Lounge access in HLZ (Hamilton, NZ) for DJ international flights?

[greenfish]

Just wondering if anyone has been able to acces the Koru lounge at HLZ when flying HLZ-BNE?

Thanks

 

[richie9x]

I was wondering the same thing. I have been thinking of catching that flight. My interpertation of rules is that you are flying trans-tasman on Pacific Blue so you do get access. It is a regional lounge so probably not so big.

The only complication is that it is an international flight. But given that it is currently the only international flight from Hamilton, I would guess the customs and immigration would be done at the gate.

 

[greenfish]

I was wondering the same thing. I have been thinking of catching that flight. My interpertation of rules is that you are flying trans-tasman on Pacific Blue so you do get access. It is a regional lounge so probably not so big.

The only complication is that it is an international flight. But given that it is currently the only international flight from Hamilton, I would guess the customs and immigration would be done at the gate.

I'm booked with the family on the 31st of December, so I'll report back. I flew the route quite a few times with Freedom Air, but that was years ago....

 

[Major]

Just wondering if anyone has been able to acces the Koru lounge at HLZ when flying HLZ-BNE?

Thanks

All Plat and Gold members have access to Koru lounges on day of travel, both domestic and international

 

[greenfish]

All Plat and Gold members have access to Koru lounges on day of travel, both domestic and international

Agreed, but the lounge is a domestic lounge - and the flight is an international flight leaving at 7:00am. It'll be interesting to see if it is possible in practice.

 

[greenfish]

May have answered my own question - looks like the HLZ lounge doesn't open until 6:30am:

Airport Services | Hamilton International Airport

 

[Mal]

In dud they kick you out of the lounge quite early so you can clear outbound immi. So yeah no access I assume.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

 

[Major]

According to Air NZ the HLZ lounge is open at 0500. Not sure if this lounge is available for International pax.

Regional Koru lounges - Lounge Information - Koru - Airpoints - Air*New*Zealand - Australia Site

 

[richie9x]

There are Eagle Air/Air NZ flights from 6am on weekdays so I suspect that the Koru lounge would be open prior to those.

Although on the weekend the Virgin/Pacific Blue flight is the earliest at 7am. So the Koru lounge may open later on the weekend.

HLZ is looking pretty quiet these days. Freedom Air and Kiwi Air have closed. On Mondays and Fridays Air NZ use to fly a 737 to Wellington, that seems to have stopped. So the only jet flights are the 4 Virgin flight each weeks.

I think there use to be an aerobridge that seems to have been removed.

 

[greenfish]

Thanks for the replies. I'll give it a go - does sound like it might be possible if the lounge is open from 5.

Not sure what DJs loads are like to HLZ - but I flew on some very empty Freedomair flights (and I think an NZ flight once) in and out of HLZ. Maybe it is too close to Auckland; I'd be happy if they swung it around to land at ROT instead.

 

[greenfish]

The good news is - Koru lounge access was no problem in Hamilton on the 31st of Dec. The DJ check-in staff did have some issues with the PIN number, which supposedly changes daily, but we were in by 5am-ish.

The lounge itself was unattended, and access was granted using the DJ supplied PIN (hence the potential for extended opening hours). The lounge is quite small (as you'd expect). Apart from 1 couple who came and went, we were the only lounge users. An AirNZ staff member popped through once.

Food was limited; some cereals (rice bubbles, muesli) with milk. I found a toaster in a cupboard, but there was no bread. There was a fruit bowl consisting of apples and some very ripe bananas, and quite a few snacks such as jaffas in a jar and a variety of biscuits.

Drinks comprised juices, some soft drinks and milk. There was a coffee machine but it didn't have any milk connected to it - which didn't bother me as I don't drink coffee.

There were 2 PCs and a printer together with wifi - though the wifi was so slow that I ended up using my 2degrees SIM for some iTunes downloads. I can't remember if there were 2 or 3 large screen TVs - all off, but able to be turned on using the buttons on the TVs (I didn't spot any remotes).

Given that I wasn't counting on getting lounge access, I was pleasantly surprised. There also didn't seem to be an issue with access for all 5 of us (wife + 3 kids), but I guess with PIN based entry, you could let in a football team once you were in.

 

[Austman]

Later in the day the (limited) food offerings change and some alcoholic drinks are also made available.