Air New Zealand Air Points - New 'Express Path' arrival into AKL for Gold Elites

From 01 April New Zealand Customs is implementing a trial for Express Path Arrival Invites for all arrivals from Australia into Auckland International Airport.

The trial will run for 3 months and has initially only been offered to Air New Zealand with plans to extend the invitation to other airlines in the weeks following.

Due to resources, NZ customs have capped the invites to 15 per flight.

Please extend the invitation to Gold Elite customers only in the first instance.
If there are any invites left over please offer the invites to our members of the second tier of frequent flyer programme, i.e. Gold Star Alliance and/or Business Class customers. Immediate family members, travelling with eligible customers will also be entitled to be cleared via the Express Path Arrival priority lane. It will not be necessary for immediate family members to hold an invitation.

Extended family, business associates/ colleagues, friends etc will NOT be eligible and will have to clear Customs through the standard arrival path.

There will be a dedicated Express Path Arrival lane that will give our premium
customers priority clearance through Customs only. It is located on the right side at the bottom of the stairs beside the ‘crew’ and ‘special assistance’ lanes.

Thanks for the heads up. Will NZ*E flying on other flights (either from Australia on different airlines or arriving on NZ from further afield) be able to use the lane also?

This is preposterous -surely it should go Business Class first and then within C by status.

Sounds like the invitation is some type of piece of paper handed out in flight.

Confirm no mention on my NZ longhaul arrival into AKL yesterday and cabin crew knew nothing about it. There was no obvious signage, so I'd expect there is a piece of paper or card to use.

This is preposterous -surely it should go Business Class first and then within C by status.

Perhaps the theory is NZ*E don't need as much checking by customs thus easier to manage the channel? NZ customs disagrees in my case - I travel internationally "too much".

Quite simply the reason it is GE and not BP is because as per my first post 'due to resources NZ customs have capped this trial at 15 pax per flight', and we generally have more than 15 J pax.

I saw the new lane on arrival into AKL a few days ago - it is to the far right where the crew and APEC lane was.

Perhaps the theory is NZ*E don't need as much checking by customs thus easier to manage the channel? NZ customs disagrees in my case - I travel internationally "too much".Yes, NZ customs have a strange view of the world!
Quite simply the reason it is GE and not BP is because as per my first post 'due to resources NZ customs have capped this trial at 15 pax per flight', and we generally have more than 15 J pax.

I saw the new lane on arrival into AKL a few days ago - it is to the far right where the crew and APEC lane was.Of course, which is why as per my first post I said within C by status.

Quite simply the reason it is GE and not BP is because as per my first post 'due to resources NZ customs have capped this trial at 15 pax per flight', and we generally have more than 15 J pax.

I saw the new lane on arrival into AKL a few days ago - it is to the far right where the crew and APEC lane was.

Where is the APEC lane now?

Where is the APEC lane now?

On the far right.

Does it help in any way in going to the crew lane to get your bags x-rayed? That is the bigger delay.

I will find out tomorrow - I am on NZ124 as a NZ G, will see if I make the top 15.

Also to the other comment - I get hassled more times going into NZ on a NZ passport than I do going into any other country.

But the best line was leaving "Europe" via MUC going to BUD, before they were part of the common border. I passed my passport across and he said "I hope you speak English"

On the far right.

Does it help in any way in going to the crew lane to get your bags x-rayed? That is the bigger delay.

There isn't actually a dedicated crew lane for the xray machines and exit. We are directed to either exit A (nothing to declare) which often isn't open or exit B (if we have an agricultural item). Luckily the staff will lift up the rope barrier to circumvent the queue for exit B.

Yup - one reason I avoid the far left is crew cutting in makes it a slow xray line for regular pax. Far right can also be slow if pax questioned by customs (w/o bag inspection) cut in. Somewhere in the middle is usually best.

Useless system just wiped my written answer, so this is the second attempt, much shorter.

Flew MEL-AKL on April 10, Business Class on the 777. The IFS went around and asked if you were landing or continuing. If you said you were landing, you got the arrival card, she looked like she had more than 15 in her hand and didn't appear to be counting.

General queue didn't have many people in it, but when I showed the card to the bouncer, was pointed to aisle 1, which didn't have a sign above it. Was told by the Immigration person that I was the first card she had seen that day, don't know why as I saw the IFS hand lots out.

You had to fill out a short questionaire - rate 1-5, Did you find the system easy? Would you use it again?

They took the express card off you at that point, so you can't reuse it.

Its pretty similar to the express arrivals for Australia.

Speaking of which, they now take the card off you when you get your passport stamped, there is no express lane after you have picked up your bags.

On my recent arrival at AKL on another airline I noticed lane 1 signage has changed to something like invited passgengers. There were half a dozen trans-tasman flights arriving around the same time, very busy. But I saw no one use lane 1. Net effect - one less immigration officer to deal with the big queues on the other lanes.

does anyone know what will happened after the 3 months trail?
will air nz offer all c passengers from all incoming flight?
cheers

Express not available for my NZ flight from Australia yesterday :( Would have been useful as massive queues at customs. It seems some flights every pax was being sent to secondary!

Express not available for my NZ flight from Australia yesterday :( Would have been useful as massive queues at customs. It seems some flights every pax was being sent to secondary!

Blame the Swine Flu!

Now that we no longer need to fill in the ridiculously long health declaration forms the express invites are back (not that it did me any good - lane wasn't manned at customs so sent to the regular line instead).

AKL arrivals smartgate has also opened on a trial basis. Same criteria as Australia - NZ or Aussie passport with chip. The wording about question 4 is too vague - it forces everyone to read their arrivals form to see how they should answer.

No one else was using it so I went there to bypass the long queues. They were surveying passengers who used it so of course I rated it highly.

Yep, I used "SmartGate" for e-passports Saturday Night.

It was very quiet, the Queues were not long. I probably saved about 2 minutes at the most.

is the express land still only for arriving from Australia? how about Air NZ flights from pacific islands ? ceers

Yep, I used this Saturday Night.

It was very quiet and I probably saved about 2 minutes at the most.By the way; I did not require an invitation for the "SMartGate" gueue.

I merely saw the sign and walked up brandishing my Oz e-chipped passport.

Sorry - two separate things.

1) Smartgate uses far right lane at immigration. Need to have Australia/NZ e-passport and be able to pass the question test on the machine.

2) NZ has a trial for express arrival using the far right lane at immigration and the left lane at customs. Limited numbers, requires invite card which are being prioritised for gold elites.

serfty was referring to #1 I believe, I was referring to both #1 and #2.

... serfty was referring to #1 I believe, I was referring to both #1 and #2.Exactly ... I'll have to wait until I am inbound on AirNZ as a GE to get the invitations in relation to #2.

I have clarified my posts.

I was given an invite to use the express path a couple of days ago

Shame I was flying WLG-SYD! (This was pointed out and some express arrivals cards for Australia were found and then handed out)

Jeff

Have often received the express arrivals card in Australia which has sometimes been useful when the airport is busy.

As far as the trial here is concerned, is it only for Gold Elite? Sometimes these benefits also apply to Koru members such as being able to book in the Space+ section of aircraft. Not this time?

They are limited to 15 per flight, which rules out koru club members also benefitting.

Sorry, didn't make myself clear. If a Koru member flies business class (as I sometimes do) they could certainly be within the 15 eligible as I wouldn't think there would necessarily be 15 gold elite in the cabin even on a 747.

I believe they're handed out by status in the J cabin if there aren't 15 GE's on board.

Not sure if Koru is above or below silver for this, but I'd think it'd probably be Gold->Silver->Koru. So if there weren't 15 pax with either Gold Elite in any cabin, or pax with other status in the J cabin, you'd be in luck.

Gold normally ranks ahead of koru club with Air NZ. Not uncommon to have more than 15 gold/gold elite/koru in business class.

So if there weren't 15 pax with either Gold Elite in any cabin, or pax with other status in the J cabin, you'd be in luck.

Assuming they hand out that many (they didn't on my flight last week). What if there are say 13 high ranking plus 6 koru? Who misses out (probably all the koru)?

Gold normally ranks ahead of koru club with Air NZ.

What about Silver? Is Koru ahead of that or below?

Assuming they hand out that many (they didn't on my flight last week). What if there are say 13 high ranking plus 6 koru? Who misses out (probably all the koru)?

I think someone mentioned here earlier in the thread that sometimes they seem to hand out more than 15, rather indiscriminately. I guess it's up to the individual CSM to a degree? :confused:

I think silver counts below Koru. I'm both silver and koru and I know that it's my koru membership that allows me to book space+ seats when booking on the internet. This is not available to silver members - only gold and gold elite as far as I can see.

I think silver counts below Koru. I'm both silver and koru and I know that it's my koru membership that allows me to book space+ seats when booking on the internet. This is not available to silver members - only gold and gold elite as far as I can see.Which is supported by the boarding card of a Koru member with status going from KORU NZ*S to NZ*G KORU when moving from Silver to Gold.

I've never seen any Express Path stuff handed out on the few flights I've done into AKL on both NZ1 and NZ5 - granted the Immigration area was dead quiet.

Are these flights usually skipped due to low volume?

Just curious as I've been watching out for it.

NZ1 and NZ5 are not flights from Australia. Volumes of elites are too high for this trial.

I was lucky enough to receive one as a *G on my SYD-AKL flight last week. Although I did ask as I saw them hiding in her hand at the bottom of the customs form pile.

I think though I spend too much time in NZ when the border guard made a comment about the number of NZ stamps on my passsport.

Is the express path trial over already? My last few NZ tasman flights they haven't handed out cards.

The smartgate trial has ended at AKL and now on trial at WLG. Planned to be implemented (permanently) at end of the year.

Is the trial over already? My last few NZ tasman flights they haven't handed out cards.

Maybe they know you're on board :D Or they're just getting lazy?

The express lane was closed.

Arrived into AKL last Saturday and utilised the Express Lane. Interestingly enough I am only *A Silver and was travelling on a points ticket in J and still got the invite on board to use the Express Lane in AKL. The aircraft was a 744 and it was just about full so there was more than 15 on board....everyone got a card that I could see.

PS - this was my first trip on Air NZ - just excellent. The best service I have ever recieved on board any flight anywhere on all 3 sectors we travelled. Well done Air NZ!! ^

As previously outlined, New Zealand Customs have been in talks with relevant airports to extend the Express Path Priority Lane to other International Airports, and are pleased to announce that a 3 month trial for all eligible arriving passengers from Australia into Christchurch will commence from 01 September 2009.
As you are know, Auckland International Airport has been running this service for our Premium Customers since 01 April 2009 and by all accounts has been running fairly smoothly, and is well received by our customers.

Air New Zealand is the first airline to offer this service at CHC airport, with plans to extend the invitation to other airlines in the near future. As with the AKL Express Path Arrival Invites, NZ customs have capped the number of cards available at 15 per flight. At the end of the trial all data and feedback from customers that did or did not use the express pathway, customs staff, airline staff, process times will be collated and a decision on moving forward will be made.

Where will the Express Path Priority Lane be located?
The priority lane will be located in the arrivals area, at the far right hand lane (counter 1) will be utilised at CHC passport control. A sign will be placed at the front of the lane. The screen at counter 2 will display the following wording:
“EXPRESS PATH BY INVITATION ONLY”


Who receives the invites?
The eligibility criteria is the same as AKL, please extend the invitation to our Gold Elite Customers in all classes in the first instance. If there are any left over please offer the invites to our members of the second tier of frequent flyer programme i.e. Gold Star Alliance and/or Business Class customers. Immediate family members travelling with eligible customers will also be entitled to use the Express Path Priority Lane. One invite per family will suffice. Extended family, business associates/colleagues, friends etc are NOT eligible to use the Express Path Priority Lane.



TO Australia, eligibility:

Business Class Passengers
• Air NZ Gold Elite & Gold – ALL
CLASSES
• Star Alliance Gold –
ALL CLASSES
• Immediate family members
(Invite required)

Must have declared NO to
questions 1-10 on the
Passenger Arrival Card

Must have no more than TWO
pieces of checked luggage (not
including carry-on luggage)

There should be 75 cards loaded on 747, 50 on 767/777, and 25 on A320/737.


Eligibility TO NZ:
Air NZ Gold Elite – ALL
CLASSES
• Any left - offer to Gold Star
Alliance and/or Business Class
Passengers
• Immediate family members
(Invite NOT required)

Thanks. Does this mean it is going to be used more consistently? More often than not it has not been offered on my flights.

inbound flight from MEL to AKL yesterday on A320. full 8/8 in C. we all recived a express path invitation (althrough some of them were crew passengers). a friend of mine sitting in space+ said only selected people were offered the invitation. i belived they were *G.

our flight was delyed about 30 mintues due to the weather. so when we landed (12.30am), the immgration was empty.

just like to mention, great to have express immgration, why not also express x-ray?? why only 'half done'?

... just like to mention, great to have express immgration, why not also express x-ray?? why only 'half done'?

Absolutely ... perhaps due to the "silo"s we have in our bureaucracies - customs & immigration vs MAF :rolleyes:

In any case, getting through customs and immigration in airports with "express" lanes in NZ and Australia is mostly only a small wait, particularly for Aust & NZ passports.

The main problem is the X-ray wait. Arrive in SYD at around 7AM and you are stuffed, "express arrivals" or not (especially in the 'C' and 'D' zones designated for *A and some other non OneWorld flights)! For a while there you could catch an AQIS person to stamp your arrivals card to let you out through the Domestic exit but they have improved on that now (NOT) :mad:.

The main problem is the X-ray wait. Arrive in SYD at around 7AM and you are stuffed, "express arrivals" or not (especially in the 'C' and 'D' zones designated for *A and some other non OneWorld flights)! For a while there you could catch an AQIS person to stamp your arrivals card to let you out through the Domestic exit but they have improved on that now (NOT) :mad:.

AFAIK that still is happening. Note the roving AQIS people are only there when queues are excessive. It is a deliberate strategy to focus resources on highest risk travellers.

If you arrived on a day when border patrol was filming they may have stopped doing this while cameras roll.

I got given one of these express passes in the weekend going to Sydney. It was great, I would've cleared customs before others even got off the plane.

Does anyone save their passes?

I do if I don't need to use it. Then I can give to someone else, or use it another time when they are not handed out.