Visiting the Qantas Club, Qantas Business Lounge in the COVID-19 era

For many months, Qantas Club members and Gold-grade frequent flyers have enjoyed access to Qantas' Business Lounges: normally the realm of Platinum cardholders and pointy end travellers.

That came to an end this week in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, with the reopening of the airline's Qantas Clubs: so how does the experience now differ between the two?

Executive Traveller stopped by the newly-reopened Brisbane Qantas Club, and its neighbouring Business Lounge, to find out.

Qantas Club vs Business Lounge: what's the same?

Whether you're destined for the Qantas Club or the higher-tier Business Lounge, you'll find several similarities between them.

In Brisbane, to enter the lounge precinct and visit either space, you'll first need to sign-in at reception for contact tracing purposes. In most cases, that's a quick scan of your boarding pass or frequent flyer card.

From this week, Qantas' Premium Lounge Entry facility is back – giving all eligible travellers a speedy and private path to both lounges, with a dedicated check-in zone and private security checkpoint.

For the time being, Premium Lounge Entry is available at peak times only, being from 5am to 9am on weekdays, and 11:30am to 3:30pm on Sundays. Currently, the doors remain locked on Saturdays.

Once inside, you'll find hand sanitiser pumps scattered throughout the lounge, with health reminders aplenty.

With social distancing in mind, expect seats to be spaced further apart than usual, across both the Business Lounge and Qantas Club.

As well, computer terminals are no longer available, to avoid people sharing the keyboards and mice.

In fact, anything that multiple travellers might commonly touch has been removed from the lounge or taken out of service, such as the self-serve coffee machines.

Magazines are available once again, but right now, the Qantas Magazine is your only pick. Each comes plastic-wrapped, with travellers asked to take their mag along for the journey.

Newspapers aren't available for the time being in either lounge.

Qantas Club vs Business Lounge: breakfast

For Gold frequent flyers and Qantas Club members taking a morning flight, the Qantas Club breakfast reverts to a typical continental menu.

Options like pancakes, warm boiled eggs and baked beans aren't available for now, although you'll still find breads and pastries, yoghurts, Bircher muesli, salads, and a chilled breakfast plate, if you don't mind your boiled egg served cold:

Staff will retrieve and serve your preferred selections, with the same occurring in the Business Lounge, where the options, and the food presentation, sit a notch above.

From the hosted 'all day snacking station', you can choose a meal with your eyes if you'd rather not peruse the menu.

These, of course, are just for display. Staff will freshly plate your choice to order including with any customisations, such as the addition of toast to the frittata.

Fruit salad, breads and pastries, and the Business Lounge's signature yoghurts, are available too.

Again, these are retrieved and served by staff.

While the self-serve coffee machines aren't in operation, barista-made coffee is most definitely in full swing across both lounges.

In the Business Lounge, staff passing through the space were happy to take coffee orders from seated travellers, particularly at quieter times.

Right now, there's no 'plate of the day' offered to those seated in the lounge's dining zones, but this is expected to return by mid-December.

Qantas Club vs Business Lounge: all day dining

After breakfast, both the Qantas Club and the Business Lounge move into 'all day dining' mode.

In the Qantas Club, you'll currently find tomato, chickpea and spinach soup as a hot option, along with a range of chilled snack plates.

These include a vermicelli noodle bowl with a tofu, green bean and baby corn salad; crudites with olives and hummus; a meat and cheese plate; as well as chips and crackers.

As a mid-afternoon snack, spring rolls are currently served with sweet chilli sauce: a popular pick, which saw travellers queueing for a helping.

Other selected hot food items also make an appearance after 5pm.

Across in the Business Lounge, the afternoon and evening menu provides more choice and substance than the Qantas Club, particularly for those travelling throughout the day.

On the hot food front, there's a light option in the tomato and risoni soup – although the polenta al forno with beef ragu and béchamel sauce came highly recommended, with a great balance of flavours.

Various bowls are at-hand too, including a pesto pasta salad with tuna and vegetables and a potato salad with pickled cucumber, along with personal crudités dip plates.

If you fancy a sandwich, chicken, roast beef and ham options are available too. These would be great toasted, although sandwich presses aren't currently available in either lounge.

Overall, the Qantas Business Lounge no doubt retains its edge over the Qantas Club, but with staples like barista coffee available across both lounges, frequent flyers certainly won't go thirsty – or hungry, either. 

Also read: Visiting Virgin Australia's newly-reopened Brisbane lounge

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.