Lounging in SYD - SilverKris lounge
We had a 6 hours layover in SYD. To be honest that was not intentional. I had orignally planed to fly out of AKL later that day, but award seats were not available. Never mind, spending time in a nice airport is not too bad either.
So, we started our 6 hours layover by visiting the SQ lounge. We had not visited that lounge the last time out of SYD, and I wanted to check it out since we had plenty of time that day.
First things first, we had to pass the lounge dragon. Access was first refused and we were told to use the Air Newland Koru club. However I showed my SEN card nad politely insisted that we be admitted. The dragon accepted, but told us we would have to be out of the lounge by 12:30, as it then closes for a bit.
The SYD SilverKris lounge is divided in two sections, C and F. Sadly we were not allowed in the F side, as we were told it was reserved for SQs own F passengers.
Lounge entrance, located a few meters before the Koru club
Business section entrance
The SQ lounge, is a rather nice place to be. It is of course not as big as the Koru club. However it is nicely decorated, the service was impeccable, with smiling and helpful agents and the amenities are very satisfactory.
Lounge view with F&B area
Seating area
Computer area
Bigger choice of magazine and newspaper than in the Koru club
We had an early lunch. As you can see from the pictures the food choices are definitely better than in the Koru club. Not only, the choice is larger despite the smaller food area, the taste (which is the most important) is also much better. From experience, SQ has usually better food options in their lounge, so we were not disappointed. The spread that day consisted of a choice of hot dumplings, and other small hot items like frittata, hash brown, tapas. There was also a decent choice of small sandwiches and wraps. There was as well a Nespresso machine and a large choice of drinks, with sodas in cans not on tap. Finally the dessert section offered several types of cake, all looking very good indeed.
My lunch, which I tried to keep small, expecting a feast on our next flight
Nespresso machine, making very decent coffee
Very appealing food spread
My girlfriend had decided to take a shower, so she went to check out the restrooms. These were actually quite nice, but sadly she ran out of time and decided she would fresh up in the Koru club instead. She later regretted it.
Shower room in the SQ lounge
Anyway at 12:30 we were the last ones in the lounge, and we were requested to leave so they could clean the lounge and prepare for the evening service.
We then went shopping for a while. SYD is a large airport, so it took a few minutes for us to walk back to the main shopping area.
After an hour or so, we headed back towards our departure gate and for the Koru club were we would wait until our TG flight.
As I have already mentioned the
Koru club before, I will not do it again here. The experience was exactly the same, a rather nice large lounge, offering very limited or bad service. I will quickly mention though, that the shower rooms were not so nice in comparison with SQ lounge. No amenitites were given to my GF, and the service was lacking as usual. I realized it was a Business lounge, but it was disappointing to see, they did not amenity at all for woman.
On a side not, I enquired twice about our departure gate and other minor details about our reservation, and was each time replied, "sorry mate can't help you". Definitely not a good final last touch with NZ staff.
Good thing about the koru club in the Apron views
Conclusion
If you can, and if it is not to crowed, go to the SilverKris lounge. It is smaller yes, but it is better in every other aspects than the Koru club. Don't get me wrong, the Koru club is not bad at all as long as you don't expect anything from the staff! However SQ offered me that day a better overall experience and despite many other advices on this forum, based on this experience alone, I would actually recommend the SilverKris lounge over the Koru club.