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Old 09-27-2018, 07:26 AM
 
Location: Buckeye, Arizona
421 posts, read 388,345 times
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We are taking our first overseas flight and family event to New Zealand in about 4 weeks. We have been to Mexico, Canada and Bahamas but never this far.


Our flight leaves PHX on Sunday 10/21 around 4 p.m. and stops over in SFO for a change of planes before heading to Auckland then on to Queenstown.


Will we be able to do all the international check-in in PHoenix, or will they makes us collect our baggage and recheck when we arrive in San Francisco?


The flights change carriers from United to Air New Zealand in SFO. The tickets were booked all the way through though.


I am planning to get there about 3 hours early since I don't want to be rushed and my wife will be using a wheelchair because of limited mobility.
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Old 09-27-2018, 11:45 AM
 
Location: Frisco, TX
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If your itinerary is all on one ticket, they’ll transfer it between United and Air New Zealand. On the way back, you’ll have to collect your backage course because you have to go through customs.
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Old 09-27-2018, 07:53 PM
 
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Your bags should be checked through to AKL from PDX and you should receive boarding passes for your SFO-AKL flight. On the way back, they should be able to tag your bags through to PDX, and give you BPs for the domestic flights, but you will have to collect them at SFO where you will have to take them through customs and then find the bag drop area to send them back on their way to PDX.
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Old 09-30-2018, 12:32 AM
 
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Does United have any international flights out of Phoenix? If not, my hunch is that while your luggage will be checked through the whole way and you’ll get boarding passes, you may still have to present yourselves with your passports at the AirNZ counter in SFO.

Air NZ, as the actual international carrier, has to verify that you have legal permission to enter NZ as airlines who carry passengers who are not authorized are fined by the NZ govt. That means that someone somewhere in the checkin process has to be able to physically eyeball you together with your passport and have the ability to connect electronically to the NZ Immigration Service Advanced Passenger Processing system to verify your eligibility. There’s been a lot of integration amongst the star alliance airlines, but I’d still be extremely surprised if United was able to do that from a domestic terminal in Phoenix - but I could be wrong. It’s worth a phone call to Air NZ to set your mind at rest. 1 800 262 1234.

Also, if you haven’t already, let them know that you’ll be requiring wheelchair assistance. AirNZ generally has excellent customer service.
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Old 09-30-2018, 01:17 AM
 
4,185 posts, read 4,852,199 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cloudwalker View Post

Air NZ, as the actual international carrier, has to verify that you have legal permission to enter NZ as airlines who carry passengers who are not authorized are fined by the NZ govt. That means that someone somewhere in the checkin process has to be able to physically eyeball you together with your passport and have the ability to connect electronically to the NZ Immigration Service Advanced Passenger Processing system to verify your eligibility. There’s been a lot of integration amongst the star alliance airlines, but I’d still be extremely surprised if United was able to do that from a domestic terminal in Phoenix - but I could be wrong. It’s worth a phone call to Air NZ to set your mind at rest. 1 800 262 1234.

Also, if you haven’t already, let them know that you’ll be requiring wheelchair assistance. AirNZ generally has excellent customer service.
I'd be surprised if UA can't handle international checkin at PHX. It would seem incredible if UA-to-UA int pax have to check-in at their port of international embarkation. NZ outsources its check-in function at many outstation airports that it flies to.
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Old 09-30-2018, 08:39 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 4khansen View Post
Our flight leaves PHX on Sunday 10/21 around 4 p.m. and stops over in SFO for a change of planes before heading to Auckland then on to Queenstown.

The flights change carriers from United to Air New Zealand in SFO. The tickets were booked all the way through though.

I am planning to get there about 3 hours early since I don't want to be rushed and my wife will be using a wheelchair because of limited mobility.
It sounds like you are arriving at the airport in Phoenix at 1 PM so that you can catch a flight 7.67 hours later from San Francisco to cross the Pacific that takes 13 hours. You could drive to LA in that time and catch the flight to AKL there. Adding in the 553 nautical miles from AKL to Queensland, all total your door to door trip must be nearly 24 hours.

NZ 7 8:40 PM -> 5:30 AM+2 Travel time: 12h 50m San Francisco International Airport SFO -> Auckland Airport AKL

I must say for someone with limited mobility, that is a pretty ambitious jump in time and distance from trips to Mexico, Canada and Bahamas. I would think that flying nonstop 10 hours to London and then going to pretty towns in the Cotswalds or Edinburgh Scotland or Bergen Norway(BGO) for beautiful scenery would be the next logical step.

Last edited by PacoMartin; 09-30-2018 at 09:26 PM..
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Old 10-08-2018, 07:13 AM
 
Location: Buckeye, Arizona
421 posts, read 388,345 times
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It is ambitious, if our daughter weren't getting married in NZ I doubt we would be trying this. Unfortunately the wedding was planned before my wife's limited mobility issues became apparent from cancer treatment.
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