plunet

I can confirm that the egates are very quick at AKL, but having been first off the plane at 4am there was no queue at immigration. I did the egates and my partner went to the immigration officer and we both took a similar amount of time. The officer just wanted to know if my partner was planning to go to Australia as part of this trip - answer was no - "good" was the answer back and entry was permitted lol. Egates do have the disadvantage that you don't get a stamp in your passport if you want such things.

Bags came through quickly and there was also no queue at biosecurity, we got referred for a secondary check as we had walking boots but they were happy that we had cleaned them appropriately and had nothing else of interest and we were on our way.

From the plane to airside was less than 30mins.

I agree that the arrival time of 4am is suboptimal but it does have the advantage that the airport is quiet.

ianwall

I had a similar experience to plunet and didn't queue for egates or the bio-security check. The 4am arrival worked well for me, as it meant plenty of time to get to the domestic terminal and connect onto the first wave of morning flights, starting at 6am, which I'd booked as a separate ticket.

I'd easily have made a 6am flight, but would always book the Air NZ "Flexitime" fare so you're covered in-case of delays / queues.

rakehey

same experience for me, probably the quickest I've ever got through immigration

dirty walking boots, however, slowed me down considerably...make sure you clean them thoroughly, not the cursory effort i made...

booogle

We've just returned from Auckland and had a great trip. In case it helps anyone, this is what we did:

Munich - Doha on the Qatar A350 (not the Qatam as had been expected). We had middle seats. The flight was great, without any middle luggage lockers, the inside of the plane looks massive.

Doha-Auckland and Auckland- Doha on the 777. We had windows seats. The seats were fantastic for a couple with masses of room to get to the isle even when the isle seat is in bed mode, I think we had 4 or 5 windows next to our seats.

Doha-Pisa on the A320. The seats seemed brand new, they were ok but felt cramped compared to the other planes.

One of our cases arrived damaged in Auckland and it was efficiently replaced by the baggage counter with a brand new one.

The food on all flights was very good, we used the dine on demand to eat when we wanted, no complaints at all with food and the service was great. We managed to get some sleep here and there between movies and meals. The flights seemed to go by fairly quickly.

Jetlag wasn't too much of an issue. It felt like going to the Uk from the US when you are tired about 7 or 8 at night and then wake really early. Perfect sunshine most days 15C-20C.

We stayed in crowne plaza auckland, intercontinental wellington, holiday inn rotorua and holiday inn auckland airport. All were very good, got nice refurbed rooms in each. CP was our favourite, the cooked breakfast there was excellent, and the lounge was good at night for a few drinks.

We used air new zealand to move around the north island and they were also faultless, they also let us off extra costs as one of our cases was over weight.

For transfers we used the sky bus from auckland airport and Uber in Wellington. For Rotorua we used a local bus (no uber there). We did a lot of walking exploring as much as we could.

We loved everywhere we visited, New Zealand was amazing, and would love to go back and see the south island. We enjoyed hiking up the various "mountains" around the cities (Mangere mountain, One tree hill, Mount Eden, Mount Victoria plus others), and the Maori villages and geothermal areas in Rotorua. We also did boat trips to Devonport (Auckland) and Eastbourne (Wellington).

At the end of a perfect trip we returned to Manchester on jet2 from Pisa. 2.5 hours delay due to technical issues and an engineer being flown in to sort it, then kept on the plane in manchester while the police came on to take someone off due to an alleged assault!

kmcf6

Fly Manchester to Doha (QR28) And the Doha to Auckland (QR920) on Monday. I'm slightly crazy. I'm working a full weekend shift from 4:30pm tonight through to Sunday evening at 12:30 am. Then have to get the train back down to Manchester at 5:00am to meet up with the family to fly out. I think I'll be making full use of my "bed."

Morgo

You'll probably find that you've exhausted yourself sufficiently to be pre-jet lagged and consequently arrive in Auckland perfectly adjusted to the time zone!

Leaping_Deere

Was on Saturdays flight. It was scheduled 40 minutes earlier. I wasn't that far of missing it. Does anyone know why it was brought forward?

Looking into Y it didn't look particularly full. It is selling well? based on the numbers I saw I cant see QR running forever it on those numbers.

remdk

Leaping_Deere Three reasons:
1) seasonal changes in weather patterns
2) rerouting due to airspace closures
3) reducing speed to preserve fuel.

With regard to seat occupancy please remember that this is a relatively quiet period being the end of the school year and Ramadan and that in a couple of weeks the summer holiday season starts and occupancy will rise dramatically as half of Qatar flees the summer heat.

Leaping_Deere

All very logical reasons but looking online todays or tomorrow flight are at the original 03:05 depart time, or is it every saturday atm

pumatwin

Flying the DOH-AKL route in Nov 17.

Any recommendations for 4 star hotel in Auckland?
Also, how are people dealing with the early morning arrival of the flight and hotel check-in not till 2.00pm.

Mapman

We made this trip in April. Arrival at the somewhat ungodly hour was made easier by picking up a car and driving to Thames, with one of the most remarkable sunrises I'd ever seen as we headed towards our breakfast in that small town. Our B&B was a little outside Thames and although somewhat surprised to see us at 0900 rather than in the late afternoon, let us get changed and dump our cases. Probably as well to let a B&B know if you'd like to do that...

If you're staying in Auckland, the Novotel at the airport offers a day room (although booking it means ringing them as I couldn't find any way to book this online). Then you could Uber into the city and your final hotel. We stayed at the very central and rather wonderful Braemar B&B - quirky, eccentric, friendly, fun. Otherwise, the Hilton at the Quayside is good.

Recommendation: take the ferry to Waiheke Island, then catch the bus to the incredible beach at Onetangi and get lunch at the Boathouse overlooking the South Pacific. Great food, great atmosphere, great views!

Enjoy yourself!

pumatwin

Many Thanks for the useful information.

Kiwi Flyer

Any good hotel will happily store your bags on arrival until a room becomes available, and should be able to indicate a time for when this is likely.

You can then enjoy breakfast and explore the city or surrounds.

Grace B

Flew DOH-AKL in J a few days ago and really enjoyed the 16 hour flight.

I was a bit apprehensive beforehand because of the older style 772LR seats, but as luck would have it, I was able to select a window seat in row 1, with the aisle seat next to me being empty. The J cabins were overall about 70% full.

The lie-flat seat was comfortable and there was oceans of room with the bulkhead, and it was quite private being in the corner. Noise from the galley wasn't at all obtrusive, but I wouldn't have wanted to have either of the middle seats in row 1. Catering and attentive Romanian flight attendants were top notch.

Overall a nice experience all round.

florens

Two friends of mine booked a trip to AKL exOSL and are already very excited about their first trip in business class. I am pretty jealous I must say!