Auckland Airport

I have been travelling to New Zealand for almost 35 years now but in the past 10 years trying to get through Customs has been horrendous the last time I was unfortunate enough to use it it took me 2 hours after getting through passport control to get through the immigration/customs I just could not believe the queue when I arrived it was snaking around the luggage pick up hall. There are usually queues but this beat them all and there shouldn't be any excuses about the Aussie fruit fly slowing things down. Our plane was sprayed as soon as it touched down it took no more then 10 minutes. What I have always noticed is there are never enough immigration/ customs officers working.

It is a bit confusing from International to Domestic but do-able. Everyone at this airport looks as if they trying their best to make it a good experience and do what is in their power to help. Entering the country is complicated because they have to protect their very precious environment from other countries virus and so on. I respect that - after all they have a lot to lose as NZ is a unique environment and we are not flying between US states so this has to be considered. They do the right thing to protect their environment and it is worth the wait to know they are protecting their country.

Worst Airport arrival procedures in 30 years of flying. It took 100 minutes to clear customs and immigration on December 1st 2014. Unbelievably inefficient procedures with half the immigration booths unmanned. One long line for immigration then another separate long line for customs followed by yet a third line for X-Ray scanning of the incoming bags. No official could explain the purpose of the third step. Many of my fellow passengers missed their connecting flights as a result of these unbelievable series of procedures. Avoid Auckland airport for entering New Zealand.

It seems on the surface to have quite a few shops both before going through immigration and after. But on closer inspection they are pretty much the same shops repeated over and over. There are definitely a lot of food options but in my opinion the better range of options is before going through immigration. I had the opportunity to have to spend far too much time at the airport when travelling to Fiji and you really notice things. It is fine if you only have an hour or two to kill but if because you have to wait for ages because you live outside of Auckland you have 5 or 6 hours to kill not so great. The lesson learned try no to be at the airport any longer than you have to.

I just read a damning review on Auckland airport comparing it to LA. I've only been in LA for transfer and it was a few years ago but I have said never again. It is small enough to find your way around and big enough to have everything you need. Auckland airport greets you on arrival with beautiful Maori music as you walk through a huge carved entrance-way. The corridors are lined with lovely photos of NZ life. Sure you enter though duty-free but it's easy to ignore. The airport is spotless. The best bit though is the friendly staff even at immigration. I am sure that Singapore and Bangkok are bigger and better but for a medium sized airport the only fault that I can find is the lack of wi-fi.

I have travelled quite extensively. The Air NZ check in at Mangere is probably the worst I have experienced! There was no procedure - suitcases trolleys people nobody knew where to queue elderly people had no clue on how to get their boarding pass and 4 assistants to help the masses. This area definitely needs looking at. Bring back the old way!

Arrived from Honolulu at 7.10am on 2nd March to find the immigration line very long. I was in the NZ passport/resident line. Even though the line was long there was only One immigration officer on duty unbelievable. I have never experienced this at AKL in the past always very efficient. As it happened I missed my connection flight.

By far the best airport in the region. Check in area was great and did not look dated (International Terminal). Upstairs there was a lot of options in the food court and duty free. In the customs/immigration the backlog was cleared super-fast and into the departures area which looked stunning. To the far end you could see planes take off and land and slightly to the left after immigration is a entire aisle of duty free. Forex trading were everywhere. Easy to find a seat and my gate (gate 2) was just around the corner. If you walk a little further there was a gate where you can call (NZ only) back to your home for free. No doubt I'd be happy to use this airport again.

So impressed with how fast from gate to out of the airport. Friendly customs staff bags always available quickly.

Overall Auckland airport is quite compact and convenient. Smoking area in the international terminal is a big plus though it is closed from 9pm till about 5 am. The toilets are generally clean but scarce. The biggest downside however is that the airport has recently changed the world wide accepted policy of providing free airport shuttle to nearby airport hotels and now charges 6$ per person for the shuttles that come once in half an hour. So even if you are staying at Ibis hotel which is about 10 minutes walk from the terminal but can't walk because you have bags or its raining you need to pay 6$ per person to get to the already overpriced hotel. A taxi will charge you 20$ for the 2-3 minutes ride. I am not sure whether the latter is resulting from airport policy but I find this to be a total rip off.