Qantas: new rules for sharing lounge passes from this week

Qantas is about to make it much harder to share lounge passes with family, friends and colleagues, when new rules for lounge passes take effect this Wednesday, July 1.

Formally known as Complimentary Lounge Invitations, these are digital passes issued to Qantas Silver frequent flyers and also included as a benefit of Qantas credit cards.

They allow one-off entry to a domestic or international Qantas lounge, ahead of a Qantas or Jetstar flight.

Lounge invitations can be used by any Qantas Frequent Flyer member, not just the recipient, with the Qantas website providing an easy mechanism to transfer passes between frequent flyers.

But that’s about to change, with two significant changes to how complimentary lounge passes can be used as of July 1.

New restrictions on Qantas lounge passes

Firstly, lounge passes “will only be transferrable to someone travelling on the same flight as you.”

This pretty much puts an end to widescale gifting and sharing of Qantas lounge passes, such as is now done on several Facebook groups – including not-uncommon offers to swap a lounge invitation for a $50 Qantas Wine voucher.

Passes are also sold on websites like eBay and Gumtree, where they often fetch around $50.

Instead, the airline is repositioning complimentary passes as a benefit for people who are travelling together.

If you have any spare Qantas lounge passes, they can be transferred to another Qantas Frequent Flyer member until 11:59pm Tuesday June 30, for that person’s use as they see fit.

But once the clock hits midnight and the calendar ticks over to Wednesday July 1, Qantas says passes will only be able to be shared with somebody on the same flight as you.

Platinum One exceptions

Qantas notes that this change does not apply to Platinum One Lounge Invitations, which are issued to Platinum One frequent flyers (two invites per year).

The prized Platinum One Lounge Invitations permit entry to the Qantas First Lounges in Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore and Los Angeles, along with Qantas Business and Qantas Club lounges.

Also read: Qantas scraps plans for London first class lounge

No Qantas lounge passes for international Jetstar flights

In addition, Qantas lounge passes will no longer be valid for international Jetstar flights (although they can still be used for Qantas codeshare flights operated by Jetstar).

This will rule out a visit to any international Qantas lounge – such as those in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland – for Jetstar passengers unless they are flying on a Jetstar Business Max fare (which includes lounge access as one of its perks) or are booked on a QF codeshare.

And even on a Jetstar Business Max fare, travellers will be limited to Qantas business class lounges – even if they have Qantas Platinum status.

Only a Qantas Platinum One booked on a Jetstar Business Max fare will be welcome into the Qantas First Lounge, a Qantas spokesperson tells Executive Traveller.

Also, as previously reported, Qantas Platinum and Gold frequent flyers, along with Qantas Club members, will no longer have any Qantas lounge access before a Jetstar flight.

Read more: Qantas cuts lounge access for Jetstar passengers