Clearing Customs

[jkmmah]

Coming from the USA. How long should I expect it to take to clear customs in Aukland? Then flying Aukland to Sydney, how long is customs taking there? Just trying to gauge what to expect at both places. Thank you!

[Aus Traveller]

I haven't experienced any delays and have gone straight through but that doesn't mean it will always be like that. 

[rkmw]

2 hours ago, jkmmah said:

Coming from the USA. How long should I expect it to take to clear customs in Aukland? Then flying Aukland to Sydney, how long is customs taking there? Just trying to gauge what to expect at both places. Thank you!

Depends how many planes have landed , you can walk straight thru or it can take an hour and be careful of the sniffer dogs there 

[buchhalm]

I had two international arrivals in the past 5 weeks. 

Landing at 6.15 am it took from the time I exited the plane to entering the arrivals hall after clearing all formalities 1 hour and 50 minutes.

 

Landing at 3.30 pm, the entire process took 40 minutes.

[MMDown Under]

I find NZ Customs very efficient.

[cruiser3775]

Depends on whether you have something to declare. If you are carrying food or pharmaceuticals etc and tick "yes" to the incoming  questions card, you might take a little longer. If you try to avoid delay by falsely ticking "no", you will possibly spend hours being searched, and fined as well.

Be particularly careful with bringing any food items.

[arxcards]

4 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

Be particularly careful with bringing any food items.

Especially apples. They are particularly sensitive about apples.

[arxcards]

On 2/3/2024 at 12:40 PM, jkmmah said:

Coming from the USA. How long should I expect it to take to clear customs in Aukland? Then flying Aukland to Sydney, how long is customs taking there? Just trying to gauge what to expect at both places. Thank you!

Are you leaving the airport in Auckland? If you are staying airside in transit, you won't need to clear NZ customs.

[LittleFish1976]

Auckland can be very slow. I've stood in a queue for customs at Auckland airport for over an hour (Feb. last year) - just to get through that section, and with nothing to declare. By the way, I then stood in a queue to pick up a pre-booked hire car at one of the major companies within the airport for an hour and ten minutes!

 

It will depend, as others have said, on how busy the airport is at the time but I wouldn't count on it being quick.

[MMDown Under]

On 2/5/2024 at 3:02 PM, LittleFish1976 said:

Auckland can be very slow. I've stood in a queue for customs at Auckland airport for over an hour (Feb. last year) - just to get through that section, and with nothing to declare. By the way, I then stood in a queue to pick up a pre-booked hire car at one of the major companies within the airport for an hour and ten minutes!

 

It will depend, as others have said, on how busy the airport is at the time but I wouldn't count on it being quick.

We have a taxi driver who picks up at the airport, which is quick. In the past we’ve had rental car companies pick us up at the airport and take us to their off airport offices for our pre booked car.

[LittleFish1976]

2 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

We have a taxi driver who picks up at the airport, which is quick. In the past we’ve had rental car companies pick us up at the airport and take us to their off airport offices for our pre booked car.

I'm sure I could have got a taxi faster but I needed to have the car from that point onwards. And the off-site rental companies are fine if you're arriving within their business hours which is not always the case. Also, if you have an early morning departure you can leave the car at their off-site depot and post the key through the letterbox but you then have to have a way of getting those last few kms to the airport (which if you're a solo female traveller can be tricky - I don't want to be standing in an out-of-the-way industrial area at 5am waiting for a cab in the dark!).

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, LittleFish1976 said:

I'm sure I could have got a taxi faster but I needed to have the car from that point onwards. And the off-site rental companies are fine if you're arriving within their business hours which is not always the case. Also, if you have an early morning departure you can leave the car at their off-site depot and post the key through the letterbox but you then have to have a way of getting those last few kms to the airport (which if you're a solo female traveller can be tricky - I don't want to be standing in an out-of-the-way industrial area at 5am waiting for a cab in the dark!).

I know what you mean.  We passed through Hawaii once when it was expensive peak season so decided to rent an old car and drive to the other beautiful side of the island.  We had a wonderful day.  Both daughters slept on back seat until we left the car in an isolated dark industrial area.  Key left on sun shield. 
Worked well. Probably wouldn’t be game enough to do it again.