Air NZ stops paid one time access?

[jackthomas]

Managed to spot this on twitter this morning, and it seems Air NZ has stopped the Ad-Hoc paid access to lounges... Sounds like a good move to me to stop the common over crowding in some ports... No doubt will disappoint a few savvy fliers though. Not surprised to see this however, considering the new lounges in SYD and AKL.

 

[samh004]

Makes sense with new premium products to limit access to those who have a yearly pass/have earned the right. Besides, how much do you need to drink, eat and leech off the internet to make up the $55 entry?

 

[opusman]

I think paid entry is a bad idea in general for the airlines. I'll often just have a coffee or a beer in the lounge and that's it, but if you've paid $55 (or whatever) for that specific visit you're far more likely to feel "entitled" to get your money's worth.

 

[jackthomas]

Whenever I'm in the lounge I also usually just have a small bite to eat and a drink while checking emails etc... I've not visited the SYD lounge yet, but from my past experience with Air NZ lounges they certainly weren't wroth the $55 to get in the door... The new ones look very different however, excited to see the AKL lounge next week.

 

[NZflygirl]

Or people can get complimentary vouchers through the nz credit cards. I think spend $20000 and get 2. Obviously only useful if you were going to spend that anyway.

i always used to think ad-hoc entry was a good idea (for those that don't fly frequently enough even to buy koru) and used to wonder why QF didn't do it until I walked into the perth QC lounge (before the other opened) and felt the overcrowding as in 1 seat left and then realised there was no way a country like Oz could offer the same.

With the the new Akl lounge in the morning it gets a bit chocka until the syd and MEL flights are called and then it empties out. But for that hour and a bit it's a bit full so I guess I can see why they've done it. Not sure if it's chocka to the same degree at other times.