What to know about Auckland Airport arrivals and departures

Luckily for us, travellers don’t need to understand airport processes or airline operations to get on a flight somewhere exciting.

Most of the time, we can sail through an airport and onto a plane, blissfully unaware of the logistics and systems that, when properly considered, can make one’s head hurt.

However, knowing a little about how things work can help you travel more smoothly, especially if you’re flying on the busiest day of summer.

1. Biosecurity dogs are far more talented than you could imagine

For example, when I went behind the scenes of Auckland Airport last week with chief customer officer Scott Tasker, one thing that truly surprised me was how talented the biosecurity dogs were.

Standing at arrivals, Tasker said he was stopped that month by one of the dogs sniffing his satchel. At first, he was confused because he had no food. Then, the biosecurity officer asked if he typically used the bag to take lunch to work. “That’ll be it,” they said.

MPI biosecurity detector dogs are more talented than you would expect. Photo / George Novak

Similarly, arriving back from a trip in November, I was stopped by a sniffing canine. After a quick chat with the officers, they decided he was smelling orange peel, which had been in my bag eight hours earlier.

2. No plane ticket? You can still go through the airport

If you arrive at the international terminal more than three hours before a flight, you’ll have to wait for check-in to open. What many travellers don’t know is that, instead of waiting around on a bench on level one, you can take the escalators upstairs and hang out in the departures hall.

“Upstairs we’ve got a really good food court there, some nice cafes and restaurants landside that you pass the time in until check-in opens,” Tasker said.

Non-travellers can also hang out here because you need to show only an airline ticket when you start going through Aviation Security.

Travellers and non-travellers can wait in the food court and shops before heading to departures. Photo / Michael Craig

3. The exact point you ‘leave’ New Zealand

It’s there, at Aviation Security, where you’ll officially “leave New Zealand”. While I knew airside was something of a no man’s land, I never knew when exactly I entered it.

Officially, this happens at the smart gates, after pre-security (the small gates where you scan your ticket) but before passing through the baggage scanners.

“You’re exiting the country when you go through the customs checkpoint, where the smart gates are,” Tasker explained.

4. Every airside item is scanned

From this point, you are airside, a place that must be kept completely secure for safety. Travellers know this means they and their belongings must go through scanners.

What I didn’t realise is every single item you’ll find airside — from sugar sachets at a cafe and books at Relay to buffet food in the Koru Lounge or designer perfume at duty-Free stores — has been scanned too.

The OPI nail bar is the latest outlet to open at Auckland International Airport. Photo / Supplied

Ducking through a door behind the check-in desks, Tasker shows us the truck port where vans offload all the food, beverage and duty-free products you find in the terminals. Swiping through another locked door, we enter a room with metal detectors and x-ray machines, just like the ones travellers go through. But instead of scanning carry-on bags, staff are scanning bulk boxes of soft drinks that will end up in a duty-free shop’s fridge.

5. Stuck in a queue? Auckland Airport probably isn’t to blame

Standing in a long, stubborn queue at check-in, the security scanners or biosecurity, it’s easy to think the airport (where you are) is at fault.

This is a common misconception, Tasker explains.

“Auckland Airport’s role is to provide the infrastructure of the airport so the roads, the terminals, the runways and the airfield and all the infrastructure that supports that, so water and electricity,” he said.

“Airlines operate check-in and their flights and board their flights. The border agencies’ job is to do the border clearance processing and security processes.”

Tasker said Auckland Airport strives to work alongside these different groups to make things work, which involves sharing travel forecasts and running four all-in meetings a day during peak periods.

“We work really closely with the airlines, the border agencies and the ground handling agencies that are contracted to do baggage for the airlines,” he said.

However, these groups are ultimately responsible for their operations.

“Ultimately, if there a queue at AvSec, if they don’t have enough staff, we don’t do their roster, they do,” he said. “They are masters of the destiny. We can collaborate with them but ultimately, they will decide how many lanes they’re going to open at any time of the day.”

So, if your bag is lost or you’re frustrated by long queues, solutions are probably found by going to the organisation or agency directly responsible. For luggage, this would be the airline and its ground handler.