Auckland Airport

Not Verified | The queues to get through MPI were huge. People were crying or angry because they were going to miss / had already missed their connecting flights. When they tried to point this out, their concerns were ignored. I personally witnessed the MPI officer not even bother to answer them. While I understand the need for Biosecurity, there has to be a better way. It makes the arrival process in Auckland an absolute laughing stock. I was ashamed to witness the distress of international travellers arriving in NZ. Of course, most would have been travelling for many hours and arrive exhausted. I had travelled from UK. With flight delays and missed connections, I had been travelling for 36 hours.

✅ Trip Verified | I found the airport to be one of the poorest i have travelled through. It was a Christchurch to Sydney flight Requiring passengers to exit and change terminals in transit is not that uncommon. Claiming baggage from domestic was not a problem. Having to wait in the rain (an external waiting area) for an infrequent bus is not a good look for Auckland. It was also poorly signposted and quite a walk for less abled passengers. the real issue came at the International Airport. Check-in was fine, as was baggage drop-off (be it luggage had to be manually transferred, again not easy for less able passengers). The queues inside were very long for both passport control (this is supposed to be automated. The queue was at least 200-300 passengers long for the automated scanners. Not all scanners were operating. There was one staff member for this line. There were also three off manual counters (that I saw only 1 family use while in queue). What is the logic to this? After passport control there was a second long queue and another long wait for cabin luggage scanning. Again, several scanners were operating but there were still scanner machines that were not operating. I cannot understand why the queue wait was over 1 hour. I then personally had a couple of sentimental items taken (from my father's recent funeral). There was no opportunity to discuss why these were being taken as by the time we got to the air side of the scanner, we needed to literally run (9-minute walk) to catch our plane or fear missing the flight. We went directly from Domestic to International and needed every minute of the 1-hour 50min we had to catch the flight. Most of the time spent queuing. I'm very upset at losing the sentimental items and had no time or recourse to find out why. They are gone forever and I and devastated. My family and I, have between ourselves travelled to 15 different international airports over the past few months (Asia, Europe and Africa) and have not experienced anything like what happened in Auckland. Substandard.

✅ Trip Verified | This was my first trip in 4 years. My experience of Airport staff made me never want to travel again. The staff treat you like they are running a military camp. We are the customers off on a holiday, but this is sullied by rude and arrogant staff. At the e gate an airport staff member stepped in to help me as the gate was not operating correctly. Her manner was terse and rube. I felt like I was a child being told off. These people need training in how to speak pleasantly. It's not their job to treat people rudely. Next time I will refuse help and figure it out myself in order to protect myself from this poor treatment. The second thing that occurred was extremely upsetting. At the security scanning the print on my t-shirt was picked up in the scanner. I was directed to be patted down by a female. I understand the reasons for security. For very personal reasons I shared with them why I was not comfortable with this procedure. The scorn, contempt and lack of kindness exhibited by these two female staff was atrocious. This only served to have the situation escalate into a terrible confrontation. Had they shown concern for my welfare and some kindness it would have been a different outcome. Clearly they had no skills to handle this situation. The need for security does not mean passengers are to be spoken to angrily and intimidated. As a female being expected to consent to another female touching me who is displaying aggressive body language (arms crossed, rolling her eyes, smirking, sighing) made this a horrific situation where I felt vulnerable and unsafe. Conversely the Wellington Airport staff handled the situation professionally and with care. They didn't get aggressive and demanding. The spoke kindly. The manager had the other staff member demonstrate on her what they would do and that really helped. Auckland Terminal is again being rebuilt - shambles with the food court all but closed. An embarrassment for New Zealand. For many travellers the security changes have made travelling traumatic. The TSA in the US has addressed this with a card for travellers to provide to inform staff of PTSD. Perhaps Auckland Airport could show some kindness to their travellers. It's free.

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.