MatrixB

I'm traveling with my wife to Melbourne the fist week in June. We're flying Qantas for the 1st time so I've not used their lounges in LAX. We have seats in F, so understand we have access to their First lounge, but with a 5+ hour layover at LAX, want to be as comfy as possible . Can anyone help with a recommendation of which lounge works best; the Qantas interim off-airport lounge vs. one of the shared lounges at the airport? If you use the shuttle to the off-airport interim lounge, do you have to re-enter security? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
MatrixB

obscure2k

Welcome to Flyertalk, MatrixB
I am moving this over to the FT Qantas Forum.
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

tom911

deleted moderator already moved it

number_6

MEL departs from TBIT and the interim F lounge is actually on the mezzanine (outside of security); it is the interim J lounge which is in a hangar, so inside security but a bus ride from the terminal. There are no other lounges at TBIT (they have all been closed and are being gutted and rebuilt).

At LAX you must have a boarding pass to clear security, so you don't have much choice in what lounge you can use, unless you are arriving into LAX on AA in which case, stay airside in T4 and use the QF F lounge in T4 (jointly operated as the AA FL). Much nicer than the TBIT lounges. However 5 hours is a long time to waste, in any lounge, and the food on-board is much higher quality than the lounge food (so don't spoil your appetite). Personally I would go off-airport, there is a fair bit to do near LAX (covered in the LA forum).

DownUnderFlyer

I very much agree with number_6. Leave the airport. The first class lounge in T4 is worse than any J lounge in Australia. No food worth writing home about, no computers (but there are Computers in J) often overcrowded and nothing nice design wise.
Leave the airport and do something nice. Go to the bach and have some fun. Oh, and another welcome to Flyertalk.

yuppieshrink

I too will be at LAX in a couple of weeks and wanted to use the lounge with my wife, sister-in-law and kids (my wife and I are QC, SIL has a free pass).

But I dont like the idea of going back and forth through security just to get to an interim crappy lounge that we have to get a bus to (and we catch the flight at 2330).

My wife only just joined the QC too for 550 on the partner rate.

Be interested in any more views, and as a new naive poster is J for joint lounge, I thought there was only one lounge at the LAX that QC could use whilst the renovations are on.

Thanks

number_6

There is only 1 QC at LAX at the moment, and that is in T4. The QC at TBIT is closed, and the interim J lounge is not a QC. So, if you want to use the QC, you must either arrive at T4 (flying AA to LAX) or have a boarding pass for a flight departing from T4 (QF flights to SYD and AA flights). You can try begging QF at TBIT to let you into the interim J lounge, but your various cards and passes do not entitle you to access to the interim J lounge. In the past QF will not issue fake BPs at T4 to get you through security into the lounge (AA does this for AC members, with 24 hours prior notice). You might try phoning QF at LAX to discuss your options; my guess is you won't have any lounge access at LAX.

DownUnderFlyer

Welcome to Flyertalk yuppieshrink! J is not a Joint Lounge. J is the booking code for business class. So a J lounge is a Business Class lounge in contrast to a F lounge which is for First Class or OneWorld Emerald Passengers. Qantas Club members normally have access only to the J lounge unless they are flying in First or have Emerald status.
If you arrive in T4 and leave from T4 you can easily go to the Admirals Club /QC with no need to take any busses etc. If you arive at TBIT, then try to follow numbre_6's advice.

yuppieshrink

Thanks for the welcome and the advice, I might be buying a few beers and forgetting the lounge, sure seems a waste of cash on the QC for the time being

DownUnderFlyer

Why? If you are in T4 you can access the lounge there with no problem. At TBIT you might need to talk your way in if possible. And if you fly to Australia QC will be a very nice thing to have.
Which flights are you actually taking?

number_6

He never said it was a QF flight, only that it is at 2330. On the current schedule there is no QF flight at 2330 (they leave at 2230, 2320, 2340 and 2350). Air Pacific has a flight at 2330 (what a coincidence) and leaves from TBIT. I guess he was wanting to use the QC prior to a non-Oneworld flight. This will work after the TBIT lounge rebuild is complete this fall (presuming the joint Oneworld lounge will also be designated a QC, as the old TBIT QF lounge was).

QF Lad

This is an interesting point. Yuppieshrink, in January I was travelling from LAX to MEL on a QF flight out of TBIT. I am a QC member, was a Silver/ Ruby and was travelling in Y on QF. I was allowed access to the interim J lounge on the basis of my QC membership. After security, I went to the gate where the bus to the lounge leaves from, approached the QF agent who is at a desk near the gate, and given a pass to the lounge, which I had to give to the bus lounge dragon. No problems.

Of course, if you are not on a Oneworld flight, you would not be able to do this. But I would suggest it is worthwhile trying to access the lounge if you are flying QF to Australia.

QF Lad.

yuppieshrink

Oh I'm a new naive FT blogger. I'm on a QF flight QF108, leaving LAX for Sydney at 2350. I won't be on an AA flight into LAX, we are catching a train from San Diego so I'm ? assuming we can't go into the T4 as its an international QF flight....or can we? Could we get access to the J lounge, we're on economy flights.

I tell you what, this site is cool, I can see how this could become addictive, especially as over the next few years I will have 3-4 domestic and one international flight a year paid for by an external source!

wallaby

All Qantas flights to Sydney leave from T4, including your flight QF108.

tom911

Do you have elite status with a One World carrier?