We had about 5.5 hours at LAX until our flight to Hong Kong departed so our first stop was the famed Qantas First Class Lounge. Many frequent travelers describe this lounge as the best in the US and comparable to some of the best international lounges. I think it definitely has food and beverage equivalent to some of the best lounges out there, but it gets very crowded and that knocks it down a peg or two in the rankings.

Entrance to the lounge is limited to OneWorld First Class travelers, but it also allows OneWorld Emerald (not AA or Alaska) status holders. This means top tier status holders on British Airways, Qantas, Qatar, Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, FinnAir and a few other airlines can all access the lounge even flying economy or business class. There must be a lot of those people as the lounge was fairly crowded the whole time we were there.

When we entered the lounge, we were told it was closing around 8:30pm when the last Qantas flight was boarding. We were told we could then move over to the nearby OneWorld Business Lounge.

We first decided to have a meal in the sit-down restaurant area and despite how busy the lounge was, we were able to get seated right away. We took a look at the menu.

As you can see, champagne is not listed on the menu so you need to ask for it. They had Taittinger on offer so I ordered a glass. My wife initially ordered Shiso Sour cocktail but didn’t like it, so she ordered a Nuts and Berries cocktail (Frangelico, Chambord and cream) instead as the waiter said the bartender could make just about any drink she wanted. She enjoyed that one.

We ordered two appetizers to share: the famous salt and pepper squid and the tuna sashimi. Both were excellent.

For our main courses, my wife ordered the pork belly and I got the minute steak with fries. Both were also great. Sorry I didn’t get a picture of the pork belly.

For dessert, we shared the ice cream sundae with meringue and it was delicious.

At that point, we decided to find somewhere more comfortable to sit. Most of the couches and seating areas were taken, but we found two armchairs near the entrance where we could sit and charge our devices ahead of the long flight.

There are individual unisex restrooms over near the restaurant area which were kept reasonably clean given how busy the lounge stayed. There are also showers available.

There are also some drink and snack stations with cookies, candy, and nuts plus soft drinks and coffee/tea. We had some coffee to keep us awake and nibbled on some gummy bears.

As 8:30pm approached, we decided to proactively move over to the OneWorld Business Lounge in case there was a flood of people moving over when the Qantas lounge closed. We enjoyed our time at the Qantas First Class Lounge and its food and beverage reputation is well-earned. However, the evening hours are peak time with all the long-haul international flights so be prepared for a bit of a noisy and crowded experience if you arrive at that time.

Up Next: OneWorld Business Lounge LAX Review

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