I do pay for Koru as I don't fly often enough with work to get Gold, but often enough (and usually nationally) to make the lounge usage very very welcome.

Recently I had a negative experience though - they have replaced canned soft drinks in their NZ lounges with postmix only. I questioned this and was officially told that it was a cost saving initiative as well as addressing concerns over wastage. Personally I find it odd that for a cost saving initiative they immediately filled up the now vacant fridge space with more (free) alcohol.

I get the feeling the person that made the decision doesn't drink soft drink at all, or that AirNZ don't want Koru members sober for the flights :-)

The other gotcha is that Koru membership is nowhere near as good as Star Alliance Gold... As well as the overseas lounges that Gold will get you into but Koru doesn't - there's also the extra cabin bag Gold gets you on intl flights that Koru doesn't.

Will I pay again when mine expires? Probably not... Despite their heavy promotion and ludicrously expensive mailouts I feel they are trying to pull value out of the Koru membership...





Cheers - N