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.

 

[Shazzadude]

I held gold status with Air New Zealand for a few years, and I’ve bounced between gold and platinum with Qantas since moving to Australia

I agree with all the points you make. Airpoints is a worthless system for earning airpoint dollars, its only value is for collecting status points. Unless I paid for a business class fare it was near impossible to earn enough APD to redeem a flight, whereas in Australia I’ve redeemed points for a number of business class flights on grocery shopping alone.

I think if you’re Australia based you’re much better to focus on Qantas status instead, unless you travel very frequently to NZ which includes domestic connections as there is a decent network of domestic lounges with Air NZ.

If I was to compare each status level though:

-Air New Zealand silver beats Qantas silver. Two free lounge passes a year versus one, but most of all one complimentary upgrade per membership year. These are quite valuable, as the poor value of airpoints dollars means you’re not competing against a huge number of upgrade requests. I know of someone who used their silver complimentary upgrade request recently to go from Y to PE AKL-IAH, Qantas offers nothing similar

-NZ gold beats QF gold. You receive two complimentary upgrades instead of one (I once used two upgrades at once to skip PE and go from Y to J AKL-LAX), and you have access to the full range of domestic lounges on the NZ network, rather than being herded in with the lounge pass holders and Qantas club memberships while the platinum elites get to access a marginally better lounge. In NZ lounges you’re trusted enough as an adult to get your own alcohol, and there’s no 12 pm start time for wine or beer. NZ gold is harder to earn than QF gold, and I think this helps with the quality of offering in food and beverages in the NZ lounges.

-QF platinum beats NZ elite, QF has first class lounges which NZ doesn’t have, and Oneworld has an emerald tier which allows you to access all first class lounges in the OW network bar QR. Star Alliance doesn’t have a tier above gold, so there’s no advantage in being NZ E over NZ G when it comes to lounges on an A* partner

One more point about status earning-NZ you only need to earn a sufficient amount of status points to reach a tier within any 365 day period, while Qantas your membership year is locked to the same period every year. This results in different advantages and disadvantages for both systems,

 

[Captain Halliday]

There’s been a lot of coverage in NZ over the last week or so about Air New Zealand banking ~$20 million in customer money due to expiring g credits.

Air New Zealand expects to bank $20 million of unused credits

"Some may have forgotten these, moved or found travel plans unfeasible," an investment adviser says.

www.rnz.co.nz

 

[cambriamarsh]

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.

The key issue is lack of competition. When JQ had the Dashes in NZ the regional routes they were on had reduced prices.

 

[anat0l]

The key issue is lack of competition. When JQ had the Dashes in NZ the regional routes they were on had reduced prices.

The reality of that is there simply isn't enough of a market on those routes to sustain two (or more carriers. So you live with the lumps and bumps.

Encouraging competition on a route makes no sense when there simply won't be enough passengers to sustain both competitors after the honeymoon period.

 

[randompunter]

The reality of that is there simply isn't enough of a market on those routes to sustain two (or more carriers. So you live with the lumps and bumps.

Encouraging competition on a route makes no sense when there simply won't be enough passengers to sustain both competitors after the honeymoon period.

Yep just like QFlink's monopoly on some Aussie regional routes. Often not practical to book a long way out for work trips.

 

[anat0l]

Yep just like QFlink's monopoly on some Aussie regional routes. Often not practical to book a long way out for work trips.

The irony of that situation is that some of those routes of subsidised and/or regulated.

Not sure any similar framework and/or arrangement exists in New Zealand.

 

[outthere1000]

I also avoid AIr NZ nowadays after many years of flying with them. I gave up when I discovered that a trans-Tasman Economy fare I'd bought that was nowhere near the cheapest they offered in fact gave me zero FF points (Aeroplan member). And then there are those double status points on Qantas...

 

[mr mink]

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.

Interesting forensic examination about why FF status etc with Air NZ does not compute. Being Sydney based and having crept through QF status levels to Plat. for last 4-5 years & with credit card etc points earning, Air NZ has not been a choice for me for SYD-AKL 5-6 trips pa. Other than Xmas 2 years ago when I managed to snag a cheaper than QF fare on Air NZ B789, with that class leading weird aisle seat facing layout & to compare their lounge to QF First. For Kiwis I think they default to Air NZ (good luck with that QF!) despite generally higher prices & 3 fare levels in Y. At least they operate B777 & 789 over the ditch, whereas with QF stuck with all B737, other than QF3 B789 to AKL & sole A330 BNE-AKL.

 

[jswong]

Great article! Of course the decision which carrier you chose for your TT flights depends on multiple factors including FFP. For NZ'er it also depends if you are travelling to/from Auckland vs non-Auckland. Years ago alliance wide benefits were pretty go but now-not so much

To put things into context, I live in Wellington and have QF P1, NZ*E, and UA LTG. The vast majority of my TT is on QF

Things which influence me

• QF does, overall have a better FFP esp if I can maintain P1
• QF DSC as noted has no NZ equivalent
• For destinations in Australia and beyond we get additional SC from the TT flights
• QF have better lounges and fares are often better than NZ

But favouring NZ

• Recognition Upgrades have saved me a ton. For elites can upgrade at the time of booking (availabity good to some detinations)
• For this who qualify beyond elite rollover/banked year is great

So occasionally on a great TT fare will fly NZ (only Y from WLG) or fly via AKL to use the Short Haul Recognition Upgrade. The rest on QF (and mostly also on DSC)

I recognise I am fortunate to have NZ and QF status

 

[Kiwi1]

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.

You certainly have hit the nail on the head. I don't fly across the Tasman often, but if I do it will be Qantas to SYD, BRIS, MELB and perhaps ANZ to ADL or PER [direct flights but would depend on the airfare]. Also ANZ Airpoints expire after 3 years regardless of activity.