Qantas Domestic Business Lounge, Brisbane

As one of five Domestic Business lounges in the Qantas network, the airline’s Brisbane facility recently marked its fifth birthday. It’s hard to believe this lounge opened half a decade ago. It’s certainly not showing its age, and remains leaps and bounds better than the Business Lounge it replaced.

But how does the full travel experience stack up in 2022? Read on to find out!

Location

Brisbane’s Qantas Domestic Business Lounge sits upstairs in the airport’s departures area. It doesn’t have a dedicated direct entrance from the concourse, so keep your eyes peeled for the Qantas Lounge Precinct instead. Once inside, you’ll find the entrance at the back of the Qantas Club.

This means you first need to show your boarding pass to enter the Qantas Club, and again for the Business Lounge. But that’s easily done, with a clear walkway from front to back.

Another way to enter is via Qantas’ Premium Lounge Entry facility downstairs. With its own check-in and private security screening area, you’ll emerge upstairs inside the Lounge Precinct. In this case, the Business Lounge entrance is immediately to your left.

Looking for the Domestic Business Lounge? You’ll find it nestled within the Qantas Lounge Precinct.

After passing the first hurdle, follow the signs straight ahead to the Business Lounge.

If there’s nobody at the entrance, flash your Platinum, oneworld Emerald or Business boarding pass to staff at the service desk nearby.

On the ground floor, Premium Lounge Entry offers a private security screening point for lounge guests. [Image courtesy of Qantas]

Once you’re through the formalities, the Business Lounge is up the escalator and immediately to your left.

Premium Lounge Entry opens between 5 am and 5 pm on weekdays, and between 6 am and 5 pm on weekends. Sometimes, the journey is smooth sailing, with a very quick passage. Yet at other times, the queue to get through can take 25 minutes or longer, and stretch back out to the public check-in area.

There are a few factors at play with regards to those long lines, and we’ve covered them in more detail in our review of Brisbane’s Qantas Club.

Lounge layout and seating

The footprint of Qantas’ Domestic Business Lounge largely adopts an ‘L’ shape in Brisbane. This sees it divided into many different nooks and zones, suited to various needs.

Whether it’s a place to work, a comfy seat to kick back in or anything in between, the lounge has you covered. But here’s a tip: most travellers turn right after entering the Business Lounge, because that’s where you’ll find the coffee, drinks and food. But if you venture left, you’ll often find those spaces much quieter than the rest.

There are plenty of seats available in the Domestic Business Lounge, so take your pick. [Image courtesy of Qantas]

There are barriers dividing each section, some with seats perfect for laptop work.

But to avoid every zone feeling the same, others are better-suited to kicking back.

For any serious laptop work, head to the business area just beyond the lounge’s main entrance.

Continue walking to the right and you’ll instead find the lounge’s coffee counter. [Image courtesy of Qantas]

For a quick pit stop, these stools are right near that barista station: perfect for a quick sip and an email or two before dashing off.

Continue wandering and you’ll find other seating options, some with TVs nearby.

If you’re looking for somewhere to eat, the dining area is down the far end.

But if you venture to the opposite end of the lounge, it can be much quieter.

Being away from the buffet and beverage bar, it’s a less popular pick with many travellers. But it’s one you shouldn’t overlook.

My wife Victoria demonstrates just how much space each traveller can enjoy here at the ‘quiet end’, from our most recent journey in Qantas Business.

With plenty of space, lots of sunlight and peace and quiet, what’s not to like?

Travellers with a keen eye will observe that the style of this lounge resembles some of Qantas’ international facilities, such as the Singapore Business Lounge. It’s a noticeable step above the Qantas Club next door, and that’s certainly what you want from a higher-tier lounge.

Food and beverage in Qantas’ Brisbane Domestic Business Lounge

At the Qantas Domestic Business Lounge, food and beverage starts with a similar baseline as Brisbane’s Qantas Club. There’s all-day barista coffee, bar service from noon and self-serve hot and cold food from the buffet.

But as with its design, the Business Lounge takes things up a notch here too. There’s a Quench station for non-alcoholic refreshments, as well as a broader selection of hot food. For instance, on a day where the Qantas Club had baked beans and hard-boiled eggs, the Business Lounge offered chipolatas and scrambled eggs.

Yoghurts and mueslis are also prepared in ready-to-take serves, and there’s a juicer on standby for your own custom creations.

Start your day right with a barista-made coffee in the Domestic Business Lounge.

Or head to the Quench station for something else non-alcoholic.

At breakfast time, tuck into a fresh fruit salad, or grab an individual yoghurt or muesli pot.

Of course, cereals aren’t far away.

If you have a hankering for pancakes, they’re available at the touch of a button.

There’s a little more hot food in the Domestic Business Lounge compared to the Qantas Club.

Toasted sandwiches are yet another breakfast option.

Near the main buffet also sits a juicer, for your DIY creation.

Put a few things together and you’ll have a filling meal.

Later in the day, make a salad from an array of fresh ingredients.

Or to satisfy your sweet tooth, help yourself to a slice.

You could also assemble a snack plate from a range of dips and crunchy bites.

Throughout the day, you’ll find a variety of salads and sweets, as well as snacks, dips and crackers. If you can find them, the pineapple lollies are always a hit, and very ‘Queensland’.

A broader range of hot food often appears at dinnertime. But as luck would have it, all my visits lately have been during breakfast and lunch. On the rare occasion that I’m flying through of an evening, I look forward to seeing what’s on offer.

Lounge amenities

Whether you’ve had a long day or have a lengthy flight ahead, the showers are open again in Qantas’ Brisbane Domestic Business Lounge. You’ll find them towards the ‘quiet end’ of the space.

If you have time to spare, you’ll appreciate that the choices of reading material have also now expanded beyond the Qantas inflight magazine. This most recent visit finds several other travel-themed titles to pass the time.

It’s impossible to miss the reading material, which greets you just past the lounge’s entrance.

The Wi-Fi performs well during our tests in the Qantas Domestic Business Lounge.

Of course, Wi-Fi is fast and free. And when I say fast, that’s download speeds of about 136Mbps. In practical terms, that’s fast enough to stream multiple movies in 4K ultra-HD at the same time. Or more realistically, if you’re downloading something to watch on your flight ahead, it won’t take long.

Accessing Qantas’ Brisbane Domestic Business Lounge

Brisbane Airport is home to three Qantas domestic lounges: there’s this Business Lounge, the Qantas Club and the secret Chairman’s Lounge.

Each caters to a different crowd, so here’s a list of those who’d normally call the Domestic Business Lounge home.

• Class of travel: those with an onward Qantas or QantasLink flight in Business.
• Connecting flights: passengers with a same-day international flight in Business or First on Qantas, Emirates or any oneworld Alliance airline. This grants entry into the Domestic Business Lounge even if the domestic flight is in Economy. However, this doesn’t apply if you’re flying Jetstar.
• Elite Qantas Frequent Flyer status when travelling on Qantas, QantasLink or Jetstar:
  • Qantas Platinum (+2 guests).
  • Qantas Platinum One (+2 guests).
• Airline partner frequent flyer status, when departing on Qantas or QantasLink (not Jetstar):
  • oneworld Emerald (+1 guest).
  • Emirates Skywards Platinum and above (+1 guest).
  • China Eastern Miles Platinum (+1 guest).

If you’re travelling with kids, head to the Qantas website to review the latest policies on lounge entry. Usually, children under 18 don’t count as your ‘guest’ above, although limits apply and vary based on age.

Summing up

As one of Qantas’ newer-style Domestic Business lounges, the airline’s facility in Brisbane remains a great place to begin any journey. It may have debuted five years ago now, but it still stands as one of the better Business lounges in the domestic network.

The X-factor facility of Premium Lounge Entry also sets it apart from other Qantas lounges across the country. But as noted in our Qantas Club review, the ‘premium’ queues here can be exceptionally long at peak times.

We’d love to see Premium Lounge Entry expanded, as it was initially designed to do, to keep up with demand as travellers surge back to the domestic skies.

Photography by Chris Chamberlin, who regularly visits the lounge when travelling in Qantas Business. Feature image courtesy of Qantas.