Alan Joyce reviews exclusive Qantas Chairman’s Lounge membership list

Qantas boss Alan Joyce is said to have cracked down on membership to his exclusive invite-only Chairman’s Lounge.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is said to have reviewed the criteria for membership of the airline’s invite-only Chairman’s Lounge.

The exclusive lounge was brought back into the spotlight this week when Mr Joyce was grilled by senators at a hearing on Monday for an inquiry into the cost of living, which Mr Joyce was issued a summons to appear at.

It also comes after it emerged that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s son had been granted access.

Mr Joyce has reportedly since reviewed the membership list, which includes Australia’s top CEOs, A-list celebrities, and politicians.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday on email correspondence between a Qantas Chairman’s Lounge member and a Qantas regional manager that suggested there was a crackdown to ensure members are spending money with the airline.

Alan Joyce was grilled about Qantas Chairman’s Lounge membership during a senate hearing into the cost of living on Monday. Picture NCA NewsWire / Aaron Francis

“Recently, our Chief Executive Officer, Alan Joyce, and his executive team reviewed the membership listing for Chairman’s Lounge and the criteria required to be an ongoing member,” the Qantas manager wrote, according to the newspaper.

“New criteria now require the member to be linked to organisations to have a commercial airfares agreement with Qantas and agreed on revenue and market share targets.”

News.com.au has contacted Qantas for comment.

During Monday’s hearing, Mr Joyce refused to answer questions about whether he had any conversations with Mr Albanese before deciding to grant his 23-year-old son access or whether Mr Joyce had given any family members of any other politicians a similar free membership.

Mr Albanese faced criticism earlier in August for not declaring university student Nathan Albanese’s membership in his latest statement of registrable interests, despite not technically needing to as he is not listed as a dependent family member.

Mr Joyce refused to answer questions about granting Anthony Albanese’s son a membership. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

“I’m not going to comment on Chairman’s club membership,” Mr Joyce told the senate committee.

“I’ve got privacy issues where we will not comment on who’s in, who’s been offered it and why they’re there.”

Committee chair Liberal senator Jane Hume told senators that if they wanted to ask about the Chairman’s Lounge, they should declare if they were a member.

“As the chair, I would declare my membership of the lounge. Thank you very much to Qantas on bestowing that upon senators when they are elected to parliament,” Ms Hume said.

Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne and Nationals senators Bridget McKenzie and Matthew Canavan confirmed their memberships.

The membership to the exclusive lounge reportedly includes Australia’s top CEOs, A-list celebrities, and politicians.

The revelation of the review of the exclusive lounge’s membership list comes after Qantas and Jetstar scrapped the expiry date on Covid travel credits following intense questioning at the hearing.

Customers with a Qantas Covid credit can now request a cash refund at any point in the future, and customers with a Jetstar Covid voucher can use it for travel indefinitely.

At least $470 million of credits remain unredeemed and were due to expire at the end of this year.

“We’re doing this because we’ve listened,” Mr Joyce said in a video message on Thursday.

“We know the credit system was not as smooth as it should have been and while we’ve improved it recently, and extended the expiry date several times, people lost faith in the process. We hope this helps change that.”

It was revealed on Monday that the value of unredeemed credits Mr Joyce quoted last week when discussing the Qantas Group’s full-year results – $370 million – did not include Jetstar credits or international customers.

During questioning, Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully, who also appeared at the hearing, revealed there were about $100 million in unredeemed Jetstar travel credits.

Four days before the Qantas Group posted an underlying profit before tax of $2.47 billion for the financial year last week, class action law firm Echo Law announced it had lodged proceedings against Qantas in the federal court over the airline’s handling of credits and refunds.

But Qantas and Jetstar were not the only Australian airline with a significant amount of travel credits due to expire at the end of the year.

Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka revealed on Tuesday the airline had its own mountain of unclaimed Covid travel credits worth about $400 million.