Hi everyone,

So we are booked to fly JFK-SYD (via AKL) in ten days or so. 23 hours in economy with the family has me concerned! At least we paid with miles (55.2k QF points/40 AA points). Three of us are travelling on Australian passports, and my wife is on her US passport. I have a few questions:

1. My cousin is a pilot with QF and assures me that passengers are allowed to alight at AKL during the layover to stretch legs, etc. Can anyone here confirm that?
2. I can't imagine that my wife needs a transit visa for an hour in AKL but frankly the NZ visa site is ambivalent on this topic. Does anyone have experience in this regard?
3. Although the official price was 55.2k QF miles, the booking page randomly ate up an extra 134 miles without any explanation, leaving me with just 5 miles balance in my QF account. Couldn't figure out why. . . .
4. Any tips for surving this flight?!

Thanks in advance for any responses.

--ATD