Originally Posted by
number_6
You might have been able to check-in online; also you can get to the QF club in the domestic terminal without boarding passes, and they would have let you in based on having the J ticket, even without a boarding pass. Also any Oneworld status would have worked. Too bad you were deprived, these are the times when the minor airline facilities, like having showers in departure lounges, are worth their weight in gold.
Well, live and learn. We asked everyone we could think of (GAs, volunteer information ladies in the airport, etc) and although we made it clear we had a J ticket and status, they insisted we could not go through security and thus to the QF Int'l lounge until we had checked in, and QF wouldn't let us check in until 2 hours prior (or was it 3? anyway, too long to wait). Apparently they didn't know we could go to the domestic terminal and access the lounge.
Now I know!