New Zealand Travel Bubble Announcement

[lovetravellingoz]

Aren't NZ vac rates already at 70%+ double juiced?

Looking at their official site it has the 12+ population at 68% second dose.

 

[jakeseven7]

Looking at their official site it has the 12+ population at 68% second dose.

View attachment 262797

Do they even have a road map?

 

[Berlin]

Yes but not good enough for their government to open though, which is frustrating a lot of kiwis

Yes, but the Kiwi government is extra special and insists on 90%. Good luck with that!

Can't wait to get outa here tbh, this is becoming extremely ridiculous...

 

[justinbrett]

Yes, but the Kiwi government is extra special and insists on 90%. Good luck with that!

Can't wait to get outa here tbh, this is becoming extremely ridiculous...

I feel the same and I'm not even there.

I've got a bunch of credits from a cancelled trip in July, including return vehicle on the interislander - but I don't want to go anymore and will just write off the credits.

 

[NZflygirl]

Do they even have a road map?

Sort of…it’s a roadmap without a timeline. It’s tied to vaccination rates amongst the DHBs, following the 90% vax rate it’s subsequently tied to the stupid traffic light system which is tied to I think hospital/ICU capacity which apparently NZ is second to last in the OECD. So held hostage by an underfunded health system hence the demand by govt for a high vaccine rate. Maybe they should have started fixing that last year.

But again they seem too stupid to open to the covid zero states and insist on placing people in MIQ. What a waste of resources when they’re letting COVID positive people isolate at home now.

I’m not expecting anything magical in this weeks announcements and I’m not sure our reporters are smart enough to ask the tough questions like… does it make any sense wasting MIQ spots on people from covid zero states? The answer is obvious. Not sure where NZ is at with their border pass… but, like with most things I’m just going to say they’re behind.

It is crazy holding lockdown in Auckland for so many people that did the right thing and got vaccinated. But they don’t have the vaccine certificates ready to even open hospitality/retail. Given they’re not ruling out lockdowns in places with low vaccination rates, why don’t they just do lockdowns now with places with low vax rates for their own protection and let the vaccinated reopen with digital certificates?

 

[Princess Fiona]

Sort of…it’s a roadmap without a timeline. It’s tied to vaccination rates amongst the DHBs, following the 90% vax rate it’s subsequently tied to the stupid traffic light system which is tied to I think hospital/ICU capacity which apparently NZ is second to last in the OECD. So held hostage by an underfunded health system hence the demand by govt for a high vaccine rate. Maybe they should have started fixing that last year.

But again they seem too stupid to open to the covid zero states and insist on placing people in MIQ. What a waste of resources when they’re letting COVID positive people isolate at home now.

I’m not expecting anything magical in this weeks announcements and I’m not sure our reporters are smart enough to ask the tough questions like… does it make any sense wasting MIQ spots on people from covid zero states? The answer is obvious. Not sure where NZ is at with their border pass… but, like with most things I’m just going to say they’re behind.

It is crazy holding lockdown in Auckland for so many people that did the right thing and got vaccinated. But they don’t have the vaccine certificates ready to even open hospitality/retail. Given they’re not ruling out lockdowns in places with low vaccination rates, why don’t they just do lockdowns now with places with low vax rates for their own protection and let the vaccinated reopen with digital certificates?

It is interesting to watch what is unfolding over in NZ. It was clear many, many weeks ago that the lockdown wasn’t going to eliminate Covid. The narrative has followed similar paths to here “people breaking the rules” etc.
It took a while for the Govt to shift publicly from elimination to mass vaccination as a means to lifting restrictions but I suspect privately they reconciled to this a long time ago.
The next part of the narrative is to get the NZ public at least in Auckland to realize that they are at greater risk of covid from randoms in the street than they are from fully vaccinated travellers.
Once that happens MIQ shifts goals

 

[jb747]

The next part of the narrative is to get the NZ public at least in Auckland to realize that they are at greater risk of covid from randoms in the street than they are from fully vaccinated travellers.

Well, the obvious government solution at that point would be to permanently keep everyone off the street.

 

[jakeseven7]

Sort of…it’s a roadmap without a timeline. It’s tied to vaccination rates amongst the DHBs, following the 90% vax rate it’s subsequently tied to the stupid traffic light system which is tied to I think hospital/ICU capacity which apparently NZ is second to last in the OECD. So held hostage by an underfunded health system hence the demand by govt for a high vaccine rate. Maybe they should have started fixing that last year.

But again they seem too stupid to open to the covid zero states and insist on placing people in MIQ. What a waste of resources when they’re letting COVID positive people isolate at home now.

I’m not expecting anything magical in this weeks announcements and I’m not sure our reporters are smart enough to ask the tough questions like… does it make any sense wasting MIQ spots on people from covid zero states? The answer is obvious. Not sure where NZ is at with their border pass… but, like with most things I’m just going to say they’re behind.

It is crazy holding lockdown in Auckland for so many people that did the right thing and got vaccinated. But they don’t have the vaccine certificates ready to even open hospitality/retail. Given they’re not ruling out lockdowns in places with low vaccination rates, why don’t they just do lockdowns now with places with low vax rates for their own protection and let the vaccinated reopen with digital certificates?

Thank you for the summary in reply… it now makes sense why resentment is building against your Government… wow….. none of this is very sustainable…

 

[Mattg]

Sort of…it’s a roadmap without a timeline. It’s tied to vaccination rates amongst the DHBs, following the 90% vax rate it’s subsequently tied to the stupid traffic light system which is tied to I think hospital/ICU capacity which apparently NZ is second to last in the OECD. So held hostage by an underfunded health system hence the demand by govt for a high vaccine rate. Maybe they should have started fixing that last year.

But again they seem too stupid to open to the covid zero states and insist on placing people in MIQ. What a waste of resources when they’re letting COVID positive people isolate at home now.

I’m not expecting anything magical in this weeks announcements and I’m not sure our reporters are smart enough to ask the tough questions like… does it make any sense wasting MIQ spots on people from covid zero states? The answer is obvious. Not sure where NZ is at with their border pass… but, like with most things I’m just going to say they’re behind.

It is crazy holding lockdown in Auckland for so many people that did the right thing and got vaccinated. But they don’t have the vaccine certificates ready to even open hospitality/retail. Given they’re not ruling out lockdowns in places with low vaccination rates, why don’t they just do lockdowns now with places with low vax rates for their own protection and let the vaccinated reopen with digital certificates?

Pretty much sums it up. I came over to NZ this year thinking they were managing things a lot better than in Australia. It seems I have been proven wrong. After 2+ months living through Auckland's lockdown (and with no end to the lockdown in sight, just a vague roadmap) I'm now looking forward to returning to Australia next week.

 

[Berlin]

Pretty much sums it up. I came over to NZ this year thinking they were managing things a lot better than in Australia. It seems I have been proven wrong. After 2+ months living through Auckland's lockdown (and with no end to the lockdown in sight, just a vague roadmap) I'm now looking forward to returning to Australia next week.

Couldn't agree more. I had been quite proud of our little government here in the past 3 or so years of living 'across the ditch'. Hey- I even gave Jacinda my vote last year! But none of her signature good communication style seems to be left, rather overly complicated rules and sub-rules (we're always joking- what level are we currently in, is it stage 3.2.1) and now even a 'traffic light system' which makes it even more senseless.

The truth out on the streets is- compliance is going down rapidly and I can't even blame people for it. We see what's now happening in Sydney and Melbourne with way more Covid cases than we've ever had and they are getting their lives back. And for some reason, any-waxing bike-gang associated bogus 'churches' are happily congregating in thousands for 'anti lockdown' events (massless, for the most of it) and police just 'looks from afar'. Not a surprise then if people say, 'heck- I've been vaccined for ages, why would I continue to lock myself in'?

It's all a big hot mess here right now. And I also agree with the above- the main reason seems to be trying to cover up that a.) we've also done a coughty job securing vaccines early on and b.) the health care system is more dysfunctional than in Australia (from personal experience over here, it's actually really really bad- I had thought the NHS in England is pretty awful but the Kiwi system is even worse from what I can tell).

 

[Mattg]

I agree about the waning compliance. This was my first Kiwi lockdown and at the start, I thought compliance was excellent. The rules were clear and everyone seemed to be doing what the government asked of them. Now, not so much and like you say, I can't blame them. Nobody seems to know exactly what the rules are and we're all over it.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Maybe Dom Perrottet needs to take over in NZ as well...

Of all the announcements about opening up etc so far, I think for me the one that (so far) has surprised me and pleased me the most is the lack of indication (that I've seen anyway) that we are going to be running some kind of complex red/orange/green list in Australia for citizens.

 

[jakeseven7]

Maybe Dom Perrottet needs to take over in NZ as well...

Of all the announcements about opening up etc so far, I think for me the one that (so far) has surprised me and pleased me the most is the lack of indication (that I've seen anyway) that we are going to be running some kind of complex red/orange/green list in Australia for citizens.

It sounds like they are struggling to sell that to their own population let alone another country to be honest…

 

[encryptededdy]

Uh-oh... looks like Air New Zealand just pulled most of the domestic flights between Wellington and Auckland through to the 6th of December.

As a result, there's no WLG -> SYD flights available for booking until 1 December.

My flights haven't been changed or cancelled yet, but I'll see what happens. I'm still just over two weeks out from my lfight.

 

[justinbrett]

View attachment 263089
Uh-oh... looks like Air New Zealand just pulled most of the domestic flights between Wellington and Auckland through to the 6th of December.

As a result, there's no WLG -> SYD flights available for booking until 1 December.

My flights haven't been changed or cancelled yet, but I'll see what happens. I'm still just over two weeks out from my lfight.

Surely WLG-AKL is an essential service

Failing that, it's a nice drive.

 

[henrus]

As a result, there's no WLG -> SYD flights available for booking until 1 December.

I've just had a look, it's still possible to book a multi city WLG-AKL and then AKL-SYD the next day.

My flights haven't been changed or cancelled yet, but I'll see what happens. I'm still just over two weeks out from my lfight.

Keep a very close eye on the app or manage my booking on the website, it'll be the first place that schedule changes appear before they send an email/call. Normally I'd call as soon as I saw this which allowed me to suggest the flights I wanted but I think in this case it's probably best to wait until they come up with options.

Surely WLG-AKL is an essential service

There are still at least one daily WLG-AKL flight on an A320 (and sometimes an extra ATR service). These have been operating consistently throughout the Auckland level 3 lockdown but it does mean there are no connecting options to Australia same day.

 

[encryptededdy]

Keep a very close eye on the app or manage my booking on the website, it'll be the first place that schedule changes appear before they send an email/call. Normally I'd call as soon as I saw this which allowed me to suggest the flights I wanted but I think in this case it's probably best to wait until they come up with options.

Will do. They're not showing as cancelled yet so I'll wait to see what they offer. Hopefully something reasonable.

Otherwise since it's more than 2 weeks out I guess I'll just have to ask them to book me on the domestic flight the day before and I'll find accommodation in Auckland for the night.

They could also just move the ATR service to 15 minutes earlier and then I would make the MCT.

 

[justinbrett]

I've just had a look, it's still possible to book a multi city WLG-AKL and then AKL-SYD the next day.


Keep a very close eye on the app or manage my booking on the website, it'll be the first place that schedule changes appear before they send an email/call. Normally I'd call as soon as I saw this which allowed me to suggest the flights I wanted but I think in this case it's probably best to wait until they come up with options.


There are still at least one daily WLG-AKL flight on an A320 (and sometimes an extra ATR service). These have been operating consistently throughout the Auckland level 3 lockdown but it does mean there are no connecting options to Australia same day.

If I was as keen to get home as I'm sure many people in this thread are, I don't think I'd want to risk a connection anyway. Much safer overnighting in AKL.

 

[encryptededdy]

Kia ora Edward,

Due to the uncertainty of Alert Level restrictions in Aotearoa New Zealand, we have been working through what this means for our schedule and our customers.

This means we need to find an alternative option for your flight on booking xx_xx_:

12 NOV 2021 | NZ412 WELLINGTON-AUCKLAND

We understand you may be feeling uncertain about what this means for your connecting international flight. We are working quickly through our schedule, prioritising the closest departure dates, and we will be in touch as soon as possible with your updated travel details.

 

[justinbrett]

Does that mean they'd fund a hotel if that was the only way to connect?