Air New Zealand

Recently flew the last leg of Auckland / London Heathrow round trip with Air New Zealand. All the other legs with Cathy Pacific. Not impressed at all with the business class seating on the 777-200 its hopeless. No privacy whatsoever compared to Cathy Pacific. Due to the inward aisle seating arrangement had at least six people peering at me and visa versa. Not a pleasant experience at all especially at meal times. Food was fine as where the crew on Air New Zealand but thats all. Cathy Pacific 777-300 seating was excellent and the full flat bed was superior to Air New Zealand and it needs no assistance from the crew, unlike Air New Zealand's complicated issue just to break out the bed. Price wise I paid Cathy Pacific around 14,000 NZ dollars for the trip for 2 adults and if I had gone via the US with ANZ they wanted 23,000 NZ dollars. Hence the ANZ rip off. Cathy Pacific for me in the future and I am saying that as a Kiwi

I had great flights with Air New Zealand, but didn't like was having to transit through LAX on my outward journey. In spite of some improvements LAX is still a nightmare. I returned from Auckland to Singapore on AirNZ and transferred to Singapore Airlines for the second half of the journey. The flight attendants on both airlines are great but I found the food, wine, seat and IFE are superior on Air NZ. They also provided a nice amenity bag.

Melbourne to Cork via Auckland, Los Angeles and London. We use Air New Zealand on two or three round trips pa because of its excellent Premium Economy offering. Better seating than other airlines PE on this route. Staff are good and lounges and shower facilities good where operated by Air NZ. Having to transit LA is not as good as it used to be via Hong Kong due to poor airport arrangements and US lack of good transit arrangements. The online booking system really lets Air New Zealand down badly. Try booking from Cork in Ireland and it consistently says no flights are available. Talk to the call centre and their system shows passengers departing Cork having to fly to London then to Vancouver or San Francisco with a connecting flight to join NZ1 in LA. This is despite the Air New Zealand flight (NZ1) leaving from the same terminal in Heathrow as the inbound flight from Cork to Heathrow arrives at! Try booking from London on the same date and NZ1 is available. I have written three times to Air New Zealand about this systems problem, including once to their CEO, and have received absolutely no response and the system problem still remains. Very poor service from an airline that otherwise is good. The result is that for our next flight we are using Singapore Airlines Business Class which was only £200 more than Air New Zealand Premium Economy. Businesses are only as good as their weakest point. The booking system is putting us off Air New Zealand.

This was the first time I had flown with ANZ and impressed by the service. I was originally supposed to fly from Auckland to Paraparaumu, got to the airport and the flight was cancelled. Air New Zealand had automatically booked me on the Wellington flight and arranged a car from Wellington Airport to Paraparaumu. Flight was smooth, inflight service was great, crew friendly and professional. Highly recommended.

Singapore to Auckland on Boeing 787. Felt crammed with seats and very narrow aisles. Sitting by the aisle meant being bumped and pushed by people going past including one of the cabin crew – a big man who banged into me every time he passed and kicked my foot once with never an apology. Seat pitch was OK because the seats are very thin with little padding. Seat belts aren’t very long and if you’re a larger person the buckle is under the armrest which is uncomfortable and awkward to access. IFE was good but no inflight magazine and no entertainment listing. All you get is a food price list and a safety card which was better than the All Blacks safety video. Explored the onscreen offerings which weren’t well laid out. I stumbled on a good TV program that popped up on the screen but couldn’t find tell my partner how to access it. There’s no menu card or indication of what meals and drink service is offered. As one of the cabin crew grumpily instructed the passenger next to us, you have to use the online screen to order a drink. Having figured it out I ordered two drinks and some vege chips (the only food item besides a pre-packed cookie available without paying for it). After a while one of the drinks arrived but not the other one. We asked if it was coming and were told it should be. However it didn’t. Eventually my partner decided to order it again but they’d closed the kitchen. So I rang and asked for the drink. Steward wasn’t happy but finally came back took the order and went and fetched the drink. The food was mediocre served with plastic cutlery on tiny trays. The sparkling and the white wine was shocking quality. The cabin crew service was perfunctory and bored. We never once saw any of them smile and I barely got a muttered Sorry when a stewardess split wine on me. What a contrast to our flight on Singapore Airlines a fortnight earlier when smiling, pleasant staff welcome you on board and offer hot towels before you even take off. You get inflight magazines with a full entertainment guide, complimentary socks/toothpaste amenities in a little zip bag, pre-dinner drinks service with nuts, a printed menu listing the meals, drinks and snacks offered, and proper meal try with metal cutlery. We haven’t travelled Air New Zealand for a while and won’t be again. It felt like a budget airline cutting costs at every opportunity. We’ll go back to booking the Asian airlines with their superior and friendly service.

Auckland to Singapore with Air New Zealand. The aircraft was new and comfortable. Take off and landing very smooth. Cabin crew were very attentive. Plane was about 90% full but pleasant atmosphere was maintained. Supper was okay and breakfast was good. Entertainment selection not so impressive

I had booked into economy for Auckland to Brisbane. Air New Zealand uses a self check in system, only problem being half of the computer had out order signs so not great start. Boarding the aircraft was fine. Air NZ then tell the everyone they have just won an award for service then followed it with poor to average service - to the extent that when order snack from their new ordering system it kept coming up kitchen closed. I the asked a steward if I am able to order a snack, his reply was we are too busy for Taking food order. I then waited 30 mins and tried again still kitchen closed, so I asked another steward and his response was it closed as their no hot food left. I told him I just wanted a snack, he agreed to letting me order a snack, I go tell him what I want unfortunately he could not take my request and said I had to order via the seat back screen once he clicked to open the kitchen again. Which I did and finally got my order. The entertainment onboard was limited unless you wished to pay 10NZDfor a movie. Air New Zealand is an overpriced for what is basically a budget airline service. If it wasn't for the timing I would have flown Emirates, Qantas or China Airlines for the same money. I would say I wouldn't fly Air NZ again but unfortunately I have Cathay Pacific flight booked and they sneaked an Air New Zealand flight in there - hopefully it will be lot better experience.

An awful domestic flight experience, from Queenstown to Rotorua via Wellington. Small plane with cramped seating. Small overhead luggage compartments. Poor service - only one or 2 attendants on our 2 flights who gave minimal service. No lunch provided on 2.5 hr flight, half cup of water, and hard candy. Desk agent in Wellington never kept us updated about incoming delayed flight. I thought I was flying on a US carrier! Not at all like the Qantas flights we used otherwise.

Flew Los Angeles to London in the Air New Zealand Premium Economy "space seat" and was pleasantly surprised. We were treated better in Premium Economy than we have been in Business class on some airlines. Priority check-in, boarding, luggage. The seat is very comfortable even though the recline is limited. But it is wide enough and has enough room to stretch out in several different positions. They give you a brochure to show you the many different options. The IFE was excellent and cabin crew was outstanding. Food was very good and plentiful. The separate cabin with its own lavs made it feel private. (Even music in the laws!) We tried this class of service to decide whether or not to spend the money on Business for our two upcoming European trips. We decided we would rather change planes in LHR and stay in Premium Economy than to pay thousands more for Business.

Los Angeles to London on their Boeing 777. We would vote the maximum for Air New Zealand. The aircraft was new and super clean, the crew were nice and kind, and also never absent in the cabin for a long time. The meals were tasty, and the inflight entertainment was individual PTV with plenty of movies, series and games. A peaceful, nice, and entertaining flight!