Emirates A380 First Class: Emirates Lounge Auckland

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Chauffeur Service

Pre-Departure Services and Emirates Club Auckland

Emirates First: Suite, Seat, and Bed

Emirates First: Service and Food

Emirates First: Shower Spa

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Once inside Auckland’s airport, I headed straight to the Emirates check in counter. Emirates flies three flights out of Auckland within a few minutes of each other to Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney, all of which continue to Dubai.

Emirates had a special counter for First Class check in on the far end of its counters, and a special First Class red carpet, which I had just stepped onto when I was waived forward.

I filled out a New Zealand departure card while the agent checked me in. When she was done and she handed me my boarding pass, she told me to go to the exiting-New-Zealand pre-clearance booth just a few feet away, so I could avoid the line upstairs.

There was no line at the pre-clearance desk, and within a minute I had an “NZCS PRECLEARED” sticker on my boarding card that let me skip the exit queue.

After heading through security, I walked upstairs to the Emirates Lounge, next to the Qantas and Air New Zealand lounges.

Inside I was greeted by name while the agent scanned my boarding pass. She told me that my gate was “far away” and that she would announce boarding at 6 PM. I was given a wifi code for the lounge, and I headed in. The lounge was very large since it handled business and first class as well as Emirates elites and included easily over 100 seats, a business center with computers, and a separate dining area.

I very much liked the unified motif of the lounge. The same muted gold color repeated throughout the lounge with some green on the pillows and the brown wood. It looked very nice and consistent with the Emirates brand.

I was hungry, so I headed straight for the buffet, which was well stocked by an employee who kept shuttling more food from the kitchen, so that there was never a shortage of this kind of bruschetta or that kind of cheese.

I put together a simple plate and sat in the dining room. For beverages, I had a ton of quality options.

I had chicken tikka masala, beef, rice, veggies, potatoes, and bleu cheese.

A few plates of food later, and I was on my computer for the next few hours. I got a comfortable chair and ottoman facing toward a window looking down on the terminal, so I didn’t notice the lounge filling up. But when I went for dessert, the lounge might have had 100 people in it. There was plenty of seating for everyone, but with all of business and first for three flights in the lounge, it was a bit crowded. I saw several tennis players heading to Melbourne for the Aussie Open after playing in the ATP event in Auckland, but I didn’t recognize any.

Whether your preferred after-dinner treat is dessert liqueurs, candies, dates, or coffee, the Emirates Lounge has you covered.

The lounge’s bathrooms had well-appointed showers, which would be nice for business class passengers but unnecessary for first class passengers ;).

Boarding began 45 minutes before departure, and an announcement was made in the lounge that it was time for Sydney passengers to go to gate 15. I packed my things and started walking. As the people movers carried me toward the two white double deckers, I was downright giddy.