Air New Zealand Air Points - Check-in times LHR

I am flying from LHR to HKG. I will be arriving in LHR from Toronto on Air Canada at 8 am the same morning and I want to go out for a walk around town and meet up a friend for lunch. However, my tickets are ticketed separately so I think I need to claim my bags, clear customs and check-in again. Can anybody be kind enough to tell me how early I can check-in my bags at LHR if I'm flying to HKG?

You may be able to check in your bags when the Air NZ counters open to check in the Los Angeles flight around 12.30 or 1pm, although I've been told by other airlines at LHR that there is a restriction on accepting bags too early for flights.. but that may be a BA or BD specific restriction.

Hopefully the Air Canada agents at Toronto will be able to tag your bags through to Hong Kong, which would save collecting them at Heathrow and let you just enjoy the morning without hanging out in a grotty airport for hours. Is AC one of those airlines that will not tag bags through on seperate tickets?

Another back-up alternative is to leave your bags with left luggage (around £8 per bag, in the arrivals area at T3 or T1) (http://www.left-baggage.co.uk/locations.php) and collect them when you return to check in.

Enjoy your day in London, and good luck!

You may be able to check in your bags when the Air NZ counters open to check in the Los Angeles flight around 12.30 or 1pm, although I've been told by other airlines at LHR that there is a restriction on accepting bags too early for flights.. but that may be a BA or BD specific restriction.

Hopefully the Air Canada agents at Toronto will be able to tag your bags through to Hong Kong, which would save collecting them at Heathrow and let you just enjoy the morning without hanging out in a grotty airport for hours. Is AC one of those airlines that will not tag bags through on seperate tickets?

Another back-up alternative is to leave your bags with left luggage (around £8 per bag, in the arrivals area at T3 or T1) (http://www.left-baggage.co.uk/locations.php) and collect them when you return to check in.

Enjoy your day in London, and good luck!


My experience in two recent trips is AC will not check through on seperate tickets , even if u are prem flyer and you can stand and debate but they stood firm on two occassions yet LH would???

Sorry for some sort of highjacking this thread but I didn't want to open a new one as it deals with the same topic.

I've a question about the transfer facilities at LHR. Next week, I'm connecting from LX (terminal 2) to NZ01 (terminal 1). Both in C-class, but on two different tickets. My flight from ZRH arrives at 13:00 and the NZ flight to LAX departs at 16:15 so there should be sufficient time. But does anybody of you know which counters/handling agents NZ uses at the transfer deks? And are they already open then? Otherwise I'll have to sweet talk me into the *A-lounge to kill some time...

And I assume in this occasion (as T1 and T2 are connected) following the signs to the flight connecting centre is better than going through immigration etc.?

You advice is much appreciated! ^

By the time you arrive at T1 by airside transfer they may or may not be dealing with NZ flights. If not then you can still access the *A lounge provided show your ticket. If you transfer landside then definitely check in will be open.

I wonder if NZ will tag my bags through to Toronto in HKG on separate tickets ? Otherwise I would have to claim my bags, and clear customs before checking in for my flight to Toronto on AC.

By the time you arrive at T1 by airside transfer they may or may not be dealing with NZ flights. If not then you can still access the *A lounge provided show your ticket. If you transfer landside then definitely check in will be open. Thank you very much Kiwi Flyer for the information provided! ^

Do you happen to know how the immigration looks like in LAX when arriving with NZ01 at 19:30? According to the timetable VS is arriving at 18:50 and AF at 19:05, so I assume a long queue time should be expected?

Sorry for asking but this is my first time arriving with NZ as I usually take the nonstop flight to SFO on LH...

I wonder if NZ will tag my bags through to Toronto in HKG on separate tickets ? So far, I have never had a problem with NZ interlining the baggage to another carrier on different tickets. ^

So far, I have never had a problem with NZ interlining the baggage to another carrier on different tickets. ^

Thanks for this. It would be great if NZ can check my bags onto AC through to YYZ from HKG. It's my first time flying with NZ and I haven't flown with AC for 5 years now. So I'm not sure what I'll be dealing with when I get to LHR. I hope it will be smooth.

Thanks for this. It would be great if NZ can check my bags onto AC through to YYZ from HKG. It's my first time flying with NZ and I haven't flown with AC for 5 years now. So I'm not sure what I'll be dealing with when I get to LHR. I hope it will be smooth.
LHR has been fine about checking through to other airlines on separate tickets (I have personal experience with NZ->SQ and NZ->UA). AKL on the other hand has been very problematic.

My experience in two recent trips is AC will not check through on seperate tickets , even if u are prem flyer and you can stand and debate but they stood firm on two occassions yet LH would???


+1 on AC not interlining bags on separate tickets.

To the OP: are you doing HKG-YYZ and return via LHR?

NZ will likely tag you to YYZ on you 1st leg, but on the return AC are unlikely to do the reverse. (IMHO)

+1 on AC not interlining bags on separate tickets.

To the OP: are you doing HKG-YYZ and return via LHR?

NZ will likely tag you to YYZ on you 1st leg, but on the return AC are unlikely to do the reverse. (IMHO)

Hi , yes. I'm doing HKG-LHR-YYZ return on separate tickets.

Do you happen to know how the immigration looks like in LAX when arriving with NZ01 at 19:30? According to the timetable VS is arriving at 18:50 and AF at 19:05, so I assume a long queue time should be expect

If all the flighst are on time expect a lengthy queue. My shortest is 5mins my longest about 1 1/2 hours

My experience at LAX for NZ1 isn't too bad - up to about 45 minutes. It is NZ2 (AKL-LHR) that often strikes major queues at immigration.

It was my pleasure to fly with Frequent_Flyer1 on the LHR LAX: In the end, we were the only flight at Immigration, leading to some customers being outside within 30 minutes of landing (less for hand-baggage only). The flight time was a snappy 10hrs 10mins so all in all, not a bad day.

+1 on AC not interlining bags on separate tickets.

FWIW AC has flipflopped on this policy a couple times within the last year. Supposedly the currently policy is to allow interlining bags but it's possible not all the agents have gotten the memo. Or perhaps they've flipflopped again and I missed it.