Qantas is aiming to attract more travellers into its airport lounges with the introduction of a low-cost Qantas Club subscription scheme based on monthly rather than yearly payments.
Due to be officially launched today, the ‘Qantas Club Flexible’ option will cost $99 for 28-day access to the airline’s domestic and international lounges.
The airline currently sells Qantas Club membership as one-year, two-year and four-year packages for between $699 and $2,399, so it’s positioning this monthly option as “the perfect option for travellers who don’t fly every month.”
Plans for a monthly Qantas Club subscription were first reported by Executive Traveller in February this year, and Qantas Club Flexible membership – which the airline also considered badging as Qantas Club Explorer, Qantas Club Lite or Qantas Club Starter – is almost exactly what we detailed at the time.
The model will no doubt have some appeal to people who face a sudden burst of flying – especially within Australia, where Qantas’ lounge network is strongest and economy-only fares offer solid value on short intercity hops.
Here’s the full rundown on what you do and don’t get with a Qantas Club membership subscription.
28 days of lounge access: Qantas says the 28-day rolling membership can be cancelled at any time, up until three days prior to renewal (with the benefits remaining until the end of that cycle).
During that period, you’ll have access to all Qantas Clubs and Qantas Regional Lounges around Australia, including each capital city plus major regional centres as well as international Qantas Business lounges (in Australia as well as key locations including Auckland, Singapore, Hong Kong, London and Los Angeles).
(And as with conventional Qantas Club membership, if you’re flying for business that $99 fee is a legitimate tax write-off.)
No ‘partner or associated lounges’: Qantas Club subscription members will be restricted to ‘Qantas-branded lounges’. They won’t have access to partner lounges at international airports where there’s no Qantas lounge (such as the Oneworld lounge at Seoul).
Auto-renewal: as is the case with other subscription-based platforms ranging from software and streaming services to gym membership, your 28-day Qantas Club membership will automatically renew unless you cancel it (and you’ll have to cancel before three days prior to the renewal date, or you’ll be on the hook for another $99).
Joining fee: you’ll still have to pay a $129 Qantas Club joining fee to kick-start your monthly Qantas Club subscription package (this is the same joining fee as annual Qantas Club membership).
Qantas calls this a ‘once-off’ fee, but that’s not really the case: 90 days after the expiry of your most recent 28-day membership, the joining fee will once again be due if you want to re-activate your membership for another 28 days.
For example: if you sign up to Qantas Club Flexible on August 1, it’ll cost you $129 in joining fees plus $99 for those first 28 days.
If those 28 days are all you need at the time and you decide not to renew your Qantas Club Flexible subscription for the next three months but then figure you need another 28 days of Qantas Club lounge access starting in December, you’ll have to shell out that $129 ‘joining fee’ for a second time.
Qantas Club subscription membership makes sense if you only need lounge access for a few months.
No guesting: Qantas Club members can bring a guest into the lounge, but Qantas Club Flexible members have no guesting privilege (although they can purchase an Annual Guest Card for an additional $449).
Additional checked baggage: Qantas says passages who take out Qantas Club Flexible membership and travel before 31 March 2025 “will receive a bonus benefit of additional checked baggage” to the same level as regular Qantas Club members (for example, a 32kg bag instead of a 23kg bag in domestic economy, and 42kg instead of 30kg in international economy).
However, that ’31 March 2025’ deadline makes us wonder if this ‘additional checked baggage’ benefit will be removed as of April 2025 to help pad out the perks of standard Qantas Club membership.
How the costs compare: the first year of standard Qantas Club membership will cost you $828 ($699 for one year plus the $129 joining fee).
But a year on the Qantas Club Flexible subscription costs almost 70% more: you’re looking at $1,416 (for 13 lots of 28-day access at $99 each, plus the $129 joining fee).
If you have enough travel ahead to warrant more than six months of a Qantas Club Flexible subscription, you’re better off taking out annual Qantas Club membership.
Also read: How to claim your free Qantas luggage tag