codyc1515

Visited the CHC Koru Express this morning. Due to the very few seats around, I chose to stand instead. There was no spoons or forks available, so I had to eat my sausages with a spoon out of a take away container. There was approximately 20 baked beans left. After maybe 20 minutes the beans were finally topped up again. Some of the rubbish bins were also broken so the lids didn't close. Gross!

Visited the WLG Domestic Koru lounge tonight and was particularly disappointed as it's gone downhill. More than once, there was no main foods available. I had to wait about 15 minutes to actually get something other than scraping the sauce from the bottom of the tray. This is after finding a clean plate and utensils. Apparently they are water pressure cleaned and so they don't always come out fully clean. Probably 10+ utensils / a few plates were contaminated (does nobody check these before putting them out? this is basic stuff, surely).



The drink dispenser was not working (as an aside, why is the ginger ale always flat?).



There was, however, two Sprites in the fridge (yay?).



Food was haphazardly placed around the place. Who doesn't love cold kumara chips and cold chicken wings? (funny looking chicken there, btw)



Later, I placed an order for a flat white. After being advised by the app it would only take a few minutes I headed over and noticed there was no one there doing hot drinks. There was, however, 5 people in the queue ahead of me showing on the iPad. Again, this took about 15 minutes all in just for one coffee.

On my flight to CHC the crew did not appear to do a safety briefing in the front row (which I understood to be mandatory / SOP, as you cannot see the in-flight video). We also were not handed out any of the lollies (annoying, the black ones are back!) and there was no in-flight magazine for me or the person next to me.

dadig

Just add - it is not a CHC thing, same in AKL and WLG during peak. Although some might say "deal with it" as it is a peak hours. Perhaps don't call it a lounge, it is a noisy canteen at best.

Air NZ should continue to review the guest policy, tier and membership loading. The revised earn rates are not going to alleviate this anytime soon.

codyc1515

Well, they did put the price of Koru up $100 or so. Not sure what impact this will have on Koru memberships.

sbiddle

Well they are halving earn for most regional flyers..

ZaphB

AirNZ could simply replenish the supplies more frequently and configure the lounges in line with demand.

Patrons don't help the situation though. I've witnessed some shocking behaviour around the servery.

oranjemakker

I think I better hold my tongue when it comes to my views on the Koru lounges! I was moderated out last time!

But suffice to say I agree with the sentiments expressed above!

brenrox

Someone posted these from the CHC lounge on the NZ Facebook page

mmonster

have seen some dire scenes like this but most of the time it was the end of a meal service time. During dedicated service times, things are generally ok.

I must say AKL international is always like this after 9pm when there is absolutely nothing on offer... it is really bad as a lot of Asia bound flights leave around mid night and it is really bad that there is no food (well, lacks quality. which is a first world problem, I know) - despite the fact that it should be its flag ship lounge (AKL, home and hub of NZ)

I have said this over and over, I cannot imagine that this would happen at HKG for CX, BKK for TG, SYD, MEL for QF, SIN for SQ.... etc it is just a joke. Even SQ lounge at SIN is much better in terms of food offering

sbiddle

Nuggets are hipster food. They'd be a massive rush and even bigger queues for the lounge if they put nuggets out as a main hot food option!

oranjemakker

Do the EP1's get different food in their mini lounge I wonder?

NZ_Flyer

I asked one of the lounge hosts this a while ago and apparently not. Same booze as well they said.

The worst lounges for me in terms on crowding at peak times is WLG Domestic (even after regional opened) and AKL Regional (this is the worst in my experience). I've generally found AKL and CHC not too bad at peak times (can get a seat, some food and drink).

KiwiJC

Im sorry but really???

The SQ lounges in Singapore have rubbish food in general and it regularly runs out & takes a long time to be replenished (even in the J lounge), the KrisFlyer lounge normally isn't even worth bothering eating in my experience. Ironically, SQ lounges overseas (eg. Sydney) are actually nicer in general than their Singapore 'flagship' product.

As for BKK, Thai lounges frequently get poor reviews there (last I read from AustBt the suggestion was SQ, BR, then TG was the order of preference).

I think in general NZ does a pretty good job on lounges, there's the occasional issue like the above with restocking particularly in towards the end of those peak periods but that happens everywhere (eg. ANAs flagship lounge in NRT on Sunday was out of hot options other than the noodle bar for 30 minutes). In my experience, most of the time there is a good array of hot and cold food/drinks in the main lounges whenever I visit.

For Cody, it's unfortunate to strike so many issues in one day, but it looks like a combination of bad timing and bad luck rather than systematic issues to me.

codyc1515

This was for about an hour, between 5:30-6:30pm. I'd certainly expect between. It's not like they don't know in advance how many members they have and how many will be flying out around that time. There is really no excuse for such a sub-par experience.

CHCflyer

For me the priority is to find a seat. Yesterday's AKL domestic was rammed and if I can't get a seat then I don't do food. I wonder if the halving of regional earning is an attempt to clear out Koru of lower value, but very frequent travelers (like me).

WLGNZ

AKL international when I flew out a couple of weeks ago was standing room only. Not at all quiet or relaxing.
AirNZ knew they had flights going to SFO / YVR / LAX / EZE plus Australia flights within one hour, but still they sell off access to China Airlines when there is not even enough space for their own passengers.
AirNZ prefers to grab the money than look after it's own passengers........