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The twelve top travel tips over the holidays ✈️
Airports will be busier than ever this holiday period. Here are our top travel tips to help you prepare:
✨ Make sure you are travel ready. This means making sure you have the Air New Zealand app downloaded, you’re carrying photo ID and your carry-on bag weighs less than 7kg. Don’t wait until the last minute to purchase an extra bag or a preferred seat. You can do this online. It’ll save time and you won’t have to queue.
🍬 Children travelling as unaccompanied minors are precious cargo. Remember we need you to remain at the airport until their flight has departed. Please make sure that whoever is collecting them at the other end has their ID with them. Your tamariki are treasures and we won’t deliver them to anyone who can’t provide an ID.
🦌 The safety and comfort of your furry whānau members is important to us. Their carrier must allow them to naturally stand, sit up, turn around and lay down, and should be fitted with a small water container that is easily fillable from the outside. You can find more information on travelling with pets here.
❄ Make sure you know the contents of your checked-in bag and ensure it doesn’t weigh more than 23kg.
🎁 Making sure your checked bag stands out so you can identify it easily on the arrival baggage carousel is a great way to ensure you can move through the airport quickly when your flight arrives at its destination.
🎅🏼 We want all your Christmas gifts to arrive with you in one piece– that might mean putting some things in your carry-on rather than your checked-in luggage. Please take a look at what shouldn’t be in your checked bag here.
⛄ If you’re checking in at the airport, check your seats. If you are group and seated apart, ask one of our team to look at options for you. The earlier you do this, the better your chance of sitting together. It’s generally too late at the gate.
🍪 If you prefer sitting in an exit row, there are some requirements we need you to meet. You can find out more here, your carry-on bag will need to go in the overhead locker.
🛷 Are you travelling with a bulky stroller or a wheelchair? Make sure you add a bag tag. You can still take this through the airport and to the gate if you need to. Just let one of our team know so we can help you at the gate and take it from there.
🔔 Plan to be at the departure gate 30 minutes before departure for a domestic flight or at least 45 minutes for an international flight. Some gates are further away than you might realise, our Airport team are here to help you. Please ask for assistance if you’re worried about making it to the aircraft to board on time.
🤶 Do you need extra time and a hand to help you on board? It’s a good idea to arrive at the gate early. Let a team member know and they will help you board a little early.
🎄 Finally, check you haven’t left anything on the aircraft. Don’t leave passports or valuables in the back of the seat. If you do discover you’re missing an important personal item, you can register your details here for lost property.
Disrupt Reimbursement Consideration
If your journey has been disrupted for a controllable reason, e.g. engineering, or crew shortages, and your new itinerary requires you to stay overnight in a place you do not reside, our airport team will be working hard to secure accommodation for you.
Over peak travel periods, availability is extremely limited and you may be required to source your own accommodation.
As a guideline, we recommend $250.00 per room and $90.00 per person, per night for meals. This is a recommended amount only, and all expenses must be reasonable and supported by itemised tax invoice receipts. Please retain all itemised tax invoice receipts, as they are required for reimbursement consideration.
To find out how to submit your reimbursement request, please click here.
Frequently asked travel queries
Our website is also full of information to help throughout your journey. We recommend checking for details prior to reaching out to our Contact Centre, Social Media, and Email Support teams for further assistance.
Flight Disruptions and your rights:
- Should your flight be affected by a significant delay, cancellation, or schedule change, please click here to explore your options.
Airpoints membership information:
- If you have upcoming flights, sign in to your account to tailor your travel alerts.
- Having trouble signing in? Retrieve your username or reset your password online.
- Easily claim missing Airpoints Dollars via our website.
- Find more helpful tips about Airpoints here.
Flight and booking assistance:
- View, change or cancel bookings, add a seat request or extra bag via Manage Bookings.
- Find out more about credits and refunds here.
- If you hold an existing credit with us, view and use yours with our online credit tool.
Travel information:
- Review your travel requirements and check if you need a pre-departure test.
- You're able to view airport maps and specific details for when you're transiting via some ports here.
Other points to keep in mind:
- For customers looking to use a credit to make a new booking, please note that credits can't be combined with Airpoints Dollars. Once your credit has been applied, any remaining amount will need to be paid for using a credit/debit card or via POLi internet banking.
- Prepaid extra baggage is only available when your journey is solely operated by Air New Zealand. If another airline makes up part of your journey, excess baggage fees will apply at check-in based on the baggage rules of your ticket.
- While you are not required to show proof of vaccination to travel on an Air New Zealand operated service, any vaccination and pre-departure testing requirements of your transit or destination countries still apply.
- As of 20 October 2022, you are no longer required to complete a New Zealand Traveller Declaration.
We also recommend downloading the Air NZ app to stay up to date with your bookings.