<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Dave Noble:
(2) Join the QF Qantas Club at USD318 for the 1st year and USD172 for subsequent years. This will give access to AA/QF/BA and US lounges when travelling with that carrier. If you only use lounges when travelling, then this is ,imo, a good option. It gives more lounge options and after the 1st year is significantly cheaper. There is a chance that the AA agreement could terminate, but they do need to give 6 months notice of change and I think that itis most unlikely to happen in the near future.
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And if you
really like to live dangerously, a 4-year QantasClub membership is $734 U.S. currently. When I first read the discussions of using a Q.C. membership to access ACs I thought it was a real "cheapskate" move. But, at $183 a year, I couldn't resist being a cheapskate. Indeed if the partnership breaks up in those four years it'll be a bummer, but I figured I would take a chance. YMMV, obviously.