Air New Zealand

AKL to LAX on May 9. Great service. When flying economy on Air New Zealand's 777-300 I always choose one of the pairs of seats at the very back of the plane usually the second or third forward from the back. It's a bit tight in economy and the aisle is wider there. Crew were awesome. Food was fine. Price paid on one of the airlines many sales was excellent.

20/4/2015 Flight SQ4282. I booked a trip AKL to London with Singapore Airlines one of the flights offered for the first leg was a codeshare with Air NZ as the operator late night departure suited best so it was booked. Arrived at the airport to find one check in desk aircrew only self check points for everyone else I queried this and the solution to check in involved 1 staff member using 4 different self check points. Seated on board I looked for a flight magazine in the seat pocket were a safety sheet a sick bag and a dog eared price list for snacks such as nuts crisps etc once airborne the drinks trolley appeared some turbulence was encountered minor in my experience and the drinks trolley quickly disappeared followed by an announcement that serving drinks was not possible sometime later a tray appeared with a choice of water or orange this was to be the only time this service was offered during the 10+ hour flight. Some time later a meal was served complete with plastic cutlery nothing wrong with the meal some even got coffee however the tray remained uncollected shortly before landing I was handed a breakfast tray which I placed on top of the debris on the previous meal tray since no offer to remove it was forthcoming and the trolley moved on. Singapore to London with Singapore Airlines was a somewhat different experience I arrived at the airport after a short stopover in Singapore to find 7 manned check in desks I walked away from the desk with a boarding card in under 15 seconds. Seated on board I find no fewer than 3 different S.A. magazines the following items were then offered seperately in this order during the flight - while still on the ground hot towels were offered - socks package for the late night flight-newly printed menu also containing a list of complimentary snacks available on request such as nuts crisps etc nuts-drinks-meal with metal cutlery coffee/tea-water-waterx2-waterx3-hot towels-collect rubbish-breakfast coffee/tea. The return trip LHR to AKL with S.A. was a similar pleasant experience. Anyone out there booked to fly Air New Zealand? Good luck with that one!

Flew AKL-PVG on the 787-9. Seat was very comfortable for sitting: a bit more recline would've made it excellent. But for sleeping 'twas marvellous: so comfortable. Crew were attentive and dinner was good breakfast (waffle) was horrid.

NZ 87 9th April Auckland - Hong Kong. A dreadful flight poor service indifferent staff food quality below par. No flight announcements to advise of flight being really bumpy flight crew could at least have said something. Air New Zealand used to be a reasonable airline and their domestic service still is but internationally they are now very poor.

Terrible customer service at Sydney Airport from Air New Zealand after a flight from Wellington on 21/4/15. They could not open the door of the baggage hold due to bad weather that may or not have been avoidable however the Air NZ support and information about the issue to those 30 or so passengers affected was woeful. For three hours we waited and then told that the bags were on their way back to NZ no one from Air NZ arrived in the arrivals baggage area to talk to us. No information about how we would eventually receive our bags until a 3rd hand message after 3 hours that they would get them to our address. While we waited those 3 hours six flights from other airlines arrived and received their luggage with no issue. A separate issue but same flight we thought there was a real lack of advertised hot food. The only two option on the menu for purchase ran out within 5 minutes of the meal service opening.

Don't bother paying extra for the Air NZ Works Deluxe experience. We decided to splurge on our return Sydney- Auckland flight and pay the extra for a works deluxe seat. At $450 it was nearly three times the cost of our outbound no food no bags flight with Virgin. Never again! The Premium check-in queue turned out to be slower than the 'normal' queues. The Sydney lounge is utterly awful worn out furniture (holes in the arms of chair I sat in) and dreadful food. Yes the drinks are free but t's a huge price to pay for a couple of G&Ts. Yes having a guaranteed spare seat beside us was good but we had that on our cheap Virgin flight out. The food was very lack- lustre and you had to really make an effort to get a second drink. They even forgot my meal though that was quickly rectified once I was able to get hold of a staff member. My advice is to save your money and fly economy.

Flew LAX to AKL and return first leg in Business return in premium economy. The Business class is world class crews are excellent food was excellent and the seat while a unique design really gives comfort and privacy. Sleep is necessary on a 13 hr flight that leaves at 10pm and it was easy. the spaces eat on the return leg gives privacy and space but i found the lack of recline made sleep difficult. Again food and crews were excellent. The 777-300 is a great plane with a lot of space but frankly I can't imagine this trip in economy.

We travelled premium economy Melbourne to LA. It cost about double the economy return. The first leg (to Auckland) wasn't called premium economy although it was in the premium economy cabin and we paid for premium economy. It was called something like 'Works Plus' and you only got economy food. At Melbourne airport we were prevented from priority boarding because of this difference which seemed a bit pathetic. The great advantage of premium economy on Air NZ is that you get plenty of room and the seat in front can't recline into your space. The seats are not great there is no footrest and the seat doesn't flip up to support your feet. On the long flight you are given sort of foot-bean-bags which are quite handy but you aren't given those on the shorter leg. In fact on the first leg I had to be quite insistent to beg for a couple of ordinary cushions from a flight attendant who was very reluctant to hand them over! The seats are actually hard to operate which the staff are clearly aware of. A problem with the seats is that they all face slightly or considerably away from each other. Perhaps this is meant to be for privacy but personally I prefer to sit parallel to the person next to me even if I don't know him/her. It was frustrating not being able to talk properly to my husband on the flights. Another disadvantage of the configuration is that you can't comfortably lie down across both seats if the plane is empty (as it was on the way home from LA to Auckland-we would actually have been better in economy as everyone back there got a row each and could lie down properly! But of course you can't predict that). The food on the longer legs is nice but it seems very odd that they bring out the desserts with the starters and you have to sit and look and the dessert through your starter and main course. As the trays and tables are very small and a bit unstable this is actually a real pain. It is also difficult to get drinks served with your meal. They bring the drinks after the meals and personally I can't eat a meal without drinking something. In general the staff were pretty unhelpful. It was difficult to get a soft drink or orange juice at all times. I was also refused an inflight magazine when I asked. I was told they weren't produced and were 'online'. The safety video (Lord of the Rings-style) was incredibly annoying. So - lots of space but a not very good seat. Nice food but wobbly trays. Snarly staff in the main. Avoid the front row in premium economy as the configuration is even worse than the other rows.

After waking at 4am to check in at Sydney International at 5.15am for a 7.15am departure on 25 March 2015 I was given a boarding pass for flight NZ700 which said to go to Gate G53 so after completing the usual checks I set off for the long long walk to Gate 53. When almost there I glanced at a screen showing departures and saw that Gate 27 was now showing for my flight. I stopped an airport employee showed him my boarding pass and the screen and asked if he could find out where I should be. After a phone call he said I should retrace my steps and go to Gate 29 which I did. Once there an official announced that our departure time was now 9.15am instead of 7.15am and they would give us a voucher to get some refreshments. I returned to Gate 29. We boarded our flight at approximately 9.50am and departed at about 10.10am. All I was offered on that flight was tea coffee or water. The arrival time in Auckland had been 12.15pm and we arrived at about 4.00pm. The other complaint I have is that the hand control for the screen at my seat showed ERR and did not respond to any selection. I signalled to a young male steward I needed help and after showing him the problem no attempt was made to reset it and the attitude was extremely offhand. My impression of the whole affair is that Air New Zealand doesn't care about their customers. Having to pay to watch a movie really Air New Zealand when I think of what lovely service we used to get it makes me very disappointed.

Flight NZ 282 AKL-SGP. We had booked flight with Singapore Airlines but new arrangement with Air NZ caused transfer to Air NZ. Although the plane and food was good the comparison to Singapore Airlines certainly did not favour ANZ. On SGP Airlines the attendants give you warm towel before takeoff and keep circulating in the cabin with drinks and eats. On ANZ we only saw attendants when meals were served and needed to ring for them when we wanted anything else. No duty free offered on ANZ and bathrooms were devoid of any extras like mouthwash and hand moisturiser etc etc. ANZ very pleasant but cannot compare to SGP Airlines.