Originally Posted by
cavemanzk
They did have one there last year for around 4 months, it was the trail unit called Smart Gate Plus. You didn't have to use a kiosk, just walk up insert your passport and the gate opened (well some times).
Must have missed that then... last "recent" international trips for me would've been to SFO in November '13 and then OOL in March '14. Didn't see it in November and seeing as I checked in via VA in March, skipped the NZ premium check-in. I will look out for it perhaps end of this month when I'm due for MEL.
Originally Posted by
Kiwi Flyer
Except the time you save using SmartGate you lose by the harassment of AKL airport staff...
... The last time arriving AKL internationally the queue for smartgate was about 30 minutes.
In each of those two cases it wasn't obviously better than normal immigration lines.
I must've been really lucky then, almost every time I come back... from HKG, OOL, BNE, SFO, OOL again in the past year, queue for SmartGate both leaving and arriving has been more or less empty, and seeing as I luck out on even needing my luggage go through X-ray (as in waved straight out skipping every check), usually manage to drive off the airport within 20 minutes, and no more than 30mins of the plane touching down to, starting my car.