Auckland Airport

Not Verified | After 24 hours returning home the taxi/shuttle situation was a great disappointment. First approach to the taxi rank enquiring ride to Sudima initially received a couldn't be bothered, "catch the shuttle" response. Pressing for a price the taxi driver then asked, "How much are you prepared to pay", which got him a "Leave it out mate" response from me because it came across as a dodgy attempt to gouge. Pressing further I was given $35 as the price, which I later verified elsewhere as correct. I would have paid the price but unfortunately I was by then under the impression that Airport taxi drivers are dodgy, so off we went in search of the shuttle bus. There are huge blue signs announcing buses for carpark shuttles but no obvious signage for the hotel shuttles. We eventually confirmed we were in the right place, the shuttle arrived. Lo and behold we, and several others had to get back off the bus to pay in the machines cunningly hidden in a corner. Some signs to indicate taxi tariffs, some signs to indicate shuttle bus locations and payment requirements would be an easy fix and put our main Airport on an international footing. Do not have an e boarding pass to upload, we returned Air N Z flight NZ281, arriving around 22:00, 1 Sept.you for your attention. P.S. The compulsory question,"would you recommend this airport" is fatuous

Not Verified | I flew in today after three years away, thanks covid-19, and sadly my arrival experience on the whole was woeful! Immediately you get off the plane is nice and the walk past duty free and the first customs point isn't bad, although what's up with the hawker style of yelling at us that it's the last duty free chance? It's our only duty free chance? And sadly those are the only highlights. As soon as you descend the remaining single and narrow escalator, elevator, stairs choke point so begins the nightmare, starting with baggage claim. The carousels are oddly spaced with signage sticking out, the flight information scrolls so if you miss the initial tiny display that is mounted on the floor you have to wait to check you're at the right luggage carousel, the baggage is very slow to arrive and then the kicker, what the hell is up with the lines to customs?!? The lines are widely spaced with no guidance to reach the hideous customs booths, some of which are unattended? Staff started to arrive after we had and still the delay was awful. Depending on how switched on the customs person is, is whether you stand there for 15 or 25 more minutes. There were three and sometimes four staff standing at each ugly booth, mostly talking to each other and not even the traveller, while two stations were unattended! Also, whats up with the stacked up cardboxes boxes of, I'm assuming, rats? Are you an airport or a warehouse? I was embarrassed to arrive home to this chaos. If you want to call yourself an international airport do better. That portion was so slow that the actual baggage scan was empty and so completed quickly and we're finally free!! Not good enough Auckland International Customs Arrivals, not good enough by a long shot. I understand training and upgrades but the customer service is terrible! We're known the world over for our friendly demeanour but the customs area debacle soured the entire airport experience for me, and I'm a seasoned traveller. Please please please lift your game and put our best foot forward to introduce travellers to Godzone Aotearoa.

Not Verified | Hideous experience at Auckland Airport, and not for the first time. Having travelled for two days from the UK, I got off my flight, and the board said my luggage would be on carousel 2. Stood there for five minutes, then they announced it would be on carousel 5. Stood there for thirty odd minutes, no luggage. Went to the lost luggage area, where there was piles of suitcases. Two staff working, one who was in training and couldn’t help me. The second staff member confirmed my luggage hadn’t arrived and was still in Dubai. Would be nice if they could call you over the tannoy to let customers know their luggage won’t be arriving, rather than let you wait for over half an hour. Was told it would arrive the following day (Monday), but they wouldn’t be able to deliver it for two to three days due to staffing levels. I then had to join the queue from hell for bio security. I asked if there was a shortcut, as I had no luggage, and was advised no. So after thirty hours of flying it took me a further two and half hours to get out of the airport. Dreadful, dreadful customer experience. It’s now Wednesday evening, and one of my two suitcases has just been delivered. Goodness knows where the other one is, you can’t call the lost luggage line, it just rings and then it says you can’t leave a message and hangs up. Great! Would love to say it was Covid that was causing the issues, but I’ve spent hours in the bio security queue before, and had to stand at the carousel, when my luggage had been left in another country, and was never going to arrive.

✅ Trip Verified | I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mychael and Kyla for providing me support at the airport when I missed my flight. They went above and beyond their duty to help me book my next flight. Great job! Thank you

✅ Trip Verified | Very different in experience to what I remembered it to be. Yes, COVID has hit it hard, and perhaps that's why it's no longer family friendly, or easy for families to say farewell to loved ones. Horrible wifi (very weak) and most of the shops are closed, I hated my experience and if it wasn't for my family in Auckland - I'd be in no hurry to go back. Very disappointed and just sad to see it's current state.

✅ Trip Verified | Horrible security system that broke down before the supposed 08.55h flight to Rarotonga on 15 May 2022. This caused undue delays to passengers (who might have connecting flights thereafter) due to a fault which is not theirs. Furthermore, why is it that we are waiting for latecomers (with reasons that are due to their negligence) anyways? It only goes to show that latecomers get away scot-free and might encourage people to be late since the whole world have to wait for them to board. The responsibility should be on the passengers to be on time. We should simply respect the value of time. Of course, if the reason for being late is due to a reason that is not the passenger's fault, then it is understandable to wait for them.

Not Verified | Airport must have known flights were full but totally inadequate staffing. Lines long and slow. Suspect many flights will be delayed by the ineptitude of Auckland Airport.

Not Verified | Auckland Airport has reduced markedly post Covid. They seem to have forgotten how to run an airport. For a morning flight, and a busy morning, security and immigration took over 30 minutes to clear, only two security desks open, no express lane, staff were rude, and every single bag was being secondary scanned - bags which had been through multiple other airports, including International, were stopped causing huge delays. In addition, nothing is open, not even for a take out coffee, and even little things like duty free pick up are barely attended. Hardly a nice experience.

✅ Trip Verified | AKL-MEL & return. The communication and organization of the airport needs serious work. Standards dropped immensely this year - worse than peak of the months of COVID-affected crisis. International travel is recovering and yet the staff numbers/standards are poor...not a good way to welcome visitors into such a great country. Upon arrival for check-in in the morning, there were no signs/updates in websites that say the security processing was to be open at 6.50am instead of 5.15am etc.. when most got to airport for their very early flights. As a result hordes of people could only gather outside surrounded by not a single open shop. The inefficiency continued when customs/security machines were broken when we went to them! Therefore the time it took to go through that whole area was dismal. Not as shocking as the arrivals experience. Nightmare. Worse than other "third-world" country airports in some ways. The flight was delayed, then customs saw mingling of non-quarantine and quarantine-required passengers! Having several flights land in the same hour - terrible planning. The biggest shock was the queuing time for the biosecurity inspection of baggages. One booth/person for one queue of people stretching 200m. One lady literally nearly fainted & had to sit down against wall.

✅ Trip Verified | While refreshment facilities are curtailed there are only the vending machines. These only serve by cashless means. You have to have some kind of card. Be aware and get the card in advance or you will go hungry. Each passenger received a complimentary snacks parcel but this is not enough for my 22hrs transit. Stay safe folks.