Qantas operate one of the nicest lounges in London Heathrow Terminal 3. Since the Australian airline operates just two flights per day, the lounge is often empty, so now you can pay to use it.

Opened around two years ago, the lounge features a modern design including bars, a restaurant and quiet areas for relaxing. When I visited, I took a bunch of pictures and some videos which provide a sneaky peek at the offering.

Pay To Use The Qantas London Lounge

All passengers in Terminal 3 will be able to pay to use the Qantas lounge. This means it is no longer restricted to oneworld alliance or Qantas frequent flyers.


Access will cost you £55, which translates to €64 or US$70. This is a premium over the paid lounges at Heathrow Terminal 3, which top out at £40. That being said, the Qantas lounge is a far nicer facility, so you’re paying for quality.

Why Are Qantas Doing This?

This is a trial for the moment, to get people into the lounge during the quiet period in the afternoon. Once the service from London Heathrow to Perth leaves just before midday, there is no Qantas flight until 8:35pm.


As a result, the lounge is very quite from 11:30am through to about 6pm, meaning there is ample opportunity for others to visit. Since staff have to be paid and so on, letting others use the space does make sense.

Overall Thoughts

Allowing passengers to pay to use an airline lounge is a concept that is gradually coming into vogue. A few airlines offer this at a few lounges, for the same reasons that Qantas are doing it – to fill a space that is otherwise underutilised.

Obviously capacity needs to be monitored, because it would not do for a lounge to be busy with customers that don’t belong to the airline. Short of Qantas placing billboards at the entry to London Heathrow, I can’t see this being much of a problem.

What do you think of Qantas allowing people to pay to use the lounge? Check out my review – is it worth the price premium? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Vismay Bhadra via Wikimedia Commons.
With thanks to Executive Traveller.