Qantas Club Auckland Lounge
There is a full Qantas Club in Auckland International. To get to the area of the airport that has the lounges, after security go past the duty free shops, then up the escalator, right at the sign for VIP Lounges, right up the small rather dowdy corridor, up another escalator and double back on yourself. The lounge opens early to allow for the almost overnight departure of the LAN Chile flight, which is technically the first Qantas flight of the day, since it operates as a code share. At these times the lounge is quite empty, but at other times it's rammed to the gills, particularly before the early evening flights to the East coast of Australia leave to cross the Tasman.
The main part of the business section of the Auckland lounge takes the form of a large L. As you walk in, right at the counter, you can curve left, and there is a long magazine rack with plenty of seats on your left and a large TV. Then you are in the main part of the lounge, which is basically one big rectangular (or Oblong, as the Kiwi on the desk calls it) room. Half way along is the food and drink bar. There are a variety of seating which varies from hard cafe style chairs (they look trendy, like half saucers) to some pretty comfortable squashy armchairs at the far end of the room. The one thing there isn't, is a view of the runway, or infact a view of anything much.
There is one other joy you can have in the Auckland lounge - the joy of turning left. If you are at the top tier of Qantas's Frequent Flyer scheme, or a oneWorld Emerald, there is access to the First Class sections. It is behind the frosted glass sliding door to your left as you approach the counter on entry. The perks aren't a lot, but there is a slightly better food service, marginally better spirits, and 3 computers.
Food
Food is pretty much standard Qantas fare, with muffins of toast in the morning, along with fruit and yoghurt. By lunchtime it turns into a salad with ham and cheese. In the evenings sometimes there are hot meat pies. It seems odd that the food in this lounge is so ordinary, as this is the lounge that featured in a TV Commercial in the mid noughties, listing the virtues of the Qantas Club food!
Bar
The Bar is very comprehensive, and compared to the domestic lounges it has a vast improvement: it is open all day! There are some Kiwi and Aussie beers, like Crown, in the fridge, which also has three types of white and a Kiwi Sparkler. On the worktop are two redm, and the spirit selection with Bacardi, Campari, Regal, Cougar and Bombay Sapphire gin.
Bathrooms
In the lounge.
Business Facilities
Back by the desk there is the Qantas Business Centre, which really isn't up to much: it only has three computer (all with printers), and it can sometimes be hard to work in here, and parents like to leave their children to play on the PCs. There is also a photocopier and a fax here. Wifi is free in the lounge.
| Qantas Lounge | ||
|---|---|---|
Loungeindex
rating:
6 out of
10
| ||
| Location: | Airside, turn right after duty free shop Departures, level 2 | |
| Open hours: | 0430-1900 Sat & Sun to 1830 | |
| Lounge for: | Qantas | |
| Access: | QF First & Business, Skywards Gold | |