Mwenenzi

Arriving at AKL international you will not have access to the International Lounge, which is on the departures side. In NZ international arrivals & departures are physically separate. You must clear immigration & customs at AKL with all your carry-on & checked baggage. Exiting immigration turn right and drop your bags & get a boarding pass if needed. Then take the free bus or walk the line (12 minutes) across to the domestic terminal. As SFO-AKL-WLG is on 1 business class ticket you should get access to the domestic Koru lounge (has worked for me). All domestic flights in NZ are economy class.

On the return ZQN-AKL and a separate AKL-SFO Air NZ will not through check luggage. You will have to reclaim at AKL domestic and take across to AKL international to check in.
Your J flight AKL-SFO will not get you access to ZQN lounge (ZQN-AKL flight). *G status will get you access.
Your J UA flight AKL-SFO will get you access to AKL international departures lounge.

OP cross thread in UA forum--->https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...customers.html

wco81

I didn't know they had a big lounge at ZQN.

Probably was going to grab something to eat before going to the airport, around 8 AM.

That's right, my previous visit to New Zealand, I hiked a bit from international to domestic at AKL.

Never saw the bus so I just pushed a luggage cart across.

wco81

Yeah someone over there suggested I check in the NZ forum for the question about interlining.

Mwenenzi

Status will get you ZQN lounge access.

You can check in for NZ domestic flights in the international terminal, even if arriving on a different airline. But if the domestic flight is within 60 min (?) they will not accept and you must go across to domestic to check-in.

I always walk the line unless the bus is there waiting to leave or raining. Bus takes the long scenic route and walking is just as fast. After a flight I do mind walking.

mduell

Nope.

Wx4caster

OP mentioned he/she is *G, so access is granted regardless of cabin, including at ZQN. Along the route of travel, only WLG would not provide lounge access since there's no onward travel. If anything, *G access is even better since one can take a +1 if needed. I was pleasantly surprised by the ZQN lounge last month - even in this relatively small lounge, the food selection was plentiful and the barista made coffee beverages fantastic.

The 3 hour layover in AKL will go by quickly by the time you get yourself to the domestic terminal lounge. While the AKL domestic lounge is a step down from the international lounge, you'll probably be satisfied (Espcially if United Club is the bar by which one measures!).

Even 4 hours on the return will go by quickly enough. I gave myself the same amount of time (I think we were on NZ614 too) and between transfering to the international terminal, security screening, and shopping - there wasn't a lot of time left over in the excellent Koru lounge. When I checked in at ZQN, i was not given any kind of express path card for screening in AKL - but I just followed the signs upstairs inside the International Terminal, and nobody in the express path gave me any issues (not sure they even cared to check my J boarding pass to be honest).

kiwifrequentflyer

Oh whoops sorry, I misread the post - yes, no arrival lounge access.

WineCountryUA

As this is aaboutNZ lounge access and has also been posted in the NZ forum, will forward this thread to the NZ forum to be merged into a single thread (per FT rules)

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator

wco81

Do I recheck my bag at the International lounge or do I have to take it with me to the domestic lounge and check it in there, even though the ticket is SFO-AKL-WLG on the outbound?

Will NZ impose a baggage weight surcharge? The checked suitcase should comply with UA baggage limits for J but probably not Y for NZ domestic.

sbiddle

If you have more than an hour until the flight you can drop your bag at the International terminal. If it's under an hour you will need to take it with you to domestic and drop it there. Having said that I never drop bags at International even if I do have time, I find the experience a lot simpler at the domestic terminal.

The same baggage limit applies across the whole journey on a single ticket.

Mwenenzi

You must clear immigration & customs at AKL with all your carry-on & checked baggage. Exiting immigration turn right and drop your checked bags & get a boarding pass if needed. Then take the free bus or walk the line (12 minutes) across to the domestic terminal.

Bag checking is nothing to do with lounges. You will not have access to the AKL International lounge on arrival at AKL from SFO.

Be careful with size & weight of carry-on luggage.

wco81

Why is NZ a stickler for weight?

cavemanzk

Mwenenzi

There is a big difference between what is considered normal/acceptable for USA airlines and non USA airlines when it comes to carry-on luggage.

sbiddle

They're not. I'd actually go as far as saying they're pretty generous compared to plenty of other airlines

What goes on inside the US or on US carriers isn't what happens anywhere else in the world. Try and take a carry on bag with more than 7kg in it on any Australian airline and you'll learn the true meaning of stickler.