Air New Zealand Air Points - UA then NZ flight on separate tickets, get NZ boarding pass at check in?

hi,

I have an NZ ticket NZ-SFO-NZ. For my internal United States travel I booked a separate UA ticket as NZ's multi-city booking system no longer includes my destination (Minneapolis).

When I check in at MSP coming back will it be possible to get a boarding pass for the NZ flight SFO-AKL? I have enough time between flights that I'd like to leave the airport and not worry about being back to checkin again on NZ at SFO, just go through security with my UA issued boarding pass, and then pick up my re-issued NZ boarding pass.

Would I have to perhaps call either UA or NZ and have a note about the other PNR added to my ticket? Which one should I call?

Thanks for any and all replies.

Even if UA gives you the boarding pass for the NZ flight you still will have to get the boarding pass reissued at SFO as NZs policy is that they will not let you board on another airlines boarding pass because if the other airline didnt processes your passport and stuff right NZ gets a large fine.

Thanks, yes, I know I will get the boarding pass reissued at SFO. But the UA one will let me get through security without having to go and checkin at NZ in SFO.

hi,

I have an NZ ticket NZ-SFO-NZ. For my internal United States travel I booked a separate UA ticket as NZ's multi-city booking system no longer includes my destination (Minneapolis).

When I couldn't find my home airport (RDU) in the new booking system, I called NZ and they waived the telephone booking fee. The ticket was cheaper than booking online and flying from CLT, the closest airport that is in the system, and much cheaper than buying two separate tickets.
I guess it's too late for you to try that this time, but maybe next time :)

As you are on separate tickets no way for you to get the NZ boarding pass at MSP (this would only be possible on through tickets).

A while back I flew PDX-LAX on a UA ticket and then LAX-AKL on an NZ ticket and was issued with a boarding pass by UA at PDX for the NZ sector.

I had a standby upgrade request in NZ's system and specifically asked UA not to do it but, being UA, they just ignored me and issued it anyway.

At LAX NZ offered me an upgrade on either of the LAX-AKL flights (NZ1 or NZ5) and unknown to myself I ended up with boarding passes for both flights, one for NZ1 (which UA had issued and NZ were meant to have cancelled) and one for NZ5 (which NZ had issued). :confused:

I was happily sitting in the KC waiting for NZ5 when I heard my name being paged because I hadn't boarded NZ1 :mad:

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful. Sounds like it might be possible, so I can only try. Thanks also for the tip about the telephone res fee being waived if U.S. destination is not on the NZ webpage.

cheers!

A while back I flew PDX-LAX on a UA ticket and then LAX-AKL on an NZ ticket and was issued with a boarding pass by UA at PDX for the NZ sector.

Are you sure they were on separate tickets? UA should not have had access to your record on the NZ flight unless it was on the same ticket.

Are you sure they were on separate tickets? UA should not have had access to your record on the NZ flight unless it was on the same ticket.
I've had it work as well - although only once. UA ticket YOW-ORD-LAX, NZ ticket LAX-AKL-WLG. Definitely booked as separate tickets by the TA, but linked on a single Sabre PNR. At checkin in YOW they issued all boarding passes as they could see all sectors.

I also had another Sabre itinerary recently that had QF and NZ tickets on it -- both QF agents and NZ agents could see all flights, much to their surprise.

Are you sure they were on separate tickets? UA should not have had access to your record on the NZ flight unless it was on the same ticket.

I was definitely on separate tickets but, in hindsight, the PDX-LAX sector was part of a Star Alliance Airpass which could only be issued if I flew into North America on a Star carrier. That is probably how they got linked as I had to provide my NZ ticket number to buy the Airpass.

I was definitely on separate tickets but, in hindsight, the PDX-LAX sector was part of a Star Alliance Airpass which could only be issued if I flew into North America on a Star carrier. That is probably how they got linked as I had to provide my NZ ticket number to buy the Airpass.Were they on the same PNR though?

I don't believe they were on the same PNR as I booked the NZ ticket on their web site and the Airpass was booked through a travel agent.

The TA may have put the Airpass onto the same PNR. I don't know the system well enough to know whether that is possible.

I don't believe they were on the same PNR as I booked the NZ ticket on their web site and the Airpass was booked through a travel agent.

The TA may have put the Airpass onto the same PNR. I don't know the system well enough to know whether that is possible.Okay: thought you might have noticed if the PNR code was the same or different that's all.

Too long ago, it was December 06. I had a look for the docs but they've been archived!!

Similar situation: I'm taking UA181 BOS-SFO, then NZ7 to AKL, on separate tickets but one PNR. Since I know it's possible to transit from UA domestic to the int'l terminal without exiting security (shuttle bus), where should I obtain my NZ boarding pass?

Can anyone tell me a bit about the NZ7 business class service and comfort? It's my first time :)

As someone with only a little actual experience of premium cabin travel (;)) I thoroughly enjoyed my two transpacs in "Business Premier".. I found the seat very good for sleeping.. and "OK" for sitting... the entertainment system is good.. plenty of choices OTHER than movies (which I never feel like watching) .. but you DO have to follow the advice you get about giving the system time to work!! It's response to inputs is a little slow...

It's certainly better than the similar looking seat on AC's "Xm'ed" 767's... and the AVOD is miles better.... as is the food......

Be nice if the seat had some more usable storage space....but that may be just me!

Service on NZ (I normally fly in Premium Economy) has always been good IMO... and that certainly applied to the BP flights... not as formal or perhaps even as attentive as the Asian airlines I've flown Biz on... but that may be mainly cultural? I LIKE the Kiwis "No worries.." way of doing things.... :D That's why this Aussie flys NZ instead of QF!!

I've had one trip on the 747 and one on the 777... The 747 was better.. but only because I was seated in the smaller forward cabin.. anywhere else and I'd call them equal...

I have always found the cabin a bit too warm regardless of aircraft... so I use the quilt as an extra layer under me and find the "mattress" very comfortable.. it IS pretty firm but I prefer that...... the pillows provided work fine for me...

The food is very much to my tastes... but I'm a lousy cook who just LOVES having someone else do it! YMMV on that! ;) This will show what a "big kid" I am.. but I dearly wish that the ice cream NZ serves was sold here in Oz....

Not a wine drinker so can't comment there... sorry.

Off on NZ again soon.. to HKG this time.. and very much hoping the BP upgrade clears.... That probably says it all foe me...:D

Enjoy your trip....

Similar situation: I'm taking UA181 BOS-SFO, then NZ7 to AKL, on separate tickets but one PNR. Since I know it's possible to transit from UA domestic to the int'l terminal without exiting security (shuttle bus), where should I obtain my NZ boarding pass?

Can anyone tell me a bit about the NZ7 business class service and comfort? It's my first time :)

If it is separate tickets then it cannot be one PNR. Each ticket can have multiple PNRs (for each airline on the ticket) but should be unique across tickets.

Anway, you can get the BP only at the gate. Now since travelling business class entitles you to use the red carpet club (SQ lounge unfortunately closed at the time of the NZ flight), you may have difficulty getting access without a BP (show the ticket but the lounge bouncers may deny you).

The business premiere on Air NZ is very good. You might not be happy again even with UA first! Seat is a fully flat suite. IFE is great (check out the AVOD listing thread in this forum). Food and drink both good. Service great too.

Enjoy your trip.

I've usually found biz class service on NZ to be great. Of course, like any service, it all depends on the crew on the day. Food is good, the lie flat beds are good. The only negative comment I would make about the beds is that your feet are toward the front of the aircraft and, since that aircraft slopes from front to back, your head is below your feet. Can be interesting if you have just eaten a nice meal, you lie down, and strike some turbulence. :eek:

NZ's in air service is pretty good, their on the ground service can be just the opposite.

I have had bad experiences with the contractors who handle NZ's check in at SFO .. but that's a long story for another day. I once suggested to NZ in writing that they train their SFO contractors better so that when they lie to passengers, they discuss it between themselves beforehand. Then they can all tell the same lie. :(

If it is separate tickets then it cannot be one PNR. Each ticket can have multiple PNRs (for each airline on the ticket) but should be unique across tickets.

Anway, you can get the BP only at the gate. Now since travelling business class entitles you to use the red carpet club (SQ lounge unfortunately closed at the time of the NZ flight), you may have difficulty getting access without a BP (show the ticket but the lounge bouncers may deny you).

The business premiere on Air NZ is very good. You might not be happy again even with UA first! Seat is a fully flat suite. IFE is great (check out the AVOD listing thread in this forum). Food and drink both good. Service great too.

Enjoy your trip.

Thanks all for the input. Not to worry about the RCC -- I'm a member :)

By the way, it's definitely one PNR... a *A Circle Pacific trip ticket wrapped by a BOS-SFO-BOS on another ticket. MY ITINS on United's Web site shows it as two tickets, once PNR. (eTickets have a limit on the number of segments (4?) and so that's another way that one PNR can have multiple eTickets.)

I have had bad experiences with the contractors who handle NZ's check in at SFO .. but that's a long story for another day. I once suggested to NZ in writing that they train their SFO contractors better so that when they lie to passengers, they discuss it between themselves beforehand. Then they can all tell the same lie. :(It seems there is a great story here just waiting to be told.

If it is separate tickets then it cannot be one PNR. Each ticket can have multiple PNRs (for each airline on the ticket) but should be unique across tickets.By separate tickets I was thinking [like the OP has now confirmed] some form of combinability - end on end.

It seems there is a great story here just waiting to be told.

OK, since you asked ...

Following is the text of an email I sent to Air NZ from the RCC at SFO on the evening of 12 December 2004

Let me introduce myself ..

My name is ***** ****** and my Airpoints number is ******.

I have been a customer of Air New Zealand for many years and a Koru Club member since 1996. During the past five years I have had one year as a Gold Elite member, at least three as Gold, and am currently (officially) silver. Under the new Airpoint dollars regime I qualify for Gold, however I am still waiting for someone at Air NZ to find the time to process this. After my current trip, I believe I shall qualify again for Gold Elite. However it may be of little use to me as I am seriously considering never flying with Air NZ again.

I arrived at LAX last night, 11 December, with a confirmed Pacific class booking and an upgrade request on NZ5. As I am sure you are aware .. well, maybe you are not because nobody else at Air NZ seemed to know until just before the flight .. NZ5 was cancelled. The aircraft operating NZ6 (ZK-NBS) had an undercarriage problem and did not operate the service out of Auckland, leaving NZ5 without an aircraft.

I arrived at the premier checkin counter at LAX to find a queue of about ten people and two check-in agents. The Pacific class queue was right out the door and onto the footpath. After standing in the queues for about twenty minutes, one of the other passengers informed me that the flight had been cancelled. He also informed me that he had called Air NZ at around 1200 hours local time and was told the flight was on time. THIS WAS ABOUT 8 HOURS AFTER THE AIRCRAFT WAS DUE TO HAVE DEPARTED AUCKLAND AND DID NOT.

To cut a long story short, there were ten people in the queue in front of me and I was still waiting to see an agent 90 minutes later. During this period the Pacific class queue was reduced in size by about fifty percent.

I appreciate that engineering problems occur and that flights get cancelled, however the overwhelming impression which not only I but many others in the queue gained was of a group of people who had no idea how to handle the situation and had no idea how to provide the standard of service that frequent fliers expect. To use a colloquialism they were like a bunch of chooks with their heads cut off.

When I finally got to speak with an agent, after two hours in the queue, she personally was very helpful. I was offered various options and chose to travel by UA to SFO and then on NZ7 to Auckland. I was provided the appropriate documentation and hotel voucher etc. This part of the procedure actually worked. I asked about my upgrade request and was told it had been transferred to NZ7 and that there was space in J class on that flight.

I duly arrived at SFO and checked in at the premier check in counter. I mentioned the upgrade request and was met with a blank stare. After reference to the original PNR it was found and I was told it should be OK but needed to be confirmed by "control". After ten minutes of the check in agent trying to contact control, her supervisor informed her that the person in question had gone to the airbridge and would be back soon. I agreed to return in 30 minutes to follow up.

On my return, I was told by the agent that no upgrade was available as there were no available seats. By now my patience was wearing thin. I requested to speak with the person in "control". At this stage the supervisor intervened and told me that they could not confirm the upgrade until they could confirm that additional meals could be loaded.

Can I strongly recommend that you include in your agent training "If you are going to lie to the passenger, please meet together beforehand, so you are both telling the same lie".

I am currently sitting in the UA lounge at SFO wondering whether I shall get upgraded at the gate. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Whether I do or not is irrelevant to this complaint, although after being screwed round by Air NZ for the past 24 hours I shall be real pissed off if I don't.

My opinion of Air NZ's service has sunk to an all time low and I am giving serious consideration to never flying with them again. I can assure you that I am not the only person who was in that queue at LAX last night .. and remember that they were all premier customers .. who expressed the same opinion.

I await your response.

The story continues after I wrote the email ....

I duly proceeded to the gate and approached the podium. Guess who was there ... the same agent who had lied to me upstairs. I politely asked her about the upgrade. She didn't say a word, just handed me a business class boarding pass. I looked at it (and I can be a mean ba$tard sometimes) and said "any chance of a window seat?". Not another word was spoken but inside thirty seconds I had a J class window seat.

Interestingly, a number of other people whom I had met at LAX the night before and who had standby upgrades were also in J class. Sorry, but I thought they said there were no spare seats .. or was that meals .. or was that b****t?"

(As an aside, I had been chatting to a couple in the queue at LAX and again in the gate lounge at SFO. About twelve months later, I was again travelling LAX-AKL and was quite stunned to meet the same couple in the same queue at LAX.)

So what did NZ do about it?

I waited and waited and waited ... no response.

Then two months later ...

It was Valentines Day. I arrive home from work and on the kitchen table is a large gift hamper - bottle of wine, gourmet foods, chocolates, all sorts of goodies.

Very tongue in cheek, I say to my wife "and who sent you that?".

"Nobody ... it's addressed to you".

Uh, oh.

I open the card and it's from Air NZ. A handwritten apology for screwing me around at LAX and SFO last December and please accept this gift with our best wishes.

Sometimes it just does help if you complain!!

Thanks for the story.

Many could be written about the staff at SFO.

OK, since you asked ...

Following is the text of an email I sent to Air NZ from the RCC at SFO on the evening of 12 December 2004



The story continues after I wrote the email ....

I duly proceeded to the gate and approached the podium. Guess who was there ... the same agent who had lied to me upstairs. I politely asked her about the upgrade. She didn't say a word, just handed me a business class boarding pass. I looked at it (and I can be a mean ba$tard sometimes) and said "any chance of a window seat?". Not another word was spoken but inside thirty seconds I had a J class window seat.

Interestingly, a number of other people whom I had met at LAX the night before and who had standby upgrades were also in J class. Sorry, but I thought they said there were no spare seats .. or was that meals .. or was that b****t?"

(As an aside, I had been chatting to a couple in the queue at LAX and again in the gate lounge at SFO. About twelve months later, I was again travelling LAX-AKL and was quite stunned to meet the same couple in the same queue at LAX.)

So what did NZ do about it?

I waited and waited and waited ... no response.

Then two months later ...

It was Valentines Day. I arrive home from work and on the kitchen table is a large gift hamper - bottle of wine, gourmet foods, chocolates, all sorts of goodies.

Very tongue in cheek, I say to my wife "and who sent you that?".

"Nobody ... it's addressed to you".

Uh, oh.

I open the card and it's from Air NZ. A handwritten apology for screwing me around at LAX and SFO last December and please accept this gift with our best wishes.

Sometimes it just does help if you complain!!

David
this s bizarre, i had a so simialr experience in lax with a technical prblem ,we arrived to the terminal to checkin at preoium only to wait 3 hours and get shunted to a hotel and when i asked about tpt to hotel ewas told to go to the curb like all others, we weere not told in las about the disrupt even though they must have known but then US air is next to useless as well. i was appalaled by the treatment in lax and the irony just like you said was the econonomy queues were gone by the time we were finshed with , that poky cramped corner with americans shoving ( who were on alliance UG ) and everyone getting tired and the station manager rushing round telling NOT ONE BIT OF TRUTH, covert whispers to certain passengers , we gave up our seats ( inecononmy via fiji!) Not what we booked) to a honeymoon couple and no nthanks were given, then to be flown with UA via sydney to wellington was a chore in its own right , yes we got biz on UA whoppedy doo NOT! and then they refused to upgrade us syd-wlg yet heaps of seats, in end used upgrades to do so and when i wrote frankly i was shocked at the response , credited the ug back and gave me 100 points i think, I truly think they thought i was a moaning prick! pardon the pun. I had planned this specially with my partner as trteat to come home uppper deck withher as she had never flown there ..I am shocked and appallled sometimes at NZ. Loyalty is all they have if we are honest and starngle hold on the usa routes.

sorry to go on but there you are so i am not looking forward to SFO but fingers crossed. thansk for the story.