{"id":27756,"date":"2025-09-17T12:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T12:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/27756\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T12:53:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T12:53:11","slug":"school-holiday-travel-auckland-airport-picks-triple-peak-for-busiest-days-airlines-provide-advice-on-beating-queues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/27756\/","title":{"rendered":"School holiday travel: Auckland Airport picks \u2018triple peak\u2019 for busiest days, airlines provide advice on beating queues"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s best to take careful note of check-in times from your airline,\u201d Tasker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can differ depending on where and who customers are flying with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Domestic departures would likely have a \u201ctriple peak\u201d across three Fridays, the airport said.<\/p>\n

This Friday was expected to be the busiest, with more than 15,000 domestic departures. <\/p>\n

For domestic arrivals, Friday will be the busiest since March. <\/p>\n

And for international departures, it will be the busiest day since April.<\/p>\n

But September 26 was expected to be busy too, as was October 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been changes at domestic parking,\u201d Tasker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teams are prepared for the busy period, including our transport team, and we\u2019ll have additional staffing on the ground to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs always during peak travel periods, we also have contingencies in place in case of any congestion,\u201d he told the Herald.<\/p>\n

He said Customs and Aviation Security (AvSec) screening at the international terminal would open at 4.30am.<\/p>\n

AvSec had new scanners at Auckland and most travellers no longer had to remove laptops, tablets or phones during screening.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy advice to travellers is to come prepared to ensure those processes run as smoothly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Travellers could speed things up by emptying pockets, removing any over-the-ankle footwear, and keeping laptops and electronics in carry-on bags.<\/p>\n

He said flyers could also save time by checking they weren\u2019t carrying prohibited goods<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Auckland Airport also said pre-booking parking online guaranteed the best value and choice, from Park & Ride to premium options closer to the terminal.<\/p>\n

For anyone returning from overseas, Tasker said at busy times an express lane would operate, prioritising those with nothing to declare.<\/p>\n

Christchurch was the top destination for domestic travel from Auckland, followed by Wellington and Queenstown.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always a busy time for both international and domestic travel,\u201d said Board of Airline Representatives (Barnz) executive director Cath O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n

\u201cAirlines do their best to ensure operations are as smooth as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien said New Zealand\u2019s volatile weather and unpredictable high winds could cause some disruption but airlines would do their best to manage that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important to allow sufficient time to get to the airport, and that includes time to park, if you\u2019re driving.\u201d<\/p>\n

But getting to the airport long before AvSec screening opened at 4.30am was probably a bit pointless or likely to mean a long time waiting, she said.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien said with a variety of building projects on at Auckland, the airport layout may be different for visitors who hadn\u2019t travelled for a while.<\/p>\n

She also advised those who wanted to check in luggage to keep an eye out for bag drop deadlines.<\/p>\n

It was usually a smart idea to complete as many tasks online as possible, O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n

Some flights had online services for check-in, seat selection, or bag drop details, and that could save people time compared to queueing or visiting physical kiosks.<\/p>\n

For international travellers, Australia, China and Fiji were the top destinations.<\/p>\n

And the main countries of origin would be Australia, China and the US.<\/p>\n

The school holidays start this Saturday and end on Sunday, October 5.<\/p>\n

John Weekes<\/a> is a business journalist covering aviation. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s best to take careful note of check-in times from your airline,\u201d Tasker said. \u201cIt can differ depending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1665,17622,2681,6224,51,14796,27562,4731,27564,14736,2082,4999,189,111,43,139,69,90,13028,27560,16654,27563,4062,1961,274,27561,1533,379],"class_list":["post-27756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-advice","tag-airlines","tag-airport","tag-airports","tag-auckland","tag-beating","tag-busiest","tag-days","tag-departures","tag-domestic","tag-for","tag-friday","tag-holiday","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-peak","tag-picks","tag-provide","tag-queues","tag-school","tag-this","tag-travel","tag-triple","tag-will","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}