[Chucksta]

Does anyone know when the new QF dom biz lounges are due to open?

QF news release says they are for domestic biz class pax and top tier QFF members (i'm guessing WP?).

I finally might be able to use a PC workstation!

It's funny that biz class pax were not even allowed to access the domestic QC a year ago! You had to be QC member!..

[justinbrett]

Originally Posted by Chucksta

Does anyone know when the new QF dom biz lounges are due to open?

QF news release says they are for domestic biz class pax and top tier QFF members (i'm guessing WP?).

I finally might be able to use a PC workstation!

It's funny that biz class pax were not even allowed to access the domestic QC a year ago! You had to be QC member!..

I'm not sure how they are going to approach this, but if they go by the oneworld model - it wll be both gold and platinum.

I guess it depends on how elite they want to make it.

QF said it was mid 2008 for SYD/BNE/MEL.

[Gazza]

Hopefully its just Plats (or a new higher teir yet to be introduced) and people on paid J.

Otherwise its just going to be as crowded as the QP now.

Gaz

[Shano]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was just J pax and WP's.

Would probably depend on ratio of WP:SG:PAID QP however I suspect that there would be too many SG's for them to gain access to the new BIZ lounges.

[d15.in.oz]

Originally Posted by Shano

I wouldn't be surprised if it was just J pax and WP's...

I wonder how that would effect the OneWorld ethos... that where Business class passengers go on the ground, so to do Sapphires flying Y... maybe "domestic business" needs a name upgrade to "domestic first"? LOL

[NM]

Originally Posted by Gazza

Hopefully its just Plats (or a new higher teir yet to be introduced) and people on paid J.

Why paid J? Why not award J and upgrades? There is nothing printed on a QF domestic boarding pass that distinguishes paid J from awards and upgrades.

And what about OneWorld Emerald?

[NM]

Originally Posted by d15.in.oz

I wonder how that would effect the OneWorld ethos... that where Business class passengers go on the ground, so to do Sapphires flying Y... maybe "domestic business" needs a name upgrade to "domestic first"? LOL

I supose they could limit to QF Platinum in the same way as AA does not permit AA Exec Platinum or Platinum AAdvantage members access to their domestic lounges. But they may find it difficult to restrict non-QF OneWorld Sapphire and Emerald members from having access.

However, I doubt the number of non-QF OneWorld Sapphire members flying on QF domestic flights is going to make a huge difference to the number of people in lounges - even with the candy thieves.

[d15.in.oz]

Originally Posted by NM

However, I doubt the number of non-QF OneWorld Sapphire members flying on QF domestic flights is going to make a huge difference to the number of people in lounges - even with the candy thieves.

I think Candy Theft* would increase massively in your scenario! LOL But I don't think you would like something along the lines of WP & J access to CL, excluding AA EXPs!

*People choosing AAdvantage (instead of Qantas FF), and using a “challenge” to gain high status quickly/easily.

Two other things with renaming, aside from "any" prestige –

• a reduction in the obviously problem of passengers from Ruby/Silver and up - being allowed QF domestic business class check-in access (i.e. Ruby/Sapphire/Qantas Club in one queue, WP/CL/First in the other.) At ADL check-in the other day, I noticed someone had repositioned the “Business Class” sign to point to the Qantas Club queue. Of course what remained was a roped off queue lane (obviously for business class) with no sign AND no people in it… guess which I decided to use. LOL
• Better earn, worse burn from QFF (and OOthers!)

[Shano]

Just received the QF newsletter which states:

New dedicated domestic Business Lounges in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will be introduced for customers travelling in Business class as well as Platinum and oneworld™ Emerald Frequent Flyers, by mid 2008.

This is also posted on the QF website here

[NM]

Originally Posted by d15.in.oz

I think Candy Theft* would increase massively in your scenario! LOL But I don't think you would like something along the lines of WP & J access to CL, excluding AA EXPs!

QF could do that similar to how BA use the Concorde Room for F passengers while maintaining a F Lounge for OneWorld Emerald passengers. But at least the BA F lounge has decent scotch on offer to those not qualifying for the Concorde Room.

And with the new rules for the Lack Of Challenge, its not as available as it once was.

Originally Posted by d15.in.oz

*People choosing AAdvantage (instead of Qantas FF), and using a “challenge” to gain high status quickly/easily.

But requalification is not so easy. Even though I attained AA Plat status on a single flight (MEL-LHR), I continue to use my QF Platinum status for lounge access. And have qualified two years in a row for AA Platinum through attaining the required 50,000 points. So the only real benefit in the challenge for me was earning the 100% bonus miles for flights prior to reaching the 50K points in my first year, and that was for less than 2 weeks before I qualified by reaching the 50K points for status without the challenge. And of course now I take aadvantage of the better earn/burn rates .

So if they rule that QF Gold and other OneWorld Sapphire members continue to use the existing lounge then I will not be concerned. It works for me now, so why would it not work for me then? And its been a long time since I was not in J on a QF domestic flight.