Found in Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX, the oneworld lounge run by Qantas offers travelers decent food before their flight but lacks other amenities.

This lounge visit occurred in March 2024.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Springing for Sakura
• Review: oneworld Qantas Business Lounge LAX (this post)
• Review: Starlux A350-900 Business Class LAX-TPE
• Review: Starlux Galactic Lounge TPE Terminal 1
• Review: Starlux A330neo Business Class TPE-NRT
• The Airport Limousine Bus is Indeed Friendly
• Quite a Grand Stay: The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel
• Thoughts on Tokyo Disneyland
• Thoughts on Tokyo DisneySea
• Japan Pro Tip: Luggage Delivery Services
• Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo
• teamLab Planets: I Don’t Understand The Hype
• Cuteness Overload: A Review of the Pokémon Cafe Tokyo

Access:

We gained access via flying Starlux in business class (Alaska Airlines award flight). Though Starlux is not a oneworld airline, they have an agreement to send their business class passengers to this lounge. If you’re flying in Starlux first class, you instead get the superior Qantas First Class lounge. And before you ask, no, you can’t go to the Qantas First Class lounge when flying Starlux and holding oneworld Emerald status. Additionally, you cannot access this business class lounge when flying Starlux in economy or premium economy and holding oneworld Emerald or Sapphire status. The airline just has a partnership for sending specific customers to the Qantas lounges; it’s not officially in oneworld at this time.

Other ways to enter the business class lounge include:

• Qantas first class or business class passengers (+1 guest)
• oneworld first class or business class passengers on a oneworld-operated international flight (+1 guest for first class)
• oneworld Emerald or Sapphire members (other than American or Alaska Airlines elites) on any oneworld-operated flight, including domestic US American and Alaska Airlines flights (+1 guest)
• oneworld Emerald or Sapphire members (American and Alaska Airlines elites) on any oneworld-operated flight traveling outside North America (+1 guest)
• Emirates first class or business class passengers (+1 guest for first class)
• Emirates Platinum or Gold members flying on an Emirates or Qantas marketed and operated flight (+1 guest)

The lounge is open between 6:30am and 11pm daily.

Arrival and First Impressions

We arrived at Tom Bradley and quickly cleared security around 9pm. It was then a quick escalator ride up to where the Qantas oneworld lounge is located. The lounge attendants quickly took our invitations and granted us access, noting to us to leave a good 20 minutes to walk to the gate since Starlux takes off in the satellite terminal. Jenn and I haven’t been to this lounge in a dozen years (we last came here before our honeymoon, which also was my first time being in an airport lounge).

Inside, we found a nice map of Australia, bringing back hopes to visit the country, along with plenty of seating.

Seating

The lounge felt busy throughout the evening, but at no point did it truly feel crowded. There is plenty of variety in the types of seating, making it easy to find a spot if you’re here by yourself or if with a group. Just don’t expect any seats here with a view. The lounge isn’t positioned to get any views of the runway, nor any natural lighting at all. You’ll only be afforded views of other passengers making their way around the terminal.

We ended up camping out near the entrance of the lounge, at least when eating. There was a nice little nook that felt about as private as it can get in an open floor design.

Food

The food here in this lounge is offered as a buffet. The food is available in only one section of the lounge, so it’s best not to sit too far away if you’re actively eating.

The food here is actually quite decent for a buffet. None of the food tasted like it was dried out from the warmers. The orange chicken had good flavor and was crispy despite being lathered in sauce. I’d be happy enough eating this before my flight regardless of what was waiting for me onboard. There are options for children (or perhaps those who are kids at heart) with some chicken tenders and pasta.

I’ll let the pictures below speak for themselves.

Likely given the many passengers headed to Asia, there is a noodle bar. This is where the kids spent their appetite, but I found it to be just OK. I think the neighboring Star Alliance lounge does a better job with their noodles.

There were some desserts, but by the time I showed up, there wasn’t much of a selection. There was one carrot cake left and a selection of cream puffs, but that was about it.

For those here in the morning, they have a pancake machine. The kids love using this machine but sadly it’s not in operation in the evening.

Drinks

While there was just one station for food, there were several drink stations located around the lounge. These drink stations offered your choice of soda or coffee.

Near the entrance of the lounge was a bar. Those looking for a beer or mixed drink can chat with the bartender for service. The wine (including sparkling wine) is self-pour. On the plus side, many of the alcoholic drink options here are from outside the United States. I jumped around between drinks while here, but mostly stuck to the beer.

Kids Room?

Online, the Qantas website describes the lounge as having a family zone. But if you were in the lounge, you might not know it ever existed. In the back of the lounge, there is a section that is curtained off and doesn’t look like it’s possible to enter.

Once inside, you’ll find a TV and several small tables. The TV was showing episodes of The Simpsons the entire time we were there (because kids of all ages like that show, right?).

Aside from that, the only thing in here that made us believe this was a family area was one chair shaped as an elephant. There are no toys for kids here, nothing for them to interact with. It’s just a large room with views of the check-in area of Tom Bradley.

Of course, the room also functioned as a storage area. There were rows of extra chairs waiting to be used in one corner.

And then spare or broken equipment stored in another corner. Seems odd that this is supposed to be a family zone if things are left like this for children in the room. Better supervise your younger children.

Odds and Ends

There is a customer service desk here near the entrance. It wasn’t staffed for the duration we were in the lounge, presumably because there were no Qantas flights remaining that late into the evening.

There is a business center here with printers if you need it, always a nice-to-have since you never know when you need to print something out.

They do have some showers here, but it was a 45-minute wait for an opening. I wanted to take one for the team to try it out, but I didn’t get a chance on this trip. While there would have been enough time prior to boarding our flight, we ended up not staying the full amount of time in this lounge, leaving about an hour before boarding.

Recommendation: Yes, but don’t go out of your way

The oneworld Qantas business class lounge at LAX is perfectly fine if you want to get a meal and drink before your flight. By all means, if you have access and you’re flying out of Tom Bradley International Terminal, stop by and visit it. If you have access but are flying out of Terminals 4, 5, or 6 (the American Airlines or Alaska Airlines terminals), I’d instead recommend not coming over here and go to the AA Flagship lounge in Terminal 4 instead. If you’re originating at LAX, I wouldn’t think you need to spend extra time here at this lounge before departing. There isn’t anything unique here to warrant a longer visit.

Have you been to the oneworld Qantas business class lounge before? How was your experience?