2018 – Part 36 – Lounge Report of Air New Zealand in Sydney Airport
After check-in and security we headed to Air New Zealand’s lounge. It’s a large lounge that gave us everything we needed before our flight to Auckland.
Finding the Lounge
After security, signs for all the lounges are well marked, including Air New Zealand are well marked. The lounge is located a good 5-10 minute walk from security in a central area. It is located upstairs, beside the Singapore Airlines lounge.
The distinctive Air New Zealand logo greeted us as we arrived at the lounge:
Upon entry there were two agents to assist with checking in to the lounge. Upon entry there is a central hallway to the main room:
Food
Immediately to the right is the buffet. This is the only food station in the lounge and given it was the middle of the afternoon the selection of snacks was more than adequate. As it neared boarding time for our flight, along with the others to Christchurch and Wellington, they offered additional dishes and fresh made Nachos that I tried:
Buffet area
Buffet
Buffet
Ready made area
Nachos!
There were two beverage stations where alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages were available. (Oops, forgot to take pictures of that) . After a selection of snack food we settled into two spots.
The first spot was in the leather chairs looking out to the apron and runway. This was good, until we needed to charge up our electronics and realized that the leather chairs had warmed us up too much. We went in search of another spot to sit.
From this spot it was still possible to do some plane spotting, such as the 2nd Thai Airlines 747 of the day. The first had the Star Alliance livery from the morning:
Even though the long table behind us had power outlets, having no back for the seats didn’t appeal to either of us. We found another seating area that had power outlets below our seats. With the power bar in hand, we were charging everything we needed. One other traveller even remarked “That’s a good idea.” as it allowed us to power up 5 things and only use one outlet, leaving the remaining outlets available for other travellers.
Time to Reflect
We were flying on April 30th, and it holds significance to me as it was my dad’s birthday. While we quietly played on our smartphones, I thought back and realized this wasn’t the first time being in an airport lounge on his birthday. The only other time this occurred was over 10 years ago, in a time before smartphones, well at least the iPhone, had been released. I remember I called him from the lounge — it was almost midnight in the Dubai, however just past lunch in North America. It was a short call, but I was happy to have been able to make it.
Overall
Soon enough our time in the lounge was up and to head to our flight. The lounge was kept clean, and the bathrooms I found were spotless. Even though the lounge did get busy ahead of the flight, the staff did a great job cleaning up.
Read more about our trip by clicking here.