Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - 1-K flying coach out of CHC--Line?

Will be flying coach out of CHC on ANZ (unless first opens up, on award ticket). 1-K with UA. Do we have to check in general, or can we use a priority line as 1-k? (flight to SYD, then 1st class on UA back to USA).

Flight out is 7am, how much time should we allow for luggage, check-in etc?

Thank you.

You can use the combined business class / Koru Club / Star gold line. I usually find check-in on AirNZ pretty quick and painless. For a 7:00am departure I'd aim to be at the airport by about 5:30-5:45am - one thing that can swallow up a bit of extra time is having to pay your departure tax. Ask at the AirNZ business class counter whether you can pay your tax there - I *think* you can but don't count on it.

Incidentally, even when flying NZ domestic (which is all one class these days) there is always a priority line (unless you're at the real one horse town airports) which as a Star Gold you can use, even though the Star Gold logo may not be prominent. (Basically if it says Koru Club, you can use it.) There are some great NZ domestic lounges too. Unfortunately the international lounge at CHC is one of my least favourite, being small and a bit dated, but it does the job. Reasonable food spread too - be sure to grab something to eat there because the catering in coach across the Tasman is pretty minimal these days.

Thanks for the answers plus!

be sure to grab something to eat there because the catering in coach across the Tasman is pretty minimal these days.
That's funny because CHC-SYD on NZ was the first time in years I received a hot meal in coach on a ~3 hour flight.

Then I flew CNS-SYD on QF and also received a hot meal in coach!

Weird stuff... then again, my meal expectations in coach have been sufficiently reduced by plenty of domestic UA flights, so the lamb offered across the Tasman seemed like a feast. :)

ranles, I'll be curious to see if you have any luck getting up to the front of the bus on CHC-SYD. Are you on an A320? Like you, I was booked on an award ticket (XC though, not XF) and even though there were empty seats in business available on that flight, NZ refused to let me have one of them as no award inventory was available. Hopefully they are a bit more flexible for you.

Will be flying coach out of CHC on ANZ (unless first opens up, on award ticket.

First wont open up - only economy and business on trans-tasman flights. The A320 only has 8 business seats so if you havent been confirmed award business seat by now there isnt much hope of it opening up.

As *G you should get a reasonable economy seat though (best seats reserved for elites and if flight isnt full get blocked seat(s) beside you.

At AKL I have always been able to pay the NZ$25 departure tax at elite check-in desk - by cash or credit card. Havent flown intl out of CHC though. If they wont accept it at check-in then go to BNZ (well signposted) to pay.

even when flying NZ domestic (which is all one class these days) there is always a priority line (unless you're at the real one horse town airports).

Surely not a reference to BHE? ;)

That's funny because CHC-SYD on NZ was the first time in years I received a hot meal in coach on a ~3 hour flight.

Then I flew CNS-SYD on QF and also received a hot meal in coach!

Weird stuff... then again, my meal expectations in coach have been sufficiently reduced by plenty of domestic UA flights, so the lamb offered across the Tasman seemed like a feast. :)

You should have seen what you used to get a couple of years ago trans-Tasman! You still get hot food as you said, it's just that the quantities are very mean these days (especially to a permanently hungry person such as myself).

Surely not a reference to BHE? ;)

Blenheim has at least two horses, I'll have you know! :mad:

Blort

The 1-k desk is encourging me to continue to try...even after departure...she says this rule is often crunched for 1-k's. Will check at SAN. Will check in LAX. Will check in SYD. Not as hopeful once we are in CHC, etc dealing with ANZ, as they have nothing to gain upgrading us...except good well with UA and "airline backscratching". I normally do not give up until the door is close the plane has taken off...and a hour has passed!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ranles, I sincerely hope they come through for you. I tried the check-in agent, I tried the customer service desk, and I tried the gate agent, all to no avail (this was all at CHC). I checked every few days before my initial departure with United to see if anything was available and nothing ever opened up. Admittedly I did not check after departure, because quite frankly, I was having too good of a time in NZ to worry about sitting in business rather than coach.

I had a great time in NZ business on LAX-CHC and was somewhat disappointed that they wouldn't bend the rules ever so slightly to let me have an unoccupied seat in business on CHC-SYD, but c'est la vie.