Your guide to bringing guests into Qantas airport lounges

By Chris Chamberlin, March 13 2019

Bringing guests into Qantas' first class, business class and Qantas Club lounges should be simple, but the rules for that +1 aren't always straightforward – and, to add to the confusion, can vary significantly between lounges.

Don't be caught out when travelling with colleagues, friends or family members. Here's what you need to know to share your lounge experience with them, whether you're heading to Qantas' international first class and business class lounges, or the domestic business class and Qantas Club lounges.

Bringing guests into Qantas First Lounges

Currently found in Sydney, Melbourne, and Los Angeles, with the addition of Singapore later this year – and in Auckland for the time being – here's how many guests each eligible passenger can bring into a Qantas First Lounge, and what type of boarding pass they need to have.

Access entitlement	Guests allowed	Guest restrictions
Qantas Chairman's Lounge	Two	Guests can be travelling on any Qantas, Emirates, China Eastern, Jetstar or Oneworld flight.
Qantas first class Emirates first class* Qantas Platinum One Qantas Platinum Emirates Skywards Platinum*	One	Must be travelling on the same flight as the host.
Oneworld Emerald^ Oneworld first class^	One	Guest can be travelling on any Oneworld operated and marketed flight.

*Excludes the Qantas First Lounge in Los Angeles, which these travellers cannot access.
^Excludes Qantas first class passengers and Qantas frequent flyers, which are covered separately.

Guest allowances aren't cumulative, so if you're a Qantas Platinum member and are also flying first class, you're only allowed one guest in total: not one guest via your Platinum status plus another guest as a first class passenger.

As you'd also expect, guests are only permitted when the host is entitled to lounge access themselves, so all the usual caveats about travelling on an eligible flight or partner airline remain in place.

We won't list those other rules here – this article assumes the host already meets the access requirements for the lounge they plan to visit – and as is also true of the other lounges covered here, passengers with any one-off lounge invitations cannot bring guests.

Bringing guests into Qantas International Business Lounges

A broader list of travellers can access Qantas' international business class lounges with a guest or even two in tow, as follows:

Access entitlement	Guests allowed	Guest restrictions
Qantas Chairman's Lounge	Two	Guests can be travelling on any Qantas, Emirates, China Eastern, Jetstar or Oneworld flight.
Qantas first class Qantas business class Emirates first class Qantas Platinum One Qantas Platinum Qantas Gold Qantas Club Emirates Skywards Platinum Emirates Skywards Gold China Eastern: Eastern Miles Platinum China Eastern: Eastern Miles Gold Fiji Airways Tabua Club Plus	One	Must be travelling on the same flight as the host.
Oneworld Emerald^ Oneworld Sapphire^ Oneworld first class^	One	Guest can be travelling on any Oneworld operated and marketed flight.
Qantas Club Annual Guest Card	One additional	Guest must be travelling with the member on a Qantas or Jetstar flight.
American Airlines Admirals Club	Two, or immediate family	Guests must be travelling with the member. Immediate family includes partner/spouse, and children under 18 years of age.
Emirates business class Jetstar Business Max Oneworld business class^	None	N/A

^Excludes Qantas first and business class passengers and Qantas frequent flyers, which are covered separately.

Again, the host needs to be eligible for lounge access at their departure airport in order to bring in a guest.

For example, Eastern Miles Gold and Platinum members only receive Qantas lounge access when flying between Australia and Mainland China, not in other cities or when travelling on other routes. The table above merely shows how many guests are permitted when the host is eligible for access.

Bringing guests into Qantas Domestic Business Lounges

As you don't need a boarding pass to clear security at Australian domestic airports, in many cases, guests don't need to be travelling (or flying with Qantas) to accompany eligible members into the Qantas Business Lounges in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth:

Access entitlement	Guests allowed	Guest restrictions
Qantas Chairman's Lounge Qantas Platinum One Qantas Platinum	Two	Guests do not need to be travelling.
Qantas domestic business class Oneworld Emerald^ Connecting to/from a Qantas or Emirates international first or business class flight Connecting to/from a Oneworld international first class flight	One	Guest does not need to be travelling.
Emirates Skywards Platinum China Eastern: Eastern Miles Platinum	One	Must be travelling on the same flight.
Connecting to/from a Oneworld international business class flight (other than Qantas)	None	N/A

^Excludes Qantas frequent flyers, which are covered separately.

Bringing guests into domestic Qantas Club lounges

When it comes to domestic Qantas Clubs – both in airports that also have Business Lounges, and where the Qantas Club is the only lounge available – the broader access list makes the guesting rules more complex, but as a general rule, guests who can bring guests into Business Lounges can bring the same number and type of guests into domestic Qantas Clubs:

Access entitlement	Guests allowed	Guest restrictions
Qantas Chairman's Lounge Qantas Platinum One Qantas Platinum	Two	Guests do not need to be travelling.
Qantas domestic business class Oneworld Emerald^ Qantas Gold / Oneworld Sapphire Qantas Club Connecting to/from a Qantas or Emirates international first or business class flight Connecting to/from a Oneworld international first class flight	One	Guest does not need to be travelling.
Emirates Skywards Platinum Emirates Skywards Gold China Eastern: Eastern Miles Platinum China Eastern: Eastern Miles Gold	One	Must be travelling on the same flight.
Qantas Club Annual Guest Card	One additional	Guest must be travelling with the member.
American Airlines Admirals Club	Two, or immediate family	Guests must be travelling with the member. Immediate family includes partner/spouse, and children under 18 years of age.
Connecting to/from a Oneworld international business class flight (other than Qantas)	None	N/A

^Excludes Qantas' Emerald-grade frequent flyers, which are covered separately.

Bringing children into Qantas-operated lounges

Whether you're flying within Australia or overseas, all Qantas-operated lounges adopt the same access policies for travelling with children, except in Los Angeles where different rules apply.

Beyond the number of adult guests each passenger is allowed to bring – based on frequent flyer status, ticket type or membership, as above – those same travellers can also be accompanied in most lounges by up to two children aged 4-17.

Children aged three and under are also permitted without quota, except at the Qantas-operated Oneworld Business Lounge in Los Angeles, where travellers can enter with a maximum of two children aged under 18 years.

Qantas also says that if you're travelling with more than two children and are visiting any of Qantas' other lounges, "the Qantas lounge manager will try to accommodate them, subject to reviewing the space available."

Child access policies vary in lounges operated by other airlines, and at Qantas 'associated lounges' in cities where Qantas doesn't operate its own lounge.

Chris Chamberlin

Chris Chamberlin is the Associate Editor of Executive Traveller, and lives by the motto that a journey of a thousand miles begins not just with a single step, but also a strong latte, a theatre ticket, and later in the day, a good gin and tonic.

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