Where is the Qantas Club Located?

The Qantas Club is located in Townsville’s moderately sized domestic terminal (yes Townsville does technically have a small international departures section which is currently not used). Once clearing Townsville Airport security which is a breeze thanks to the new CT scanners you’ll find the Qantas Club in the left hand corner merely only meters away in the small retail and dining precinct before the escalators which take you up to the jet bridges or in the case of Dash 8 services they leave from right outside. How coinvent!

Who Can Access the Lounge and When is it Open?

Due to Townsville only having one Qantas Club all eligible passengers from Qantas Club and Qantas Gold (and above) and associated partner airline status holders are granted access to this lounge when flying onwards on a Qantas/QantasLink/ Jetstar operated flight. Complimentary lounge invitations can also be redeemed at this lounge subject to capacity requirements For those flying Business or are Platinum and above members there is no Business Lounge at Townsville so these passengers are more than welcome to visit this lounge too.

Qantas Club (+1 guest)

Qantas Gold (+1 guest)

Oneworld Sapphire (+1 guest).

Emirates Skywards Gold (+1 guest).

Air New Zealand Gold (+1 guest, and must be on an NZ flight number).

China Eastern Miles Gold (+1 guest)

Alaskan Airlines Lounge (+2 Guests)

American Airlines Admirals Club (+2 guests)

As with most Qantas Club’s opening hours this lounge is open daily from one hour before each Qantas operated service until the last Qantas departure. Keep in mind however the lounge’s opening hours are not continuous throughout the day so it pays to check whether there are other Qantas flights departing before yours otheriwse arriving early might find you waiting around for the lounge to open and then realistically having little over 30mins to spend in lounge.

Lounge Design and Seating

The Qantas Club in Townsville is by no means a large lounge on the same scale as its capital city equivalents but it quite comfortably doesn’t have to be. That being said with Townsville being the largest city in Northern Australia it is nonetheless much bigger than square room lounge feel at some of Qantas’s smallest regional outposts! Whilst the lounge isn’t massive it still does well to have 3 distinct areas with some more suitable to working, relaxing or socializing.

Once in the the lounge you’ll notice a pretty balanced arrangement of fairly standarnised QantasClub furniture including cloth and leathered chairs with cocktails benches to match. There are also work benches around the perimeter of the lounge for when business needs to be attended too. Views from the lounge whilst certainly are not expansive provide for quite an interesting narrow point of focus over the immediate apron and under the departures gates. Parts of the windows are either blacked out or may have the blinds drawn so it appears Qantas are trying there best to get the balance right by ensuring some natural sunlight and views whilst also shielding the lounge from the beating North Queensland sun.

Food and Beverage

Self Service Buffet

The Qantas Club in Townsville very much delivers on the self service dining experience that you would expect from most Qantas Club’s around the country. Expect the buffet foods to be very much the standard Qantas Club fare. At this particular lounge food, drinks and snacks are available all in the one location with alcohol and barista made coffee available to be served by an attendant behind the buffet. Even despite our mid afternoon visit being firmly falling between lunch and dinner you wont go hungry with light meal options were available such as sandwiches along with an assortment of bar snacks. More substantial hot food options are available during conventional meal hours.

The Bar and Barista Station

Whilst the Townsville Qantas Club doesn’t have a dedicated standalone bar or barista station that some of the big capital city airports do, tendered bar (after noon) and barista service is very much still efficiently available. The bar features quite a few varieties of bottled beer (with the option for it to be served in a nice chilled glass) and an assortment of Australian wine.

Barista made coffee is also available any time the lounge is open and lives up to the pretty solid Qantas Club coffee machine. For those in a self serve mood an espresso machine is also available along with soft drink fountains.

Service and Staff

Qantas staff do a good job with the lounge appearing to be well staffed and serviced. Upon entry staff will promptly greet you were you can either self scan in or get them to manually process you in. Most notably there is an self serve buffet regularly topped up and kept tidy by the staff in addition to the tendered bar and also a barista station. Service staff did well to regularly replenish the food and drinks options whilst cleaning staff were spotted often sanitizing and clearing tables and keeping the amenities in good condition. Good work Qantas here!

Lounge Amenities

Qantas pretty well ticks all the right boxes in terms of provision of lounge amenities here up in Townsville. For starters shower suits are available inside the lounge which may be a welcome sight for some after a long day in the sweaty North Queensland sun. WIFI speeds are fast and make working or downloading some content before your flight a breeze. PowerPoint and charging provisions perhaps could be more abundant but are they are there nonetheless if you need them – we recommend scouting out one of the bench seats around the perimeter of the lounge for this purpose. A small literature station and photocopying machine is also available for your convivence

Summing Up

Overall the Qantas Club in Townsville provides a pretty solid experience with most of the key features of a flagship capital city Qantas Club available without the crowds and bustle of a huge lounge. The lounge ticks all the right boxes providing a place to eat, drink, relax and work before your next flight out of Cairns. In testament of how decent this lounge I spent more time relaxing in the lounge than actually on board my flight for the dash up to Cairns (no pun intended!) One recommendation for improvement would simply be for Qantas to revisit it opening hours and look it keeping it open continuously from first to last Qantas service considering Townsville is an important regional hub for Qantas in Northern Australia with plenty of daily departures.