Here’s the next installment in the summer series – this time of AKL. When I get time I’ll upload more photo’s of WLG as well as pictures of the new lounge at DUD and so you can see what
MrSydney is talking about lots of photo’s of CHC - and of course the accompanying trip report.
The airport was relatively empty, the premium counter open and staffed – no line but she spent a long time typing to check me in (this seems to be quite a common occurrence thanks to the antiquated IT). After depositing my 6 pieces of luggage I proceeded through security, up the escalator, right and right again into the Koru lounge. The lounge is a bit newer than most in the system – it was the first with the new seating style (and is much better than the erstwhile lounge, which is a distant memory now).
The main lounge is split in two by a strip which acts as a Corridor. This half of the lounge is tiled with the buffet and cafe style seating.
The other half has lounge chairs (There were people scattered in them so I didn’t get any photo’s of most of it). There's also a bit tucked away with plasma screen’s (and there's another TV in another part of the lounge which was thankfully off). The plan when the lounge was built was to split the lounge up into a short, medium and long stay "zone's" - with the long stay "zone" being located at the end of the lounge (near the window) with wide armchairs (pictured below). The concept hasn't really worked I don't think - the narrower armchairs further forward in the lounge don't seem so inviting and alot of the short stay (buffet seating) is never really used.
This is the far back corner which I think should be converted to lounge seating – it’s never really used. Before Air New Zealand built this they did some research and found that most people in the lounge were traveling along - hence the absence of couch's. It seems strange then that each of these tables has 4 chairs around it.
The magazine rack/business bench breaks the lounge up so it seems smaller. These business bench's on the other side of the magazine rack have about 5 or 6 office chairs and a bench with telephones which you can plug your laptop into if you wish to Dial up (very 90s - for a lounge built in this millennium you would have though those ports would have been for broadband).
I ambled through to the nicely decorated Business Centre, which only had 4 computers (which might not be such a bad thing). Some of the chairs looked in need of a clean and the computers were the same as the one's found in WLG - running Windows 2000 and highly restrictive in what you can actually do with them.
Those things you can see on the top right of each partition are coat hooks. Through the back of the room is the door to the staff locker room. Here’s the 15” screen I was forced to peer into to check flyertalk !
On returning to the main lounge I noticed the Shoe Shine Machine – There is a revolving advertising board just in front of you to watch while it's shining your shoes (well they do have a captive audience). Sorry for the bad picture - it's taken at about 13 x zoom from far back where you turn into the Business Centre.
After investigating the machine I went in search of something to read. There were some magazine’s, but none caught my interest so I went to check out the buffet. Because of the time of day the spread today was awful (just as well I wasn’t hungry, but nevertheless I’m still disappointed) and it's pictured below
Crackers and Cheese. Some biscuit’s and scones without cream (AGAIN !)
The Bar was stocked and I even counted to check - yep the usual 16 types of beer were there.
For those of you which care about these things here's the line up - Stella Artois, Steinlarger (and Light), Macs Gold, Lion Red, Speights, Export Gold (and Dry), Heineken and 7 types of Monteiths (Yes I know it’s cheating
).
One thing you can't fault is the detailing of the design. It won some kind of award for the architecture firm Brewer Davidson (even though it was designed in partnership with Melbourne-based Cunningham Martyn Design) and was also in the Forbes top airport lounges in the world for 2003 – up there with VS in JFK, BA in JFK, QF in SYD, SA in JNB, SK in CPH, EK in DXB, MY in KUL and SQ in SIN. I remember back to when the 12 week, $1.3 million complete upgrade was in full steam – those temporary facilities almost made me fly QF !
As usual there was the obligatory art even though the full length windows looking out over the apron give me all the art I need
There is some very nice detailing built in. They’re Crushed Paua accents from Riverton in the South Island.
After the final call I went to the gate which was empty (seems to be a first - must be an empty flight) but after boarding there was still a wait for a family of 3 connecting from the Pacific islands. Had seats 3ABC (Quite a long way back for me). We pushed back on time and the aircraft took off to the west before banking around to fly south.
During the flight they served the usual Express Class fare and afterwards I noticed the Purser was reading a magazine in the galley – obviously there's not much to do on these short services with no real meal service.
As I was sitting in my seats writing this and eating the biscuit’s which I had borrowed from the lounge a FA came up and made conversation about my biscuit. That looks nice, we couldn't have provided you with that, did you buy it; my reply - no, I carried it on though
Apart from that the flight was fairly uneventful (even though those Toilet's are really cramped onboard aren't they). On arrival we landed into the north at WLG, and taxied into gate something-er-rather arriving before schedule (for once !)..
My 6 pieces of luggage were out in 8 minutes – none were sorted in priority order.
Ratings for this service
Check In 8/10
Charming
Lounge 9/10
The Food really wasn’t as good as usual and those business centre seats could do with a good clean. Also why can't NZ stock magazine's which I might like to read (The QP usually does after all)
On Board Seating 9/10
Seat was much more comfortable than the previous flight - but still not the best for Coach.
On Board Service 9/10
Perhaps I'm just used to Business Class
Luggage Delivery 4/10
Only because they didn’t break/lose anything