Qantas restricts access to Perth Transit Lounge on London flights

Qantas’ Perth Transit Lounge is already pretty exclusive – serving only those passengers jetting to London on flight QF9, or connecting from London through to Melbourne on QF10 – but the access list is now even tighter than before, with digital lounge passes currently unable to be used for entry.

This includes Qantas Club digital lounge invitations issued to the airline's Silver frequent flyers, via a host of premium credit cards like the AMEX Qantas Ultimate Card and the Westpac Altitude Black Mastercard, and to Platinum One members who gift them to friends and family.

In a statement provided to Australian Business Traveller, Qantas says the issue stems from a “current technical limitation with digital passes in the Perth Transit Lounge”, which the airline is “actively working through”, but could not provide a timeline as to when the problem would be fixed.

The Qantas Club Terms and Conditions have recently been updated with new wording concerning the use of these one-time passes, specifically excluding their use at the Perth Transit Lounge – likening it to the ‘Oneworld Lounge’ in Los Angeles, where the passes also can’t be used:

“Complimentary Invitations are not valid for use at Domestic Business Lounges, the Perth Transit Lounge, the Los Angeles (Tom Bradley Terminal) International Business Lounge, or any Associated Lounges.”

However, Qantas has confirmed that it is still accepting valid physical lounge passes at the Perth Transit Lounge – that is, older cardboard lounge passes delivered by mail, rather than electronically linked to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account – it’s just digital lounge passes that aren’t being accepted here.

Read: Qantas moves to digital lounge passes

As a temporary solution for passholders beginning their London-bound journey in Perth, digital lounge passes can be used to access the domestic Qantas Club lounge instead, Qantas tells us – although not the Qantas Domestic Business Lounge – before heading through international security screening and passport control to reach their boarding gate.

This option isn’t available to travellers making the full voyage from Melbourne to London via Perth on QF9, as these passengers would remain in the international airside transit area in Perth during their time on the ground, so cannot access the lounges in the terminal’s ‘domestic’ zone.

Passengers flying to Perth from other cities such as Sydney and Brisbane, or on a regular ‘domestic’ flight from Melbourne to Perth before jumping on QF9 to London would be able to access the domestic Qantas Club, however, as they’d still be a 'domestic' passenger until clearing passport control in Perth.

Australian Business Traveller also understands that while Qantas occasionally provides passengers with the opportunity to purchase one-off access to other lounges – typically via email, close to departure day – paid access to the Perth Transit Lounge is not currently possible in the same way, due to the same technical limitations affecting complimentary passes.

Access to the Perth Transit Lounge for all other eligible travellers flying internationally on QF9/10, including business class passengers; Chairman’s Lounge, Platinum One, Platinum and Gold frequent flyers; Oneworld Emerald and Sapphire cardholders; Emirates Skywards Platinum and Gold guests; and paid Qantas Club members; is unaffected by this technical problem.

Also read: Qantas' new Perth lounge access rules for international T3 flights

Chris Chamberlin

Chris Chamberlin 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.