Qantas will launch dedicated ‘express lanes’ at airports around Australia beginning this month, allowing business class passengers and Platinum-grade frequent flyers to skip the boarding gate queue for domestic flights.
The first ‘Domestic Priority Boarding’ lane is already operating at Perth Airport, where it's been on trial for the past month, a Qantas spokesperson told Australian Business Traveller.
Brisbane Airport is expected to follow on November 28 while Sydney and Melbourne are slated to get their own premium lanes on December 5 and 12, respectively. Qantas hopes to extend the express lanes to Adelaide and Canberra in the new year.
Travellers eligible to use the dedicated priority boarding lane include those in business class, Qantas Platinum and Platinum One frequent flyer members and those with equivalent oneworld Emerald status.
Earlier this year Qantas trialled priority boarding in two gates of its T3 domestic terminal at Sydney Airport.
Qantas competitor Virgin Australia introduced priority boarding on domestic flights at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide airports mid-year, and a Virgin Australia spokesperson tells Australian Business Traveller “we are currently looking at how, where and when we can extend the Priority Boarding footprint to other key ports.”
About David Flynn
David Flynn is the editor of Australian Business Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
1 on 18/11/11 by radiC00l