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Thread: Air New Zealand flights - via La or Hong Kong ??

  1. #1
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    Default Air New Zealand flights - via La or Hong Kong ??

    HI

    Been busy looking at the flights to Napier from Heathrow....

    Got a great deal (so i look at it) for 2 adult and 1 child flying 8/4/07 with return date of 30/7/07 (although not coming back.... hopefully...)

    Choices are stop over in LA or Hong Kong ??

    Rang up Air NZ and they suggest that as we have a 4 1/2 year old, Hong Kong is our best bet - although 20kg each allowance.

    LA is 46kg each - but reckon customs is a pain - have to have finger prints, photos taken, etc

    Can anyone advise if they travelled this way and what our best option would be ?? Know its best to listen to travel staff, but could use the extra luggage allowance ....

    Got two weeks before have to book, as realised passport runs out shortly unfortunately, so another extra expense .... Typical!!

    Any help gratefuly recd

    Sharon

  2. #2
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    Hi Sharon,
    We did LAX simply for the extra baggae allowance. Haven't got a 4.5 year old but did travel with me, hubby, 18, 15, 10 and 9 year olds. Customs/immigration were a lot better than we had expected, actually almost pleasant. There were long queues though: of our 4 hour stopover, we were in a queue for 3.75 hours!! Finger printing was considered "fun" by our younger two, although we were all a bit tired, it was worth it for the more than double baggage allowance in our view.

    Gil

  3. #3
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    We did both on our trip "home" last year. HK is a lovely bright airy airport, plenty of places to eat, lots of space, dont know how it would work if you were in transit, but as far as I know you get to wander round the shops etc. You may even be able to grab a shower.

    LAX you get herded off the plane (if you do the non stop NZ1 flight) have to queue to get passports checked and fingerprints/photo (you do go first if you got kiddies) then you are put in a room with toilets, free nibbles and drinks, and uncomfy seats and not much space for littles to run about, thats it! Now by the time you get in there, you are not there for that long, but its a bit basic.

    Guess its up to whether you want the extra luggage to put up with less than perfect facilties for an hour or so....

  4. #4
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    3.75 hours!! That is ridiculous isn't it!

    We are going with Singapore Airlines, stopping overnight in Singapore. 30kgs each, not too bad, don't expect we'll need any more than that.

    Steve

  5. #5
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    Oh, forgot, you could do a sneaky, out through LA and back through HK we did that and because part of our ticket was through LAX, we got the big baggage allowance.....

  6. #6
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    hong kong airport is a good one, normal transit treatment. LA is the pits, both airport and transit system.

  7. #7
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    Sharon,

    Are you flying direct to Napier or will you be using an internal flight?

    The reason I ask is that a lot of the internal flights have a lower baggage allowance and threfore getting 46kg is not much use if you have to loose or pay for the extra, to fly internally.

    Also be aware that hand baggage can also have a weight allowance as well as a size allowance, this one caught us out, but luckily they let us on anyway.

    Cheers

    Tia

  8. #8

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    When we flew over to Auckland in August we flew Air NZ via Los Angeles (2 days after all the arrests over terrorists,chaos at Heathrow and not allowed anything on the plane except documents, purse etc..) we flew this way so we could take the girls (aged 9 and 10 yrs then) to Disney.
    We were expecting LAX to be a nightmare, but it was absolutely fine, had to wait while they could find pens for us all to fill out the visa forms, but other than that very little hasstle and would def do it again.
    When we came to fly from LAX to AKL we arrived at LAX airport hrs to early thinking it would be really tight security and would take ages to clear our bags, but it took no more than 20 mins from check-in to sitting in the departure lounge!
    We have flown Singapore Airlines and they were extremely good, but just depends on which route u want to fly and stop over.

  9. #9
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    I've just come out ANZ via LAX to return the other way.

    I landed late (although on time) at LA so perhaps because of this the delays weren't bad. About 1hr in the queue. After 9 hrs sitting on the plane just being able to shuffle along in a queue was a pleasant change!!

    The fingerprint and eye stuff took minutes, and the people very pleasant, then into the lounge for nibbles and a sit down. This area wasn't that nice.

    My advice is take advantage of the luggage, get out of the plane asap to get in the queue quickly. That's what I'll be doing next time.

  10. #10
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    Tia

    We fly from Heathrow to Auckland, then from Auckland to Napier, all through Air NZ from what i can see ....

    Any ideas ?

    Thanks for telling me about hand luggage, i will bear this in mind. What happens if it is internal flight ??


    Sharon

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