Article: 6 Things Stopping Me Flying Air New Zealand More

[AFF Editor]

6 Things Stopping Me Flying Air New Zealand More is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

6 Things Stopping Me Flying Air New Zealand More

I fly a lot across the Tasman, but rarely choose Air New Zealand for my flights. Here are six things the Kiwi national carrier could change to change my mind.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[henrus]

I agree that Air NZ is often my last choice across the Tasman and I had no intention of booking them 4x times across this year (the rest I’ve booked are on QF/JQ) but when the price is right then I’ll book Air NZ. During a recent Webjet/Air NZ promo I booked a few BNE-CHC for $134 one way.

Regarding some of the points mentioned:
1. I agree and have been burned before by the cancellation policy. It basically matches that of a low cost carrier!
2. I can see the seat to suit going away very shortly, on most my flights there have only been 3-4 people who’ve booked a seat only fare and they’re loading snacks/paid drinks all just for these few people.
3. 100% agree it’s one of the worst around.
4. This point I disagree with, if you want to earn points book a more expensive fare, this is partly Air NZs fault but also the partner program and exists in a lot of other programs (QF/MH anyone). Regarding the seat selection getting access to the “frequent flyer” seating isn’t actually a star alliance benefit yes in the past they offered it automatically online but it’s since been removed and in theory *Gs shouldn’t be receiving it. Air NZ is also slightly more generous offering *Gs extra hand luggage again not something they have to do. As for the lounge automatically denying access, not a big deal I recently had to show my QF card at a QF lounge because the Alaska Airlines boarding pass had the number but not the program embedded into it.
5/6. Also agree with both with no incentive to reward seats and bonus points/status credits it’s hard to be excited.

Now ignoring all the above I think the biggest point here is missed and that’s schedule. Sure if you want to fly from SYD-AKL then Air NZ has probably got a time that suits but if you’re flying into the South Island or Wellington and want to fly business class or have a choice of times then often you’re limited to Qantas group/partner carriers anyway.

Air NZ have been really struggling with their fleet and it shows unlucky decisions with the 787s and A320s have meant they’ve taken delivery of aircraft and then instantly parked it in Auckland taken the engine off and used it on a different aircraft. Obviously this isn’t their fault as the engine manufacturers told them how many cycles an inspection would be required and it’s turned out to be a lot less however they now don’t have the aircraft to operate a competitive trans Tasman and pacific schedule which is why we’re seating old CX 777s being bought into help.

 

[VPS]

Interesting I never realised their cancellation policy before. That will colour my judgement if going to NZ again

 

[luxury-lizard]

Good article - I certainly agree with the points raised even though many would not apply to someone who travels business class - but can I add: I really don't like their business class seat layout (angled towards the isle) also the schedule is very limited if you want a flight which is not Y only.

I also find the web site very frustrating; in particular if you want to an itinerary with a connection (to say Cook Islands, Vancouver, ..) -they often only offer Y on the trans-Tasman section for the same price as J all the way (you need to call or use a third party site).

 

[henrus]

Interesting I never realised their cancellation policy before. That will colour my judgement if going to NZ again

To be fair it matches the JQ policy.

but can I add: I really don't like their business class seat layout (angled towards the isle) also the schedule is very limited if you want a flight which is not Y only.

This is another good point with works deluxe gone. Once upon at time it was a mini euro business and even came with lounge access… not even offered now.

 

[cambriamarsh]

6 Things Stopping Me Flying Air New Zealand More is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

6 Things Stopping Me Flying Air New Zealand More

I fly a lot across the Tasman, but rarely choose Air New Zealand for my flights. Here are six things the Kiwi national carrier could change to change my mind.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

As a NZ resident I generally avoid NZ. As mentioned the Airpoints scheme is dreadful and air fares from NZ to Aus are generally more than QF and JQ.

Another point to keep in mind is that NZ really hammers domestic travellers. Compare JQ and NZ fares like for like and a 50% or more difference is not unusual. Once you get off the main trunk routes with competition NZ really prices very high, eg $400 plus for CHC ZQN at short notice. Thus is a 40 minutes flight!

NZ charges the "locals" price premium to the max.

 

[jb747]

Having just read the article, most of the objections seem to relate to points. I’ve just used them to get over to NZ, and they were appreciably better than the airline I used to get back (though perhaps some of that was the MAX factor). Pricing wasn’t all that different from the alternatives. The only issue that I saw, and QF were guilty too, was that they seemed far more ready to cancel flights after diversions from Queenstown, than V or JQ. End result was a lot of abandoned passengers, when the other two airlines were happily operating. I guess duty hours may have been the problem, but I’d have thought they would have had some mechanism for recovery in place, given that the weather was exactly as forecast.

 

[anat0l]

Once you get off the main trunk routes with competition NZ really prices very high, eg $400 plus for CHC ZQN at short notice. Thus is a 40 minutes flight!

NZ charges the "locals" price premium to the max.

That kind of price wouldn't surprise me - the key points were:

• No competition
• Last minute

A similar regional flight in Australia would also charge quite high under the same conditions. The only main difference is that CHC and (to a lesser extent) ZQN are major population centres in NZ; combined with the short flight time (though irrelevant), the surprise is somewhat magnified.

 

[serfty]

Good Article @AFF Editor

I was an Elite member for 5 years but let it run out - the main reason was your second:

2. “Seats to Suit” doesn’t suit me​

It has changed slightly but back when this was introduced the S2S was:

• "Seat" at base fare
• "Seat + Bag" at base fare + $ giving the above, checked baggage & entertainment
• "Works" at base fare $$ and a meal (with beverages)
• "Works Deluxe" at base fare + $$$ giving the above and a neighbour Free seat guarantee.

Business class was removed from the narrow bodies.

For example back then, on top of the base Seat fare, a MEL-AKL fare may have had loadings of +$30 for bag, +$50 for Works and $100 for Works Deluxe.

Since I rarely check bags and there was no option for seat and a meal without a bag, this made the meal option expensive for me (+$50 on the above example). I may have paid +$20 for a meal without a checked bag, but that additional $30 made it difficult to justify.

Thread 'Air New Zealand - New Trans-Tasman and Pacific Island Structures'

Mar 18, 2010

Air NZ to cut Tasman, Pacific fares

From press releases:

For more than a year we have had a team gaining a better understanding of what customers want from Air New Zealand when flying to/from Australia and the Pacific Islands.

The key finding has been ‘Choice’ – they want to be able to choose how they fly.

Today Air New Zealand is pleased to launch our new Australia and Pacific Islands service/product offering for sales from 29 April 2010 ex Christchurch to Sydney then progressively introduced on other Australian and Pacific Island routes.

We have developed four new...

• kamchatsky
• Replies: 54
• Forum: Air New Zealand | Airpoints

I had well and truly abandoned Airpoints by the time they rationalised somewhat to the current three bands.

 

[Disco]

Interesting article. I had no idea about the cancellation/refund policy and it is rather annoying if ANZ cancels flight for whatever reason. We are travelling on ANZ for the simple reason it is the only direct flight albeit at an uncongenial time in the morning. The flight is also booked out which indicates a level of demand and apparently Qantas will also fly the route directly in 2026 (PER- AUK). However, having had negative experiences with Qantas in the past, I do not have any level of trust in their customer service. Not interested in the Air Points programme and do agree that ANZ are very stingy with the release of award seats to partner airlines. Thank you to Matt for checking on Seats Aero (made a mental note) that there was nothing available in the time frame in which we were interested. Annoying as it is a good way to use points. Given the seeming popularity of the route it is probably understandable from ANZ point of view. Not from mine obviously. We have friends who have travelled the route on a regular basis and highly recommend ANZ ahead of any of the Aus airlines. Possibly because the bar is not that high - how low can you go (as the song says). My back can only just handle 5 hours on a Virgin trans Aus economy flight. Good to be forewarned about the uncompromising cancellation policy, I hope it doesn't become an issue.