Lounge Review: Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington
The Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington is the only lounge for domestic flights at Wellington Airport. The lounge is surprisingly spacious and offers a brilliant view. Yet, that’s not all. Learn more about this great airline lounge in our extensive review!
Flying from Wellington to Christchurch with Air New Zealand, I had the pleasure to check out the Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington. As it’s the norm for Star Alliance Lounges, you can access the lounge by either holding a Business Class Ticket (in theory, there are no domestic Business Class tickets in New Zealand) or a Star Alliance Gold Status.
The Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge is located right above the gates
The location of the Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington could hardly be any better as it’s located right above all domestic gates on the first floor. You do not need more than three minutes from the lounge to any gate.
Seating in the Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington
Upon entering, I was surprised about how big the Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington is. There are several different seating areas offering space for at least 200 people.
The lounges is surprisingly big for a domestic lounge
I even was of the impression that there were more people in the lounge than in the terminal. The lounge comes with several different seating areas, which all looked very inviting.
You can find all kinds of seating from more relaxed seating to dining-style seating to working tables to communal tables. The lounge has a rather open design. Thus, all seating areas lack some privacy.
The view of the tarmac is quite nice as well
Nevertheless, the modern design, the large floor-to-ceiling windows and the stunning view of the tarmac makes the Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington a great place to spend your time.
Buffet of the Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington
I don’t have that big expectations from a domestic lounge when it comes to the buffet. Visiting the lounge in the morning, the buffet came with a breakfast spread. To my surprise, this spread was quite big.
The breakfast spread in the Air New Zealand Lounge Wellington is quite good
There were a couple of different pastries, different toasts, fruits, yoghurts, mueslis and even an area with hot options including scrambled eggs, sausages and backed beans. In addition to the buffet, there’s a barista station, where you can order custom-made coffee.
There’s quite some choice and you can even order through an app and just grab the coffee as soon as it’s ready. All this combined with a generally high quality of the food and the drinks surprised me.
The option to order barista made coffee is a nice touch
The Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington is a surprisingly good place to have breakfast. At the same time, I’m quite sure the spread is not bad for lunch or dinner either.
Entertainment in the Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington
The entertainment options in the Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington are also all but limited. There’s an extensive choice of newspapers and magazines. As you’d expect, all those were focused on New Zealand and Australia.
There is a decent choice of newspapers and magazines available
Yet, I highly doubt anyone would expect international papers at a domestic lounge thousands of kilometers away from Europe and America. Besides the choice of newspapers and magazines, there were also several televisions showing news channels as well as a small business center with computers and work stations.
If you need to get some work done, there is also a business center
Furthermore, the Wi-Fi in the Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington was fast and reliable even though the lounge was relatively full when I visited.
Bottom line Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington
It would be an understatement to say that my expectations were met. The Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington heavily exceeded my expectations with a very accommodating design and a stunning view of the tarmac and the landscape in the background.
The lavatories of the lounge are also very clean
Plus, there is comfortable seating, an extensive buffet, a barista bar and very good Wi-Fi. Even with a longer layover, I’d highly recommend spending time in the Air New Zealand Domestic Lounge Wellington!
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