[Anonymous]

[Jomtien9]

An open letter to Alan Joyce;

Dear Mr Joyce,

Your opening “Hello from HK” comments in the April Qantas magazine demonstrate just how out of touch you are with the needs and expectations of your business customers. I have been a QF club member since 1988, am life-time Gold and current Platinum, so feel qualified to comment.
I was appauled at the atmosphere and lack of facilities at the new Singapore lounge, which you hold as a model for Hong Kong.
My experience of the new Singapore lounge was as follows;
1. Totally insufficient seating quantity/ quality. After circling the lounge twice I finally found a space on a bench seat to squat on.
2. Insufficient broadband width. It was impossible to access the internet from my laptop. On approaching lounge staff I found several passengers ahead of me complaining about the connection and being advised that the capacity had been exceeded.
3. Removal of PC terminals, workstations & and printers. Where did they go??
4. Catering. Communal bench seating reminiscent of a school canteen.
5. General environment. Some-where between a kindergarten (screaming babies and over-excited kids) and an RSL club – giant TV screens pumping out the tribal roars of footy fans.

If you were serious about the needs of business travellers you would not have amalgamated the separate “Business” and “Qantas Club” lounges that previously catered for the very different needs of the 2 groups of travellers.
In comparison with Thai, (I am also a Royal Orchid Platinum member) Cathay and Singapore, I would have to rate QF international lounges as now the worst for business in Asia.
Having urgent emails to attend to I had no choice but to leave the Singapore lounge for the peace of the public area immediately outside where there are comfortable armchairs , free high speed internet access and no screaming kids or footy crowds. So what point is there now to the Qantas lounge?? Can you see the irony Mr Joyce??

[Lando Marco]

Whist I totally agree with you on the QF Singapore lounge, I just returned from the QF HKG lounge and found it to be very appealing. HKG has clearly demarcated areas for TV areas and can easily allocate areas for screaming kids.
As for the Singapore lounge its a big screw up!

[Jimmywright]

Jomtien9, they never had seperate business and Qantas Club Lounges.

What they had was a joint venture with BA that provided First and Business/Qantas Club, noting the International Business Lounge and Qantas Club are, and have always been one and the same. (Domesticaly though they have seperate business and Qantas club lounges, but clearly no first).

Must admit reading other traveller forums yours is the first negative comment I have seen. They have of course also replicated this arranagement in Hong Kong.

[Jomtien9]

I understand that the 2 lounges were previously joint QF/BA and used both many times over the years. My point was that this arrangement permitted one lounge to be more business oriented, and the other more leisure oriented. Under the new single lounge, the needs of business travellers have been largely ignored and the atmosphere is definitely that of a noisy and under-resourced RSL Club.

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