Qatar - the One World Emerald experience. 1.5 stars from me. Big fail.

[smit0847]

Oneworld should court EK and then tell QR to get stuffed.

They've tried, but when your CEO says alliances are pointless there's not much you can do!

VA will join *A before EK ever join OW!

 

[opusman]

It annoys me that airlines are allowed to join ow and not act in the spirit of OW. Cough(AB, QR)

Not really that different from BA not allowing OWE's into the Concorde Room, or QF not allowing OWS's into the DOM J lounges I guess.

 

[samh004]

Not really that different from BA not allowing OWE's into the Concorde Room, or QF not allowing OWS's into the DOM J lounges I guess.

I really dislike it when people don't have their facts straight regarding this non-issue.

Qantas offers 2 lounge products. A Sapphire lounge (QC domestically/Business lounge internationally) and an Emerald lounge (Business lounge domestically/First lounge internationally). This is essentially the same as an Admirals Club and a Flagship lounge for AA.

Now, what they should do is rename the Domestic Business lounge to a Domestic First lounge, but then they'd have confusion as they don't have a domestic First product. They could rebadge business I guess, but then people would complain the service isn't up to first.

Sapphires don't deserve to access the domestic J lounge, as it's only that in name because of a lack of domestic F product.

As for BA, they offer a Business lounge for Sapphires, First lounge for Emeralds and CCR for those flying F. They've easily met the standard. The only stupid part of their offering is no dining access for Emeralds, you need to be in F too. But comparing the CCR to an emerald lounge would be like suggesting the CL should be open to Emeralds too.

So QR shepherding Sapphires and Emeralds into the same sh¡ttier lounge is by no means similar to this situation.

All that said, with 7000 CL members and ~3000 P1 members I'm not sure why the CL couldn't be a P1 benefit (but definitely not Emerald).

 

[smit0847]

I really dislike it when people don't have their facts straight.....

All that said, with 7000 CL members and ~3000 P1 members I'm not sure why the CL couldn't be a P1 benefit (but definitely not Emerald).

.......

 

[Kieran2274]

I really dislike it when people don't have their facts straight regarding this non-issue.

Qantas offers 2 lounge products. A Sapphire lounge (QC domestically/Business lounge internationally) and an Emerald lounge (Business lounge domestically/First lounge internationally). This is essentially the same as an Admirals Club and a Flagship lounge for AA.

Now, what they should do is rename the Domestic Business lounge to a Domestic First lounge, but then they'd have confusion as they don't have a domestic First product. They could rebadge business I guess, but then people would complain the service isn't up to first.

Sapphires don't deserve to access the domestic J lounge, as it's only that in name because of a lack of domestic F product.

As for BA, they offer a Business lounge for Sapphires, First lounge for Emeralds and CCR for those flying F. They've easily met the standard. The only stupid part of their offering is no dining access for Emeralds, you need to be in F too. But comparing the CCR to an emerald lounge would be like suggesting the CL should be open to Emeralds too.

So QR shepherding Sapphires and Emeralds into the same sh¡ttier lounge is by no means similar to this situation.

All that said, with 7000 CL members and ~3000 P1 members I'm not sure why the CL couldn't be a P1 benefit (but definitely not Emerald).

Most people understand the current system I think, but if they did rebadge I like the idea of 'Sapphire Lounge' and/or 'Emerald Lounge' - sounds a little bit sexy lol. And most people in the 'First' & 'Business' lounges aren't really flying in that class (certainly not in the First one anyway, and even then few on paid F) so likely more apt.

Don't like the chances of a P1/CL merge, but no harm in dreaming

 

[RooFlyer]

Said this before - they should simply call the Dom 'Business' lounges, 'Qantas Club Premium lounge'. No confusion with 'Business class' on board, nor the First Lounges for international.

 

[mitwg]

I can see where they're coming from as the truly premium lounges are in a completely different terminal, and they don't even offer access to their own elites when flying in Y AFAIK... that said, in LHR their policy seems to be at odds with OW as it's the same terminal.

If you have morales and have read the recent staff horror stories about QR, and also care about extracting the most of your status, the answer seems clear, don't fly them

This, I believe was QR's justification. Their own elites do not get access to the premium facilities when flying Y so it was obvious that the OW elites wouldn't either.

As for the lounge situation at LHR, technically, all they have to do is claim the lounge isn't a oneworld lounge. After all, SQ does this with their SKL, BA with CCR and QF too with CL. Not to mention there are countless examples of airlines that use third party lounges for their F passengers and these lounges aren't available to OW elites flying Y.

This sort of arrangement will obviously annoy OW elites due to the unequal treatment, however on the other hand if you were a paid F customer, the airline is basically saying that they are willing to loose revenue (due to pissed off customers that will avoid the airline) in order to provide a better service for their premium passengers.

 

[basso]

I really dislike it when people don't have their facts straight regarding this non-issue.

Not sure why the rant, but here are the facts. Fact One: The Qantas Domestic Business lounge is a Business Lounge. Fact Two: One world sapphires have access to Business Lounges. Fact Three: The Domestic Business Lounge is written up as an exception to Fact Two, thus not allowing sapphire members in!

 

[samh004]

Not sure why the rant, but here are the facts. Fact One: The Qantas Domestic Business lounge is a Business Lounge. Fact Two: One world sapphires have access to Business Lounges. Fact Three: The Domestic Business Lounge is written up as an exception to Fact Two, thus not allowing sapphire members in!

The rant because it's a pet peeve by people who think they're entitled to things they're clearly not.

I'll agree, it's worded badly. There should be Domestic First and a Domestic First Lounge, then you couldn't argue anything, but they didn't go that route.

The only reason it's written up as an exception is for people who want access when they aren't entitled and can't distinguish between an Emerald logo on the door and a Sapphire logo. The lounge isn't a Sapphire lounge, the only reason it's called Business is because they don't offer First. I can't believe that's so hard for anyone to understand.

 

[drron]

And AA don't give their elites access to their lounges on domestic services even if flying F but still give OW elites from other airlines access.
So QR is still an exception.

 

[basso]

The only reason it's written up as an exception is for people who want access when they aren't entitled and can't distinguish between an Emerald logo on the door and a Sapphire logo. The lounge isn't a Sapphire lounge, the only reason it's called Business is because they don't offer First. I can't believe that's so hard for anyone to understand.

You mean there are pedants around that argue over policy minutiae such as this?? Glad there are none on this board......

 

[samh004]

You mean there are pedants around that argue over policy minutiae such as this?? Glad there are none on this board......

It's nothing like the QR policy though. And it was compared to that.

QR says if you're not in a premium cabin, and are Sapphire or Emerald then you can share a lounge.

BA says if you're Sapphire use the J lounge, Emerald use the F lounge, and flying F use the CCR in the F lounge if you like.

AA says Sapphires use Admirals Clubs, Emeralds - Flagship Lounges.

QF says Sapphires use QC/International Business Lounge (which is a QC), Emerald use Domestic Business Lounge/International First Lounge, highest class on domestic uses J lounge, international F lounge.

Essentially Qantas offers two lounges, a lower and a higher. Lower is Sapphire, higher is Emerald. This is the same for AA and BA. This is not remotely close to QR.