QF Honolulu lounge reopening?

[WeeWillyWonka]

For QF WP flying J today on QF104, it was 2x$20 vouchers that could only be used for food and drink items. 2 outlets open, both with long lines. I tried to buy a Starbucks souvenir Hawaii foldable shopping bag but they wouldn’t accept vouchers for it

This re-imbursement (if you can call it that) has been in place prior to the pandemic. Have received this multiple times taking flights outside of lounge hours open. Even tried to redeem vouchers for Starbucks merchandise and received the same response.

 

[justinbrett]

That does not sound great for my trip next week on QF103/104 - will be flying out of HNL on the 13rd. It seems if QF lounges are not open and I don't get Delta Club access the only OW option would be the AA/JL Club/Sakura lounge which currently does not serve food?

The QF lounge was terrible, so a $20 order from Starbucks eating/drinking at the gate is probably an improvement IMO.

The AA/JL lounge has been closed in the morning most of the year (opening after QF104 departed), so if that’s now open that would explain why QF is no longer using the DL lounge.

$20 got me a coffee, bacon and egg roll and a 1L bottle of Fiji water for the flight. More than I would have got in the QF lounge.

 

[theatreperson]

So.... I now have a 17 hour flight delay with Jetstar JQ2 leaving at 1:25am.
I'm guessing there isn't going to be anything open to spend any offered voucher on when I check in at 10:30pm.

Can anyone confirm my assumption?

(might just be a Sunday problem)

 

[justinbrett]

So.... I now have a 17 hour flight delay with Jetstar JQ2 leaving at 1:25am.
I'm guessing there isn't going to be anything open to spend any offered voucher on when I check in at 10:30pm.

Can anyone confirm my assumption?

(might just be a Sunday problem)

The AA lounge closes at 10pm. I think you'd be out of luck for anything to be open - I'd imagine even Starbucks would be closed after the last departure to CONUS (which looks to be around 10pm at the moment).

That's a really odd time for a Aus bound flight from HNL. Strange expertflyer and the JQ website are still showing it at the normal time.

 

[theatreperson]

The AA lounge closes at 10pm. I think you'd be out of luck for anything to be open - I'd imagine even Starbucks would be closed after the last departure to CONUS (which looks to be around 10pm at the moment).

That's a really odd time for a Aus bound flight from HNL. Strange expertflyer and the JQ website are still showing it at the normal time.

Yeah, Jetstar and Qantas websites are showing it departing or departed but the arrival time is changed.
It looks like we magically spend 17 more hours in the air.
FlightRadar24 and App In the Air immediately reported correct information. Can't say I have seen this before.

Looks like my Amex card insurance is paying for dinner.

 

[jpp42]

That's a really odd time for a Aus bound flight from HNL. Strange expertflyer and the JQ website are still showing it at the normal time.

I don't have EF, but the JQ web site shows JQ2 estimated arrival at 8:30 AM for Melbourne but no revised departure time, and no indication the arrival is a day later. Melbourne airport web site shows the arrival time as 8:30A with a footnote for the +1 day. Funny how the airport web site can be more useful than the actual airline site.

It looks like JQ3/JQ4 from SYD-HNL-SYD on Saturday 30th July was cancelled; this may be be flow-on effects from that. Perhaps the significant delay has something to do with flight crew duty times and a lack of replacement crew. JQ1 arrived essentially on-time on Sunday morning, 6:21 HNL time, so the aircraft should have been able to "turn" to JQ2 on time, but I suspect the crew to operate JQ2 would have normally come from the previous day's JQ3. Instead JQ2 has to wait for JQ1's crew to be legal to fly again. (Although this does beg the question of what happened to the crew originally meant to operate JQ4 on Saturday - maybe they were deadheaded home on another carrier.)

 

[mrsterryn]

Loads of Saturday flights seem to be cancelled as late to Hawaii
On topic - such a shame no more delta lounge. It was quite a decent lounge

 

[justinbrett]

Yeah, Jetstar and Qantas websites are showing it departing or departed but the arrival time is changed.
It looks like we magically spend 17 more hours in the air.
FlightRadar24 and App In the Air immediately reported correct information. Can't say I have seen this before.

Looks like my Amex card insurance is paying for dinner.

Oh of course, was thinking next week since it's already Monday here.

QF/JQ/Flightaware websites look a mess. Who knows what's actually happening! Inbound was on time.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Australia has Starbucks… there’s one on the corner of Park and Elizabeth st in Sydney CBD.

There are however a lot fewer than there used to be.

I mean yes technically there are coffee shops that call themselves Starbucks here in Australia but they're nothing like Starbucks in North America in terms of drinks. For instance, you can't get trenta sized drinks, there aren't refreshers, there aren't iced coffees, etc.

-RooFlyer88

 

[theatreperson]

So I wasn't offered vouchers and everything closed at 10pm.

 

[Electraglide]

So I wasn't offered vouchers and everything closed at 10pm.

Anyone got the vouchers, spent them, and then lobbed in to the Sakura lounge to run down the clock to boarding time?

 

[theatreperson]

I forgot to share this image of the lounge from August 1. Very much in furniture storage mode at the moment.

 

[Electraglide]

View attachment 288730

I forgot to share this image of the lounge from August 1. Very much in furniture storage mode at the moment.

Is that the shuttered QF lounge in HNL?

 

[Electraglide]

Is that the shuttered QF lounge in HNL?

So the lady who checked us in this morning said that the QF lounge will be renovated and enlarged (but still cosy - her words), and they ‘hope’ to re-open before the end of the year

 

[Anna]

I was also told about lounge renovations when I checked in at HNL last month but I was told 'the lounge is closed as it is being renovated'. Doesn't look from the photo as if that is quite true.

The AA/JAL lounge may be open instead for those with OW entry rights, but it is a long long way away from the C gates that the QF flights use. YMMV but I wouldn't find it all that relaxing to be so far away from the boarding gate.

 

[Electraglide]

I was also told about lounge renovations when I checked in at HNL last month but I was told 'the lounge is closed as it is being renovated'. Doesn't look from the photo as if that is quite true.

The AA/JAL lounge may be open instead for those with OW entry rights, but it is a long long way away from the C gates that the QF flights use. YMMV but I wouldn't find it all that relaxing to be so far away from the boarding gate.

QF was out at the G gates this morning… couldn’t access the JAL lounge as technically had 3 guests (inc young kids), so we used the vouchers and hung out in the terminal. Speaking of the kids, we only got $20 vouchers for the adults, nothing for the kids

 

[Anna]

I got $40 in vouchers for some reason, which meant a lot more people got chocolate macadamias as gifts than I would normally have bothered with

One word of warning about the cafe near the C gates. I decided to try their banana-taro cake, as something I wouldn't usually see in Australia. It was cling-wrapped and had a little sticker on it saying '22 3'. I didn't think anything of it until a few hours later when my stomach started to feel 'unusual'. Luckily it didn't develop into a real gastro disaster but I wondered later if the label meant 22 March, and I had purchased the cake on 30 July!

 

[serfty]

the only OW option would be the AA/JL Club/Sakura lounge which currently does not serve food?

There was food and drink available in the AA/JL Club/Sakura lounge earlier this year when I was there.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Just thought I'd update this thread since Executive Traveller now has some news to share about the QF Honolulu Lounge (currently closed for COVID/refurbishment):

Unlocking its doors on December 16, the freshly-refurbished lounge will be the second to open since Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce teased a new wave of lounge upgrades in November.

The article then goes on to say that specific details of the refurbishment haven't been shared from QF. That being said, we're two weeks away from the lounge re-opening and I for one would be keen to hear if the refurbishment lead to any noticeable improvement. From what I've read and saw (from video reviews) it seems like the chief gripes of the lounge are it's cramped, there's a lack of food options and any other amenities to talk about.

As an aside, what I did really enjoy though was the Delta SkyClub lounge access I had flying JQ as a QF Gold back in May when that was QF's lounge option. Great food spread, a staffed bar offering DL's signature Mai Tai, plenty of space, and of course it wasn't busy because it's a SkyClub meaning no one would ordinarily have access to the lounge (DL Medallion elites can't access SkyClubs on domestic trips to Honolulu, there's 1 SkyTeam partner that flies into HNL).

-RooFlyer88

 

[dairyfloss]

Was keen to check out the updated QF HNL lounge as we await departure of QF104, this arvo. Unfortunately it was full of people who clearly come to the airport way too early for flying a daylight flight. No seats left for our little group of 3 (WP+WP+SG, flying J).

Spotted the folks we were travelling with in Hawaii who fly later to the mainland on UA, so left the JAL Sakura lounge alone for today, too.

Starbucks won this one

Cheers,
Matt.