Originally Posted by
avsrock90
Hi All,
Was curious if a Qantas Club member (not elite) could access the Qantas Club when their next flight was an Emirates marketed and operated flight. This
link would seem to suggest, not, but I found this surprising given the partnership switch from BA.
Cheers
To update this thread with two direct - and not very satisfactory - experiences:
Background:
- I am a QC member and QFF Silver.
- I booked SYD-DXB-Europe (not LHR) - DXB-SYD on EK-operated, EK-marketed flights (cheaper than QF-marketed on same metal).
- I'm more concerned about status credits than the FF points themselves, so I joined EK Skywards since I couldn't accumulate QF status credits but can get EK tier credits on these flights, and with my travel plans for the year can get EK Gold quite quickly.
- EK will only let you link one FF number at a time to a booking, so the EK number was listed on the BP.
At DXB on the outbound a week ago, the lounge attendant (concourse A) claimed that QC members could only enter the Business lounge if flying on QF. I produced a printout of the
QF website that said:
Qantas Club Members will be welcomed at the Emirates Business Lounge in Dubai when their next onwards flight that day is with Qantas or Emirates.
She went off to consult with a supervisor (carrying off the website printout, my BP and QC card), and came back and said I was correct, apologized, and said that the whole system was new and confusing. I was sympathetic and went on to enjoy the lounge. ^
Yesterday, coming back, I was prepared to have the same discussion and had the printout ready. But this time they said that I needed to have the QF FF number printed on the boarding pass, not the EK one. They scanned the BP and there was no data about QC membership encoded so it rejected my right to enter the lounge. I escalated to a supervisor who got quite unpleasant about it, and insisted that they needed to change my booking to link the flights to the QF FF number, which would mean no QF status credits or EK tier miles, but they ignored that point.
In the end, I let them reprint the boarding pass with my QF number, the supervisor was quite sarcastic about "you can enter the lounge; enjoy your flight" and then once inside the lounge I contacted Skywards to change the link back to the EK number.
Checking today, I've been credited the full tier credits.
I was willing to write the first event off to teething problems, but not the second. I will be contacting QF as this seems quite bizarre. The website phrasing of "will be welcomed" seems an exaggeration when it takes 10 minutes of argument to get in. While it appears fundamentally to be a software problem, the EK lounge (entry) staff at Dubai seem quite rude about letting QF patrons into their lounge.
That said, the lounge itself is breathtaking, the lounge staff (once inside) are very helpful and friendly, and the flight was very pleasant. If QF/EK can sort this out, I should have two more flights to Europe this year.