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How to Get Access to Airport Lounges - The Definitive New Zealand Guide

Learn cost-effective ways to access airport lounges in New Zealand and beyond. Explore options from credit card benefits to day passes and how to evaluate whether a particular lounge is right for you - our guide reveals all.
Updated 11 November 2024

Summary
  • With credit cards no longer offering Air New Zealand lounge passes, lounge options are arguably limited for everyday travellers. 
  • The good news is that there are ways to get lounge access without joining the Koru Programme, buying expensive business class airfares, or being a gold-level frequent flyer. 
  • Our guide explains the options - credit card vouchers, pay-as-you day passes, lounge memberships, credit card benefits, and exclusive airline offers. 
  • While lounge access is never necessary, it provides a haven from the hustle of a busy airport, and you'll get complimentary food and a fully-stocked bar. However, lounge quality varies - most travellers would agree the best have space to sit, good food and self-serve drinks. The worst are notoriously crowded and serve bland food with an understaffed tendered bar. 
  • Warning: If you plan to buy a day pass for a lounge, we suggest searching for online reviews before buying. Some lounges take your money and offer very little, which can instantly disappoint. Be sure what you're paying for is good value for money too - our view is that any airport lounge charging over $70 per person is either excellent or a rip-off; our research team has experienced both at airports worldwide.

To help you understand your options, our guide covers the following:
Know This First: Is the Food and Beverage Offering in the Lounge Worth the Price?
  • The quality and variety of food and beverages in airport lounges can vary significantly. While some lounges offer high-quality food and a fully-stocked bar, others might be known for bland food and understaffed bars.
  • It's best to check online reviews before purchasing a day pass for a particular lounge, and make sure the lounge will be open when you're at the airport (as lounges operate separately to airlines so timings won't always correspond).
  • If you're a couple, ask yourself - is it worth paying $120-$150 for a couple of hours sitting in a room with food and drinks before a flight? While it's a convenient perk of certain credit cards, it's debatable the value for money you receive for paying for access.
  • Airline-operated lounges, are, in most cases, superior in offering to 'third-party' lounges, given the brand association and the fact that airlines use them for their premium passengers (e.g. gold-level frequent flyers and those with business class tickets). For example, there's a big difference between the Auckland Emirates Lounge and the Auckland Strata Lounge regarding comfort and food and beverage quality. However, the three-fold price difference for a day pass reflects that.

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Are you flying long-haul and stopping in Singapore, Doha, Dubai or another transit point? MoneyHub Founder Christopher Walsh shares his tips:

"New Zealanders often have 2-4 hours transit in an Asian, Middle Eastern or USA airport when travelling overseas. For many, it's a simple clearing of security, browsing shops, taking a bathroom break, and heading to the gate for the next flight. However, if you want to break the journey up with a lounge, my view is simple - you're best to book a lounge with a shower to get more for your money, but not all have that facility".

“The most straightforward method to secure a day pass for airport lounges is to visit LoungePair.com. By searching for your airport on their website, you can quickly view the available options and transparent pricing. They compare pricing from varying vendors, so you always know you are getting the best price. For added comfort, especially before a long flight, look for lounges with amenities such as showers, which LoungePair clearly indicates for each lounge listing in their descriptions.”

"My suggestions, based on experience, are as follows:
  • For Singapore, my preferred paid option is the swimming pool (around NZ$25) which has sunbeds, showers and towels.
  • For Doha (Qatar), the lounges are very expensive (e.g. NZ$100+), but there are relaxing rooms (gender segregated) which are useful if your Qatar Airways flight connection is a bit longer than you'd like. A paid option is sleep ‘n fly who offer pods that are like a Business Class recliner seat. These can be purchased online in advance, or you can try your luck and bid for access with LoungePair to get at a cheaper price.
  • For Dubai (United Arab Emirates), there is a lot of choice and the prices aren't too outrageous - many have showers too. LoungePair.com is a good starting point, but you can get a complimentary shower (located in Terminal 3 between gates B13 and B19). The Emirates Lounge is US$150+ which is near-impossible to justify.
  • For Hong Kong, almost every lounge is operated by Plaza Premium - you can see a full list here.
  • For Taipei (Taiwan) and Guangzhou (China), Plaza Premium is also the operator - you can search the options here.
  • If you're transiting through the USA (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, New York), the hassle (and unknown time) of clearing immigration and re-checking luggage minimises any transit time, so my view is to stay clear of booking any lounge in advance.
  • Other transit points, such as Kuala Lumpur have lounges on LoungePair.com which are worth considering".
Christopher Walsh
MoneyHub Founder
Airport Lounge Shower Icon
Airport Lounge Shower Icon

How to Get Access to Airport Lounges - Your Options:

Credit Cards

The banks did away with Air New Zealand lounge e-vouchers in 2022; before that, cardholders had to spend $20,000 to $30,000 for two lounge e-vouchers to be loaded into the Air New Zealand account. However, there are some low-cost options:
  1. American Express offers its popular Airpoints Platinum Card is loaded with four lounge passes every year; you can read our review of the card here. 
  2. The Westpac World Mastercard offers Priority Pass membership, which has unlimited access for the member.

For higher spenders:
  1. American Express Platinum Cardholders get Priority Pass membership as part of the card's perks, which offers unlimited complimentary lounge visits for the cardholder and one guest. You can also give a partner (or friend or family member) a supplementary American Express Platinum card, which is free, and they also get a Priority Pass membership (one nominated Additional Platinum Card Member per Account).
  2. Our review of the card has more details.

Non-Airline Lounge Day Passes

  • You can buy a pass for privately-owned lounges such as Strata (Auckland International Airport) and Manaia (Christchurch and Queenstown). These lounges don't belong to any airline; instead they host guests from airlines without lounges, credit card voucher holders, lounge memberships and those wanting to buy a day pass.
  • The most popular option to find pricing and buy a pass will be to use a website like Loungepair.com. The best approach is to check the price compared to buying directly from the operator - often, it's cheaper, but not always. For example:

Auckland Airport's Strata Lounge:
Queenstown Airport's Manaia Lounge:​
Christchurch Airport's Manaia Lounge:

Airline Lounge Day Pass

A handful of airlines serving New Zealand offer fixed rates or invites to buy lounge access. However, it's questionable what value for money they provide the typical traveller crossing the Tasman or heading off further.

Emirates
  • Emirates offers any traveller the choice of paying to enter its lounges in Dubai and at selected airports worldwide. You can see a complete price list here.
  • While all lounge access is priced in USD, it's around NZ$200 per person to visit an Emirates lounge, which is a significant outlay for what's usually a 1-2 hour stay. 

Qantas 
  • Qantas offers, from time to time, an email offer to pay for lounge access per its lounge information.
  • The costs range, but our research suggests it's around NZ$70 to NZ$100, depending on the airport. However, there's no guarantee of an invite, and you'll need to prepay the fee if you get an offer and decide to go ahead.
  • You can't walk up and pay at a Qantas lounge once at the airport.

Other Airlines
Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, United, American Airlines, Delta, China Southern and Malaysia Airlines (and others serving New Zealand) don't offer paid lounge access in Auckland, Christchurch or their hubs. If you want lounge access during a long-haul flight, the best option will likely be pay-as-you-go with a third-party operator;a good starting point to find an option is LoungePair.com.

Priority Pass

Priority Pass is an airport lounge access membership program, which costs around US$100 per year, and allows you and a guest to pay US$35 per lounge access on their network of lounges.

While not popular in New Zealand, given the lack of local lounges, globally, Priority Pass has hundreds of thousands of members who have access to 1,000+ lounges in 600+ cities in 140+ countries. However, the options in New Zealand and Australia are limited, and booking a pay-as-you-go lounge visit is likely cheaper. 

You can read more about Priority Pass and the membership options here. However, our view is that it's not going to be valuable for most New Zealanders.

Buy a Koru of Qantas Club Membership

Both Air New Zealand and Qantas have annual memberships to their lounge network. Our guide to whether or not Koru membership is worth the cost covers the pros and cons of Air New Zealand's lounge network offering. The Qantas Club costs around the same amount (NZ$600+ a year), but unless you're flying to and from Australia often and booking Qantas, it's unlikely to offer much value.

Christopher Walsh MoneyHub Founder and Head of Research outlines a Lounge Pass Loaded Credit Card that Delivers Value:

Christopher Walsh
MoneyHub Founder and
Head of Research
"The American Express Airpoints Platinum Card is the only credit card loaded with four annual lounge passes. You can use two at any Priority Pass lounge member and two at the AMEX lounges in Sydney or Melbourne".

"Add in the fact that you'll earn 1 Airpoints Dollar for every $70 spent is almost twice the earning rate offered by bank-issued Platinum Airpoints cards. For this reason, it's our 2023 Editor's Choice Favourite Airline Credit Card".

"For those spending over $1,000 a month on a credit card and who always repay the balance, the AMEX card offers unmatched benefits and gives you four visits to an airport lounge every year (and these passes can be used for guests too), alongside travel insurance, a signup bonus, and the highest Airpoints Dollars earning rate."

Concluding Comments and Cost-Effective Options

Our view:
  • The most convenient and cost-effective way to visit a lounge is to use a cost-effective day pass. However, paying around $50-66 to sit in a crowded lounge to eat from a buffet isn't for everyone. We recommend using a site like LoungePair.com to compare pricing between different options.
  • Many New Zealanders use a credit card that comes loaded with lounge passes to cover a couple of trips a year. The American Express Airpoints Platinum offers four lounge passes (worth around $240+) in airports around Australia and New Zealand. The card also has many other benefits, as our review outlines. 

Are you a family of three, four or more travelling together? Evaluate the cost vs benefit before booking.
  • Buying lounge passes is likely to be expensive and not worth it. Unless you have young kids, who can usually get in for a significant discount, it's likely to cost $200+ to get four people admitted. We believe the money can be better spent at your destination and/or at a cafe/bar at the airport.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Get Lounge Access with a Credit Card?

Yes - Although Air New Zealand discontinued offering lounge e-vouchers with credit card spend in 2022, certain cards like American Express Airpoints Platinum Card and the Westpac World Mastercard still offer lounge passes or lounge membership benefits.

The price for a non-airline lounge day pass varies. For example, you can access Auckland's Strata Lounge for about $66. It is recommended to check the prices on LoungePair.com and compare rates - they're often not the same.

Can I Purchase a Day Pass for an Airline Lounge in New Zealand?

It depends on the airline - Emirates offers the option to purchase a day pass for their Auckland lounge. However, the value for money is arguable, given the typically high costs and short durations of stay. Other airlines don't offer access like Emirates - Qantas may send an invite to pay for lounge access, but there's no guarantee.

Is Priority Pass a Good Option for New Zealanders?

Priority Pass offers access to numerous lounges worldwide but is not popular in New Zealand due to the lack of local lounges. It could be useful if you travel globally often; otherwise, purchasing a pay-as-you-go lounge visit is likely more cost-effective.

Are there Family Discounts for Lounge Access?

Some lounges may offer discounts for young children, but generally, buying lounge passes for a family of four or more can be expensive and may not offer the best value for money. Spending that money at a cafe or bar at the airport or your destination may be more economical.

What is the Most Cost-Effective Way to Gain Lounge Access in New Zealand?

We believe the American Express Airpoints Platinum is the most cost-effective, given it comes loaded with four lounge passes without the need to spend, and you can use them for guests travelling with you. Given the card has an Airpoints dollar signup bonus, free travel insurance and other benefits, the annual fee ($195) more than covers four visits to a lounge if you would otherwise pay for a day pass.

Besides this credit card, the most cost-effective way to access a lounge is through a day pass. 

Are There Time Restrictions for Lounge Access?

Lounge access times vary based on the specific lounge and can be affected by factors like your flight time and the lounge's operating hours. Some lounges may limit the duration of your visit, so it's important to check these details ahead of time and ensure that the lounge you prepay to visit is open when your flight is departing.

Can I Bring a Guest With Me into the Lounge?

This depends on the specific lounge and your access method. Some lounge passes, or memberships allow you to bring a guest, either free of charge or for an additional fee. Be sure to check the guest policy for your specific pass or membership.

Are There Specific Dress Codes for Airport Lounges?

Most airport lounges have a smart casual dress code, which can vary. Some lounges may refuse entry to guests dressed in sportswear, beachwear, or other overly casual clothing. It's best to check the specific dress code for your chosen lounge.

Is Pay-As-You-Go Access Available at All Lounges?

No, pay-as-you-go access isn't available at all lounges. While some lounges offer this, others may only be accessed via specific credit card benefits, memberships (e.g. Air New Zealand Gold or Qantas Gold), or business/first-class tickets. Always check the access requirements of the specific lounge you're interested in.

Are the Airport Lounges Worth the Cost if I Only Have a Short Layover?

If your layover is short, you might not get much value from purchasing lounge access, especially considering the cost. However, it might be worth considering if you would benefit from a quiet place to relax or if you want to take advantage of the food, drink, and other amenities. Evaluate your specific needs and the duration of your layover before deciding.
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