Qantas unveiled its renovated Melbourne Domestic Business Lounge in November last year. While I have passed through a few times, I realised I have not written up my review of the lounge.
First announced in August 2017, work on the upgrade was undertaken through most of 2018. In order to keep the the lounges operational during this time, the refurbishment was done in stages. First to open was The Qantas Club, later followed by the Business Lounge.
The Qantas Melbourne domestic business lounge location
Located in the ‘lounge precinct’ in the Qantas Terminal (T1), it is found next to The Qantas Club. To get there, turn right after you have cleared security checks, then after a short stroll you will see the entrance to the lounge area on your left. Head on through the entrance and proceed up some escalators to get to the lounge entrance.
Once you get to the top of the escalator, you will find the Business Lounge on your left. If you are heading to the Qantas Club, then turn right at the top of the escalators.
Access
Access to the Melbourne Domestic Business Lounge follows the normal entry criteria for domestic lounges. As such, the doors are open for you if you are flying Qantas and you:
- Hold a Business ticket, or
- Are a Platinum or Platinum One Qantas Frequent Flyer, or
- Are a one World Emerald member
Qantas Platinum and Platinum One members may also access the Business Lounge when flying on Jetstar.
Overview
In addition to improving the amenity of the lounge, Qantas increased the space available to customers. There is now seating for 350 customers – a whopping 40% increase over the previous space.
In addition, there have been a number of new concepts added, bringing the Melbourne Business lounge up to the standard of other recent business lounges.
These additions include an Asian Spice Bar created by Neil Perry, a central cocktail bar, coffee servery and finally, a quench bar.
There are even more tarmac views. But spare a thought for those in the Qantas Lounge – they have pretty much lost their tarmac views.
Food and Drink
What’s a lounge without food and drink? While the lounge has it’s buffet fare, its unique feature is the Spice Bar. Brisbane has the Mexican Cantina, Perth, the Pizza over, and Melbourne gets the Asian influences Spice Bar.
I opted for the Chicken Laksa. Perhaps it’s not a surprise that, as served, the dish is quite mild. Fortunately, there are a range of spices available to heat things up. The dish is assembled when you order it, and it certainly tasted better than I had expected.
The more traditional buffet style food is found in the same area. Looking toward the Spice Bar, the salad bar is on the right. On the other side, to your left, you will find the hot food buffet.
As you would expect, the lounge features a bar area. The bar offers a range of beer, wine and spirits. You are able to self pour red and white wines, while beer is a more traditional bar service.
Of course, its not all about alcohol. The lounge also serves barista made coffee. This is served from the same bar area. Finally, there is a Quench station, to help you stay hydrated.
Seating Area
We all need to sit somewhere, and Qantas has delivered in the regard. As previously mentioned, one of the aims of the redevelopment was to increase the amount of seating available. Qantas has taken a zoned approach, and there are different styles of seating available around the lounge.
There is also some good news for those with electronic devices. If you look around, there are powerpoints to be found.
Views
Finally, it is worth mentioning the views that you can enjoy from The Qantas Business Lounge. Overlooking the tarmac area of the domestic gates, you see quite a bit of activity with 737 and A330 aircraft coming and going.
Final Words
All in all, a great improvement on what was there before. With well thought out zones, plenty of seating, and the other amenities available it is a pleasant place to wait for your flight.
