Air New Zealand Air Points - Baggage questions

I'm planning to fly the following within a couple of months on one ticket.

outbound
SYD-AKL (overnight)
AKL-ZQN (next day but less than 24 hours after arrival and is fared as a connection)

return
ZQN-AKL-SYD

What's the checked baggage allowance (both piece and weight) for economy? I'm a *G. Do I get an additional 20KG to the weight allowance? The Air NZ website is currently down.

Is it correct to assume that the SYD agent will check my bags to ZQN but I can keep my bags overnight with me since I have to claim my bags for customs at AKL?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by seawolf:
What's the checked baggage allowance (both piece and weight) for economy? I'm a *G. Do I get an additional 20KG to the weight allowance? The Air NZ website is currently down.</font>

When the Air NZ .nz website is up, the limits are described at:

http://www.airnz.co.nz/travel/attheairport/statpage.jsp?pid=6002

The international limits apply to any domestic flights within New Zealand when you are connecting with an international Air New Zealand flight.

Btw, there are multiple versions of the Air NZ website for various countries and areas. Sometimes if you have trouble accessing something on the airnz.co.nz site you can still find the same info on the airnz.com.au, airnz.com or other versions of the site.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">but I can keep my bags overnight with me since I have to claim my bags for customs at AKL?</font>

You definitely can keep your bags in AKL since no one from Air NZ is going to come wrest them from your control there. [Customs and the MAF might be a different story] And if you keep your bags overnight, you'll need to hand them back to NZ at the AKL domestic terminal no matter if they have already have a tag for AKL-ZQN or not.


[This message has been edited by Quokka (edited 04-13-2002).]

The rules for NZ elites state that Golds get the C allowance (an extra 10 kg) and Gold Elites get the F allowance (an extra 20 kg) when travelling internationally. This is not exactly in line with the benefits listed on the Star site, which suggest that all *Gs should get an extra 20kg. Anyhoo, you should be good to go. If in doubt, print this & take it with ya: http://www.star-alliance.com/isroot/SA/htmen/benef_gold.htm

I'm assuming your bags will initially be checked to AKL since, as you say, you'll need them with you for Customs. Also, your flight to ZQN will depart from the domestic terminal & hence you'll need to check them there the next day. Don't quote me on any of that, tho http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Enjoy NZ! Queenstown's a lot of fun, if a bit touristy these days.

justakiwi


[This message has been edited by justakiwi (edited 04-13-2002).]

Thanks for your help. The site is back up now. Actually, both the US and NZ versions of the site were down...chances are that they run all versions of the site on the same machine.

But here's a question for all those in NZ. Is visiting the Franz Josef/Fox glaciers feasible in July/August? I figure I have the appropriate apparel since I am planning to do some skiing. Thanks.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by justakiwi:
I'm assuming your bags will initially be checked to AKL since, as you say, you'll need them with you for Customs.</font>

Obviously the bags will be tagged to AKL -- the question was whether the bag tags would also include the AKL-ZQN flight.

But whether Air NZ at SYD tags the domestic connection or not, if the bags are kept overnight, they'll need to be handed to the folks at the AKL domestic terminal. And since he's a *G, the wait in line to do so should be short and painless.

If you're really worried about baggage weight allowances, coach pax to/from North America have an allowance up to 64 kilos. [Two pieces of checked baggage, neither which may exceed 32 kg]

Officially only pax on NZ flights that are connecting to NZ international flights to/from North America get that allowance domestically, but in reality if you can show you hold an international ticket involving LAX or HNL you'll likely get that allowance for as long as you're flying around NZ. I've noticed some NZ domestic checkin agents won't even bother to ask or comment about heavy baggage when they hear an American accent. And that's right after they hassled some poor Kiwi for packing 5kg too much over their lower limit.

btw, I'll admit to knowing a former South Island resident who bought refundable AKL-HNL tickets so he and his family could take advantage of this and lug more weight when they moved from DUD to AKL http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif


[This message has been edited by Quokka (edited 04-13-2002).]

Any other insights on this?

I'm travelling with my ski gear and my
checked baggage weights approx. 39kg.

Econ is 20kg. Star Gold is supposely plus 20 kg. Thanks.

The baggage allowance given on the website (J for *G, P for GE) was changed a few months ago - I guess they just forgot to update the website. All *G's now get 20 kgs extra baggage (if weight allowance applies, as it does for you), or 1 extra bag if the piece allowance applies. Your 39kgs will be fine http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Cheers Zac