Qantas International Transit T3 Perth, Australia Lounge
Qantas's brand new lounge at Perth airport is unique, in many ways. For a start, it is used for just one international flight a day, for departures for London Heathrow. It also has one domestic flight a day - to Melbourne - but that flight is oddly classified as international. As a result it has a unique name, the Qantas Perth International Transit Lounge.Perth, Australia Qantas International Transit T3 lounge review
The Perth Qantas International Transit Terminal 3 lounge has other unique features: the London flight is one of the world's longest; hence, pre-flight dining is major feature. It also has an outdoor terrace, with a barbecue. There is also a yoga studio. A visit here, ahead of the long flight, is special indeed.
So special, infact, that if you are standard Qantasclub member you are denied entry, and have to say outside in the Domestic Qantas Club. Entry is also through the domestic part of the terminal. And other international flights on Qantas also use the domestic lounges.
Meanwhile, Qantas has a real international lounge at Perth, but it is a 45 minute bus ride away, and no Qantas flights now use it.
Yup, the Qantas outpost in Western Australia is unique.
To find the lounge, and only if you are on the QF9 depart to London in Business or a Gold or Platinum in economy, go through domestic, then international Terminal 3 passport control, and the Perth Qantas International Transit Lounge is through the small wooden door on your right, and then down to the ground floor.
And then, it is before you - the famous Perth International Transit Lounge has been designed by Australian Industrial designer David Caon and SUMU design, in consultation with the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre.
The Qantas Perth lounge for 787 customers has a range of unique features including 'light therapy' in the shower suites to help adjust your body clock, a wellbeing studio with stretching classes and a refresh area providing hydrating face products.
Customers can dine in an open-air terrace with a BBQ serving dishes by celebrity chef Neil Perry from Rockpool.
As you walk in, there is an angled reception podia, then the three separate seating banks in triangles around you. Showers are to the left, past the large, open, area set up as a face hydrating area. At the far end is the yoga studio, behind the closed door: a TV screen lets you know what yoga is on.
Continue walking clockwise, and you come to the buffet area: this is quite pleasant, with two main dishes of the day, and bowls of salads. Close to this is the hydration area.
Further around is the large open air courtyard: there is a moveable roof here, so it can be closed up on the two or three rainy days in Perth. At one end is the barbeque station, with sausages and a variety of sauces. There are some pleasant benches in the middle - although of course you can't actually see out from the courtyard. And then at the other end is the bar, with one side facing the courtyard, and the other the central part of the lounge.
A major problem with the Qantas Perth International Transit Lounge is that much of the floor space is set up for gimmicks, but there aren't that many seats. And it can get packed. Hence, people often stand eating diner in the hydrating area, and let their children run riot around the yoga studio. And this is just with one flight: when the lounge is fully in use, it may become much harder to find anywhere to sit.
Make sure you have enough time to savour all these delights: if you are on the QF9 from Melbourne, you have a bare 90 minutes on the stand while the 787 refuels, which means only 60 minutes in the terminal, and 45 minutes in the lounge. It is a rush to even get a beer. Meanwhile if you connect from Sydney, this part of the terminal only opens up two and a half hours before the flight to London departs: you'll need to plan to run in, have a shower, do the yoga, grab a sausage, and then plonk at the bar, all in about an hour and a half. Relaxing, it is not.
Food
The Outdoor BBQ has two types of sausages from local Perth butcher Princi Smallgoods, and vegetables such as grilled mushrooms and corn on the cob on the side.
There is also a buffet serving light dishes including soups with homemade damper, healthy salad bowls, crudite and dips. There are carrot and cucumber sticks, with beetroot dip.
Don't miss the sandwiches which are quite large, but go quickly. You can toast them under the sandwich toaster.
There are a couple of dishes of the day, in a large tourine, typically chicken or beef, with rice and pasta.
Bar
There is a good, decent, full service fully staffed bar in the Perth Qantas International Transit Lounge, in the far corner, with one side facing out into the courtyard.Probably very welcome after the longhaul is the bar with premium wine and beer from Australia, including the Margaret River region. You can pour your own wine, but you have to ask for beer or cocktails.
There is also beer on draft, including Fremantle brewery Little Creatures, Iron Jack, Hahn, and Heineken.
Back by the Buffet is the Quench hydration station, with flavoured water.
Bathrooms
The Perth Qantas International Transit Lounge has 15 shower suites.Each of the shower suites has a 'light therapy' in the to help adjust your body clock.
There is a large, strange, 'refresh area' providing hydrating face products, in large mirrors, but this area is totally open to the main part of the lounge.
Don't miss the wellbeing studio with stretching classes and yoga by Bodhi J. There are two classes before each daily departure.
Access
The QF PER T3 lounge is only open for passengers beginning on the QF9 from Perth (also if connecting from any domestic flight onto QF9) and the reverse QF10 from London only if carrying on to Melbourne. You'll also need to be in Business class or hold Qantas Platinum, or Gold status in economy.There is no access if you connect to another domestic flight having arrived off the QF10.
The new Qantas Perth lounge is open 1pm to 2:45pm for QF10, then 4:45pm to 6:50pm for QF9.
Video: Qantas International Transit Lounge
