Questions and Answers

I have been reading great things about the Qantas First lounge in Sydney, so I would like some thoughts on a dilemma I am facing…

According to the access requireme nts for OneWorld First Passengers:
[B]Next onward flight that day must be on a oneworld operated and marketed flight.#
[/B]
I’m flying AA First Class into Sydney, and my next flight (an awards flight) is on JetStar (which is *not* a Oneworld partner.) There are only a limited number of flights to my onward destination, and only one direct Qantas flight each day. In order to take that flight, I would have 11 hours from my AA flight arrival until the Qantas flight (it’s only a 4 hour layover if I fly Jetstar).

Is it worth it, in your opinion, to have a longer layover just so that I can take advantage of this lounge (which I have heard so much about!)

(My return flight to the US is via Qantas Business Class, so I’m not eligible to use the lounge on my return flight).

[USER=1593]@SusanR[/USER] I’m not sure any lounge is worth waiting 11 hours. However, I would walk over to the lounge and show them my F boarding card and see what happens. No downside to trying :).

(and don’t let the trolls get you down about commenting :))

When you arrive in Sydney you are ferried through immigration right away. Nearly every Jetstar flight leaves from a different (domestic) terminal, so it may be the case that you would not be able to access the Qantas First lounge even if you were flying onwards with a Oneworld partner.

[QUOTE=”aussiejosh, post: 15463, member: 267″]When you arrive in Sydney you are ferried through immigration right away. Nearly every Jetstar flight leaves from a different (domestic) terminal, so it may be the case that you would not be able to access the Qantas First lounge even if you were flying onwards with a Oneworld partner.[/QUOTE]

Correct. And you cannot re-enter airside in the international terminal without an international boarding pass. This terminal is also on the far side of the airport from either domestic terminal, so wouldn’t be convenient even if you had access.

I doubt you’d have lounge access for a domestic Jetstar flight, and in any case there is no Qantas lounge of any type in T2 where Jetstar domestic flights depart. If you did have access (QF status (not OW status) or [I]maybe[/I] if it’s on the same ticket as your international flight), you could in theory go airside in T3 (no boarding pass of any type needed in domestic terminals in Australia) and use any Qantas lounge you are entitled to access. But there’s no airside tunnel between the two terminals, so you’d have to exit, and reclear security at T2. T2 is actually quite a pleasant place for an airport, there’s the usual overpriced restaurants, but it’s well designed, there is a food court with plenty of options at regular street prices, and most gates have adequate seating.

So I’d say suck it up, take the four hour layover and get to your destination faster. The alternative would be to take the long layover, spend some time seeing the tourist sights of Sydney, come back for lounge access and a Qantas flight, which even in economy will be a nicer experience than Jetstar.

How long is the connecting flight and where is it to?

I figured that I wouldn’t be able to get back into the Departure lounge once I got off the plane 🙂

My connecting flight is to MCY, close to where my parents live; I’d rather spend the extra hours there anyway, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever get another chance to visit the Qantas First lounge.

Thanks everyone, for your feedback!

[USER=79]@Gaurav[/USER] – thanks for the encouragement to ignore the trolls. It’s no big deal; my fault anyway for putting in a totally unrelated comment to the thread LOL

[QUOTE=”SusanR, post: 15481, member: 1593″]I figured that I wouldn’t be able to get back into the Departure lounge once I got off the plane 🙂

My connecting flight is to MCY, close to where my parents live; I’d rather spend the extra hours there anyway, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever get another chance to visit the Qantas First lounge.

Thanks everyone, for your feedback![/QUOTE]

Could be worth your time to get a sooner flight to BNE and make your way from there, depending on exactly where your parents’ house is. Presume you’ve looked at this though.