Connecting PER-AKL-JFK on a separate PNR
 

I'm thinking of booking a series of flights in September 2023 which will require me to connect at AKL on a separate PNR. NZ 176 arrives at 0500 and NZ 2 departs at 1740, so there should be plenty of time to make the connection. From discussions elsewhere, I'm guessing that I would not be able to through-check my luggage from Perth, so I will have to go landside, collect my luggage and check in again. (Please correct me if I'm wrong on this score.)

I was wondering, in that case, when I would be able to check in for NZ 2, as I don't want to be hanging around the airport waiting to check in, or schlepping my luggage around town. Would I be able to check in immediately upon arrival in AKL, or do I have to wait for the 3 hour window? I'll be travelling NZ 176 in Y and NZ 2 in J, if it makes any difference. I figure that I won't be able to get much sleep in Y on the red-eye from Perth, so my plan was just to rest in the lounge waiting for the flight to JFK. There is no time limit for the lounge, right? (I know that it's more than 12 hours, but I'm not sure what else to do in that time.) Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.

You are aware that with separate tickets you carry all the risk if NZ176 is delayed sufficiently to miss NZ2? Plenty of tine to arrive and collect bags if all goes to plan.

No entitlement for bags to be checked through on separate tix - NZ can be a stickler for this. But certainly ask anyway at PER.

Depending on your nationality, don’t overlook the entry requirements for NZ.

AirNZ did not have a problem with me spending 10 hours in the lounge back in 2019, so you should be OK. Domestically, they have a 3-4 hour max, and I have scanned red before being waved in by staff.

IF bags checked through then you could remain airside and get to departures via a security check.

But seems more likely you’ll need to enter NZ and check in. You should be able to do this right away. For J there is a separate, private area to do this adjacent to the economy checkin area.

Your best option is to ask at Perth for the bags to be checked through. I have had NZ do this on separate tickets where both legs were on NZ, but given reports on this forum consider that luckyy.

Even at premium desks my experience with checking in more than 3 hours early has been hit or miss, so you should factor in the possibility of not being able to check your luggage. There is a left luggage facility at Auckland. Skybus to get into town is a pretty reasonably priced option. If it’s a nice day there are many worse places to be than downtown Auckland. Plenty of cafes if you need to work. Downtown library has wifi (and a cafe). Ferry ride on the harbour is a pretty glorious way to spend hours between flights.

Thanks for the replies, Thai-Kiwi and evanroberts!

Well, I don't require zero risk—nothing in life ever is—but I figure the chance of misconnecting with such a long layover is less than 5%, so I am happy to take my chances. As for entering NZ, I haven't lookd into it yet, but I have an Australian passport, so I figure that getting a visa (or visa waiver) should be quite straightforward and not too expensive.

I actually haven't really looked into the possibility/convenience of heading into town from the airport. I have never been to Auckland before, as this isn't the routing I usually take, and the possibility has occurred to me, given that the PER-AKL segment will be on a separate ticket anyway, of making it a two- or three-day stopover, rather than a 15 hour layover. Then again, perhaps its simpler to just make a day-trip into town, avoiding luggage and hotel hassles, or just hang at the airport, as I am normally based in Sydney—on an eight-year stint in Italy at the moment—so I should have opportunities in the future to have a proper NZ holiday.

You won't need any sort of visa to do this flying on an Australian passport

Out of sheer interest, why though?? This is almost certainly the longest one stop routing to JFK from Perth and pure masochism IMHO

SQ would be far more comfortable, is still *A, and SIN beats the pants of AKL as a transit airport. Flying EK/QR is even faster still.

Well, isn't FT all about crazy or otherwise masochistic routings? :p

More seriously, though, I suppose I have never flown AKL-JFK before, so I am intrigued to try it, and perhaps even to see something of Auckland, since I have never been before. Of the routings you mention, all come in around the 12,000 mi mark, so none is significantly longer than the others—barring the 14 hr layover in AKL, which I am tempted to turn into a stopover—so it then comes down to a question of $$$.