Top tips for Qantas flyers visiting Melbourne’s domestic lounges
Top tips for Qantas flyers visiting Melbourne’s domestic lounges
Here are our top tips for Qantas lounge lizards flying out of Melbourne.
Whether you’re hunting down a quiet place to work at what’s otherwise a bustling airport or finding the fastest way to grab your coffee before zipping to the boarding gate, there’s plenty to know ahead of your next domestic journey through Melbourne Airport.
Here are our top tips for Qantas lounge lizards flying out of Melbourne.
1. Make time for the Asian Spice Bar
Flying business class or have a Platinum-grade frequent flyer card in your travel wallet? You’ll have access to the Business Lounge, where you’ll find Neil Perry’s Asian Spice Bar open for lunch and dinner.
The menu rotates between a selection of dishes with two offered at a time, such as this tasty chicken laksa – our favourite from the ‘meat-eating’ options.
. while the vegetarian wonton noodle soup also comes packed with flavour:
2. Pressed for time? Order your coffee en route to the lounge
If your itinerary is a little more rushed, you can avoid standing in line for your coffee by placing your order through the Skip mobile app, for collection in either the Qantas Club or the Business Lounge.
If you’re in a hurry, make your order just before going through security screening – by the time you get to the lounge, your coffee is usually ready – either to enjoy quickly in the lounge, or to take straight to the gate when boarding is imminent.
During peak periods, there can sometimes be a wait of about 10 minutes between making the order and the coffee being ready, although the app gives you a handy ETA before placing your order, and again once your order has been lodged:
3. Looking for somewhere quiet? Head to the far back of your chosen lounge
Even though Melbourne’s Qantas Club and Business Lounge both offer dedicated working areas, being Australia’s second-busiest airport, those spaces can still become busy: and with more travellers comes more noise, which isn’t necessarily conducive to getting that work done.
If you’re looking for somewhere quiet to better-concentrate or even just relax, head to the very far end of either the Qantas Club or the Business Lounge, where the seats are often empty, escaping all that noise:
Clearly, most travellers set up camp at the first suitable place they find, and with these both resembling long rectangles, walking to the far end of the space usually does the trick, except on the busiest of days.
4. Qantas Platinum members can use the lounges after their flight, too
Unlike Qantas Gold frequent flyers and Qantas Club members who both need an onward boarding pass for lounge access, Qantas Platinum and Platinum One frequent flyers merely need a “same day” boarding pass, providing lounge access both before and after each domestic flight, wherever lounges are available.
Most travellers would simply use this perk for a quick coffee or snack after their flight, but it’s of bigger benefit to those arriving from longer journeys like the overnight treks from Perth, given the early morning arrival time and the availability of showers before heading into the office or to their next meeting, if not returning straight home.
That privilege is also extended to business class passengers on that same overnight Perth-Melbourne flight (QF648), who can visit the lounge on arrival with a quick flash of their boarding pass, although other business class passengers don’t receive the same benefit, unless holding Qantas Platinum status or above.
Chris C.
A former contributor to Executive Traveller, Chris lives by the motto that a journey of a thousand miles begins not just with a single step, but also a strong latte, a theatre ticket, and later in the day, a good gin and tonic.