Trip Report: Qantas Domestic Business Lounge Melbourne (MEL) Review

After getting off my international flight from LAX and clearing customs and immigration, I headed to the domestic terminal for my connecting flight to SYD. Australia seems to have a lot less security theater than the US, which was very much appreciated.

Qantas has two sorts of domestic lounges: Qantas Clubs and Qantas Domestic Business Lounges. Qantas Clubs are much more common; Qantas Domestic Business Lounges are only available in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, and Sydney, and access is more restricted. Essentially, you need oneworld Emerald status or to be flying in a premium cabin (domestic business included) to get access to the Domestic Business Lounge.

That being said, the Qantas Club looked far better than any typical US domestic airline lounge. Plenty of seating, lots of food options (I was there for breakfast), and not too crowded.

But since I did have access to the Qantas Domestic Business Lounge, I spent most of my time there. The entrance to the lounge is within the greater Qantas Club. And I was impressed with the food offerings given that it’s still a domestic lounge. They also have showers, which weren’t fancy and were largely self serve, but they got the job done.

It is a smaller space than the Qantas Club, so it did feel a little more crowded. But there were plenty of seating options and lots of places to get work done (i.e. places near electrical outlets).

My favorite part of the food and beverage options was the juicing station. They had things like apples, carrots, and celery as well as a juicing machine that you could use to make your own juice.

Overall, both the Qantas Club and the Domestic Business Lounge put most US domestic airport lounges to shame. Lots of seating and lots of food options were both much appreciated.