First among in-equals

So is the bell tolling for the first class lounge, much as it has been tolling for international first class for some time? Fear not, Rockpool calamari-craving frequent flyers. Qantas’s new Los Angeles lounge complex is scheduled to open later this year, with the Los Angeles Business Lounge coming online “by the middle of this year” according to the Red Roo, and the Qantas First lounge in LA due to open “by the end of 2014”. Breathe a sigh of salt-and-pepper relief.

In Los Angeles’ new Tom Bradley International Terminal, the Red Roo will be sharing space with oneworld partners British Airways and Cathay Pacific – perhaps reluctant bedfellows elsewhere after the Qantas-Emirates tie-up, but firmly useful as a premium outstation marriage of convenience in the US west coast’s main hub. How LA.

Elsewhere, though, outstation lounges have been trending away from first class options in favour of combined, two-class lounges that are slightly better than the business class offerings alone.

Qantas’s partner Emirates has long offered joint business and first class Emirates Lounges at outstations – excellent for business class, but perhaps a little disappointing for first class passengers. It’s undoubtedly a rare Emirates first class passenger flying out of Sydney International who wouldn’t head straight for the Qantas First lounge.

The Roo itself opened its new Singapore Lounge last year, the first example of its new two-class lounge concept. Cathay Pacific, similarly, offers two-class lounges, most notably in San Francisco and Paris.

All four lounges are excellent for business class, and perhaps the airlines are playing a long game with them. Qantas has already ditched first class on flights to Singapore and, perhaps soon, Hong Kong. Even with a full A380-load of 14 first class passengers, operating a first class lounge at an outstation is unlikely to make good business sense, especially at Hong Kong with a strong oneworld home tenant like CX where the few passengers who do care about maximising their lounge experience can choose the worldclass Cathay first class options.

. . . firmly useful as a premium outstation marriage of convenience in the US west coast’s main hub. How LA.

Perhaps, with the excellent Zodiac Sicma Cirrus business class seats that are Cathay’s best offering on Australian flights, and Qantas’s forthcoming Marc Newson-designed business class seat with direct aisle access for every passenger, the airlines see the writing on the wall for first class. It’s a difficult solution to a tricky problem.

The part of the puzzle that airlines haven’t found yet is how to differentiate true first class flyers – who want to be lumped in with the road warrior hoi-polloi about as much as the business travellers want to associate with the self-loading cargo down the back – from top-tier frequent flyers and people in business class.

In Hong Kong, Qantas offers shoe-shining, shirt-pressing and priority shower access to passengers in first class, but to Platinum One frequent flyers only. Sorry, Platinums, you’ll end up scuffed and wrinkled if you’re flying in business.

It’s not quite as much of a rule-bend as British Airways’ Concorde Room at London Heathrow is, mind – only British Airways ticketed first class passengers and members of the carrier’s Gold Guest List (somewhere between Platinum One and the Chairman’s Lounge) are allowed in. Top-tier cardholders must slum it with cuvée de prestige Champagne in the Galleries First lounge, which, despite the name, sees practically zero first class passengers in a terminal where BA is the only airline operating first class flights.

And there’s the rub: first class lounges these days are only offered by airlines with first class cabins, but in many cases – and certainly in oneworld – most of their visitors are top-tier cardholders flying business, premium economy or economy. Is that a sustainable model? The answer depends on how much the airline values its frequent flyers. With Qantas Frequent Flyer in a considerably better financial position than the airline, it’s possible that the extra perks for first class lounges are worth it to keep high-value members on side. And those Platinum members’ value to the company will only increase with the latest set of changes to QFF earn rates.

Everyone else: get your Neil Perry calamari in while you can.