anat0l

Hi everyone.

Might be silly questions all around here... but my parents (who are not frequent travelers nor have any status to speak of) have booked a ticket through a TA for a trip to America. Their itinerary is all NZ flights, all one ticket, as BNE-AKL-LAX-ORD, LAX-AKL-BNE. The LAX-ORD flight is a NZ codeshare operated by UA. BNE/AKL is showing booking in V, AKL/LAX sectors in G and LAX/ORD is booked into W (I am not sure if this is NZ's codeshare booking class, UA's booking class or both).

So some questions.... normally I'd answer these off the cuff, or if it were me traveling I'd almost just take it as it comes. But.... they are parents, and all parents need some reassurance....

• What luggage allowance will they be allowed? I was assuming that they were allowed 2 x 23 kg bags - given this is an Americas flight and they are in Economy; then again, here is my QF bias showing - but I read the NZ site and it seems Y pax only are allowed 1 bag each (max 23 kg)? Is this for real?
• How would they go about transferring in LAX? I only have an experience going through SFO, though the process went:
  • Bag was tagged through to my final destination at my first departure port (i.e. I did NRT-SFO-LAS, bag was tagged through to LAS). Boarding passes also given for both legs.
  • Cleared immigration, baggage claim (got bag back) and customs.
  • Outside customs, there was a special sign to a set of counters for transfer passengers, where if your bag was already tagged up, all you had to do was line up to a belt, get your BP checked then drop your bag.
  • Clear security again.
  Is there a similar arrangement at LAX?
• My folks have a 2 hour transfer at LAX. I assume this is enough time. If, in the unlikely event of a misconnect, given that a TA booked the ticket and it is all NZ marketed, who should my parents contact in the first instance to get to ORD? UA (i.e. a service counter)? NZ (i.e. their service counter at LAX, or ring them)? The TA (oh dear God please not this one)?
• Given my folks have no status at all, would they have to pay for their "first bag" for their UA flight? Or will the fact they are all on one ticket connecting from international suffice to avoid the charge?
• Perhaps this should be asked in the VA forum, would my folks earn Velocity points for the entire journey? It seems they'll be fine for BNE/AKL/LAX sectors, but LAX/ORD is uncertain (it is only NZ marketed, not operated....)
• I think I might have my NZ Silver lounge pass lying around. Can I give this to them to use so they can experience the lounge once? Only problem is that I think lounge passes don't allow guests, and of course they are not going to flip a coin to determine who goes in and who doesn't. Also, I wonder if those lounge passes only work for the Silver card holder.
• Lastly, can they select seats online? I'm guessing that since it was done through a TA, the answer is 'no', and I tried it myself the other day too. Is there no way to select seats except contact the TA, then?

Thanks for your help everyone.

ajnz

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Should be able to but the NZ seat selector is often problematic. Calling NZ will get your seat assignments handled.

trooper

If it is any consolation the first additional bag is only AUD$60 SYD-LAX, pretty decent value I reckon....

..and which (with my anti-QF bias ) I will just point out is HALF what I was first quoted by QF for an extra bag SYD-CBR!!!!!... (Ended up paying $80 which was bad enough...)

Great idea to post here when they are travelling..... someone might just be able to guest them into the lounge(s). ^

Top of climb

A 2 hour I2D transfer at LAX is very tight... in fact 120 minutes is the MCT for a NZ -> UA connection at LAX. I wouldn't be comfortable with it, and I'm normally quite good at navigating and racing through airports.

SFOSpiff

As an extra datapoint, last year I flew AKL-LAX, and because of reduced staffing at T2 (so they say) we arrived and were processed at TBIT, which wasn't awful that time, but usually is. I'd have them be aware of what to do if things go wrong, and if they find themselves in long lines at immigration, be prepared to get on the phone. Fortunately, UA has a lot of flights every day to ORD, and even if those are full, they also route through DEN. They'll get there.

I don't mean to be negative at all, but things happen, and I've learned to expect the worst and breathe a sigh of relief when it doesn't happen. Most often at LAX.

WLGNZ

On all my recent arrivals to LAX terminal 2 there has been normal delays at immigration, but long waits for customs, as there seems to be more flights arriving from Mexico into terminal 2 now. All the mexico pax get sent for additional customs inspections while all the NZ pax I have seen get to leave with no additional screening.
That said, with no checked luggage, was outside in 15 minutes from the door opening on the plane a couple of weeks ago.

Rebound

Going through LAX tonight onward to LHR, will report back at some point how it goes tomorrow

QTFLYER

In relation to seat selection you can use airnz.com.au and use seat request. I have never had an issue using this however in this case you may need to do a bit of leg work to get the correct PNR.

As your folks ticket was done via a TA there are two ways to get the Airnz PNR. If it was booked as a stand alone ticket (airfair only) then the AirNZ issued confirmation from your TA should contain the Confirmation Number or PNR, it will end with an 'H', easy.. However, some TA will book via a CRS such as Sabre, Galileo or Amadeus. If this is the case then I would imagine some hotel rooms may have been booked at the same time. locate the Reservation/confirmation number on your paperwork. This is the holding Record for the whole trip and distributed to all the providers ie Airlines, hotels, car rentals etc. Within that matser PNR Airnz will have their own file showing their confirmation number. You need to find it...!!

If the confirmation number is around 6/8 digits and does not end with an 'H' head to one of the following sites, fill our the reservation number that shows on your TA issued confirmation and passengers last name and see what you find. Fingers crossed in one of the three it will open up the booking, when it does search for the 'Airline Confirmation' (airnz) which will end with an 'H'...

After that go back to Airnz and bob (maybe) your uncle..!!

https://www.checkmytrip.com
https://www.virtuallythere.com
https://viewtrip.com

Lets us know how you get on..!

MrSydney

I flew on NZ AKL LAX on NZ2, 2 weeks ago and it took 2 hours to be processed as NZ6 was running late and AF and AZ had also arrived.

Rebound

I flew AKL-LAX-LHR on NZ2 on the 18th of August and was given one of these - apparently I was told that after customs an Air NZ rep would be there to escourt PAX to the Air NZ Koru Lounge, however nobody was present. Ended up having to go through security again which left only 15 minutes in the lounge for a shower before the first call.

The Chief Purser on the flight said its the first time he had seen this card/procedure. On the LAX-LHR sector I explained the situation to the concierge and she had never heard of this new procedure either. She said she would find out a bit more and give me an email.

In theory if it simplifies the transit and allows Business Pax to get to the Business Lounge easily this would be great, however I wont be trying it again on my return sector(s).


http://www.iforce.co.nz/View.aspx?i=adx5earo.scm.jpg

Picture attached, it's quite large sorry - also sorry for hijacking this thread I didn't wnat to start a new one.

flykiwifly

If this gets up and running smoothly it will be a real plus. Over the last 9 months we have transitted thru LAX x2 but have given up trying to exit the plane go downstairs and clear immigration and then up to the lounge via security as the queues have been horrendous.
As long as AirNZ have a ground staff rep at the ready after entering the transit lounge to whisk you off to the "real" lounge it will be fantastic. I hate Air France whose planes always seem to arrive just before AirNZ at LAX. Earlier this year it took 1hr 50mins to clear immigration due to the queues at LAX. Our next 2 flights are via HKG to LHR as if we can't use the lounge at LAX en route for a shower then I would happily fly the 777-200 via HKG over the new plane, even if there is only 1 shower in the Thai lounge at HKG. All the 777-200 needs are those new wonderful mattresses!

oranjemakker

So how does the transit system if you are flying through to LHR actually work? is the immigration queue the main one for transit pax or is a special transit queue? Otherwise, how would passengers have time to go through to the lounge if they have to wait for 90 mins to clear immigration?

Rebound

There is a Transit Holding pen right next to the gate, it has food and drinks and apparently a Business Section, i was told it had internet too. If its busy then yes its possible to use the Business Lounge.

jeffrocowboy

any clues of shares to buy and sell, horse rate results or perhaps the Big Wednesday results

it is rare to meet those that have travelled to the future

anat0l

Just to pull things back into topic, does anyone have any misconnecting experiences at LAX? That is, booked onward flight from LAX (not part of AKL-LAX-LHR) but misconnected (albeit all on one ticket)?

I assume even if my folks misconnect (and are on one ticket) that there will be no problem for UA, i.e. they'll just put them on the next flight (hopefully there is another flight to ORD after theirs, lest they have to spend the night). I assume then there will be no other kind of compensation for them (meals, etc. - they have no status...)

I guess the only thing to keep in mind will be travel insurance just in case they get put on a red-eye and miss their hotel reservation.