Austman

During the holiday weeks over Christmas and New Year, where Qantas has both a Qantas Club and a Business domestic lounge at the airport (eg MEL, SYD, CBR, BNE, PER), they often close one of those lounges and direct all to the other one. They usually close the Qantas Club. This year they did that in at least MEL, CBR and SYD. I noted however that in CBR on one day they closed the Qantas Club but 2 days later it was the Business lounge that was closed.

The lounge staff invariably state the reason is maintenance. Due to some cracked tiles seems to be a common extra bit of information.

nrr

What impressed me the most was the photo of the GRILL, I wouldn't want to be the next pax receiving one of its delicacies.

lokijuh

Your points are well made. No excuse for the filth. The food options however are very subjective. On the comparison to AA lounge, probably not an apples to apples comparison (or should that be carrots to carrots ). I am sure the QF domestic lounges would be far more civilized if QF elites (Gold and Platinum) could not enter when travelling on domestic itineraries.

lainys

Hvr

Given virtually all Australian international airports have discrete terminals for domestic and international passengers then who should be allowed to frequent the domestic lounges? Also, the MEL-SYD route is one of the busiest domestic routes in the world and lounges are an important part of the business travellers' requirements.

I've travelled through SYD domestic many times and have never seen the J lounge in that state, looks like they had a very bad day.

sxc

tom911

Do you have Priority Pass? I was through that terminal three times in November and rather enjoyed my meals at Bar Roma, which I hit before or after Qantas Club visits. Photos are here: SYD T3 Bar Roma (Qantas domestic) - Priority Pass

tom911

Can you expand on how that works in public places? Would it be the same if I took a photo with 25 people in front of the Opera House, on board the ferry to Parramatta, or at a sporting event? When are you allowed to take photos with groups of people in the background?

DownUnderFlyer

[mod hat] Australian law generally does not grant a person the right to their own image (with some exceptions). So it is normally okay to photograph people in public spaces without their consent and then publish those pictures for non-commercial purposes without their consent. I will seek further advise on this topic before I will decide if the OP has to remove some of the pictures. Please refrain from discussing this point further in this thread but please send me a PM if you have additional information in regards to this. [/mod hat]

henrus

Don't want to sound like I'm sticking up for Qantas but I'll point out a few things...

Domestically they've got two different levels of lounges
The Qantas Club (similar to an AA Club) - OW Saphire and paid up memberships access this letter lounge

The Business Lounge - OWE and Domestic Business Class only. Slightly better moves spaces so if you only went to the Melbourne Club lounge then you've missed out here.

Regarding the weird gate arrangement in Brisbane, gate 86 is normally used by Qantas for US bound flights as it's easiest with the extra screening the US require at the gate. HA's flights to Honolulu sometimes use gates 80 or 81 in front of the lounges and it just becomes a total mess.

Finally regarding the alcohol 12pm time... Some of that comes down to licensing. Some Qantas domestic lounges have 24/7 licenses but apparently not all of them. It given your visiting over the holidays it's quiter however I'd imagine there'd be many takers before 12pm, something Qantas would be keen to avoid.

m0hamed

Seems you've had a thread started on AFF in your honour https://www.australianfrequentflyer....e-world.92285/

Austman

SFO777

Thanks very much henrus for your comments. Appreciate the primer on the lounges. And the BNE gate arrangement for LAX makes sense given the configuration of the terminal. Certainly easier when try to fulfill the ridiculous TSA screening mandates. Although the entire process at the gate on Wednesday was pretty chaotic, and a little reminiscent of The Gong Show.

LOL. Thanks m0hamed for the heads up and the link. Some pretty funny posts.

m0hamed

To be fair: I have always thought that the J Lounge at T3 had dirty carpet on 100% of my visits, there are always crumbs on the floor. The issue is the morning international pax transferring to domestic makes it very busy. The staff do their best to sweep but it needs to be vacuumed throughout the day.

og