Qantas' new Perth Airport lounge is only for Boeing 787 passengers

Is the transit only status possibly because the new lounge is located prior the transit security checkpoint meaning passengers leaving the lounge will still have to clear security before boarding? I don't know if this is the case but it would explain why pax departing from PER cannot access the new lounge.

My first thought is, you have got to be ******** me. What's the point of building this nice new lounge, but send any non-transit to the domestic lounge and then have to worry about leaving early to clear customs. Is this a space issue maybe? Or cheaper to run the lounge as opening hours are shorter due to no requirement to open it before incoming plane lands?

Truly bizarre. So the new flagship route for those in Perth, able for the first time to fly non-stop to London, requires passengers paying premium business class fares to go to the (admittedly good) domestic Business lounge, but leave early to go through immigration and presumably ANOTHER layer of (international standard) security. After all, domestic security doesn't meet international standards regarding liquids.

Most exclusive club in world! With these new rules NOBODY will be allowed into a QANTAS lounge! And people ask why tje middle eastern and asian airlines dominate the premium markets!

David, can you clarify the case of Perth passengers joining QF9? “Transit only” would seem to exclude them, but it seems bizarre.

is this likely a short term branding thing that will be opened up as a regular International Premium Lounge once more flights open up out of Perth? Or is it really as other have suggested a logistics location issue.

As I said, I'm guessing this is probably a location issue with the lounge being airside of inbound flights meaning pax departing from PER will not have access as they will clear security from landside and enter the main terminal which will be a different checkpoint compared with the transitting pax. I'm unsure of the exact location physically of the new lounge but would guess that it is downstairs near where the old Golden Wing/Virgin Lounge was which is likely to be the main issue.

Well now that’s just stupid... I’m guessing it’s something to do location, such as pax arriving internationally to domestic at Sydney and Melb can’t access the international lounges, but its kind of stupid pax joining a flight at Perth won’t have access if that is the case?

I can see the poor lounge attendants being confronted with a lot of confused and angry passengers expecting access.

Article updated, so my understanding is that the only QF9/10 pax excluded are the Perth - Melbourne domestic. Possible timing and/or capacity issues are behind not using this lounge for other Perth international departures

So would gold/sapphire passengers in economy flying to Singapore or Auckland get access to the domestic Qantas Club or domestic Business Lounge? Usually they have access to the Qantas club for domestic flights, but business lounges for international flights.

Man Qantas waist' cash. They really do not put effort into planning. Why waist millions of dollars. Is this because they regret taking the option to be the first ones into the domestic pier at the international side of the airport? Just remember...the Qantas precinct gets demolished by what...2025?

So they built such a great lounge to cater to a small 789 premium crowd? Seems like a waste of money!

Another good reason not to fly QF to other int destinations from Perth.

ahahaha. Pay $4K for an international J ticket - enjoy making your own ham sandwiches at Qantas Pub! Befitting if the forgotten west coast city status!

I understand why domestic passengers wont be able to access the lounge, but seems a bit silly to exclude the other international flights, which most days will be two 737 flights...hardly large numbers..

I'd say for the moment staffing and managing 3 lounges, for what is a very small international network out of Perth doesn't make sense. Once Perth's international network builds up with the predicted Europe flights and maybe more Asia flights then bring all across to the new T3 lounge. I know QF has a great consistent lounge network (one of it's strengths), but this will surely only be a short-medium term arrangement.

Thanks for this, David. However, you don't touch on those going in the opposite direction -- i.e. PER-MEL-LAX on the same day, same plane (QF10 and QF95). Do you know if Qantas Club/Plat FFs/Business Class passengers travelling on the 787 from PER-MEL-LAX can access the new international lounge at PER? Qantas' online support staff don't seem to know of the existence of this lounge as yet, so haven't been able to help me. However, I was able to find out from them that customs/immigration will be done at PER, and the 90 minutes or so at MEL will be in the transit lounge.

Interesting. Ive flown JQ Business Syd to Mel but from the International Terminal and was allowed to use the Qantas First Lounge as normal as P1

Why did they have to fiddle with a simple thing and make it suddenly so Confusing :(. Hope Qantas PR have a good spin on things to explain it

Sounds perfectly logical and a smart move.

How would this affect code share airline passengers if the Qantas lounges are moved, such as Cathay Pacific ?

So essentially Qantas has built this lounge for one single flight, QF9. Is this the only case in the world of a lounge being built for this purpose?

Seems like a lot of lounge for a very few pax. Surely the economics won't stack up. ??

I think this is perfectly ok. If they are going to have Frankfurt and Paris flights in the future, they would possibly have to remove access again for the other international flights (no doubt sparking more complaints at that time) so better to restrict it from the beginning. Wouldn’t make sense to keep it open all hours of the day for a handfull if passengers on those 737 flights. Also makes sense for the domestic QF10 passengers to use the domestic lounges considering the new lounge is airside and then just get the orange sticker to go through immigration for the flight - I’d expect it not to be too busy considering the low numbers of international flights.

This is not a smart move if Qantas wants to try and woo back customers to use their Singapore and Auckland services.

Can you just please clarify.......you say - Qantas' Perth International Transit Lounge at T3 will open its doors to passengers in business class, holding Qantas Platinum One, Platinum or Gold frequent flyer status (or their Oneworld Emerald and Sapphire equivalents), and Qantas Club members.

Yes, a business class ticket is all you need, as long as you're flying QF9 to London or QF10 from London to Melbourne via Perth.