I have flown SK into SFO several times as a destination, most recently this past November as a connection, but nearly always with carry-on luggage only. I wouldn't hesitate to attempt the connection that you have booked under those circumstances, but one never knows how long the wait will be for collecting your luggage or for re-checking it at the NZ counter after clearing customs.
Originally Posted by
futuramadramallama
As others have stated, this seems to be a legal connection, but you'll have to hope you land early and queues are short.
You seem to understand you'll need to pass through C&I, recheck your bag, and go back through security. Helpful it's a single ticket and you expect to have all BPs. And how lucky it is that UA has a non-stop departing a few hours later, though hopefully it doesn't come to that (assuming SAS can even book you onto that if it comes to it).
My only addition is: can you somehow do cabin-luggage only? As we all probably know, even when everything is flowing smoothly, having hold luggage rather slows things down. There may be a wait for luggage to come out of the carousel, and there may be a long queue to check it back in. Much less when things
aren't flowing smoothly. I could imagine a scenario where that process slows you down 10-20 minutes, and just enough to cause you to miss the flight.
If you absolutely need the hold luggage, that's fine, but if you can somehow make do with just cabin bags, that might assist in what seems like your primary goal of simply making the onwards flight.