Air New Zealand Air Points - International to Domestic AKL Layover; 4.5 hours; which lounge?

Hello Air NZ Friends,

First post in this forum. In November 2009 I will be flying on a Northwest Airlines Business Class award ticket from Geneva, Switzerland to Wellington, New Zealand and I have a couple questions regarding lounges I hope you can help me with:


* I am a Lufthansa Senator (Star Alliance Gold)
* I am a Delta Platinum Medallion (SkyTeam Elite Plus)
* Will be flying on a Northwest Airlines (NW) award ticket in business class from GVA to AKL on KLM (KL) and Malaysian Airways (MH).
* Have a domestic paid ticket on Virgin Blue from AKL to WLG (layover of 4.5 hours in AKL)

May I use a NZ Air lounge or any other relevant Airport lounges in Auckland? If so, what kind of amenities may I expect? A shower would be nice after 32 hours of flying and connections.

I have searched both FT and google for more info and at best have found an AKL airport map which shows some sort of lounge but without description of who runs it and what credentials are needed to enjoy it.

Thanks!

Beofotch

For your AKL-WLG flight, you will not be allowed access to the Air NZ Domestic lounge as you are not flying air NZ. The Domestic Terminal is separate from the International terminal by 700m.

There are 'pay' showers available which are not associated with a lounge ie they are an airport facility.

Book a cheap Air NZ flight AKL-WLG.....?? http://flightbookings.airnewzealand.co.nz/vgrabview/

Excellent advice. I wish I had seen this price earlier, I looked on ITA but it was much more expensive for the Air NZ flight. In fact this Air NZ fare is cheaper than my virgin blue fare. Now i have to figure out how to cancel the Virgin Blue fare which I just booked a couple hours ago.

Just booked the Air NZ fare. Now - which lounge should I use (domestic or int'l)?

Thanks!

Beofotch

For your AKL-WLG flight, you will not be allowed access to the Air NZ Domestic lounge as you are not flying air NZ. The Domestic Terminal is separate from the International terminal by 700m.

There are 'pay' showers available which are not associated with a lounge ie they are an airport facility.

Book a cheap Air NZ flight AKL-WLG.....?? http://flightbookings.airnewzealand.co.nz/vgrabview/

Excellent advice. I wish I had seen this price earlier, I looked on ITA but it was much more expensive for the Air NZ flight. In fact this Air NZ fare is cheaper than my virgin blue fare. Now i have to figure out how to cancel the Virgin Blue fare which I just booked a couple hours ago.

Just booked the Air NZ fare. Now - which lounge should I use (domestic or int'l)?

Thanks!

Beofotch
Domestic for your AKL-WLG flight.
All lounges are airside so you only have access to them on departure not arrival.
Lounge at AKL has showers and can get a decent food and beverage selection, unfortunately not as good as the last few years.
ENjoy your stay in NZ!:)

You will not have access to the international lounge (it is airside and requires a same day departing international flight). But domestic lounge has a couple of showers. At the time of day you arrive there shouldn't be much of a wait (there is a wait early in the morning when all the USA flights arrive).

Thanks for all the help everyone. I have booked an AIRNZ flight from AKL to WLG for very cheap - looking forward to trying the national airline. And the AKL domestic lounge will be a nice treat.

On an off-topic note:
My friends and I are going to go to the South Island and tour around for 7 days. Do you reccomend we get an RV to cruise around the South Island or rather rent a car and stay at hotels/hostels. We want to be close to the towns to explore the local restaurants and nightlife too.

Thanks!

Beofotch

My preference would be car rental & motels of which there are plenty.

+1 on that advice...

Unless you are experienced RV'ers you'd likely find anything other than a very large motorhome awfully confining...

..and the large ones can be a bugger to get around in.. not to mention likely more $$$ than the car/hostel combo!

Another +1 for the rental car / motels.

Don't think I'd like driving an RV, especially one that I'm not use to, on the windy roads along the West Coast or to/from Milford Sound.

Make sure you leave a few days for Central Otago and Queenstown, my favorite part of New Zealand with some spectacular scenery.

My friends and I are going to go to the South Island and tour around for 7 days. Do you reccomend we get an RV to cruise around the South Island or rather rent a car and stay at hotels/hostels. We want to be close to the towns to explore the local restaurants and nightlife too.

Just to put things in some kind of perspective, the South Island is around 58,000 sq miles. Switzerland is about 16,000.

I would recommend you rent a car, stay in motels, and - because you talk about night life in November - restrict yourself to the area between Christchurch and Queenstown.