Qantas scraps plans for London first class lounge
The Heathrow T3 lounge will now see a premium dining room modelled on the Auckland lounge experience.
By David Flynn, June 19 2026
Executive Traveller exclusive
Qantas has abandoned its plans to open a dedicated first class lounge at London Heathrow.
Instead, the airline will upgrade the current lounge to increase capacity and add an invitation-only premium dining room, similar to its recently-opened Auckland lounge.
Work is due to begin in the coming six months, with the aim of the lounge being fully operational by October, in time for the arrival of the first non-stop ‘Project Sunrise’ Airbus A350 flight from Sydney.
The lounge that wasn’t
When the proposed Qantas London first class lounge was first announced by then-CEO Alan Joyce in February 2023, it was slated to open in late 2025.
This was also in conjunction with the non-stop Sydney-London flights, which were subsequently pushed back to 2026, and later 2027.
On the cards: direct boarding from the lounge to the awaiting aircraft, along with “sweeping views of the airfield, with a focus on wellbeing features and an unrivalled dining experience.”
But a suitable space never became available to Qantas.
Qantas' London lounge is getting an upgrade.
“We looked for quite some time for alternative space, but because of the congestion and the changes going on at Heathrow, that wasn’t a possibility,” Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace told Executive Traveller on the sidelines of this week’s Project Sunrise announcement in Toulouse, the home of Airbus.
“We’ve looked at about three or four spaces, but we’ve been unsuccessful (in getting them)... there’s just not a lot of infrastructure.”
“So we’ve got to be quite pragmatic about ‘can we actually get space,’ and the answer to that is ‘no’.”
Instead, Wallace’s lounge team will work to “optimise the lounge, make the service proposition better, get the facilities up to date.
“It’s a really good solution, and I’m stoked” he enthused. “The design team is doing a red-hot job on it.”
Same space, more room
The footprint of the lounge – which opened in November 2017 – will be reconfigured to add “around 40 to 60" more seats, Wallace said.
This will include reducing the size of the downstairs bar, which “takes up far too much room. So we’ll be shrinking that, giving us more capacity.”
The bar will be reduced in size, and the dining area formalised into a 'premium space'.
Meanwhile, changes on the upper level will allow more showers to be added, “because we’re short of those at the moment.”
Executive Traveller understands the stairs connecting both levels will also be redesigned to free up a small amount of space.
The architecture of the staircase will also be reworked to talk up less room.
Premium dining for premium passengers
The most significant change will see the creation of a premium dining zone, modelled on the same space in Qantas’ Auckland lounge.
The Platinum Dining Room at Qantas' Auckland lounge.
This will offer à la carte meals and upgraded wines to first class passengers, Qantas Platinum and Platinum One frequent flyers (and their Oneworld Emerald equivalents), and of course members of the invitation-only Chairman’s Lounge.
“The Auckland premium dining experience has been hugely successful, so we're looking to replicate that,” Wallace confirmed.
“We’ll be able to segment our most valued customers into that intimate dining experience,” which will be located on the ground floor.
Like Auckland, the London dining room will be 'invitation-only' based on status or class of travel.
The daily Airbus A380 from London to Sydney via Singapore carries 14 first class passengers, with Project Sunrise adding six more on the A350-1000ULR.
However, there’s a significant number of top-tier frequent flyers on Qantas’ daily flights from London to Singapore and Perth, which will only increase with the addition of the non-stop to Sydney from late 2027.
As previously reported, Qantas has polled frequent flyers on adding “exclusive/designated dining areas” for Platinum and Platinum One frequent flyers to business class lounges.
Read more: Do more Qantas lounges need a Platinum dining area?
The timeline for Qantas’ London lounge renewal
Qantas is currently weighing up whether the London lounge will be upgraded in stages, or completely closed during its makeover.
“At the moment, the team are assessing whether it's better to close it for a short amount of time, or do we stage it”, with one section closed at a time.
Cathay's London business class lounge is just next door, and always a great alternative...
Both approaches would see Qantas send at least some of its passengers to the T3 lounges of fellow Oneworld members such as British Airways and Cathay Pacific.
“The good thing about Heathrow is we do have those options,” Wallace reflected.
“We’ll probably stage-close it rather than fully close it, so I don’t think we're going to be in a situation where we don’t have a lounge for six months.”
“I think it’s pretty close to start. We’ve got plans and it’s ready for construction.”
David Flynn travelled to Toulouse as a guest of Qantas and Airbus.
UA *Gold Lifetime
18 Dec 2015
Total posts 13
The Qantas London lounge is aesthetically good but already too cramped in the evenings! When you start to section off an area for first/platinum dining it’s going to be worse.
I already just go to Cathay’s separate F lounge which is close by, peaceful and spacious.
The LHR situation is similar to how Sinhspore used to be. Singapore now, with two lounges works so much better.
I used the Auckland lounge last week and the segmented dining makes it uncomfortable for those who visibly do and don’t have access.
I understand the LHR constraints. Odd / misleading that QF has made the specific commitments around the LHR F lounge and facilities etc before securing any space ?
The SIN F lounge has been a triumph so this is disappointing news, and with additional patrons on sunrise the lounge is going to be a cluster imho.
08 Feb 2018
Total posts 184
Agree, last time I started in the CX First lounge for dinner, moved to the QF lounge and then quickly ran back to where I was!
24 Aug 2011
Total posts 1281
The QF LHR Lounge already feels narrow and cramped. Adding 40-to 60 (which really means 60) seats seems like a nightmare. Eligible passengers are already able to access the superior Cathay or Emirates lounges. This latest proposal seems to make the alternatives even more attractive.
05 Sep 2023
Total posts 3
Let’s hope they improve it over Auckland as there was no control about 2 weeks ago who was in the Platinum dining section.
It was literally a free for all.
13 Feb 2015
Total posts 75
I wonder whether Qantas will keep an eye on a suitable space for their desired needs and if something becomes available they'll jump on it, even if it's years down the track?
Or am I being far too generous to Qantas...?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
14 Oct 2012
Total posts 53
Why am I not surprised. Promise the world and not deliver. Agree that the experience in Singapore is so much better with 2 lounges. I guess in London we need to continue to go to the Emirates lounge and Cathay.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Jan 2014
Total posts 335
I was surveyed about exclusive dedicated dining spaces in the business lounges, but it wasn’t in the context of instead of a first class lounge, you can get any result you want if you ask the question the right way.
06 Jan 2017
Total posts 3
I'm not sure who other than Qantas thinks the premium dining model of the Auckland lounge is the best model to base future lounges on. There's zero privacy, the quite regular distraction of non invited guests trying to sit or just using it as a thoroughfare takes away any expectation of quiet enjoyment. Some obviously successfully take a seat and end up being given the à la carte menu - I witnessed it just this week. It's the luck of the draw for them.
03 May 2013
Total posts 711
God bless the CX F lounge. Intimate, quite comfortable and great food. QF F Lounges are only ever upmarket cafeterias, e.g. SIN, LAX.
18 Sep 2015
Total posts 154
The segmented dining area in the photo looks like a cafeteria with napkins
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 Jun 2017
Total posts 95
I honestly don’t know why you would go to the Qantas lounge as a First/Platinum traveller. When I was Platinum I would automatically go to the Cathay First Class lounge, no question. Now that I am a lowly LTG I tend to make the Cathay Business Class lounge my default.
18 Nov 2015
Total posts 123
The Cathay Pacific First Lounge is fantastic for a la carte dining. The lounge itself isn't the biggest, but it's a very nice lounge. So I'd suggest go get food in the Cathay Lounge, and if it's busy, then head back to the Qantas lounge after.
18 May 2016
Total posts 3
The platinum dining area in Auckland is a dreadful concept. What bright spark thought of that. A low wall separates it from the rest of the lounge so the have nots can clearly see the haves. Its like a zoo and embarrassing for both parties. Im no longer platinum but if I was I'd gobble down my food , grab my wine and get out quick smart into the anonymity of the business class/gold part. I suggest putting opaque glass partitions on top of the existing wall so that both sides of the divide have privacy.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
26 Nov 2012
Total posts 135
I know space constraints aren’t their fault but I was in the AKL lounge recently and pax were being turned away because it was full so I hope they can redesign it well. I have the coffee there and then high tail it over to CX Flounge. I’d love to know how much that costs QF.
31 May 2018
Total posts 16
Why announce it then? Odd. Credibility starts to deteriorate as a result.
20 Nov 2015
Total posts 607
This sort of pre-announcement was sadly the norm under Alan Joyce. Didn't even have space locked in, but went ahead with the "announcement" anyway. Someone "in the know" at LHR told me that Qantas was aiming to have the lounge somehow co-sited with the EK lounge, which makes sense because that's the only lounge at LHR T3 with direct boarding.
BA Gold
01 Apr 2012
Total posts 212
Another Qantas enhancement that they hype to then quietly drop or gets delayed by years.
Eventually, people will just become tone deaf to their announcements with a 'yeah yeah sure'.
We are building a First Class lounge with great views at LHR. Actually, no.
APR 2024. We will have wifi on all our international A330's, 787's and A380's by the end of the year. 2026 and a handful of 787's have it.
Project Sunrise.......let's see if that first flight takes off Oct 2027.
02 Aug 2023
Total posts 4
Totally agree with Joe, God bless the CX F lounge. Intimate, quite comfortable and great food. Qantas should learn from CX but I doubt they ever will.
03 May 2012
Total posts 120
When I flew First on QF as a Plat FF from London a few months ago, the Cathay First Lounge was only admitting Cathay Diamonds or people flying in Cathay First. They apologised profusely but said it was because some cancelled flights had the lounge full. I wasn’t prepared for what a zoo the QF Lounge was. It was not pleasant. I hadn’t been in so long because I love the Cathay lounge. Can only agree with the comments about Auckland. Qantas really has lost that ultra premium touch. This announcement won’t move the dial.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
30 Mar 2015
Total posts 23
CX F lounge is the way to go! lots of windows, relaxed and rarely crowded (for my Finnair flights anyway)
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