I've got a premium cabin SQ award ticket that I need to add another segment to for an intra New Zealand flight. According to EF, minimum connecting time for international to domestic flights is approximately 90 min. If I book a revenue ticket which is scheduled to depart under this time, would they re-accommodate me should we miss the flight? The subsequent flight leaves a couple hours later on the same carrier, route so I was hoping the answer would be yes following an intinerary with built-in stopovers which is going to take close to 50 hrs all in. I'm hoping I'll be the first off the plane and get some sort of priority customs clearance in AKL. Any insight would be most appreciated! TIA!
AKL connection?
- Thread starter gasman
- Start date
AKL, while it could be better, is a decent enough airport for international to domestic New Zealand. However, you state that the carriers are the same, so I assume you are flying Air New Zealand when arriving AKL? Or are you arriving on SQ? (This is how I read your post.) SQ does not operate domestic flights within New Zealand.
At any rate, any airline involved will not protect you if you miss the separate revenue ticket, whether more or less than MCT. The international and domestic terminals at AKL are not together, and require either a shuttle bus transfer that runs 3-4 times an hour, or a 15 minute outdoor walk. So, if you do book a shorter connection, still allow 60 minutes. If everything goes PERFECTLY and you aren't checking baggage, you'll get to the domestic gate in about 40 minutes. 60 minutes is theoretically workable without checked baggage if you can get your domestic boarding pass in advance and your incoming flight is not late, but there is a reason the MCT is 90 minutes, trust me. I've been through AKL airport I think four separate times at this point, I know it relatively well, and I've got two more passes through next month. The airline might put you on the next flight of the day, but sometimes some destinations (Dunedin/DUD among others) are only once daily out of AKL, Queenstown/ZQN services are daylight only, and many of the smaller towns are also not frequent. Only Wellington/WLG and Christchurch/CHC and a couple of other places are frequently served out of AKL.
At any rate, any airline involved will not protect you if you miss the separate revenue ticket, whether more or less than MCT. The international and domestic terminals at AKL are not together, and require either a shuttle bus transfer that runs 3-4 times an hour, or a 15 minute outdoor walk. So, if you do book a shorter connection, still allow 60 minutes. If everything goes PERFECTLY and you aren't checking baggage, you'll get to the domestic gate in about 40 minutes. 60 minutes is theoretically workable without checked baggage if you can get your domestic boarding pass in advance and your incoming flight is not late, but there is a reason the MCT is 90 minutes, trust me. I've been through AKL airport I think four separate times at this point, I know it relatively well, and I've got two more passes through next month. The airline might put you on the next flight of the day, but sometimes some destinations (Dunedin/DUD among others) are only once daily out of AKL, Queenstown/ZQN services are daylight only, and many of the smaller towns are also not frequent. Only Wellington/WLG and Christchurch/CHC and a couple of other places are frequently served out of AKL.
Like @TheBOSman, I have been through AKL many times (indeed I lived in NZ for a few months at one point in my life). I agree with his estimation of how things would likely play out. If you are connecting in country you are switching both airlines and terminals and it could get tricky. I would not make some of the assumptions the OP made. I would always operate out of worst case scenario, not the other way around. If you were flying Air New Zealand all the way you might be fine, but because you will have two different record locators, that may or may not be able to be connected, don't put yourself in an unnecessarily difficult situation. People are unbelievably friendly and helpful in NZ but things are pretty chill and your need to rush may or may not convince someone to pull strings for you if it falls apart.