable?

 

[Cognac]

Sending frequent flyers to the dungeon in Melbourne isn't really an incentive to keep flying with Qantas. Maybe they were trying to avoid giving flyers a reason to think about going elsewhere before everything opens up again.

 

[manutd88]

Are coughtails still being offered?

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

Thanks for all the info! Don't you worry, I am always very VERY specific with my champagne

There are/were bottles of mumm and pommery however all bar one were unfortunately undrinkable. They were serving Aus sparkling when champagne was requested unless you were very very specific...

Dining is like the F of old albeit with a more limited menu and a much busier lounge.

It is fantastic to be back here and much better than no lounge at all, but don’t expect the Flounge of old quite yet.

Thanks for posting your experience. Oh dear. Hopefully they've restocked the good stuff by the time I have my visit later this week. I'm also very specific on which bubbles I'd like to have (or skip if none on offer appeals).

 

[Matt_01]

@mckma how crowded was the lounge.

 

[mckma]

Are coughtails still being offered?

Not on the menu but the staff were accomodating on request.
I’d say it was probably 70% full prior to the 333 to AKL. Very limited dining tables while we were there. The flight to AKL was near full in business though.

 

[Doctore1003]

Unsurprisingly, it sounds like complimentary lounge invites won't get in.

Would love to hear from anyone travelling to NZ who's tried to access the lounge with a complimentary invite.

 

[henrus]

Would love to hear from anyone travelling to NZ who's tried to access the lounge with a complimentary invite.

Some time in May you'll be able to link them:

Two-way Trans-Tasman Bubble starting 19 April 2021

Thanks. Contacted QF via their contact form (got a return phone call within 5 days last week for a previous enquiry) and will report any responses. Qantas' Chief Customer Officer Stephanie Tully told Executive Traveller the following: Interestingly I can add an invitation to my MEL-SYD leg...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Matt_01]

Would love to hear from anyone travelling to NZ who's tried to access the lounge with a complimentary invite.

So would I. Currently I would suspect that general lounge passes may not be be able to be linked to the booking as the J lounge is not open, this maybe technical limitation. I only suggest this as I gave away a couple of expiring P1 passes to others on this site a month or so back as they would have liked to use the MEL J lounge (dom) while the QF pub was closed. They were not able to link the passes to their booking and subsequently sent them back. They were then given to another that could use them.

If they can be linked I have other passess that could be given away.

 

[SYD]

So would I. Currently I would suspect that general lounge passes may not be be able to be linked to the booking as the J lounge is not open, this maybe technical limitation. I only suggest this as I gave away a couple of expiring P1 passes to others on this site a month or so back as they would have liked to use the MEL J lounge (dom) while the QF pub was closed. They were not able to link the passes to their booking and subsequently sent them back. They were then given to another that could use them.

If they can be linked I have other passess that could be given away.

Coincidently, I was looking at my PC invites that I don’t need as I’m WP. I could see that I could link them to my flights to MEL and ADL but not NLK. So as above probably some tech issue that is supposed to be resolved in May.

 

[Beano]

I will have to make do with breakfast in the lounge. No evening flights to WLG until late May.

 

[Fergo747]

So would I. Currently I would suspect that general lounge passes may not be be able to be linked to the booking as the J lounge is not open, this maybe technical limitation. I only suggest this as I gave away a couple of expiring P1 passes to others on this site a month or so back as they would have liked to use the MEL J lounge (dom) while the QF pub was closed. They were not able to link the passes to their booking and subsequently sent them back. They were then given to another that could use them.

If they can be linked I have other passess that could be given away.

Interesting Matt. I was able to give / transfer my two of my P1 passes to family members for use at Syd Dom J end of last month. I had no issues in transferring and they were able to link and use at the lounge with no issues. QF - consistently inconsistent to quote another member of this forum.