Qantas will be expanding its network of first class lounges, with a new lounge opening in London. This is something that oneworld Emerald members should be excited about…
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Qantas First Lounge coming to London
A new Qantas First Lounge London (LHR) will be opening in late 2025. This is part of a larger announcement by Qantas about investing in its lounge network, though this is no doubt the most exciting development.
Qantas already has an excellent lounge in London, though it’s shared among all premium passengers, including those in first and business class, as well as oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members. The new Qantas First Lounge will give oneworld first class passengers and oneworld Emerald members a more exclusive lounge option.
The new Qantas First Lounge will be in a completely separate space from the current lounge, so this will also significantly expand Qantas’ current lounge capacity at the airport. When this change happens, the current lounge will become the Qantas International Business Lounge.
So far there are no further details about the new lounge, including how many square feet it will be, what the capacity will be, or where it will be located.
London will be the fifth location with a Qantas First Lounge, after Sydney, Melbourne, Los Angeles, and Singapore.
The timing for this lounge opening is no coincidence, as it’s supposed to coincide with Qantas launching “Project Sunrise” flights from Sydney and Melbourne to London. Qantas will have an all-new first class suite on the A350-1000.
Qantas currently flies from Perth to London with a Boeing 787, as well as from Singapore to London with an Airbus A380. It’s expected that those routes will continue to operate even when the new record-breaking flights launch.
Heathrow Terminal 3 is amazing for oneworld flyers
Terminal 3 at London Heathrow is easily one of the best terminals in the world for oneworld frequent flyers, and it’s cool to think that it’s getting even better. Currently you have:
- The Qantas Lounge, which is open to all oneworld first and business class passengers, as well as oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members
- The Cathay Pacific Business Lounge, which is open to oneworld business class passengers and oneworld Sapphire members
- The Cathay Pacific First Lounge, which is open to oneworld first class passengers and oneworld Emerald members
There’s also the American Admirals Club and British Airways Galleries Lounge, though frankly there’s no reason to visit either of those lounges, in my opinion.
Now we’re going to add a Qantas First Lounge into the mix as well? You spoil us, oneworld… you really spoil us.
You’ve gotta love that as a oneworld frequent flyer it’s advantageous not to fly out of British Airways’ Terminal 5, as the lounge situation is so much better in Terminal 3. Those of us with oneworld Emerald status will have two options for a la carte dining — what a treat!
Bottom line
A new Qantas First Lounge will be opening at London Heathrow in late 2025. This will be Qantas’ fifth first class lounge globally, and will be a great addition for premium oneworld flyers. How exciting to see Qantas’ excellent lounge network expanding.
What do you make of the new Qantas First Lounge Heathrow?
There seems to be a lot of blind acceptance of Qantas media hype in this article. For instance, the First Suite illustrated is a 'concept' only. Those of us who know Qantas know that the hype is rarely matched by reality.
And the Salt & Pepper squid is but a flaccid reminder of what it used to be.
There's also a Qantas "International First Lounge" in AKL. We were there a few days ago. It's fairly modest and doesn't begin to compare to its LAX counterpart.
The reason the CX and QF lounges in T3 are so great is in part the fact that they are not catering to the masses and for that we really should be thankful to BA and its Galleries lounges both at T3 and T5! The vast majority of passengers either don’t know they can access QF/CX or genuinely don’t want to. That said, I find the T3 Galleries lounge to be a nice and quiet space early in the morning before BA’s longhaul departures start.
Surely the lease on the Admiral's Club is coming up and QF can take that space over, right? How many non-status economy pax are flying AA out of LHR, but also have an AC membership? It seems like a very unnecessary lounge.
Funded by the $2 billion in taxpayer money Qantas dishonestly stole from the Australian people. This is Qantas way of repaying the corrupt political and business elite in Australia.
As Reyaan noted, QF already offers a la carte dining. Additionally, both BA and AA offer a la carte dining in their respective F lounges in T3.
The current Qantas lounge at LHR already offers a la carte dishes including the salt & pepper squid, so I am curious to see whether they will remove the a la carte feature for the current lounge.
As a side note; you can actually visit T3 even with a T5 boarding pass, but you have to “connect”. I always try to visit the T3 terminal when I am connecting on BA in T5. Takes a bit of time, but well worth for the swanky lounges.
Hi Reyyan,
Can I ask the LHR T3 visit with T5 boarding pass trick? Did you mean a real connecting booking, one flight arrival in T3, then the second flight connect with BA at T5 for departure?
Or just simple one flight out of T5, but use T5 boarding pass not only can access the CX/QF lounge at T3, but even the T3 airport security entrance scanner?
Thank you. ;)
Hi Alan, in my case I meant a T5 to T5 connection and taking the transfer bus to T3 and go through security. They usually allow me in with my T5 boarding pass, they might make a comment and ask questions, but be persistent and say you will head to the lounges.
If you only have a T5 boarding pass, you can head to T5, go through security etc. and take the transfer bus to...
Hi Alan, in my case I meant a T5 to T5 connection and taking the transfer bus to T3 and go through security. They usually allow me in with my T5 boarding pass, they might make a comment and ask questions, but be persistent and say you will head to the lounges.
If you only have a T5 boarding pass, you can head to T5, go through security etc. and take the transfer bus to T3, same process (Although I never tried this one since I always had a connection.)
Lounges don’t have issue scanning a T5 boarding pass.
What I do know is that you are unable to enter T3 with a T5 boarding pass, you will be denied. So it only works once you are already air side.
It's no trick or issue at all. All you need to do is use flight connections. Use the bus to get to T3, tell security you want to use the lounge (if they ask at all) and you're in. Getting back is quite easy too, though you need to know your way around. Flyertalk has a photo guide to it, I think.
@Reyyan a clarification to your response to @Alan.
You CANNOT go through T5 security (from landside or through connection), go to T3, and then re-enter T5. Terminal 5 is set up on a different IT system such that once you scan your BP into the airside area, you cannot re-scan it and enter again. (Technically, you could, but you would need to re-enter the UK through immigration, go to a check-in counter, and find an...
@Reyyan a clarification to your response to @Alan.
You CANNOT go through T5 security (from landside or through connection), go to T3, and then re-enter T5. Terminal 5 is set up on a different IT system such that once you scan your BP into the airside area, you cannot re-scan it and enter again. (Technically, you could, but you would need to re-enter the UK through immigration, go to a check-in counter, and find an agent who knows how to and is willing to re-set the BP ready-to-fly status...not a fun thing). This is not an issue with other terminals, as I recall, since they are not on the same system as T5.
If you have a connecting flight leaving from T5 (whether you arrive into T5 or another terminal), and you want to visit the T3 lounges, go FIRST to T3 and go through flight connections. Only when you are done should you go through security at T5.
(A long way of saying it is really not possible, and not advisable, to try to go to T3 with a BP for an itinerary originating at T5).
I sense that the airlines have heard their customers' desires (and concerns) regarding lounge experience. There's a positive shift in airlines' proprietary lounges in the making. Architecturally, they will look and feel less "institutional" (like the Qantas lounge at LAX) and more elegant (like some of the newer lounges we've seen). And, access will be curtailed from current levels.