Lounge access usually comes standard for those travelling in Business or First Class, as well as for passengers holding elite status travelling in any cabin.
But did you know that you are often given access to multiple lounges, even if you aren’t told so at check-in? In this guide, I explain how to figure out which lounges you can get into. Plus, I tell you which ones to focus your efforts on.
The importance of alliances
Most frequent flyers will know that airlines often are part of one of the big three alliances: Star Alliance, SkyTeam or oneworld (in order from largest to smallest).
Say you’re flying on Qantas in a premium cabin, i.e. Business or First Class, or if you hold elite status. Then you should be able to access not only Qantas lounges but also those of their oneworld partners like Cathay Pacific and American Airlines.
As Virgin Australia is not part of any alliance, the lounge options for Virgin Australia passengers are more limited.
Not sure which alliance the airline you are flying is a part of? It’s easy. Just plug into Google the [airline name] + alliance. For example, for Singapore Airlines (which is part of Star Alliance), I would enter:
Important disclaimers
- You may be refused entry due to space constraints. This is especially common at Emirates lounges for Qantas passengers if there is a Qantas lounge available
- The hours of operation of the lounge may not match up to your departing flight
- A lounge may be closed for renovation
- You don’t have to limit your visit to just one lounge; you can bounce between multiple lounges if you meet the entry requirements
- Whilst agreements mean that all passengers within an alliance should technically have access to one another’s lounges, there are exceptions to that rule. Notably, Qatar Airways limits access to its excellent lounges in Doha to premium cabin passengers only. They send oneworld elites (including Qantas Gold members) flying in Economy Class to other substandard lounges
Cheatsheet
Based on my own travels and hearing from others, you could consider using the following lounges, which may not come to mind as your first choice. Note that this list is restricted to international flights.
| When departing | flying | consider using the lounge run by | instead of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Auckland | Qantas Business Class | Emirates | Qantas International Business |
| Sydney or Melbourne | Emirates First Class | Qantas International First | Emirates |
| Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane | Star Alliance Business Class | Air New Zealand | Singapore Airlines |
| London | Qantas/oneworld | Cathay Pacific | Qantas |
| London | Star Alliance | United or Singapore Airlines | Air Canada or Lufthansa |
| Honolulu | Qantas/oneworld | Japan Airlines | Qantas |
| Los Angeles | Qantas/oneworld, especially American Airlines | American Airlines (Flagship)* | oneworld Business |
| Los Angeles | Star Alliance, especially United | United (Polaris)* | Star Alliance Business |
| San Francisco | Qantas/oneworld | Cathay Pacific | Air France-KLM or Japan Airlines |
| Vancouver | Qantas/oneworld | Cathay Pacific | Plaza Premium |
| Hong Kong | Qantas/oneworld Business Class | The Pier Business Class or Qantas* | any other Cathay Pacific lounge |
| Hong Kong | Qantas/oneworld First Class | The Pier First Class | The Wing First Class |
| Hong Kong | Star Alliance | United | Singapore Airlines |
| Tokyo Narita | Qantas/oneworld | Japan Airlines or Emirates | Qantas |
| Santiago | Qantas/LATAM/oneworld | LATAM | American Airlines |
*These options are not suited to short layovers as you will need to leave ample time to arrive at your departure gate
Here is a more graphic view of the cheatsheet. Click on the image to enlarge and/or download:
Share this image on your site
Please include attribution to pointhacks.com.au with this graphic.
The most useful iPhone app for lounge reviews
It’s called LoungeBuddy. The iOS version of the app is highly-rated and easy-to-use (the Android version was poorly rated for crashes and incomplete data and was removed, so those users are probably best sticking to the website).
In the app, you can create a trip with individual flights, like this California Roadtrip flying from Melbourne to San Francisco and then back from LA:
Based on the airline, route and cabin, the app will show you which lounges you have access to at each airport:
It’s useful to click on each lounge to read users’ individual reviews, as I would definitely steer clear of the Qantas International Business Lounge in Melbourne if I could.
There are five ratings, from best to worst:
| Rating | Example |
|---|---|
| 💎 (diamond icon) | Qantas International First Sydney |
| Luxe | The House Melbourne |
| Fresh | Qantas Club Perth |
| Solid | SilverKris Brisbane |
| Basic | IASS Executive Lounge Narita |
Can you trust these ratings? For the most part, yes. However, they tend to be overly generous. It is a good idea to compare them against other information sources mentioned later in this guide.
A notable feature of the app is the ability to add if you have elite status with any frequent flyer programs.
Also, you can add any lounge memberships and specific credit cards you have, which may give you access to extra lounges like those part of the Priority Pass network.
Whilst you can’t create custom trips on the website, you can navigate to the Locations tab to check out reviews for specific lounges.
Point Hacks reviews
The Point Hacks team continues to collate a number of reviews based on the experiences we have had during our personal and work travels. You can access them by:
- entering the lounge name in the search box on any post on our site
- navigating to our airport lounge reviews page (and using Ctrl-F if you are looking for a specific review)
- typing your search into Google using site:pointhacks.com.au Qantas Club Cairns
Other apps
It is useful to compare the information you have received from LoungeBuddy and travel blogs with the following websites/apps (if you have the time to do so):
- loungereview.com (older style but very comprehensive)
- Google reviews (through the Google Maps platform)
- Facebook reviews
- YouTube reviews
- Yelp
- Foursquare
Summing up
It’s worth doing some research before your next trip to figure out which lounges to focus your time and efforts on. That will allow you to relax and dine like a pro prior to your departing flight.
My advice is to remember that even though you might have your heart set on a particular lounge, there could be a spanner thrown in the works. It could be a temporary closure or space constraints, so make sure you know what your backup options are.
Plus, remember, at the end of the day, getting access to any lounge is better than no lounge at all. So let’s keep in mind how lucky we are to enjoy that luxury!
Do you have any other tools you use to choose which lounges to visit when you fly? Please share in the comments below!
They range from stinker to sit in a cafe instead.
I tried entering the trip details in LoungeBuddy but it gives me confusing options – for example it says I will not be allowed in the KrisFlyer business lounge in T3 whereas other websites show my ticket will get access to that lounge.
Your flight to Hyderabad leaves from Terminal 2, whilst if you have a return ticket and are flying back to Melbourne, then that flight will be from Terminal 3. So just go to the SilverKris Business Class Lounge in each terminal (not the KrisFlyer Gold Lounge). This review will give you an idea of what to expect.
P.S. The THAI lounge is in Terminal 1, which you won’t be travelling through.
Bon voyage!
Great article. Very informative ……particularly for someone like me travelling on my first business redemption. Tried using LoungeBuddy but a little confused. Am travelling MEL-SIN-HYD. What lounges can I access in SIN. As far as I have gathered info, i can access both the SilverKris lounges in T2 & T3. LoungeBuddy shows the Thai lounge as accessible. Any other lounges i can access and which one do you suggest to visit.
cK