New MIQ Process
Monday morning was the first day of the “new and improved” MIQ registration program. Right now only existing New Zealand citizens and residents can get into the country without a special waiver. Vaccine status and negative tests don’t play into this at all - though a negative test is required before boarding a flight if you’re lucky enough to score a spot in New Zealand’s Managed Isolation and Quarantine program. Everyone has to spend 14 days in MIQ. For numerous business and personal reasons, Jon is trying to get back to the US for a few weeks. All of our attempts to get an MIQ spot in the past have been nothing but frustrating and unfruitful, and we’re not alone. There were so many complaints about how it is next to impossible to get MIQ spots and requires refreshing the website for hours on end with no luck, that the government decided to implement a new program that includes a few key changes:
Announcements ahead of time when rooms become available
A virtual waiting room that randomizes the order in which people enter the MIQ site
Any rooms that are relinquished are added to the next room drop so people aren’t constantly refreshing their web browsers to look for re-added rooms
In order to prepare for the chance at getting an MIQ room in this release, I went through all of the flights coming into New Zealand from the US during the two week period we identified as the best time for Jon to return to Auckland. There were flights every two to three days from Los Angeles via Air New Zealand. That’s it. I looked at the total number of flights entering New Zealand on those days and came up with a prioritized list of days most likely to have available spots. If there were only four flights coming in that day, I guessed there would be a higher likelihood of getting a room. On the days when there are nine or ten flights coming in, I guessed there would be fewer. (To be fair, I have no idea if this is accurate or not; I probably should go back 14 days and see how many flights came in to see how many rooms would likely open up.)
An hour before the 9:00 am drop, Jon logged into the MIQ website and began the wait to see where he would fall in the queue waiting for one of the 3,000 rooms released in October, November, and December. Nine o’clock came and everyone was assigned their spot in the line. All of my research was useless because he was number 7,421 - meaning there was pretty much no chance of getting a room. The sad part is that he wasn’t anywhere near the end of the list. Over 31,000 people were trying to get a spot. There are a lot of disappointed people today.
Do I like the new MIQ system? Well, it is better than the old one, but there is still a huge supply and demand issue that make it frustrating. I like that there is a specific time to try for a spot, and I like that there is an element of luck that takes the bots and professional MIQ bookers out of the picture. And generally I am a fan of the MIQ system because it is a wonderful first line of defence against covid. But I think there needs to be a lot more rooms available. Clearly the demand shows how much people want to travel. My fingers are crossed that we’ll be more lucky for the next drop on the 28th of September.
