Air New Zealand Koru Club membership offers lounge access and a host of other benefits when flying on Air New Zealand. The Kiwi equivalent of Qantas Club or Virgin Australia Lounge membrship membership, Air New Zealand sells annual Koru Club memberships for a fee.
With a Koru Club membership, you’ll have access to any of Air New Zealand’s airport lounges when flying with Air New Zealand.
Lounge access is available up to 4 hours prior to the departure of your Air New Zealand flight. Koru Club members can also bring one guest into the lounge with them for free, provided the guest is also flying on the same day on an Air New Zealand flight. It is possible to purchase one-time access for a second guest at the door, at a cost of around NZD35 (for domestic lounge access).
Air New Zealand Koru Club Locations
Air New Zealand operates 15 domestic and 8 international lounges. Koru Club members also receive access to third-party lounges at most (but not all) Air New Zealand international destinations where an Air New Zealand Lounge is not available.
Here are Air New Zealand’s domestic lounge locations:
And here are Air New Zealand’s international lounge locations. Lounges operated by Air New Zealand are marked in light blue, and third-party lounge locations are coloured white:
To access the lounge, you’ll need to be on an Air New Zealand marketed and operated flight, and have an Air New Zealand ticket (i.e. with a ticket number beginning in “086”).
Lounge access is also offered if you’re booked on an Air New Zealand codeshare ticket (with an “NZ” flight number) operated by a partner airline on the following specific routes only:
- Auckland-Hong Kong flights operated by Cathay Pacific
- Auckland-Singapore, Christchurch-Singapore and Wellington-Singapore (but not Wellington-Melbourne) flights operated by Singapore Airlines
- Auckland-San Francisco flights operated by United
- Auckland-Beijing flights operated by Air China
Other Koru Benefits
In addition to lounge access, Koru members receive a range of benefits when travelling on Air New Zealand. These include:
- Premium check-in
- Priority boarding
- Complimentary up-front (frequent flyer) seating
- Extra piece of checked baggage (applies only on fares with a baggage allowance, i.e. excluding “Seat only” fares)
- Fast Bag service on point-to-point regional flights within New Zealand
Some of these benefits are also offered when flying on the specific partner airline routes mentioned above.
Koru Club Membership Prices
Air New Zealand offers three types of Koru membership; individual, corporate and senior membership. Senior membership is available to anyone aged over 65 and corporate membership is offered to groups of 10 or more people.
There is a NZD255 one-off Koru Club joining fee. Renewal prices are as follows:
| 1-year renewal | 2-year renewal | 5-year renewal | |
| Individual | NZD629 | NZD1,109 | NZD2,549 |
| Senior | NZD465 | NZD760 | NZD1,845 |
Air New Zealand does not offer a discount to overseas residents like Qantas does, nor to Silver frequent flyers like Virgin Australia does. But some Airpoints credit cards in New Zealand provide a discount on annual renewals and a waived Koru Club joining fee.
Note that there are no refunds provided – nor will your membership be placed on hold – if you become an Airpoints Gold or Elite member (which entitles you to all Koru benefits). This is different to the Qantas Club policy whereby your membership is placed on hold if you earn Qantas Gold status.
Alternatives to Koru Club Membership
As Koru Club membership offers benefits exclusively when travelling with Air New Zealand, this would be best-suited to New Zealand residents that fly relatively often with the airline… but not enough to earn Airpoints Gold or Elite status. If you’re flying regularly on Star Alliance, you may be better off trying to earn Star Alliance status as you’ll then receive benefits when flying on all 28 Star Alliance member airlines (of which Air New Zealand is one).
As an alternative to Koru Club membership, you could purchase annual United Club or Air Canada Maple Leaf Club Worldwide membership. These memberships provide access to all lounges around the world that are operated by Star Alliance airlines, and you can use them whenever you fly with any Star Alliance airline. Prices are not that much higher than paying for Koru Club membership, so this could be a very worthwhile alternative if you’re mainly after lounge access.
If you live in Australia, a Qantas Club membership could be another alternative. There are also various Qantas Club discounts available.
