Auckland Int'l Airport review by D Dale

13 May 2008   Customer Rating :

A great experience all round. Fast processing through customs and immigration. Bags on the carousel as we arrived. Airport is well signed and is quite roomy. Not crowded and has quite a lot of areas for seating. Departing at Auckland International is a breeze with all Qantas counters manned and customs and security stations manned. Airport staff friendly and helpful. Great selection of Duty Free shops and food outlets. Only downside is paying the $25 departure tax. Would prefer this to be added to cost of airline tickets instead of being a seperate charge (no fault of Auckland Airport however). Otherwise, a lovely gateway to a great country.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by L Hurst

25 February 2008   Customer Rating :

Overall, a pretty good airport for a small country. I travel twice a year through Auckland as I live in NZ but have family in Canada. The domestic terminal has recently been renovated and the improvements are too many to note. More restaurants, cafes and shops to enjoy prior to security. On my last domestic flight out of Auckland, I couldn't be found on the computer system using self check-in but the gentleman at the check in counter was very helpful and sped up the process to ensure I wouldn't miss my flight (I was running late off my international flight because of Air Pacific not because of Auckland Airport). The international terminal serves its purpose. Check in has always been smooth (either Qantas or Air NZ), same with security. Improvements could be made with things to do between check in and security - there is a food court and a handful of shops up the escalator, but a second sit down restaurant would be appreciated. After security, you can grab a coffee, hot food or even a massage! As for the departure tax, not so much a big deal - I recently heard that there is talk of finally including the departure tax in airline tickets. As for international arrivals, painless. Immigration is always friendly and quite speedy. The free coffee while waiting for bags is a nice gesture though I have never finished a coffee because my bags have been quick to come out. Bio-security is a breeze - the passenger has to take full responsibility for the speed of this process: research what you are allowed to bring in (or not allowed to bring in) and be honest on your immigration card. Travelling at Christmas is amazing - the last 3 years I have spotted Santa Claus giving out candy canes to kids (and adults too!).

Auckland Int'l Airport review by L Lim

4 January 2008   Customer Rating :

Allow three to four hours during peak times as the queues are horrendous. We had a flight AKL-MEL running at 7:00am and the Air NZ counter does not split by flight and so we were queuing with a whole lot of other Air NZ flights. We arrived at 5:00am and were still queuing at 6:20am. The departure tax is not included in the ticket price so yet another queue before leaving. At the very least vending machines for departure tax or more than three counters for payment need to be made available. Upon entry into immigration a similar experience to Melbourne airport whereby hand luggage is weighed - again ludicrous given that some people buy more than the weight of hand luggage through the duty free. Immigration people did not seem to have much logic with some immigration staff sitting there waiting whilst others were flat out - there were two queues yet one was overloaded and the other had no one. When we tried to move over to the other queue we were advised this was not possible and had to move back despite advising the officer we had 20 minutes left to board to which they replied don't worry as we would be called! We were travelling as a family and this caused confusion when the immigration officer allowed some people to present their passports as one family and another immigration officer made some people present passports one at a time. One good thing was that they allow each person to carry one empty bottle through customs and refill once through immigration and security. Duty free section not much to write home about and you could do better downtown. Overall not a very pleasant experience and expected a higher standard of service than we received.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Ross Clark

4 January 2008   Customer Rating :

Arrived early afternoon ex SIN. Very quick for the passport control, somewhat of a wait for the baggage (but full B777 flight); and impressed by the keen desire of the agricultural services to keep people moving, despite having to check ex UK travellers if they had been in a foot-and-mouth area. So, 25 minutes from plane to landside. Left very late evening; fast checkin (10 minutes!) and no more than 5 minutes to get through the exit border (NZ requirement: they can be as slow letting you out as letting you in!)

Auckland Int'l Airport review by R Parkes

1 November 2007   Customer Rating :

Wonderful experience while traveling alone with 12 month old. Lovely older lady (volunteer) was there at 5am to meet my flight and helped me all the way through baggage claim, customs, check in for my connecting flight, and took me to where the bus picked me up for the connection. It was just the answer to a prayer after coming off a long flight from the other side of the US. Auckland also has special immigration lines for families with young children, and check in lines too (I discovered that on the way out). Just the best airport I've ever been to for traveling with a child - and I couldn't believe that someone would volunteer to be there to meet a 5am flight! They also provide free tea and coffee while you wait for your bags.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by M Graham

27 September 2007   Customer Rating :

A nice calm and clean airport with nice touches such as the families with young children line for passport control. The luggage arrived promptly and the security staff were pleasant. We were outside the airport within 30 minutes of landing

Auckland Int'l Airport review by S Blackburn

21 September 2007   Customer Rating :

Experience can be summed up as being forgettable: nothing stood out as either particularly good or bad on either arrival or departure. As others have noticed, there is more space and as much shopping landside as airside on departure. One feature which is slightly annoying is that once clearing security on departure, you are confronted with what feels like a corridor of shops - the main seating area and gates is beyond this so you don't get a sense of space until you've walked on a bit. One tip is to pick up some of the tourist literature in the arrivals hall - most of the guides have vouchers for money off various Kiwi attractions.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by John Cobcroft

23 August 2007   Customer Rating :

Very efficient with a nice relaxed kiwi attitude. Clean with good shopping opportunities. An excellent airport that knows how to deliver service.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by C Hughes

17 July 2007   Customer Rating :

On arrival the process was very smooth, saw the two passport points and headed to the international passport line, which worked out just as quick as the express NZ/AUS line (our line moved very quick with all but 4 stations manned). Baggage claim was uneventful and fast. When clearing the biosecurity, found it much faster just to take the goods to declare lane and let them check it, saw the mile long queue for the 'normal' lane and opted for this one, out in less than 5 minutes. On departure was flying Thai Airways this time instead of Singapore Airlines which has ground service contracted to Air New Zealand instead of Menzies, which I think makes a huge difference. Check-In, whilst lengthy the queue moved through quickly and staff were friendly and efficient. Moving to departures and I agree with the previous postings about staying landside, where there is ample shopping, and heaps of high quality food choices from Sushi-Italian-McDonalds. And one last for me, paying the departure fee, which will be wiped as of September and will be placed on the ticket. Through to departures and it is nice to see a different approach to boarding, first the normal elite/baby stuff, then passengers without carryon bags boarded which surprised me about the time it saved, not a single queue on the airbridge and boarded full flight within 10 minutes! If only other locations would adopt this idea. Also this airport, with the glass arrival walkways is becoming a nice airport to arrive/depart through (will be nicer once new "wing" is completed and will ease pressure on this terminal). One thing to note when departing your boarding pas will not contain your gate number, so you will have to look for it yourself once you get through customs, supposedly to eliminate gate changes.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by J Steel

31 May 2007   Customer Rating :

Improving all the time, now arrivals is separated from departures much better, but be warned be first of the plane as immigration can take an age to complete, AKL seem to always not have enough counters open. Staff are very good, MAF entry is fun, now speeding up process. From landing to outside terminal 25 minutes on this trip. Not many decent places to eat airside (international terminal), duty free good, good arrival and departure twice this year, so all in all 5 stars.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Peter Halpin

24 May 2007   Customer Rating :

There have been many improvements recently at Auckland. As a regular to Thailand, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong and others, I find AIA is well up with the best. Customs are good, but agriculture can be a pain in NZ and Aust, but all for the good of the countries. Immigration is a pain in most countries, if a number of flights are arriving concurrently, queues are normal anywhere. Compared with LAX and SFO, AIA is a dream. Small and efficient. Free coffee whilst you await your bagage. How many airports offer that service. The volunteers go out of the square to help, great. One final thing, a great place to kip, is AIA, if you have an early connection, upstairs, top deck, lots soft quiet seats.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by C Taylor

22 October 2006   Customer Rating : n/a

After arriving at AKL intl terminal from Seoul and needing to transfer to the domestic in quick time - Immigration, customs, quarantine were most helpful when my wife and I indicated we were in a hurry to catch a domestic flight, the quarantine even helping us to jump a barrier to the head of the queue. Alas we missed our flight and were unable to reschedule to a later flight without paying the full upfront ticket charge. Lesson here - allow at least 2 hours from touchdown at intl to takeoff at domestic terminal. Our travel planners (FLIGHT CENTRE NZ) only allowed 1-1/2hrs and thereby put us out of pocket big time.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Lucy Condillac

24 May 2006

Auckland International Terminal well sign posted, clean, with volunteers around to help you out. Tourist information very good, and shops upstairs prior to departures have a wide choice. Also lots of shops once through security. My only complaint about AKL is the gate lounges are very small and on a full 747 alot of people ended up sitting on the floor waiting to board. Boarding becomes a bit crowded because of this. Otherwise a nice clean welcoming airport.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Neil Ramsay

25 March 2006

Arrived and departed within 5 days. Arrival was fine with a friendly immigration officer at the ANZAC gate and an efficient customs/ag inspection service. Baggage from our flight arrived within minutes. The rental car park is within easy walking distance of the exits. Departure was just as seamless. Quick check in, easy departure tax purchase and, altho a little slow, emigration and security checks went smoothly. Airside has plenty of shops and eating places and the departure gates are comfortable enough. Signage is good and flight info is easily accessible. No complaints about AKL from me.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Antony Skipper

10 February 2006

Arriving is AKL is still a bit of a mess: there are two customs points to choose from, if one is a NZ or Australian citizen, but the obvious one (the first one that appears, a dedicated customs point for ANZACs) is often much busier and slower than going on to the second option (for non-ANZACs). Unfortunately, one cannot tell how busy the main customs area is from the NZ/Aust customs area. It is a game of two-up. Departure area is now separated from arrival. Very nice new structure, but not too many eating/drinking options if you have a long time to wait for the plane. Better instead to spend a little longer in the main terminal where there are quite a variety of options.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Steve Horne

21 November 2005

Flew into AKL from SFO. Almost 1hr 15 mins to get thru immigration and bag inspection. Flying out, ANZ business check in very efficient but complete chaos at gate/security to get on aircraft. Unfortunately AKL airport has gone from being one of the best in the world to extremely average. Its a shame as this is the gateway to NZ and it just starts the experience off in a mediocre way. New ANZ business class is great finally.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Wayne Goodin

29 June 2005

We arrived at the Auckland on an Air New Zealand flight from London with my 91 year old disabled mother (last trip home etc) and had to transfer to a Domestic flight to Wellington. The requested wheel chair was waiting but then the fun and games began. Through no fault of ours we were told that there was not enough time for our luggage to be transferred by the Airport to the domestic flight and that we would have to take it to the domestic terminal ourself.(Which most probably meant that the luggage was at the Domestic terminal a lot later). We were then told by the lass with the wheelchair that she could only take us as far as the transfer bus and then she had to take the wheelchair back. We were left with 4 suitcases, hand luggage, 1 elderly infirm woman and two capable but tired adults to get to the domestic terminal. We literally had to lift my mother up the stairs of the bus - thank heavens for the assistance of the bus driver. Auckland, you take the prize for the worst Airport in assisting the elderly and infirm. Does New Zealand not have any laws about the disabled?

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Andrew Mortimer

6 June 2005

The airport is finally getting its act together and overlooking the building work, which is for a greater goal anyway, travelling through Auckland has certainly improved exponentially since my last post just over a year ago. Glad to see it wasn't possible to buy your way through quick clearance. Should be more food and beverage facilities airside but overall Auckland is becoming more like the gateway it claims to be. There is talk of getting the fees put on tickets, but as can be the case in New Zealand, it may remain just that.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by T Waugh

11 May 2005

Auckland International Airport serves a country of four million people. So - yes - if three 747's arrive at once, complete pandemonium results. Yes - the agricultural inspection - vitally necessary for New Zealand's economy - is a pain. And the buses between the international and domestic terminals - it is like waiting for Christmas. There are plenty of trolleys; you put the bags in, turn right out of the international terminal and follow the blue line on the footpath. It gives you a look at the working side of the airport, and does not take long - ten minutes maybe? True - it rains an awful lot in Auckland, but the showers pass quickly. The domestic terminal is ok - no great shakes, one cafe and one bookshop. But there is an observation deck with a great view of the runway, and there is usually something arriving and departing to have a look at. And if it's raining? Buy a book or a magazine and sit down and wait. And yes, you walk an awful lot if you are taking an Air New Zealand Link turboprop flight out of Auckland - I think it's cute personally. Nice and casual. I will agree however, that it is great arrivals and departures are finally going to be separated! I think people complain too much. If we can't walk straight out of the aeroplane and through the terminal in an hour at the very most a lot of people complain. You just have to deal with it - it's part of the travel experience. There's a lot of nasty comments on here about Auckland International Airport - this is not Europe or America, but a small country on the ends of the earth; things don't happen as fast here as over there - and maybe New Zealanders like it that way.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Shaun Ryan

11 May 2005

I live in Auckland and have flown out of AIA many many times. Even as a resident I think it's a embarassment that the public transport is poor. Avoid the domestic terminal at all costs - if you are transferring onto a domestic flight wait until the last possible moment to move (take the walkway, on a good day it's a pleasant and easy 10 minute walk) or the free bus. AIA is finally building another level to separate arrivals & departures and modifying the pier to cater for the double-decker A380 which Singapore Airlines will fly in Auckland. Good points though - immigration / customs can be a breeze depending on your arrival time, duty free shopping is good, with a decent selection of airside shops, it's clean, and well signposted.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by E Wilkins

28 April 2005

Having travelled the world a few times over the last few years Auckland International Airport is on a par to some small european airport of it's size. By no means is the food outlets up to scratch on airside when having your flight delayed for almost 6 hours during a lunchtime period, but the immigration check in and arrivals hall is far better compared to LAX where you are expected to collect your bags when transiting onto London on flight NZ2 within a 2 hour period!

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Tin Hung

22 April 2005

Although I did not experience any queue when I bought the $25 departure fee, I do think putting the $25 into the air fare altogether makes life much easier. I first flew domestic from Christchurch and then internationally out of Auckland. In Christchurch, I have already got the boarding pass for the departure flight from Auckland. So, when I arrived at Auckland domestic terminal, I could easily bought the departure tax with no queue at all.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Norman Lee

21 April 2005

I think it's crazy for them to make you queue at the bank counters for the $25 airport tax sticker, and then at the immigration counter, all that happens is it goes through a barcode scanner. My goodness, can't they sort it out at the check in counter?! And I can imagine that it is frustrating for passengers to be stuck in the immigration queue and hear announcements like "Passengers for Flight xxx please complete immigration formalities immediately". It's a disgrace for them to have only one bus service to Auckland city geared for tourists, and the public bus service runs once an hour. Do they expect everyone to drive after a long haul flight?

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Michael Smolders

6 April 2005

In and out of customs/immigration at Auckland in about 10 minutes. Very efficient passport processing. The queue doesn't stop moving which is great. Shops and cafes OK. But when the cafe in the departures area (after immigration checks) ran out of bottled water, I had to wander through quite a few shops to find anyone else that stock water. Good size airport and good to see that some areas seem to be getting an upgrade.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Jonathan Perratt

5 April 2005

Apart from what can be quite a trek from gate to immigration, I have never had any real problems until arriving in the baggage hall which is here the fun starts. Last time, we waited over 30 minutes for our bags which, together with a rather long wait at customs/agricultural inspection, meant we missed the cut-off time for domestic check-in in the arrivals hall fr our connection to Wellington. So, hang around at the inter-terminal bus stop and then pile on with 3 heavy suitcases and 2 small kids for the short trip to the domestic terminal. After all that, we definitely missed our flight and had to wait nearly 2 hours for the next one (and there really is nothing to do whilst waiting in the domestic terminal!). I have got to say this is far from impressive as NZ's international gateway! All along, the staff were friendly but really could not help much. Leaving we had longish queues at check-in and immigration, but I think this is down to building work to increase capacity so I look forward to seeing how it flows when the work is completed.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Shannon Black

26 March 2005

E-mail!! Great cup of tea on arrival, friendly staff and excellent Japanese restaurant. But for such a great airport, where is the e-mail centre? I'm in the Bangkok e-mail centre right now and it's busy. Sydney has a free service from Samsung, but Auckland has $2 dollar computers that look like video games and very difficult to use. I met the guy who owned them four months ago and told him, there's money to be made with a good service. Please Auckland airport, a quality e-mail service in the next six months.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Ivan Matthews

22 March 2005

I have travelled in and out of Auckland airport quite a few times over the last few years, the last time was January 2005. It is a calm and serene paradise of efficiency and comfort. The staff have always been friendly and helpful. Sure it is not large (nor does it need to be – there aren’t that many gates) but offers a reasonable amount to do and I have never found the queuing there overly taxing. I can only suggest that many of the complaints about this airport must come from people who are used to travelling in Europe on a European passport. The longest I had to wait was 30 minutes at check in – compare that with 3 hours the last time I was at Heathrow, or 2 hours in a long line of impatient and pushy people at Frankfurt immigration. The extra agricultural check at Auckland is a bit of a pain but it is for good reason so you just have to deal with it.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Mark Stevens

14 March 2005

Looks like the Auckland experience is purely down to timing. I arrived at 11.30am from Singapore - no queues, quick baggage delivery, out of the door in 15 minutes. Departure was equally good - check in and immigration cleared in 20 minutes. The air side facilities are OK without being wonderful, but overall I had a good experience at the airport. The $25 departutre tax is a pain, though.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Alan Chick

28 February 2005

Found arriving at the International terminal a very good experience, from the plane through immigration and outside in 15 minutes. The domestic terminal on the other hand is a depressing place and a 15 minute walk through back areas of the airport. Hopefully once the building works are complete the international gates will be big enough to hold a 747 load of passengers.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Paddy Ward

7 February 2005

Just had a look on the AKL website and am very impressed to note that major renovations are taking place. They're finally building a second level - the departures and arrivals areas are being expanded - buses and shuttles and taxis appear to have somewhere to park at check-in with a canopy for rainy days - a new pier is being constructed. I am glad to see that AKL is at last being brought into the 21st century.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Kent Broadhead

25 January 2005

Arrived and departed Auckland during the last week. Arrival a friendly experience, with almost no queuing (being an Aussie helped, although Kiwis are probably even better off!). Departure was dreadful - 3 Emirates departures within 90 mins really stretched the system and you could hardly move in the departures hall through the combination of passengers and well wishers. Limited airside facilities would be bearable if they incorporated/scrapped the departure fee). I left my wife and son in the check-in queue to go and purchase, and nowhere did I see clear signage re. requirements and the need for an exempt sticker - hence tracking back from immigration and queuing once more to get said exempt sticker. Customs staffer indicated that the archaic system remains due to a dispute between the government and the airport operators re. who should pay for collection admin. if it was incorporated in ticket prices.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Lawrence Wong

8 January 2005

I think the efficiency of the airport is quite reasonable after the completion of the airside project. Once I landed from KLIA and it took me one hour to to complete immigration process, claim my baggage and go through bio-security measures. Leaving New Zealand was quick going through Immigration.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by E Harford

5 January 2005

Efficiency aside, to compare an airport housed in a city of a mere million to that of LAX or Heathrow is, frankly ridiculous. It is small, but should the aiport be 'supersized' Texan style because we are all so 'above' waiting in the odd queue? Are we so thin skinned now we cannot even do that? I have waited in worse queues, got lost, been confused in other state of the art airports, I think as travellers we are all getting abit precious and need to harden up.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Matthew Eden

29 December 2004

Arrived at AKL on NZ1 from Heathrow - efficient enough baggage reclaim, immigration staff friendly. Not sure arrivals lounge is large enough to cope with people meeting a 747 load of pax. On return leg got singled out for a personal security check even before joining check in queue. Officer was grumpy and refused point blank in helping lift luggage up onto desk. Definite lack of food options, but souvenir shops were good.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by David Bradley

8 December 2004

My wife and I passed through Auckland airport twice in Nov 04 as a transfer point between Sydney and Tahiti. We used 8 different airports during our 3 week trip including LAX. Auckland was the only airport where we had a really negative experience. On the outward leg we had a 2 hour stopover at Auckland airport. Our major gripe was the lack of food options given that it was lunch. We didn't want a feast but there were only two options. Both cafe type shops had very limited choices. On the return leg (LAX to Tahiti to Auck to Syd) we were transferring from Air Tahiti to a Qantas flight. The line at the transfer desk was long and we had limited time to make the transfer. We did not see one official in half an hour of running around trying to get info. We needed boarding passes and to make sure our luggage was checked through to Sydney. We eventually had to push in at the transfer desk to get some info. We made it to the Qantas gate (thru a separate security checkpoint) and the helpful people there reopened the flight (closed minutes before) to get us and our luggage onboard. It was as if the Air NZ staff in the airport couldn't give a stuff about customers of any other airline. We will avoid Auckland in future.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Nicholas Breust

11 October 2004

I arrived at Auckland at 5:45 PM local time, had cleared customs, collected my luggage, had it x- rayed and was in the arrivals seating area by 6:10 PM. Couldn't have been a smoother start to my first visit to NZ! Although the domestic 'terminal' (shack) leaves a lot to be desired. The plentiful e-check terminals are a plus though.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Andrew Owens

17 September 2004

I'm surprised by the number of negative comments. I arrived from Perth on 20 Jul, arriving at 5:50am, the immigration queue was about 30 minutes or so - about the same as Honolulu and Heathrow at similar arrival times later in my journey - and the staff, of whom there were a number, were all friendly. The Airbus went without a hitch and I used it to get back to the airport on 24 Jul. The queue (at about 10am) was about 45 minutes, then my flight was delayed for about 4 hours so I spent some time in the airport. It honestly is not a bad airport - although I agree the $25 tax is a pain. No complaints about the need for it but I don't see why it can't be included in the ticket.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Tim Westnutt

23 July 2004

2 hours to get to the immigration desk, followed by another hour to get the bags and shuffle through customs and the agricultural examination. This followed by a 15 minute walk to the domestic terminal after waiting 20 minutes for a non-existent transfer bus. All this after a 10 hour flight from HKG arriving at 1330 local. I was travelling to Wellington and would recommend the best way to do this in future is to fly to Brisbane and then to Wellington direct. Bypassing AKL altogether. departure was a little better apart from haveing to queue up at the bank to pay the departure tax after check in. I was travelling Business class to HKG thankfully thereby avoiding the long queue's at the economy check in. Again I had to walk between the domestic and international terminals doe to no buses. In a country of only 6 million people I think most of them were at AKL airport when I arrived! Not at all a pleasant experience.

Auckland Int'l Airport review by Paddy Ward

22 June 2004

I have to agree with many of the comments posted here. What I don't understand is, that if WLG (Wellington?) CHC and even I think ZQN can be fitted up and be "with it" why is it that Auckland is so far behind? One can only hope and pray that this sorry state of affairs will change and AKL will turn from a "Mini-Heathrow" into at least a "Mini-Chep Lap Kok".

IMPORTANT NOTE

Comments and opinions contained in these pages do not represent the views of Skytrax. All features contain unsolicited input from site visitors, and we seek to exercise the minimum level of editorial control and censorship to ensure the widest debate and platform for customer opinions. We will not publish submissions that contain abusive language. We cannot guarantee to publish all opinions submitted.

ADD YOUR COMMENTS HERE

  These Review pages are designed to offer guidance and assistance to other travellers, and we ask respondents to use an "informative" style of comment and share any travel tips for the airport in question.

  Your First Name (or initial) and Family Name, and E-mail address MUST be supplied.

  When submitting comments, please DO NOT insert paragraphs.

  Please check you use Upper and Lower case only - submissions made all in CAPITALS will NOT be accepted.

  Comment submissions that require extensive text editing CANNOT be published.