Maybe it's because flying out of Auckland to Sydney is always an early morning smack in the face, maybe it's because I'm travelling on my own dollars rather than work or maybe it's just because the new lounge in AKL is rubbish. But man, I can't wash the dissapointment out of my mouth no matter how many cheap wines I pour myself.
I quite liked going to the Emirates lounge during the refurb of the Qf lounge, but I really wish some Qantas people spent some time in there to see what a good lounge looks like.
Only one person on the bar this morning, which would be fine if that bar wasn't also the only place to get coffee, and worse still, also the only place to get spirits and sparkling. It takes 10 seconds to pour a glass of bubbly, and what seems like an eternity to complete the dozen or so pointless rituals and incantations that are apparently needed to mix hot water and something resembling dirt into muddy water.
And speaking of rituals. If I'm flying before midday I like to acknowledge my early start with a Bloody Mary. So, when I asked the nice lady at the bar for a champaigne (in between her coffee incantations), I also asked for a Bloody Mary. She assured me it would be available for pick up soon. so I went back to my scrambled eggs and something that isn't quite hash browns and waited. I opened my laptop, read all about the latest unhinged cough Trump said while I was asleep, and sipped my sparkles. I glanced over at the bar every so often to see if my vitamin B was ready but it never appeared. So I casually walked over and requested another glass of bubbles and slipped in a reminder about my BM request. Yes sir, ready in a minute.
You know where this is going. I asked another two times and still left the lounge disappointed. Any other lounge and I could have made it myself. They always have the ingredients right there, in the open, just waiting for me to assemble them..
It's possible, in fact probable, I'm a slow learner. I have access to other lounges and a smart version of me would have taken that option but I wanted to check out the new Qantas lounge. Live and learn eh!
Don't get me wrong, I'm a Qantas fan, I fly them almost exclusively. I was Virgin platinum for 15+ years and then a little bug happenned and they almost went belly up, that was a wake up call that made me, selfishly, re-evaluate and I switched to Qantas. I'm regularly wrong about stuff, but I'm assuming the Aus gov will not let the flag carrier go down the gurgler so I'm sticking with them for now.
OK, enough run on sentences and bad grammar, let me know your experiences in the AKL Qantas lounge. Was I just unlucky?
