Cicerone |
Sep 13th, 2010 06:40 PM |
OK, I am assuming that your Nan is taking the same flight all the way to NZ (same flight number) but there is a stop over in Hong Kong. I assume this is Air New Zealand #38 which arrives into Hong Kong at 4:20 pm from Heathrow, and departs for Auckland at 6 pm.
Hong Kong Airport has a different procedure for stopovers than Singapore airport does, so she will have a little more walking to do. I will explain below.
1. In Hong Kong, when you get off the plane, you are directed down a ramp to the arrivals level. There are no departure lounges or gates on this level. In Singapore, you get off the plane and stay on the <i>same</i> level as the departure lounges and departure gates. Arriving and departing passengers are mixed together on the same level. That is not the case in Hong Kong. So in Hong Kong, once your Nan gets off the plane, all she has to do is get back upstairs one level to the departure area. This is very easy to do, she needs to follow signs for “transit/transfer” and her departure gate number. When she gets off the plane, there will be ground staff who can tell her what departure gate she needs (the gate is in fact directly above her, but she will not be allowed up the ramp to it, she will have to work her way back upstairs to it.) There are also electronic sign boards along the hallway with this information. Her departure gate will also most likely will show up on the TV screen at her seat about a half hour before landing in Hong Kong.
2. To make the journey upstairs to the departure level, she will at some point have to go upstairs either by escalator or lift. She will at some point also have to go through security to make the change from the arrival to departure level. She should just keep following signs for “transfer” and/or her departure gate number.
3. Assuming she is flying NZ Airlines on both sectors, they should be able to give her a boarding pass for both sectors when she checks in at Heathrow. If she is flying different airlines, or if for some reason the airline at her home airport could not give her a boarding pass, then she needs to get a boarding pass for the Hong Kong –NZ sector. This is quite easy to do, she just has to go to the correct transfer desk for her airline. Again, ground staff can give her that information, or she should find it posted on the electronic boards. She will stay on the same arrival level to get the boarding pass, then will go upstairs to the departure level to get to her gate. In either case, as your Nan has made international connections before, she knows that here baggage will be checked through all the way to NZ from Heathrow regardless of what airlines she if flying, so she does not have to worry about that.
4. As she has 90 minutes, assuming the flight is on time, she should have plenty of time to get a boarding pass (if she needs it) and get to her gate. There are plenty of shops and restaurants in the various departure level areas to amuse her should she need amusement. If the flight is late in arriving, she should speak with ground staff when she arrives, so they can expedite getting her upstairs to the departure level.
|