‘Like fight club’: Inside the mysterious Qantas Chairman’s Lounge for Australia’s VIPS
What will you find inside the mysterious Qantas Chairman’s Lounge? We take you inside the secret world of VIPs.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
“There is the business and first lounge and then a door”. The word Private is emblazoned on a gold plaque, and the door is the discrete entry into Australia’s most private club, the Qantas Chairman’s lounge.
Industry insiders have lifted the lid on exactly how this privilege – that has for the past two weeks dogged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and now the Coalition’s Bridget McKenzie – operates, including all the perks on offer that lure in Australia’s rich and famous.
One insider, who has visited the lounge multiple times, described it as having the same level of service as a fine dining restaurant.
You can order anything you want alongside a buffet that includes sushi – something exclusive to the Chairman’s lounge.
“The buffet in the chairman’s lounge is better than the business and the ‘peasant’ lounge,” they said.
“There is sushi, you can get anything made to order.”
“They come up to you and take your order.”
Other popular menu items include the salt and pepper squid, and eggs benedict for breakfast.
But beyond the “restaurant quality food”, as another visitor put it, the Chairman’s lounge is also known for its company.
There is the Prime Minister of course but also access to senior department secretaries, politicians, businessmen and women and celebrities, all far away from prying eyes.
“It’s not just high court judges, ACCC Commissioners, senior departmental people, state government department people, deputy secretaries,” a senior aviation industry source revealed.
The general consensus among the sources the Saturday Telegraph talked to is that if you already know someone, it’s fair game to go up and say hello but there are “tiers” and a “plus one” is unlikely to go and approach the Prime Minister for the first time. That would be frowned upon.
“It’s a very cliquey little club thing that people get uninvited or invited from,” one long time Qantas insider says about the Chairman’s lounge.
Although the lounge has been in the spotlight over allegations of politicians abusing the perks, those invited in say “it’s like fight club, you don’t talk about fight club”.
There is no indication on a person’s ticket that they are a Chairman’s lounge member — but it does appear on the member’s Qantas app.
And the invite comes directly from the CEO, which until last year was Alan Joyce, or a senior manager, another source who was invited said.
“It’s by invitation only, you can’t apply.”
The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission has six of its seven commissioners as members of the lounge, alongside all but one High Court judge in Australia.
At the Civil Aviation Safety Authority — the regulator in charge of Qantas and other airlines — two board members, two senior executives and the CEO are invitees of the Chairman’s lounge.
In 2022 Virgin sought to replicate Qantas’ club for the elite but it hasn’t landed in the same way.
None of the ACCC commissioners are members of the Virgin lounge.
A current employee who was a former member of the lounge is also not a current or former member of the Virgin Beyond offering.
Virgin also lost out on the food front with one source describing the Virgin Beyond lounge versus the Qantas lounge as “an old school Bi-Lo compared to a Coles”.
“The food is not as good at the Virgin lounge.”
Also impacting Virgin’s reach is the airline’s much smaller international operations.
One visitor said Qantas’s appeal also lies in creating a “stress free experience”.
A lounge staff member will calculate how long it would take a VIP to walk from the lounge to their flight in time for boarding and personally come and get them.
“They come and get you before your flight so you have a stress free experience.”
Another industry insider, who has been invited inside the lounge likened it to Trump Tower.
“I remember the first time I walked into the lounge. It looked like something out of Trump Tower, but just a bit classier,” they said.
“The biggest shock was who was enjoying the hospitality. Sitting in the corner was the Greens MP, Mehreen Faruqi.
“I remember thinking it was a bit strange. Greens MPs are usually fighting the rich, but there she was in the Chairman’s lounge tucking into her breakfast.”
Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email tips@dailytelegraph.com.au
Strange way Sydney to Hobart sailing guns found their yacht
There’s no cat or celebrities but women will be ruling the waves, two Sydney to Hobart supermaxis will resume hostilities and an adventurous pair will race on a yacht they sourced on WhatsApp.
Premier’s rail strike comments come back to bite him
Two years ago Chris Minns called for then-transport minister David Elliott to resign over claims he went to bed during a crisis on Sydney’s train network. Now he is dealing with his own crisis.