Connection missed this morning by AirNZ in Auckland from JFK flight and Brisbane flight.

[MMDown Under]

My daughter has just missed her connection in Auckland between her 18 hour long haul flight from JFK to Auckland and Auckland to Brisbane Airports.  The Brisbane flight was still there, but because they'd already started boarding, it was too late.  Years ago The same thing happened to us and a few others, so they upgraded us all to business class.  I hope they do that for my daughter.

She had to throw out her cans of Canadian Dry.

She said her combined seat was very comfy and she slept well.  She said on Air NZ that option is better than both premium and business class.

Moral of the story.  OK to fly from JFK to Auckland and have a holiday in Auckland, but not OK to book a connecting flight to Brisbane.  Two fails out of two!!

She is now scheduled to arrive in Brisbane at 5 pm Qld. time!

[MicCanberra]

To tight a connection, you would think they would allow for a slight delay

[cruiser3775]

How long was the connection time at Auckland?

[ceeceeDee]

When we flew Air NZ San Francisco to Brisbane via Auckland, we had around a 2 hour stopover at Auckland. It was great to have time to stretch our legs and not panic about rushing to make a connection. We also ended up having breakfast twice on the one day.😉 Once on the long haul and then when we boarded for Brisbane.

[MMDown Under]

58 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

To tight a connection, you would think they would allow for a slight delay

It was an official through flight via Auckland.  However she was worried on the 18 hour journey as they kept loosing time, so she wondered if they would make the connection.  What made it worse, the Brisbane flight was running late and was still there, so she went to check in but was told she was too late.

We are having a short holiday in NZ in January, otherwise she would have taken a short holiday en route to Brisbane.  

37 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

How long was the connection time at Auckland?

I don't know, but it was sufficient originally but they kept loosing time en route so obviously insufficient time.

[Aus Traveller]

In August I was on a similar flight - JFK to Brisbane. Mine was with QANTAS. We left New York more than an hour late because of congestion, but we still arrived in Auckland on time. There was a couple of hours' lay-over between that flight and the Brisbane one.

[Jean C]

A flight I was on a few years back experienced a few delays. Before landing an announcement was made saying that there was a family on board with what was now a very tight connecting flight and would passengers kindly remain in their seats to allow this family to disembark first. To their credit, everyone stayed seated. The family raced off the plane to a waiting cart and were whisked off to their next flight. I believe they caught the flight but doubt their luggage was so lucky 🙁 But all credit to the airline for going the extra mile for them.

[arxcards]

Ship happens, even on planes. Some of my worst days travelling have been from missed connections. Hopefully plan B is comfortable and on time.

[MicCanberra]

Yep, travel can be stressful 

[colourbird]

3 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

To tight a connection, you would think they would allow for a slight delay

 

A couple of weeks ago, during our return journey from Miami, USA to Australia, we had a layover in Houston. The scheduled time between our connecting flights was one hour and 25 minutes. We rushed between terminals and upon reaching the gate for the Sydney flight, had only 10 minutes to spare. The multiple delays during the initial flight added to my growing sense of unease, but it all worked out well in the end.

[Tranquility Base]

4 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

It was an official through flight via Auckland.  However she was worried on the 18 hour journey as they kept loosing time, so she wondered if they would make the connection.  What made it worse, the Brisbane flight was running late and was still there, so she went to check in but was told she was too late.

 

Did she have the 2nd sector boarding pass already issued when she initially checked in at JFK ?
If yes, did she raise her concerns regarding the connection timings with the Inflight Service Manager / Chief Purser whilst onboard the flight to AKL ?

 

Checking on arrangements for passengers with tight connections is a valuable part of the incoming flight crew’s service.

On some occasions priority can be given so passengers can still make the connection.

Edited December 6, 2023 by Tranquility Base

[Bubbeh]

5 hours ago, arxcards said:

Ship happens, even on planes. Some of my worst days travelling have been from missed connections. Hopefully plan B is comfortable and on time.

I'm a bloody worry wart not to mention a very nervous flyer.  With this in mind I never book connections but rather arrive at least 24 hours before the next leg.  This might cost me a night's accommodation but, that's a price I'm more than willing to pay for peace of mind.

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, Bubbeh said:

I'm a bloody worry wart not to mention a very nervous flyer.  With this in mind I never book connections but rather arrive at least 24 hours before the next leg.  This might cost me a night's accommodation but, that's a price I'm more than willing to pay for peace of mind.

 

1 hour ago, Bubbeh said:

I'm a bloody worry wart not to mention a very nervous flyer.  With this in mind I never book connections but rather arrive at least 24 hours before the next leg.  This might cost me a night's accommodation but, that's a price I'm more than willing to pay for peace of mind.

Totally agree Bubbeh, no tight flights for me, have a relaxing night in a motel or hotel or precruise, nice meal and some vino. Way to go.

[onlyslightlymad]

The immigration and customs procedures in Auckland are an absolute nightmare at the moment.  i strongly recommend that anyone making a domestic to international connection through AKL allows three hours.

[Tranquility Base]

1 hour ago, onlyslightlymad said:

The immigration and customs procedures in Auckland are an absolute nightmare at the moment.  i strongly recommend that anyone making a domestic to international connection through AKL allows three hours.

What has happened since October ?
We flew to Europe from AKL in October and it was straight forward thru electronic passport control, and security was no more than 15 minutes.

This was at 6:30 pm.

[onlyslightlymad]

27 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

What has happened since October ?
We flew to Europe from AKL in October and it was straight forward thru electronic passport control, and security was no more than 15 minutes.

This was at 6:30 pm.

It does depend on the day and the time of day, but when a whole lot of flights come in at once it just all falls over.  Not enough staff, poor systems.  

My daughter was flying from Dunedin to Melbourne via Auckland, allowed a couple of hours transit time and got stuck in a queue.  She just managed to make her Melbourne flight by running.

There's lots of incidents in the press with annoyed customers

https://www.odt.co.nz/star-news/star-national/huge-crowds-and-delays-cause-chaos-auckland-airport

Edited December 6, 2023 by onlyslightlymad

[MMDown Under]

8 minutes ago, onlyslightlymad said:

It does depend on the day and the time of day, but when a whole lot of flights come in at once it just all falls over.  Not enough staff, poor systems.  

My daughter was flying from Dunedin to Melbourne via Auckland, allowed a couple of hours transit time and got stuck in a queue.  She just managed to make her Melbourne flight by running.

There's lots of incidents in the press with annoyed customers

https://www.odt.co.nz/star-news/star-national/huge-crowds-and-delays-cause-chaos-auckland-airport

My daughter said she saw the Brisbane plane was still there so she ran to it,  but they wouldn't let her on the plane "because they had started boarding".  Seems strange but I may have got that wrong.  Air NZ is now off my list, because they wouldn't let a young adult female travelling on her own into the Lounge to rest after 18 hour long haul flight (21 hours from hotel).  I tried to help from Australia to no avail.  The man on the phone was rude.  The chat function was useless only answering standard questions on repeat.    What has happened to Air NZ?  When the same situation happened to my husband and I and 3 others years ago, Air NZ Auths put us all into Business Class.  Turned a negative situation into a positive one.  Air NZ used to be my favourite airline, when they had an Office in Brisbane and flew to South Pacific Islands. I just can't understand how this can happen to an airline which had the nicest staff,  There is so much I love about the airline, with its sense of humour, its innovative seat couch (which my daughter loved better than Air NZ business and Premium Class), its accent, its lamb.   I think I'm so annoyed, because Aussies feel Kiwi are like family. I'm about to fly with Air NZ one last time in January.

[onlyslightlymad]

54 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

My daughter said she saw the Brisbane plane was still there so she ran to it,  but they wouldn't let her on the plane "because they had started boarding".  Seems strange but I may have got that wrong.  Air NZ is now off my list, because they wouldn't let a young adult female travelling on her own into the Lounge to rest after 18 hour long haul flight (21 hours from hotel).  I tried to help from Australia to no avail.  The man on the phone was rude.  The chat function was useless only answering standard questions on repeat.    What has happened to Air NZ?  When the same situation happened to my husband and I and 3 others years ago, Air NZ Auths put us all into Business Class.  Turned a negative situation into a positive one.  Air NZ used to be my favourite airline, when they had an Office in Brisbane and flew to South Pacific Islands. I just can't understand how this can happen to an airline which had the nicest staff,  There is so much I love about the airline, with its sense of humour, its innovative seat couch (which my daughter loved better than Air NZ business and Premium Class), its accent, its lamb.   I think I'm so annoyed, because Aussies feel Kiwi are like family. I'm about to fly with Air NZ one last time in January.

The problems at the airport are more to do with the airport authority than Air NZ.  Air NZ are very short staffed, as is everyone else in NZ at the moment and for the first time ever have outsourced some of their call centres to overseas.  As to the Lounge, I do know the lounge is pretty overcrowded at the best of times.  They've been way too generous with letting whole families in on one member pass, which has not made other members too happy.  It may well be that the lounge was full.

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, onlyslightlymad said:

The problems at the airport are more to do with the airport authority than Air NZ.  Air NZ are very short staffed, as is everyone else in NZ at the moment and for the first time ever have outsourced some of their call centres to overseas.  As to the Lounge, I do know the lounge is pretty overcrowded at the best of times.  They've been way too generous with letting whole families in on one member pass, which has not made other members too happy.  It may well be that the lounge was full.

Yes, I said she should have checked again later as lounge occupancy depends on the number of flights. 

I have quite a bit of experience missing connections due airlines scheduling/weather conditions in hubs in the USA.  I have never had staff not care.  Our family of four have been run across Chicago Airport to make a connection from London to Orlando.  We made it.  You just can't do it on your own in a strange airport.  I'd say their call centre person was overseas.  He kept telling me he wasn't at Auckland Airport.

He had an unfriendly voice so different to the friendly call centre staff in Florida, who I spoke with on three separate occasions booking on line with Virgin Voyages.  I am a senior who doesn't even understand "aps" so not the easiest of clients.  But I understand and appreciate excellent service.  Happy staff are the most valuable resource business has.  

[Jean C]

I understood that if a journey was booked on one ticket, ie booked all the way from  eg, the States to Brisbane and it just so happened that the journey was via Auckland (rather than a ticket from, eg, the States to Auckland and then a separate ticket from Auckland to, eg, Brisbane) then if the connection is missed through no fault of the passenger, then the airline took total care of the passenger, rebooking them, arranging accommodation if needed etc. Was that not the case? 

 

If I travel internationally with connections then I would allow no less than 3 hours between flights, despite what a travel agent would say is okay. An agent a few years ago tried to allow 1.5 hours at LA to get from International to Domestic - far too tight for my liking so I insisted on more time. I'd rather twiddle my thumbs at an airport than be stressed or have the inconvenience of a missed connection 🥴

[colourbird]

15 minutes ago, Jean C said:

I understood that if a journey was booked on one ticket, ie booked all the way from  eg, the States to Brisbane and it just so happened that the journey was via Auckland (rather than a ticket from, eg, the States to Auckland and then a separate ticket from Auckland to, eg, Brisbane) then if the connection is missed through no fault of the passenger, then the airline took total care of the passenger, rebooking them, arranging accommodation if needed etc. Was that not the case? 

 

If I travel internationally with connections then I would allow no less than 3 hours between flights, despite what a travel agent would say is okay. An agent a few years ago tried to allow 1.5 hours at LA to get from International to Domestic - far too tight for my liking so I insisted on more time. I'd rather twiddle my thumbs at an airport than be stressed or have the inconvenience of a missed connection 🥴

 

When we checked in at Miami for our trip to Sydney, we were each given two boarding passes. One for Miami to Houston and the other for Houston to Sydney. All we needed to do at Houston was go from one terminal to another then wait near the boarding gate for 10 minutes. Our luggage was transferred to the 2nd plane and we didn't have to do anything or interact with anyone. We didn't even have to show our boarding pass as they scanned our faces.

[Aus Traveller]

27 minutes ago, Jean C said:

I understood that if a journey was booked on one ticket, ie booked all the way from  eg, the States to Brisbane and it just so happened that the journey was via Auckland (rather than a ticket from, eg, the States to Auckland and then a separate ticket from Auckland to, eg, Brisbane) then if the connection is missed through no fault of the passenger, then the airline took total care of the passenger, rebooking them, arranging accommodation if needed etc. Was that not the case? 

 

If I travel internationally with connections then I would allow no less than 3 hours between flights, despite what a travel agent would say is okay. An agent a few years ago tried to allow 1.5 hours at LA to get from International to Domestic - far too tight for my liking so I insisted on more time. I'd rather twiddle my thumbs at an airport than be stressed or have the inconvenience of a missed connection 🥴

I agree with all your comments.🙂

[Tranquility Base]

8 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

My daughter said she saw the Brisbane plane was still there so she ran to it,  but they wouldn't let her on the plane "because they had started boarding".  Seems strange but I may have got that wrong.  

Was her AKL - BNE boarding pass issued when she checked in at JFK or was it issued in AKL ?
 

Edited December 7, 2023 by Tranquility Base

[MMDown Under]

I haven't seen her because she only got home Wednesday night exhausted.  But I'll ask her. I know she had an Air NZ skycouh ticket from JFK to Auckland (18 hours direct + check in) but I don't know if they are available from Auckland to Brisbane.  She was scheduled to arrive in Brisbane at 9 am. When I looked on line it looked like the one ticket.. She said sky couch was more comfortable than premium economy and business  on Air NZ.  She flew over to NY from Phuket business class and said it was first class.  She said the attendant noticed she had a very short stopover, in Doha so walked her to the front of the line for a shower, which is like gold coming from the heat of Phuket.  .  

[MMDown Under]

7 hours ago, colourbird said:

 

When we checked in at Miami for our trip to Sydney, we were each given two boarding passes. One for Miami to Houston and the other for Houston to Sydney. All we needed to do at Houston was go from one terminal to another then wait near the boarding gate for 10 minutes. Our luggage was transferred to the 2nd plane and we didn't have to do anything or interact with anyone. We didn't even have to show our boarding pass as they scanned our faces.

Yes, my daughter had two boarding passes one to Auckland and one to Brisbane.  She said although the Brisbane plane was there, they had closed the books on the flight, so she couldn't catch that flight.  She confirmed there are no 

 

4 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

Was her AKL - BNE boarding pass issued when she checked in at JFK or was it issued in AKL ?
 

Both passes issued in JFK,

 

3 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

I haven't seen her because she only got home Wednesday night exhausted.  But I'll ask her. I know she had an Air NZ skycouh ticket from JFK to Auckland (18 hours direct + check in) but I don't know if they are available from Auckland to Brisbane.  She was scheduled to arrive in Brisbane at 9 am. When I looked on line it looked like the one ticket.. She said sky couch was more comfortable than premium economy and business  on Air NZ.  She flew over to NY from Phuket business class and said it was first class.  She said the attendant noticed she had a very short stopover, in Doha so walked her to the front of the line for a shower, which is like gold coming from the heat of Phuket.  .  

In the end she used another Lounge Pass she had through her credit card, because she needed to be able to relax.