We arrived at Melbourne Airport at around 12:30PM for our 2PM flight to Sydney.
Melbourne Airport domestic terminal exterior
There’s a separate domestic terminal in Melbourne Airport, which is nice enough, though certainly not memorable.
Qantas domestic check-in Melbourne Airport
We decided to check bags for this sector, so quickly found the business class queue, where there was no wait.
Qantas business class check-in Melbourne Airport
The agent that helped us was friendly, and had our boarding passes and baggage tags printed within moments.
From there we headed to the security checkpoint. I find security on flights within Australia to be rather lax, at least from the looks of it — there’s not much “theater” to it.
However, after screening my bag they found nail scissors, so rather than having them confiscated I figured I might as well check my carry-on, since we had plenty of time to spare.
Melbourne Airport domestic terminal security
Once through security we headed to the Qantas Club, which is located just past the security checkpoint up an escalator.
Melbourne Airport domestic terminal
The Qantas Club Melbourne Airport entrance
The Qantas Club Melbourne Airport escalators
We were promptly admitted into the massive lounge after presenting our boarding passes.
The Qantas Club entryway Melbourne Airport
I found it interesting that just inside the entrance was a bookstore, which is convenient.
The Qantas Club store Melbourne Airport
The Qantas Club is massive, though was fairly full. Keep in mind that Qantas is one of the few non-US airlines which actually sells lounge memberships, so you have premium cabin passengers, elite members, and club members in the lounge.
The lounge was in reasonably good condition and quite modern. Not cutting edge or anything, but for a domestic lounge it was nice.
The Qantas Club seating Melbourne Airport
The Qantas Club seating Melbourne Airport
The Qantas Club seating Melbourne Airport
The Qantas Club seating Melbourne Airport
There were a variety of seating arrangements, from the more “standard” lounge seating, to a restaurant area, to table-top-seating, etc.
The Qantas Club seating Melbourne Airport
The Qantas Club seating Melbourne Airport
The Qantas Club seating Melbourne Airport
There was even a rather large “kids zone,” as well as a business center.
The Qantas Club kids section Melbourne Airport
The Qantas Club business center Melbourne Airport
The lounge does boast very nice views of the terminal’s tarmac, which was filled mostly with Qantas planes and a lone Air New Zealand widebody. Man, Air New Zealand knows how to paint their planes!
The Qantas Club view Melbourne Airport
There were several small snack stations dispersed throughout the lounge, which had coffee machines and cookies.
The Qantas Club snack station Melbourne Airport
The Qantas Club snacks Melbourne Airport
In addition to the small snack stations, the lounge actually had a rather substantial dining selection. The description of the buffet read as follows:
The Qantas Club menu Melbourne Airport
It’s rare that lounge food actually looks good, but that was the case here — the soup looked/smelled good, the salads were all nicely presented, and I loved the make your own sandwich station.
The Qantas Club buffet Melbourne Airport
The Qantas Club buffet Melbourne Airport
The Qantas Club buffet Melbourne Airport
Then there was a separate staffed bar area with alcohol. It’s worth noting that there’s also a “real” espresso machine there, so if you don’t want one of the coffee beverages from the other machines, you can order a custom made coffee beverage here.
The Qantas Club bar Melbourne Airport
We had breakfast at the Park Hyatt really early, so decided to have a snack. I had soup and salad, both of which were very good.
The Qantas Club snack Melbourne Airport
Within the Qantas Club is a separate Domestic Business Lounge, which is the “premium” domestic Qantas lounge. It can be accessed by business class passengers and oneworld Emerald members.
It was located in the back of the Qantas Club. We were entitled to access and I had a peek, though it looked more crowded and smaller than the club we were in, so I figured it wasn’t worth relocating to.
We decided to leave the lounge at around 1:30PM for the anticipated boarding time of 1:40PM.
Melbourne Airport domestic terminal
We were departing from gate 10, which was maybe a 10 minute walk from the lounge. While the central part of the terminal is quite nice, the gate areas aren’t quite as nice, with much lower ceilings and limited seating.
Melbourne Airport domestic terminal
Our 737 was already waiting at the gate, though I couldn’t help but eye the A330 which was just being towed into the gate across from us.
Qantas 737 Melbourne Airport
Qantas A330 Melbourne Airport
At 1:40PM boarding was announced for our flight to Sydney.
Departure gate Melbourne Airport
Interestingly they didn’t pre-board business class. Instead everyone was boarded at once, though through different lanes. The two lanes had a bit of space between them, which meant that the process was actually quite smooth.
Departure gate Melbourne Airport
Qantas Club Melbourne Airport bottom line
For a domestic lounge I was really impressed. The Qantas Club was spacious and had a great food and drink selection. It was definitely leaps and bounds better than what we get in the US, especially some of the domestic lounges we’re used to from a credit card with lounge access.
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