Having been on the Simplon Orient Express London to Venice twice I can say it lives up to every expectation. In a sense it is "old school" luxury train travel ( no showers, a lot of movement in the carriages, shared dining on at least one of the meal sittings) but that really is part of the exper...

So your prime motivation in getting the membership was to bring non-flying guests into the lounge? Kinda makes sense why Qantas did this when I read this. 

Good news. Those in a flyers lounge should be flyers - if you're just meeting friends or family then that's what coffee shops are for. Anything the airline does to keep crowds as low as possible is a good thing. 

It works. The gate agents in other countries just ensure that you don't board if your zone is not called. Everyone gets used to it. Funnily enough the "shambles" that seems to upset some commenting also works pretty well as the plane still gets off on time.

I was given Lifetime Gold when they first released the product and as the article states it is a "goldmine" for a flyer.  20 years ago I was always on an international flight but now it is all leisure and very few flights per annum so it is lovely to be able to use the lounge, get preference...