We are on our way to Auckland, NZ (AKL) and have 13 hours of layover in San Francisco (SFO). I thought we would be able to hang out gateside for the duration of our layover as they usually check our bags to the destination when departing the USA, but that was not to be.
As we arrived in Terminal 3 which has two restaurants that take Priority Pass, I was hoping to utilize them before going into the International terminal and visiting the KLM Lounge. When we checked into Indianapolis this morning we were told we would have to collect our bags and get our tickets to AKL in SFO. The gate agent claimed the reason was the layover is over six hours.
This dashed my plans of free food and drinks all day, but we decided it was worth the risk to just let our bags wait for a bit at the baggage claim while we got a decent breakfast. We came close to maxing out our $56.00 limit, but that is easy to do in airports when you eat decent food. After breakfast we decided it would be a long time before we wanted food again and we wanted to check on our bags. They had been brought over to the United baggage desk. We asked if we could leave them while we left the airport for a little exploration. Surprisingly the United employee agreed. That was travel hack 1.
This actually gave us a chance to get some fresh air and get away from the airport which was a nice change, but riding buses and dragging carry on bags has its limitations. We decided to return from our adventure early and see if it was possible to check in earlier than the three hours the gate agent had claimed was the earliest to check in.
While eating breakfast I tried checking in online for our SFO to AKL leg, but the United app said I needed to verify my return ticket in order to check in. I thought this might just give me an excuse to bypass the kiosks which United makes economy passengers use to print their tickets, and more importantly the three hour limit imposed by the normal system.
After picking up our bags we dragged them across the airport and took a long shot. Low and behold it worked! I simply approached the agent, told her what the app told me, and she checked us in, took our bags and gave us our tickets over 4 hours before the flight. That was travel hack 2.
By this point I had realized my plan of visiting the KLM lounge was in danger as it was in International Terminal A, not G where our flight departed from. After a little searching online, I found some people had had success with visiting terminals that were different than their flights departure terminal. We approached the TSA checkpoint and after being told it was the wrong terminal, I explained I wanted to go to the lounge and was ok with going through security twice. The TSA employees had no problem with this. Also, having TSA precheck made this a lot easier than going through normal security twice. That was travel hack 3. Now I am sitting in the Lounge after filling myself with free food and writing this little post. I am feeling very Hobbitlike. Maybe even a bit like a burglar.
So while there is a lot to be excited about going to New Zealand, I am still pretty chuffed about pulling off these three "travel hacks."
Now off to Middle Earth and Hobbiton!
Mike
Update: On our United flight to Auckland we were able to sit in Premium Plus seating for no charge. This may have been due to the seats being in the middle of the middle row and nobody choosing those seats. Other premium plus seats would have cost additional money on the website. I appreciated the extra legroom and larger screen, but it was inconvenient when nature called.
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