Qantas Club - Domestic Melbourne Lounge

The brand new Melbourne Qantas Club is now a few years old, but remains as it was, almost a showcase for the facilities that Qantas offers for it's paid membership programme, QantasClub.

There is a complementary bar and dining, plenty of seats - 530 of them now - a cinema area, and showers.

And yet at peak times it can be dark windowless zoo with no atmosphere.

Despite being relatively factory fresh, and no wwith a new extension beside the bar offering some natural light, and a further extension right at the far end, overcrowding remains a severe problem, even though the extension brings the capacity up to 530 passengers. NEWS: Qantas opens new Domestic Melbourne Qantasclub
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Melbourne Qantas Club - Domestic lounge review

The Melbourne Qantas Club is a decent-ish lounge, but has a slightly urban chic meets Ikea atmosphere to it. Think plenty of blond wood, functional furniture, tiled floors and minimal atmosphere.

And qet Qantas tries. The lounge was cutting edge when it opened a few months before lockdown, and so hasn't had the wear and tear expected, the Melbourne Qantas Club still lacks a certain... something. Seats, mainly.

It is also half the lounge it once was, and is now only the third biggest in the country (Canberra is much larger), thanks to a large part of the lounge being taken over by the new Business Class lounge.

The Melbourne Qantas Club can get noisy at times, mainly due to the number of travellers in the lounge; at peak times, generally 4 to 6pm Thursday and Friday, it can get so busy there are no seats left at all, and a vast crowd gathers next to the bar. At these times, be grateful for the small extension lounge at the far end, and the cinema, where no so many people sit.

Entry is right in the middle of the terminal, straight after security, and up the vast escalator, with a small reception desk at the top on the right as you double back on yourself.

From here, as you walk in, there are no tables on the right, but a large seating area on the left, with some really odd small low chairs and half-stools that look as if they came straight out of Ikea. There are some island benches here too, with greenery in the middle, but it's not the most comfortable of spaces. Keep walking, and it improves a bit.

The food area is right ahead of you, and opposite it are dining tables, although these are almost always occupied with people running in with only a few minutes before a plane, grabbing some food, and plonking down for a few minutes. These tables here are rather like ones you might find in a student hall of residence. There is a large TV here too - normally on Sky News.

Curve left, and there is an area overlooking the main check in area. This is the most quiet area. Beside this, there is the bar, which is a hive of activity. Beer, and the servery is closest to the side you walk in. On the other side is the self serve wine bar. Left again, and there is a small bar �- the only one in the Melbourne Qantas Club - with wobbly stools in front of it, then an area with the soft drinks machine and coffee, and then in the far corner, beside the exit, are two long benches and the business centre.

The Melbourne Qantas Club is fine, and is certainly calm and relaxing; an OK lounge, but considering the top notch facilities in some other Australian airports, somehow manages to be a bit underwhelming. There is a superb view from half of the lounge of the main gates Qantas uses, along with the runway, and indeed distant views of the hills north of Melbourne.

Food

Food is good in the Melbourne Qantas Club. Indeed, it is marginally better sometimes than in the Business Class lounge through the wall!

There is the usual large fridge with salad items, including a good pasta and often a decent mushroom salad. There are normally 2 types of ham, and cheese.

Hot soup is always available.

There are also two hot tubs with rice and a gloop of some variable meat: a label on the tub says what it is.

Bar

The bar in the Qantas Club Melbourne is one of the poorest 'mainline�' lounge bars on the Qantas network. Not because of the wine �- which is OK �- but because of the slightly down at heel feel of the bar area. Indeed, around the bar the wood panelling is starting to peel and it all has seen better days. Certainly the small circular tables opposite the bar area have a daggy RSL type atmosphere, and you�'ll feel like a heel hanging around these with your cheap glass of VB.

The bar itself has the usual Qantas array of three wines in a trough, and three reds above it. These are self-serve.

There is beer, but only in bottles �- Melbourne hasn�'t got draft at the moment.

Spirits are made up by the barman.

There are three juice containers to the left of the bar, and soft drinks on a fountain.

Business Facilities

Business facilities are a little basic in the Melbourne Qantas Club. There are five banks of rows of 4 iMacs (which also run windows) making 20 computers in total. They are a little slow, and also very out of the way �- right by the exit, down the arm of the lounge on the inner wall and right at the far end.

There is a laser printer and photocopier on the far bench.

Wifi in the lounge is free, although not particularly fast. There are newspapers and magazines in the lounge, but not that many of them; while there is a pile of all the Melbourne local papers, the magazines consist of B2B, Qantas mag �- and that�'s about it. If you have access to the Business Class lounge, magazines are much better in there. Alternatively there is the in-lounge shop, called Voyage, with lots of magazines and books: but, of course, you have to pay for it.

Bathrooms

There are showers in the lounge, and shower kits are available from reception.