At OzFest 4 recently,
JohnK and I discussed the possibility of doing a quick F lounge run to “inspect” the new First class lounges at Sydney and Melbourne airports…the plan would involve flying on a domestic sector of an international flight, gaining access to the F lounge using John’s newly obtained QF platinum card, and me as his guest!!
Mal also was interested, so the run was hatched, and he flew down from Brisbane to join us. The following flights were chosen and bought:
QF 74 Syd 0715 to Mel 0845
QF 73 Mel 1130 to Syd 1250
IIRC, it cost me $237 with an el cheapo red e deal.
The run took place last Sunday; I got to the airport at 530 am, and met John and Mal there. We were told that outgoing immigration at Syd did not open til 6 am to our disappointment
, but at 550 am, the immigration opened, and we went through in a flash and quickly sort out the first class lounge
. There were no problems with access, we were greeted warmly, and all 3 of our BPs were scanned.
I’ll let the pictures below speak for themselves but I was very impressed with the Syd lounge in many respects: great tarmac view, nice furnishings, very attentive and polite waiting staff. The sit down meal service was very nice, and we were quickly served our choice of breakfast, and champagne. The all day dining option is only served from midday (I have the menus but they already have been posted elsewhere – as far as I can gather, the Syd and Mel menus were identical).
The library was very nicely decorated (there was even a chess set), there were a number of work stations, business meeting rooms, but the spa was closed, however. The bathrooms / showers were all very modern and sleek!
Due to a delay in QF 74 departing Syd, we ended up spending about 90 minutes in the lounge. Overall, I was very impressed by the new Sydney first lounge, and it really compares favourably with some of the other lounges that I’ve visited around the world.
After a delay in arriving in Mel
(late departure further delayed by a late passenger boarding at Sydney, difficulty in connecting the nose bridge to the plane door at Mel, and extra time to recheck in at Mel – what a zoo!), we spent about 55 minutes in the F lounge in Mel.
It was a much busier time of the day (compared when we were in Syd), and the lounge is about a 1/3 the size of the Syd lounge; it was very busy, and it was difficult finding a place to sit – however, when we eventually found a place, the very attentive waitress found us, and took our breakfast orders (again!). The furnishings, décor etc in Mel were similar to Syd, but overall, I thought it ranked a poor second compared to Syd.
We eventually boarded QF 73 (VH-OJC) back to Sydney, which was on a different aircraft to the one we had come down on (VH-OJD), but the crew were the same; they were a little bemused when they saw us again….this bemusement intensified when we told them what we had been up to!
Thanks to
JohnK and
Mal for a very enjoyable F lounge run!!
Pictures are here:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...buGLlI¬ag=1
QF F lounge run...the new lounges at Syd & Mel
) so some travel later this year will include checking out at least the MEL Flounge.
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