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This post is one chapter on our trip to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne with The Great Ocean Road, exploring The Yarra Valley and the beaches of The Gold Coast via Qantas First Class. This trip was booked using Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: Qantas Business Lounge Domestic, Melbourne, Australia

“Qantas Airlines serves up a great space, a reasonable breakfast and comfortable surroundings even in a simple domestic lounge in Melbourne”

We were up at 4:45 AM for our flight to Hamilton Island. I rung up the hotel valet to get the car (allow twenty minutes please they say). It was early but I’ve given up on rushing to airports in strange places and freaking out about having things go wrong, which is always worse in a foreign country.

We self drove ourselves, avoiding tolls, to the Melbourne airport. A Hertz roving agent accepted the return on our car and closed out our contract.

We walked in through the cold nine degree weather into the dedicated Qantas Terminal (Terminal One). We checked our bags. Strangely enough, liquids are permitted through the passenger Australian airport security check points so I just carried on my Coldstream Estates Merlot 750 ml bottle of red wine saving potential disaster from smashed red wine bottles in checked luggage.

Accessing the Qantas Business Lounge:

We wandered to the large Qantas Lounge “Precinct” and eventually up to the Qantas Business Lounge, which was immediately behind security. Qantas has tiered lounges, offering a “Qantas Club” for credit card holders and club members, and a Qantas Business Lounge for those in paid business class. We visited the Qantas Business Lounge; which seemed to have the better placement of the two with bright windows and views of the apron.

There was also a chart, featuring all the aboriginal groups across Australia. We found these displayed prominently in most of the Qantas lounges across Australia.

Inside the Qantas Business Lounge:

It was dark outside and inside when we arrived at about 7 AM. The lounge was empty but filled up quite considerably by the time we departed. The lounge had lots of space, along with nice window views over the apron.

Qantas Business Lounge Food and Beverage:

“Qantas always offers terrific food and beverage inside their lounges at any time of day. I’ve always done better eating in the lounge than finding something on the concourse”

As always, Qantas offers great food and beverage in their lounges. A full breakfast was on offer, including scrambled eggs, panini’s salads, yoghurts. Rounding out the experience, as is the norm in the Trans Tasman lounges are freshly made barista made coffee.

I also picked up a Business Traveler, a Pacific Islander Magazine and a Australian Weekend newspaper.

I still think this is entertaining: “Thanks for your patience”. LOL.

We settled into some loungers by the window as the day broke and we had an hour before our flight to get fed. There was enough food in here to replace a meal and we didn’t feel the need to get any more food from the concourse prior to our flight, despite not having been able to take breakfast at the hotel before we left for the airport. We were able to catch a glance of the retro livery Qantas plane at the domestic gates just outside.

We headed down at T-35 minutes to Gate 6, which was a short 5 minute walk away from the lounge. Not many people do rolling suitcases in Australia and we ended up having to take an elevator down a flight instead of shelpping our bags down a flight of stairs (in lieu of an escalator set up) to the Qantas departures concourse.

My Thoughts on the Qantas Business Lounge Melbourne:

All in all, the Qantas Business Lounge is a solid domestic lounge offering. Qantas remains among my favourite lounges in the world for their pleasant environment, substantial food and wine bars after 12 PM. I’d always make time in my day for a pass through a Qantas Lounge before any flight.

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