On arrival at Auckland

[Manks]

Our experience wasn't the greatest upon arrival into AKL as we were on the 2nd flight from LA (NZ5?) and NZ1 was late, arriving just before us. Plus a Cathay flight from Hong Kong had landed between us. So three large plane loads of people trying to clear immigration together was not easy. Even the Residents queue was pretty big (may have cleared faster though). With the queue for biosecurity as well on top of all this, we must have taken around 1.5hrs from landing to being out of the airport.

If you're on the earlier flight though, you will probably avoid this hassle!

Having said that, if you're on a single ticket booked through to Tauranga, even if you miss the flight, Air NZ should look after you. Just make sure you speak to one of the ground crew when you arrive if you're at all worried about your connection time.

[catt]

The planes from Auckland seem to come into here every hour nearly so even if you miss your connection you wont have to wait long for the next one. The early morning flights tend to be the bigger planes as there are more people i would guess commuting.

Air NZ use the Bombardier 300 (32" seat pitch 50 seats 2 on each side of the aisle) or Beechcraft 1900D (31" seat pitch with 19 seats one on either side of the aisle) both are prop engines. We have a small but perfectly formed airport and its so quick and easy to use. We delivered friends to Tauranga airport a few months ago and was amazed to see large buggies come out of the little plane when it arrived i would have thought that your bike wouldnt have that much trouble.

Best bet is to ring Air NZ they are pretty amazing with their customer service we have found.

Good luck and safe journey

[Duncan74]

Cheers. The default connection is the 1900D (is that the engine size? and I'm awaiting a response from AirNZ. To be honest this is an easy thing to panic about and get concerned over and take my mind off the rest of it.

[JandM]

Best bet is to ring Air NZ they are pretty amazing with their customer service we have found.

Just before our last trip, I wanted to query something, and phoned AirNZ - to my amazement, I found I was talking to a lady at Auckland airport, on a national rate call from home in England. And yes, the service was great, and she went out of her way to make sure of what I needed to know.

[catt]

J and M you are so right ........... in fact it seems that phoning and talking to someone here goes a long way to smooth paths and appreciated as well, also you dont have to wait so long for an answer. I know when we were searching for our accommodation when we did our recce back in 2007 i got better responses from a quick phone call from the UK than from the mails i sent. Seems to me the kiwis like that personal touch...... a lesson we have learned since being here.

[Duncan74]

Interesting as last time I was emailing them then the first couple of times they got the response wrong (regarding baggage then as well).

Actually, peraps I'm just obsessed with baggage. A bit like a train spotter, but with more plastic wheels and more variety.

[catt]

yes i think you are Duncan

[kiwiwithwings]

It only takes 5-10 minutes to walk between the international and domestic terminals. It's a nice easy walk, even at 5.30 am. You'll be able to get good strong coffee when you get to the domestic terminal, and it is so friendly you'll be grinning with excitement.

[lin]

Hi Duncan

Immigration was fairly quick & painless though the queue can be quite big. I think I joined the wrong queue & the immigration officer tut-tutted at me, but still let me in! Bags seemed to take forever to come off the plane.

Is your luggage checked right through or do you need to collect it in Auckland & deliver it to the "transfer check-in" desk (I can't remember the proper name for it)? I had to do this for my flight to ChCh last year as my internal flight was leaving from the domestic terminal. The check-in desk was in the international terminal & it didn't take too long to give AirNZ back my bags. (It stated on my AirNZ tickets about re-checking my bags in.)

Best of luck with the move!

[newarrival]

I am pretty sure you have to claim you luggage at the first national airport if coming from abroad and then do a check in again for the national flight!?