Review: Qantas Business Class Lounge Cairns (CNS)

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After being impressed with the Qantas Lounge in Sydney, I was a bit excited to see what their lounge in Cairns had to offer. Cairns is a smaller airport and not many international flights are available from there, so I had to position to Brisbane for a separate flight. I used Avios to book the flight, and Business Class passengers on Qantas get access to the lounge.

The lounge wasn’t quite as big as the one in Sydney, but that’s perfectly reasonable for the size of this airport. Like the lounge in Sydney, there were plenty of seats and a small work station with Apple computers. I was on a 10am flight and didn’t have a chance to eat anything beforehand so I went to check out the breakfast spread.

The bar was closed until noon but soft drinks and juices were available. There was also a separate coffee/cappuccino machine with small snacks.

The food selection wasn’t that impressive – coffee, juices, fruits, yogurt, cold cut meats, and other seemingly random items. The main part of the offering included croissants, hash browns, and beans. The hash browns were fresh and were good, and definitely the most popular item among other guests in the lounge.

But then I found the pancake machine! I immediately pressed the button for a pancake, then pressed it again for a second. I was eagerly waiting my pancakes and found the syrup nearby. Also at this station was bread, fruits, and a toaster.

I got the pancakes, poured on some syrup, and dug in. They were delicious! I should mention that a pancake machine isn’t too unique – there’s plenty of US lounges that feature these in the morning as well. It seemed like I was the only adult interested in the pancakes since the only other two people I saw push the button were both under 10 years old, but I think I’m okay with that.

Speaking of kids, this lounge also had a “family” room at the end, which was more likes a kids’ play room. It didn’t really look like all that much fun but there were a few things that could keep kids distracted. There were several people making use of it.

The bar was closed until noon but soft drinks and juices were available. There was also a separate coffee/cappuccino machine with small snacks.

There isn’t much of an airport view at Cairns since it’s such a small airport, but you could see the rainforest-like hills in the background. I think it’s great how they’ve preserved so much of Cairns with all the trees that line the city. On takeoff you can see that the trees go all the way up to the shoreline, and you just know that this area would be prime real estate if Australia wanted it to be. I applaud them for keeping the area in good condition!

Like the lounge in Sydney, this one also had shower rooms. I didn’t need to make use of them here so no pictures, but it’s nice to know you have that option. Wi-Fi was again available for free and was simple to connect to.

Again, I walked away impressed by Qantas’ domestic lounges, and you can’t help but think how much better they are compared to our lounges in the US.