When my girlfriend Molly and I first started planning our trip to Australia, I was skeptical that we would find any award availability in a premium cabin. With flights from the west coast to Australia averaging 15+ hours, premium cabin awards are extremely difficult to find, especially for more than one seat. During the several weeks that I searched, I rarely found any coach availability on desirable flights, and no premium cabin award space at all. Finally, one fateful Saturday afternoon, I hit the jackpot. I found two seats in First Class on Qantas, using Alaska Airlines miles. Score!

Our flight to Sydney departed from LAX, and we arrived at the airport three hours early, in order to allow plenty of time to visit the Qantas First Class lounge. Unlike some lounges where there’s just snacks, the Qantas lounge offered a la carte full meal service. While I knew we would get a meal onboard, we wanted to try some food here. The famous Qantas salt & pepper squid was delicious, as was the toasted meatball sandwich. Overall, we found the lounge to be large, and thoughtfully designed. The staff was very attentive, as one would expect for this caliber of a lounge.