QF Y to BA J connection question.
 

I'm traveling on an award on BA from SFO-LHR-SYDin club world. I'm then buying a r/t from SYD-MEL on QF (economy) and the return I will have so that I connect right back thru onto BA (SYD-SIN-LHR-SFO). Can I check in at the business class counter in Melbourne since I'm on the BA business class ticket? I'm guessing they can issue boarding passes, and check the luggage thru now problem. What about lounge access?

Thanks in advance.

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If you have Sapphire status you can use the business class check-in at MEL and have access to the QC. Otherwise you have neither in MEL -- you do in SYD. QF is pretty strict about keeping the J checkin clear and will go by your QF ticket (you can upgrade it to J for a few hundred dollars which gets you checkin but not QC access). You'll have to wait until SYD to use the lounge unless you happen to meet a friendly agent who bends the rules a bit.

What OW status do you have? If none, you won't officially get lounge access for SYD for SYD-MEL nor at MEL. You shouldbe able to be checked in (at least bags) for MEL-SFO. Again, BC counter privilege will be at the discretion of the checkin agent.

If it were me, I would be assuming business class checking was ok. You are checking in for the BA J flight at the MEL counter, so should be entitled to the J checkin desk.

I would certainly go to the desk and hand over your J ticket and plead ignorance if they stay you shouldn't be in that line. But I doubt any QF agent would turn you away to the Y line in this situation.

QF domestic lounge access is a different matter, and the MEL lounge domestic lounge is not known for its flexibility. If the J flight was on the same ticket you may be able to get access, but otherwise only the appropriate level of membership will get you in.

As NM says, MEL operate the QF boot camp at the Dom QClub.

However take the ignorance to the next level and just show your BA boarding pass for J rather than your domestic Y and they might wave you through, worst that can happen is you will be with the unwashed outside.

Also try and make sure you get plenty of time at the SYD Int J lounge to make up for not being in MEL Dom.

I have just rung the MEL DOM QP (Qantas Pub) and they said that as long as you can show your QF or BA international J boarding pass, you will be entitled to lounge access in MEL, even though it is on a seperate itinerary and in steerage.

Dave

So will QF in Melbourne be able to issue my BA boarding pass? I'm on paper tickets. Secondly what lounges does one have access to as non-status flying on BA J tickets. At SFO, LHR, SIN, SYD? And which ones if there is a choice are the best?

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Without OW status you only have access to the lounge of the airline that you are flying, so you have Terraces or J lounge access. Luckily BA has such a lounge at each of those locations. And your choice is easy, there is one to pick from.
All OW airlines are able to issue boarding passes for other OW segments within the next 24 hours. So QF is able to issue your BA J boarding pass ... but QF in MEL has always been problematic with this and I'm betting they won't (giving you a story about the link being down presently). Having paper tickets makes it easier (it is the e-tickets which are harder to share!).

Yes.

J lounges only.

Dave

At LHR T4 (which is where you will connect in both directions) there are actually two J class lounges. One is at gate 1, and is the bigger of the two. The other is opposite gate 10, and is the top floor of the lounge pavilion. The Molton Brown spa (to which you will have access on a BA J ticket) is on the bottom floor of the pavilion, next door to the First lounge.

Then how come I was able to get access to the AA Flagship Lounge in DFW when I was flying DFW-JFK in AA and JFK-HKG on CX (both sectors in F)? I was an AA/RUBY (which does not allow lounge access) and not even a member of the Admirals Club!

What I did was that I showed the lounge receptionist my TICKET showing that I have a flight on a Oneworld carrier in the CLASS OF SERVICE that would entitle me to lounge access. The receptionist had to call upstairs to the Flagship lounge to confirm.

So I was admitted to the lounge based on CLASS OF SERVICE and NOT status.

Precisely my point. BTW, you might have mentioned that your experience was not recent (the FL is closed in DFW for many months now). If your CX flight had been for a different day (say after midnight) you would not have been admitted by AA, despite having an F ticket on an international itinerary. This is a very annoying feature of AA (they enforce same day travel to mean midnight, and not a minute later). Of course it doesn't matter if Emerald (rather ironic that this is worth more than class of service!).