The Qantas First Lounge at LAX is closed and may not reopen for up to two months

The Qantas First Lounge at Los Angeles International Airport has been closed since last week after flooding forced the airline to shut the space down, and now we’re hearing that the airline says that it could be closed for up to two months.

[HT: Executive Traveller]

The details

The issue appears to be flooding, but we don’t know from where. What matters most, however, is that it seems to have done some serious damage with the repair works estimated to take up to two months.

During the lounge closure, passengers ordinarily eligible to access the Qantas First Lounge are currently being redirected to the adjacent Qantas Oneworld Business Lounge, which was recently renovated.

Qantas has set up a dedicated, roped-off dining area behind that lounge’s bar specifically for displaced passengers (potentially with restrictions – see later in the article), with the full à la carte dining menu still available there.

Qantas gave Executive Traveller the following statement:

“To date, feedback from eligible customers has been very positive, and we have successfully accommodated all passengers departing on Qantas services. While we have a capacity management plan ready to activate if needed, our priority remains ensuring that Chairman’s Lounge, Platinum One, and First Class passengers are always accommodated.”

The LAX First Lounge is one of the better-regarded lounges in the Qantas network, a Neil Perry-designed menu, a 74-seat à la carte restaurant with an open kitchen, and a 48-foot marble bar. It’s also no stranger to extended closures, the lounge shut down in March 2020 during the early stages of the pandemic and didn’t reopen until August 2022, considerably later than most of the rest of the Qantas international lounge network.

Quick thoughts

It’s interesting to note how carefully worded the statement from Qantas is.

“Feedback has been very positive” and “we have successfully accommodated all passengers” is good news, but the line reading “we have a capacity management plan ready to activate if needed, our priority remains ensuring that Chairman’s Lounge, Platinum One, and First Class passengers are always accommodated” suggests that there will be times (busy times) when passengers who are not in First Class and/or do not hold Qantas Chairman’s Lounge/Platinum One elite status, will not get access to the new dining area in the Business Class lounge.

I don’t really have a problem with that if that turns out to be the case as given the smaller temporary space, we can’t expect Qantas to fit the same number of people into a roped-off dining area that they can fit into the First Lounge, but I’d like Qantas to simply come out and say that.

“During peak times, we will be operating a priority list, so, unfortunately we will not be able to accommodate all passengers” would suffice.

That aside, two months is also a long time for the lounge to be closed given that, presumably, this is a repair job and not a refresh, so it will be interesting to see what, if anything, has changed once the doors reopen.

In the meantime, if I was an eligible passenger and wondering what to do while the Qantas First Lounge is closed, I’d probably head over to the American Airlines Flagship Lounge in Terminal 4 (no more than a 10 minute walk from the Qantas First Lounge) as that’s a better space with better food and drinks than the Oneworld Business Class lounge to which Qantas is diverting guests.

Bottom line

The Qantas First Lounge at LAX is closed following a flooding incident last week, with the airline estimating that it could be up to two months before it reopens.

Displaced passengers are being redirected to the nearby Oneworld Business Lounge where a dedicated dining area has been set up for them. I, however, recommend that affected travelers divert to the American Airlines Flagship Lounge in Terminal 4 instead.