Passengers have savaged Qantas Club lounges, labelling them ‘dirty and overpriced’, ’embarrassing’ to Australia and ‘one of the greatest ripoffs of all time’.
Last week, a TikTok user named Kiki unleashed on the airline with a video review of the lounge that has been viewed more than 47,000 times.
She joked that her ‘sh*t’ toasted sandwich in the lounge cost $700, because of the huge membership fee just to get inside.
Qantas charges a $99 ‘joining fee’ plus $600 for a one-year membership to access its lounges. For two years, membership costs $1,100.
Kiki was also forced to make the sandwich herself, using the ‘make your own toastie station’ that is fitted on the lounge’s buffet section.
Describing her experience, she said: ‘I got scammed hard. It’s dirty, and the food is sh*t.’
After the experience, she emailed Qantas asking them to cancel her membership, but the airline did not respond.
‘I will never make this mistake again,’ she said.
Passengers have savaged Qantas in reviews of the airline’s premium lounges, labelling them ‘dirty and overpriced’, ’embarrassing’ to Australia and ‘one of the greatest rip-offs of all time’
On TikTok, one Qantas lounge member named Kiki siad it was ‘dirty and the food is s***’
One customer said of the Qantas Lounge in Sydney that the buffet area was ‘messy and uncomfortable. Nothing was refilled and seem no one do cleaning’ (Pictured, a photo from a review on airlinequality.com)
Frequent flyers have also unleashed on online review websites to call out the failing standards of food, cleanliness and service inside the exclusive lounges.
On productreview.com.au, Qantas lounges scraped to an average of 1.3 stars from 77 reviews, with many noting the airline had deteriorated from previously good standards.
‘Why can’t I give 0 stars?’ one member complained.
‘Filthy as always,’ a Sydney man wrote after being confronted by rubbish on seats and ‘sticky tables and dirty carpet’ inside the lounge.
A traveller posted a photo on social media of ‘stale lounge food’ he received in a Qantas business, lounge, although he admitted enjoying it
Customers on productreview.com.au hammered Qantas over their experiences at Qantas Club Lounge (Pictured, reviews from the website)
‘One would think that Qantas would at least ensure a clean Qantas club, considering it is their premier attraction at any airport.’
A consistent complaint was how poorly the lounges reflect on Australia’s leading airline.
‘If this is truly Australia’s premium carrier, then I am embarrassed,’ one man wrote after facing a choice of ‘choice of a green leaf salad and boiled potatoes, a watered down pumpkin soup or a self-made ham and cheese toastie’ in Brisbane.
‘I have watched the gradual decline of the Q club for several years.’
‘Cooking a toastie is not my idea of food in an airline lounge,’ a Sydney woman wrote, in July.
‘The food is very cheap and basic,’ a Sydney traveller wrote in a two-star review on August 23.
‘At the moment, it is not worth paying for. There is better food outside the lounge.’
Last week one woman said she paid $350 to bring her daughter but had to choose from ‘warm home brand party pies, watery minestrone soup and make your own ham and cheese toastie with 15 other people.’
‘My daughter and I have been flying interstate every week for past 6 months. Sadly the standard of the Sydney and Melbourne lounges have really dropped,’ she wrote.
The airline told Daily Mail Australia criticisms of its lounges were balanced out by happy customers
A Canberra traveller left after she could not find a seat for 20 minutes in June.
‘Didn’t even finish my wine, so it must have been bad. Reminds me of a food court. Never again.’
Another traveller posted a photo on social media of ‘stale lounge food’ he received in a Qantas business, lounge, although he admitted enjoying the toast and boiled egg shown in the photo.
The airline told Daily Mail Australia that happy customers balanced out criticisms of its lounges.
Across its network, passengers can access 650 lounges either run by Qantas or its partner airlines.
‘Whether you’re looking to get stuck into an important project or relax over a delicious meal, our network of lounges offer a range of facilities to get your trip off to a flying start,’ the airline says on its website.
Qantas did much better on airlinequality.com, reaching an average customer rating of 5/10 from from 244 reviews.
But again, the recent reviews were awful.
‘Terrible coffee, food that is of such low standard and very, very limited options. All this in a lounge that feels dated. Really an embarrassment to Qantas,’ one Australian woman posted.
A British traveller said he found the lounge ‘extremely poor’ and found the exclusive attitude of staff at odds with the standards inside.
Qantas did much better on airlinequality.com, reaching an average customer rating of 5/10 from from 244 reviews
‘Officious staff which I found rather a surprise – like they’re doing you a favour by letting you into “their” lounge. So many lessons to be learnt here – of what not to do.’
Some users also claimed they would avoid the lounges because they felt staff could be discriminatory on the grounds of ‘the look’ of members and frequent flyers.
‘The club is run down and has bad facilities for such a high price there is no point going there seeing as they discriminate on your clothes as well as your look,’ said one woman.
Another man said: ‘We had a rather hectic time visiting the Qantas Club lounge at the Sydney airport. There was very few seats available, the lounge was noisy and the food offerings were ordinary.’
Qantas told Daily Mail Australia it had received good reviews on other review websites, including that the website airlinequality.com ‘rates the Sydney Qantas Business lounge as the 8th best in the world’.
The airline sent several of these to Daily Mail Australia, though some were more than two years old.
It added that other TikTok users had posted complimentary reviews, including one by Australian swimmer Emily Seebohm in June.
Qantas added that it plans to upgrade its lounges.
‘The airline will upgrade its lounge network, with a multi-million dollar investment to build new lounges in Adelaide, Auckland, Port Hedland and Rockhampton,’ it said in a statement.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk