quick turnaround at AKL possible?
 

is it possible to do a quick turnaround HKG-AKL-HKG at AKL? the CX flight arrives at 11:15 and leaves at 12:50...I guess it should be the same aircraft? anyone knows how the immigration works there, do I need to spend time passing through immigration, or can I just get off the plane, go through a transit area and then back to the departure area easily?

I know...NZ / AKL should be a nice place for me to spend at least a couple of days...but I am just a bit short of EXP now and I don't foresee having much time before the end of the year for a vacation...so I figure I would rather do a quick mileage run now to get to EXP first...and it seems AKL is a good one in terms of cost/mileage...

thanks a lot!!

I've done a turnaround like that before.. there is a transit desk in the gate area before immigration.. I would advise you not to go out of immigration, as it takes forever to get back in.. the lines are terrible sometimes....

AKL is a rare airport where inbound and outbound passengers freely mingle.
You can sometimes get you BP at the Transfer Desk, otherwise you have to get it at the gate.
My experience is that Boarding at AKL is a fiasco with Cathay so get to the gate early.

As tfung and Markie say, it's easy and very possible.

After deplaning, I suggest that you just go back to the same gate. You need to clear security before getting back to the same gate. The departure and arrival floors are the same just like Changi in SIN. At the gate, they can issue you a boarding pass. If you have time, you can then go to the lounge. I don't know if they would issue a boarding pass at the lounge, though. Does anyone know?

I would not go to the transit counter. I've never seen people from CX.

I have done that turnaround. I was flying in F and went to the QANTAS lounge to grab a coke. The receptionist there called CX staff and my boarding pass for my AKL-HKG flight was delivered to me in the lounge. AKL is a very easy place to do a turnaround

I'm pretty sure that reclearing security is not required. As has been mentioned AKL is a single-concourse airport and the security checkpoint is located right after immigration. It should be possible to exit the aircraft and just stay put in the gate lounge.

Did an even tighter connection last week in AKL.
Arriving from Tahiti on Air Tahiti Nui scheduled 12:10 and departing on CX 12:50 for HKG.

The Air Tahiti flight arrived 25 minutes early, had to wait 20 min for a gate and then stopped at the gate. Everybody got up and waiting for the door to open. Nothing happend for 10 min. Then the pilot announced hat everybody needs to sit down again since the plane has to be towed. Several minutes later (image me getting fairly nervous....) the plane was pushed back a few meters (the pilot stopped to close to the building and the jetway could not reach the door), then the jetway docked and the door opened.

Somebody from CX was already waiting for us and looking for us at the door of the plane, walked us over to the CX gate, issued bording passes, asked for the Bag tags, radioed down how our bags look.
No new security check, no immigration. It was less than 20 min between opening of the door of the first plane and closing of the door of the CX flight. And even the bags made it.

So you should have no problem at all connecting from CX to CX. It is the same plane, and you can check in right at the gate as soon as you deplane.

I did a turnaround at least once each before and after 9/11. At each time, I had to have my carry-ons screened before entering the gate area for a CX flight. I wasn't released into the same gate area where departing pax were waiting for the flight. It was partitioned and I needed to get into the partitioned area. But maybe my experiences were perhaps exceptions.

During maybe the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002, gates 8 & 10 at the end of the concourse did have a secondary security checkpoint in place, and for some reason CX were allocated those gates by AKL. That practice stopped around April 2002 and now even if the CX flight parks at those gates the security checkpoint won't be active.

thanks everyone for the replies !! so it seems like AKL is actually very "turnaround-friendly"... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I will go ahead with my plan then...thanks !!