Review: Air New Zealand Lounge Auckland (AKL)

Yes, during peak hours it's a zoo. Just like Skyclubs or Centurion lounges. No place to sit, lines everywhere.

And to make it worse, CX is also directed here for lounge.

I still remember the charming but rather dated Koru Club at AKL international, and the gleam of the new lounge when it opened. Nice to see that it's well maintained. The terrace was, as I recall, an original part of the lounge. When the weather is good, the two parallel shuttered panels in the ceiling are opened--while obviously glassed in, it does feel "outside" (though not SkyDeck "outside"). And good to see the L&P tap is still there

The lounge “terrace” has a retractable roof that can be opened when the weather is nice. Also of note is that NZ operates an adjacent lounge for its invitation-only “Elite One” tier pax

"I was questioned about why I had so many credit cards.”

Under what circumstances did airport security see your credit cards?

Why do you travel with so many physical credit cards?

Be prepared to stand by the fridges to pour a glass of wine. If you take the bottle to your table you will be challenged by staff and told you are not allowed to take the bottle because some people become unruly if they take the bottle.must be all those drunk first and business class hooligans.

Are you going vegetarian? Mainly veggie foods from what I’ve seen in the report. Very good as always.

I believe gate 15 to 18 was an expansion built back in the days for 3x daily Emirates A380, plus one spare for whoever else wanted to turn up in an A380.
So to accommodate the massive A380s it was indeed a bloody long walk from the main terminal itself.

It gets even more confusing when they split one of the A380 gates for two narrowbodies. Once I was boarding a Qantas 737 flight to Sydney at like 18A, 18B was an Air NZ A320 flight also bound for Sydney boarding at the exact same time. They did picked up quite a few people lining up at the wrong queue. I guess luckily even if you boarded the wrong plane at least you would end up at the same destination.

I’ve been there when it’s busy and it was crowded but manageable. Guest policy helps.

Each to their own but I can’t understand why this lounge gets a 4 and the qf FIRST lounge in Lax is a 5. Is it only because it may be crowded? The shower suites are so much nicer than qf, which makes a big difference to me when connecting.

Brilliant tarmac views including a view of the sea (obviously much more extensive to see in the day rather than night). Nice food, wine and coffee.

The QF (Oneworld) lounge gets a higher rating because it's a proper 1st class lounge featuring a la carte dining with top notch food from a rotating menu, and accessable decent champagne, cocktails and great wines.

Probably refers to the locals who take the short hop to Australian ports for not much money or using points. They think nothing of taking a bottle ot 2 to the table for their group.

I agree, the old Koru club was so nice, but the best thing is that it is now a priority pass lounge (or at least it was before covid, who knows what it is now.

I didn't think people would do this. I always interpreted self-serve wine/alcohol in airline lounges as single-serve self-pours. If you want more you go back. So I understand exactly why the lounge attendants would stop you from doing this

I was there in August transiting from Queenstown back to Perth. I thought it was an awesome lounge. Loved the view, plenty of space, food and drinks were good quality. Cant wait to visit it again.

That’s fair but it’s not like for like.

Ordering off a menu vs the buffet is a slight advantage but lack of any view and terrible bathrooms and showers kind of even it up for me. Especially as one is a first lounge and one is a biz lounge.

I guess I will never be in the (large) camp that loves the qf lounge. Ironically I think the actual qf first is pretty nice (ie better than Lh) which puts me into the minority too lollll

The Good.
+ Signature Kiwifruit martini cocktail not reviewed is actually pretty decent. Margarita can also be decent depending on who makes it.
+ Spicy wok fried Szechuan calamari with cashews was pretty decent (pre-covid).
+ Soft cheeses were an improvement from the cheddar only days of the old lounge.

The Bad
- NZ Elite Gold gets lumped with the unwashed masses. QF Platinum (easier to obtain than Elite) get access to the First lounge with real Champagne (not the horrid Dulcet). And finer a la carte dining at MEL/SYD
- Dining area too noisy (Sterile, shiny hard surfaces reflect too much sound.
- Buffet food option for flagship NZ
AKL lounge inferior to EK satellite AKL lounge.

Absolutely agree that the QF champagne offering in the First Lounge trumps Dulcet on any day but I do like AKL airport in general and the long walk to some gates is just penance for the champagne.

I've been in the lounge a few times and it is a great lounge when it is not overcrowded, like it tends to be for the early evening flights. Leave ample time to navigate to your gate!

Another great feature with regards to the barista coffee is the Air NZ app. You can order your coffee from your phone and it will even prompt you to order your coffee when you enter the lounge. It also saves your coffee preference for subsequent orders.

We have often frequented the Auckland International lounge. It's extremely clean and all aspects are presented well. Food selection right throughout the day is excellent, we've experienced breakfast, lunch and dinner and the occasional late evenings. The team who both service and clean the lounges are polite, helpful and very professional despite at times when this lounge gets full of travelers It's a credit to the team that maintains such a standard. We have always experienced a relaxed and comfortable time while using this and many of Air NZ lounges both domestically and internationally. Keep up the good work

I've never witnessed this a the time I've used the Air NZ lounges. I don't see why you would even attempt to take the full bottle to your seated area as you can help yourself to another glass of drink if you need more. There certainly is a safety issue around that behavior and I could imagine it could look rather bad if people persisted doing that. Good thing that the lounge team nip that rude behaviour in the bud. No need for that at all.

You were lucky not to visit during a busy time. We recently flew out of AKL to BNE on NZ in J, it was the only premium service on that route on the day we wanted to travel. It was dreadful from start to finish. The Checkin Area was heaving, there was not a visible premium check in line- I asked a line agent if they could direct me to the premium check in area - he said join the main line and once you get to the kiosks there is a premium check in area - while waiting for that line we spotted some desks that were premium check in for Tokyo and Hong Kong - so we headed there. We ran into a couple of locals were were obviously top level frequent flyers and they were very derisive about how the airport was functioning. We were finally processed professionally and checked in. Then we had to fight to scum of checking in passengers to get to the escalators to go up a level to departures. There should be a clear pathway from check in to departures. Once thru security and immigration we had a less than satisfactory duty free shop, there was no calvados available to purchase and the gin we ended up with they had issues scanning. Then we hit the lounge, well we manage to find a communal table in the annexe that had 2 free seats- while the offerings were quite good - it was just too crowded to be able to serve yourself etc. My husband went to use the bathroom and there was a line up - so he left the lounge and went to the bathroom on the way to the gate, I noticed that the lounge we emptying out - so just before our flight was called I went to the bathroom and while it was busy there was an empty stall. Thru the terminal - which was less than stellar to a very crowded gate area - while they did call premium boarding first - and there were two lanes - the agent looking after our lane wandered off to deal with a wheelchair passenger, leaving a long line of passengers waiting. I think that maybe there should be a seperate line for Premium Business passengers and a line for top level frequent flyers who are not in the premium cabin. Once on board it improved BUT the whole experience is from door of the departing airport to the door of the arriving airport. While Auckland is the home port for Air New Zealand I would have expected much much more. As many of the trans Tasman and pacific island flights that were departing had not premium cabins the majority of guests in the lounge had to be frequent flyer members - so that dilutes the business class experience. I would think twice about flying Air New Zealand business premium based on this experience - and at almost $1000 AUD per passenger it was not really value for money. Interesting our arrival at Brisbane was smooth and we were processed very quickly

I would love to try the Air New Zealand lounge at Auckland Airport ( International Terminal).

The Food and Drinks will be so cool