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
Melbourne Melbourne Qantasclub Domestic LoungeThe 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 yet 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.
Entry is right in the middle of the terminal, right after security, and up the vast escalator, with a small reception desk at the top as you double back on yourself.
From here, there is a large seating area on the right, then as you walk past the newspaper stands, the food area is right ahead of you.
Melbourne Melbourne QantasclubThere are some long bench type tables here, 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.
The area by the windows is right beside the small bar, with wobbly stools in front of it.
A separate area with high room dividers and some plastic greenery separate off a small area by the windows, for no obvious or apparent reason.
Keep on walking as there is plenty more to explore.
As you walk down the spine of the lounge there are showers on the left - yes, real showers, in a Qantas Club. That's a rarity. There are more dining tables here, and the tables in the corridor tend to go last so if you are desperate for a seat, here is the place. Then at the back is the newly expanded back room, designed to cope with the overcrowding. It is atmosphere free but at least there are seats, in long straight rows.
At the back of the main walkway is another U shaped seating area, and finally there is the cinema area, with four rows of seats ranged infront of a big screen showing rolling news.
Oddly, at the back of this, there is the children's room, which is in an odd location, and tends to be deafened by being right behind the big screen.
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. This lounge used to have vast windows with views of the runway. No more.
The Melbourne Qantas Club is fine, and calm and relaxing if you get to it at the right time of day and it is an OK lounge, but considering the top notch facilities in some other Australian airports, somehow manages to be a bit underwhelming.
Food
There is OK food in the Melbourne Qantas Club. Indeed, at certain times, it is marginally better sometimes than in the Business Class lounge through the wall.
On an island bench there is a large fridge with salad items, including a good pasta and often a decent mushroom salad. There are normally 2 types of ham, and cheese.
On the other side of the island there is a hot nacho station, and hot soup is always available.
At peak times in the evening there are also two hot tubs with rice and a gloop of some variable meat: a label on the tub says what it is.
At breakfast times, there is cereal and hot bacon and sausages.
Bar
The bar in the Qantas Club Melbourne is one of the business 'mainline' lounge bars on the Qantas network, and yet still manages a huge throughput of passengers. Seeing the queues, you might almost think that the bar is the single reason why passengers buy a subscription to the Qantas Club.There are four beers on draft, and good ones two: Heineken, Coopers, Furphy, and the rare delight of Stone and Wood Pacific ale, with all Australian barley, wheat and Galaxy hops from Tasmania, which give the beer its big tropical fruit aromas.
Qantas Club DomesticWine is equally a cut above other Qantas Clubs. The self serve wine bar is around the opposite side from the main bar, and there are no less than six white wines, four reds, a rose and a sparkling Aussie wine. However the queues for the wine can be somewhat extreme. Beside the wine is a chilled water tap.
Spirits are made up by the bar staff, and they will even mix up a decent cocktail using some of the basic ingredients.
However, despite the lounge being closed for 2 years for the pandemic, the reopening hasn't been kind with a large number of passengers using just the single small bar. There is a 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 Coopers.
There are three juice containers on the island bar beside the food, and there are also soft drinks on a fountain.
In the morning there are two coffee stations, where the staff will mix up decent coffee.
Business Facilities
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; Qantas has removed copies of the Age and AFR after a row with the editor, leaving just copies of the in house Qantas magazine and a few freebies.
If you have access to the Business Class lounge, magazines are much better in there. A
Bathrooms
There are showers in the lounge, and shower kits are available from reception.Access
The Melbourne Qantasclub domestic is designed as a paid membership club, or for Qantas Frequent Flyers with status. As such, if you have a Business Class ticket you should head next door, to the somewhat more upmarket Melbourne Domestic Business Class lounge.Gold level Qantas Frequent Flyer members can also enter the lounge, as can oneworld Sapphire members. Qantas Platinum and oneworld Emerald members, plus Business Class passengers are quite firmly directed to the Business Class lounge, but you can access if you insist.
Qantas also now permits low or non tier frequent flyers purchase single-visit pass to the Sydney Qantasclub domestic, at the cost of $49AUD (or 7,000 Qantas Points), but only those selected by Qantas get an email offering a paid for pass. There is no paid for access on the door. Mind you, you have to seriously ask if it is worth it. For only a few more points you can upgrade to Business Class, and access the Business lounge.
Video: Qantas Club Domestic
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Melbourne Airport Guide
| Qantas Club - Domestic Melbourne Lounge | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rating |
Lounge Index
| |
| Pros | Just renovated Free bar |
|
| Cons | No windows Poor food Crowded |
|
| Location | Airside, up escalator in middle of T12 | |
| Terminal | 1 | |
| Opening hours | 0615 to 2215 | |
| Phone: | +61 3 8336 4640 | |
| Lounge for: | Qantas | |
| Other Airlines: | Jetstar Melbourne Lounge | |
| Access | Business & First Class, QantasClub, Gold & Platinum FrequentFlyer members and oneworld Emerald & Sapphire | |