V-Flyer

Hi.

Sorry if I'm in the wrong place for this discussion ?|

Is there any news on what will be happening when Air NZ move from their lounge from it's current spot in T2 at LAX.

Are there plans for VA to take it over?

God I hope so - with 2 flights a day and full-size UC cabins you'd think it would be justified.

Sadly they may just shove us into the Air France or Air Canada lounges, as they do now when the ANZ lounge is busy.

Lets hope they do take over the NZ lounge and change it to a VS Clubhouse..

The BA offer will be very enticing with the new A380s and new Tom Bradley terminal at LAX, so VS need to do something to up their game as LAX T2 is the pits in its current state. if VS can justify a Clubhouse at Boston (1xA330/day) then surely they can for LAX with 1xB747 and 1xA340-600 per day for most of they year!

Fingers crossed!

yes me too. hoping they will take the opportunity to up their game.
I think with the new CEO they really need to keep the momentum.

The economics of an airline running its own lounges are very complex.

So whilst it is easy for us to say that VS should have it's own lounge at LAX it may simply be too costly for them to do so either in refurbishment costs and also annual running costs (the real driver on the decision).

The number of flights and passengers does not come into it. VS and MASSPORT at BOS may have done a deal on rental that LAX is not offering.

LAX may also have other plans for the NZ space that does not include airline lounges.

Thanks for the replys guys.

I hope VS sort something out. ?|

Mark.

What is happening with NZ lounge ?
Doesn't seem that long ago it was refurbished ?

What is happening with NZ lounge ?
Doesn't seem that long ago it was refurbished ?

JCBR wrote:What is happening with NZ lounge ?
Doesn't seem that long ago it was refurbished ?

No news here about what is happening to the current lounge other than NZ is moving out. NZ is relocating to TBIT at LAX to join the other *A airlines, and is building a mega lounge for them.

From January VS won't have access to the NZ lounge, so it'll be the dire AF or AC lounges, unless ("pray") VS gets the NZ space to develop into a VS clubhouse.

The Air New Zealand lounge is very pleasant and comfortable with plent of amenities. I like others hope VS get to occupy this space when ANZ move to the International Terminal next year. IMHO if they could do a deal, they could keep it pretty much as it is, that would help keep the costs down. Probably unlikely though that they would do that, far too sensible. LOL

Does any one have a recent experience of the Air NZ Lounge.

We are on the 24 in about 10 days time, and was wondering are people still being sent to the Air France/Canada lounges and if so what are the facilities like in them. Many thanks. Linda

Does any one have a recent experience of the Air NZ Lounge.

I was on the 24 about 10 days ago and used the Air France lounge. Checkin staff confirmed that they only use the ANZ lounge now for the earlier flight.

There was a self-service bar although as one passenger was heard to exclaim "This sucks, there's no champagne!". Selection of soup, sandwiches, snacks, soft drinks and coffee and the wifi worked well.

It's no clubhouse but still preferable to the terminal in my opinion.

Thanks for that SM, that will do nicely, as long as we can get a drink and freshen up as we get the meal on the flight which is more than enough.

After a week in VEGAS think we will have to loosen some waistbands.

We were in the Air France lounge on Wednesday. It certainly is no CH. Really boring, with pretty uncomfortable seats (think 1990s office furniture). Most of the magazines and papers are in French (understandably).

I think VAA should do better than this for its customers paying big bucks for UC.

I'm sure they would like to, but the problem is there are no suitable lounges at LAX T2.

The one they've traditionally used - which is a cut above most US shared lounges - has told them it can't accommodate them at busy times. That's ANZ's prerogative and there's little VS can do about it. There's no room (yet) for them to open their own Clubhouse so they have to use what's available. And as anyone who regularly uses US airports knows, their concept of a lounge tends to fall far short of what UK travellers are accustomed to.

gumshoe wrote:And as anyone who regularly uses US airports knows, their concept of a lounge tends to fall far short of what UK travellers are accustomed to.

True! I remember some years ago when on a layover at SFO with friends who were top tier BA and I was in UC on the inbound and we gained access to the President's Club there prior to our onward flight (I as their guest). We were told this was the flagship lounge of UA. OK, it was large and spacious compared with other lounges but we all looked at each other and said "Flagship??????????????" God knows what the others were like!

sorry to be nerdy but it would have been AA not UA.

JCBR wrote:sorry to be nerdy but it would have been AA not UA.

Well it definitely was not AA because I have never flown AA in my life and this was a UA flight. In any case I thought the name for AA lounges was Admiral's Club. I've probably got the name wrong because IIRC, Presidents Lounge was the name of Continental's lounges and this flight was well before the UA/CO merger

Just an update for anyone that's interested, yes its the Air France lounge for the later vs24 flight back, the earlier flight gets the NZL lounge.

It was just about ok, managed to get some papers to read, the soup was really nice, coffee ok, sandwiches very dry, lots of small cans of soft drinks, a few spirits and some wines.

Two large screen TV's and a good view of the Virgin planes getting ready, was very hot in there though,and no showers.

Further update from my contact; ANZ take over the running of the Star Alliance Lounge in TBIT in July 2014 so that is when their lounge in T2 will close. There is no word on what will happen to the lounge as yet and unfortunately, no rumours that VAA will be taking it over.

Edited to add:

Glad we are on VS008 for our return leg!

Thanks for that.

They really should, if they get the chance. A Hollywood-themed Clubhouse would epitomise what the VS brand is supposed to represent - chic, glamorous, a bit showbiz.

Even the AC Maple Leaf lounge is better than the AF lounge, and that's saying something