Pre-flight at MEL: An unexpected visit to THE Flounge

There was a lot of queuing at the NZ Premium check-in lane. A big group of mainland Chinese tourists discovered that they were standing at the wrong lane but were quite determined to stay put anyway, until security was called to escort them over to the whY queues.

I was a little worried that my ticket wasn't entirely kosher as there'd been some reissuing and Lufthansa had mucked up a few times, but all was well and I was checked through to PVG with my bag tagged the same.

I'd arranged to meet Reggie from AFF who'd offered to guest me into the QF Flounge. Reggie was also traveling to AKL but on QF. The QF website indicates that Reggie, as a QF WP, is entitled to bring in a guest who's 'travelling together.' To us FF nerds, this inevitably led to some debate about whether flying to the same city would suffice for 'travelling together' or whether we're supposed to be flying with the same airline. On the way to the Flounge, we'd strategised on various ways to slay the lounge dragon...

Our fears about having to fend off a snarling dragon were unfounded - I was allowed in without even the slightest 'please explain.' It was also a rather quiet time in the Flounge so that could be it. Besides, Reggie's flight was massively overbooked and they'd had to bump people on to my flight. So my first visit to the Flounge had occurred sooner than I'd expected. Christmas had literally come early.

It is almost always the case that the promotional pictures always make lounges/hotel rooms/airline cabins and what not seem much nicer than they actually are in reality. The QF Flounge however was not done any justice at all by its promotional literature!

The combination of colours in the Flounge established a very relaxing and soothing atmosphere - white marble surfaces matched with dark purple carpets, ruby red leather seats, dark furniture framed by Jarrah. The design of the furniture, widescreen tvs and the decor lent a cozy, ultra-modern feel to the place. Unlike the rather formal and stiff eating areas of the LH FCL/FCT, the QF Flounge restaurant area was more casual and looks much more relaxing. The only feature that I wasn't really thrilled about was the flicker style flight display - the noise it generated whilst flicking was pretty distracting especially when trying to have a convo.
















As it was such a quiet time in the Flounge, the service was reasonably prompt. I had a delicious cheese, gruyere and ham omelette. Portion was a little bit on the small side but I wanted to have room for the onboard cuisine anyway. There was a good range of alcohol including some of my favourite Victorian wines, as well as the bubbly stuff. I had a glass each of the Veuve Clicquot NV and Moet NV, the former of which washed down my breakfast very well.



I almost had to be dragged out of the Flounge when the time came to board my flight, as Reggie would attest to. It'd be a long 7 months before I achieved AA EXP status and be able to access the Flounge in my own right; but for now I'd simply scan various lounge meets directories very religiously

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