The Koru Lounge is not as exclusive as Air NZ would have us think, says Kate Haywood.

Don't go to Disneyland during the Mexican school holidays. I picked up this travel tip almost two decades ago from family friends who had spent a fair bit of their time at the Happiest Place on Earth rather unhappily standing in insanely long queues, thanks to the influx of visitors from south of the border.

As travel tips go, it's not an overly helpful one. Though the Mexican school holidays are probably a particularly bad time to visit due to the relative proximity of Mexico, Disneyland is oh so crowded no matter when you visit.

It has much in common with the Air New Zealand Koru Lounge in the international terminal at Auckland Airport. I challenge anyone to "relax, refresh, or get some work done before they fly" at this lounge during the (New Zealand) school holidays.

Chances are you'll be hard pressed to find a seat to relax in, let alone two or more together if you're travelling with others, and you'll need a great deal of luck indeed to find a free power point to charge your laptop.

Even if you do manage to find a seat, it will probably be next to some kids playing games on their iPads with the volume at full blast in the general seating area, despite the existence of a two-storey (and enclosed) children's play zone. Or behind some grown-ups practically yelling into their cellphones while simultaneously doing their best to drink the bar dry.

Even outside the school holidays it's often packed to the rafters, so it's crazy to think the lounge is actually 40 per cent bigger than the old space from which it was moved just over two years ago in a $14 million refurbishment.

In its current form, the lounge has seating for 375 people, approximately 1 per cent of the some 30,000-odd international passengers who travel through Auckland International Airport every day on average.

So who exactly are the travellers lucky enough to be granted access to this "haven" (Air New Zealand CEO Christopher Luxon's word, not mine)? According to Air NZ's website, access to the Koru Lounge is available to Airpoints Elite and Gold members, Elite Partner members, Koru members, and Business Class passengers departing on Air New Zealand flights. So far, so restrictive.

But access to the lounge is also available for the guests and children of these travellers. Airpoints Elite members can bring one guest when travelling on Star Alliance flights and up to five guests when travelling on Air New Zealand flights.