Originally Posted by Kiwi Flyer

That early LA flight AKL-SYD is problematic unless you are straight connecting through from SCL. It leaves very early - need to head from city to airport around 3am! But bank (for paying departure fee) and customs don't open until about 4:30am (I think a bit earlier for times when flight departs 0455) and have big queues for both from 4am (due to all the early Oz flights leaving around 0600 and pax being told they must check in 2 hours prior ). So no time to enjoy duty free shopping or the airline lounge and a lot of waiting around trying to stay awake.