LHR/MEL/Europe FF

Or incorrectly declined: http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/west...71698a0372f923


What about people who can't bend down to put on sandals or other enclosed footwear? Once you start to introduce a whole range of exceptions, the rules start to look very vague

LukeO9

Terrible. If I saw that I would personally volunteer to teach them a lesson.

m0hamed

Creepy...

Kremmen

That's exactly what their definition is. The last time I turned up to the BNE lounge, I was wearing thongs. Not allowed to enter unless I had other footwear. I had brought sandals just for them, that are cheaper (and less comfortable) than the thongs. I put those on and was allowed in.

Qantas were sneaky to introduce this rule in autumn. They no doubt hope that everyone will be used to it by summer, but I don't think that will happen. I've been in PER in summer when it's 30+ degrees inside the airport, because the air conditioning doesn't cope. They're setting themselves up for all kinds of grief once it gets hot.

Kremmen

One other aspect that I wonder if Qantas have thought through is the cost of transporting extra footwear. I thought airlines were trying to cut down on unnecessary weight. My last international trip involved a single transit of one domestic terminal, so I took sandals with me. Unnecessary anywhere else, as QF and partner lounges worldwide do not enforce any such rule, Qantas and its partners carried those sandals almost 40,000 km just to satisfy an irrational fear of thongs.

serfty

A Photo posted on Australian Frequent Flyer by Austman shows a sign outside a QP. It provides some pictorial definition.

thegreatmrsj

Although I was wearing a long dress with small sleeves and my husband a shirt and jacket/trousers the lounge dragon at Sydney Domestic business class would not let me in because in her view my shoes were unacceptable

Yes they were what you class as thongs, albeit $250 variety and with a small back strap but the unacceptable toe post. Never come across such a stupid rule which we were unaware of until after we had checked our bags in

Due to a medical issue these were the only shoes that I can currently get on, her response you need to go downstairs and buy something that fits you and meets our rules or no entry - we had a 4 hour layover so the lounge mattered to us.

She stood over us barring the way until we came up with our solution

Our solution, in my husbands carry on luggage was a pair of large men's lacing shoes, I was allowed in wearing them even though they were about 6 sizes too big.

Looked ridiculous, total health and safety hazard but the dragon was happy though she kept coming past to check I had not slipped back into my Michael Kors which I though was just unnecessary behaviour.

We are not regular Qantas travellers preferring other airlines, thus incident confirmed we will continue with our current booking preferences

In Perth flying out Qatar but using the lounge, I did carry a pair of my own surgical shoes hand luggage otherwise was dressed identically and was welcomed into the lounge politely and in a manner that was a credit to the Qantas brand

Kremmen

That's because this inane policy only applies at (most) domestic lounges, not international lounges. If I'm travelling QF domestically or have a domestic connection, I carry an ugly pair of sandals to change into.

bensyd

Because kicking 'round in a pair of your husbands brogues that makes you look like Mrs Sideshow Bob helps maintain the "smart casual" ambience of the joint.

og

For all you know, she might have been doing this to others all morning - so she might just have been acting consistently and without fear or favour.

Annalisa12

lol


That picture of the allowable shoes doesn't make sense. How are those slide type shoes dressier than a pair of fancy glittery thongs.

I think Qantas should maintain their dress standards but I think they need leeway on what Qantas call a thong but everyone else calls a dressy sandal.

RadioGirl

It's been discussed before (possibly by me and possibly on this page) but the decision to define an "acceptable" structure of footwear rather than basing it on style or condition or something is obviously intended to make the rule objective, but it doesn't make it reasonable.

luftaom

The Qantas lounge at Singapore let a number of thong wearers in when I was there yesterday.


[FWIW I don't agree with the QP dress code]

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

International lounges aren't included in the dress code.

Dschaimz

This whole rule I view as very weird. If I pay for an F or J ticket I expect the service, including lounge access that I have paid for. I flew 34 long haul 50/50 J/F flights in the last year, many in shots and a t-shirt. If an airline would criticize this I would just fly with another. Someone who can pay for J/F or has the a travel policy which allows J/F should be allowed to where what they desire as long as they abide the laws of the countries they are flying between. If you belong to the 1% of the worlds population who has this privilege, why should someone be able to judge your dressing choices as long as they are in the limits of the law??