Air New Zealand

We booked a "flexi-plus" internal flight AKL-CHC with ANZ. Our international Emirates flight was late so we phoned from Sydney to say that we would miss it and would take a later flight. Although we had flexi-plus tickets "no service fees or fare difference will apply to flight changes made at the airport on the day of departure where changing to an earlier or later flight departing that day" they insisted we pay another £250.

I have flown with Air New Zealand for several years and have always found their service wonderful. That was not the case with my last flight to Hawaii. I felt like a number and some people received food and some did not. In my case my husband did and I didn't because of a new system of paying for food and even a drink of juice. For an international flight I think this is a terrible system which lead to a great deal of confusion and uncomfortableness for both the passengers and the flight crew. The different food services caused me to feel uncared for and undervalued as a customer.

Flew Wellington-San Francisco (via Auckland). Bought the upgrade to premium economy and it was well worth it. The personal and friendly service was the best we have experienced. Cabin was immaculate everything worked the seats were comfortable and reasonably new.

Flew from Shanghai to Auckland and then onwards to Wellington. Staff were extremely friendly and the food was lovely particularly compared with the Virgin food we had on the leg from Heathrow. All the fittings worked and were in good condition the leg room was fine (I'm 1.84m tall).

Flew Premium Economy from LAX to AKL on a 777-200. Despite not having the new seats that are on the 777-300 the leg room was amazing and the food great. Recommended for comfort without the high cost of Business class.

Leg room on Internal flights is getting smaller and smaller. Being 6ft 2 inches or 1.88 mtrs it's a real squeeze to get into the seat. I feel sorry for anyone taller than me. Stop treating passengers like sardines. The trip I did was Auckland to Dunedin return. Both on an A380 and a Boeing.

Adelaide to Auckland April 28 2013. Usual incredibly strict control of baggage weight both hold and hand. Sure there need to be some controls but the pettiness of Air NZ on even one kilo over is incredibly frustrating especially after travelling long haul with a greater allowance. Given this is a one class only route there really ought to be better facilities and service. Food on board fine; service OK and typically informal/casual kiwi style including the Purser starting her announcement with "hello lovely people". Can't quite imagine that from one of the BA matrons!

I have been flying with Air New Zealand since 2007 primarily Premier Economy or Business. The tickets are corporate and were not bought by me. The routes flown have been both via Hong Kong and Los Angeles. Had I been given the choice I would not have flown with this airline. In general the cabin staff have been friendly and efficient but inconsistent in their service delivery. Some teams have decided to deliver the bistro experience; others have gone along with the norm. On one occasion I witnessed one of the flight deck crew talking to a passenger who was concerned about something on the aircraft. Instead of reassuring the passenger he began shouting and threatened to call security to lift the passenger from the flight. Instead of defusing the situation he drew attention to the situation causing the passenger and his family to be acutely embarrassed. Joining their loyalty scheme through Star Alliance is pointless as the Air NZ routes have become limited as they no longer go via Honk Kong. In addition although I qualified as a Gold Member this was not updated on their system and I couldn’t use their lounges or associated benefits. However the card had been issued and was at home waiting for me. A colleague has had similar experiences and written to Air NZ to complain. More than a month late he still has had the courtesy of a reply. You could put all this down to the Kiwi independence and a refusal to be subservient. However they are in the service industry and if they can’t handle it then they shouldn’t have joined. If you do travel with them you’re unlikely to suffer unduly and you shouldn’t let these things colour you impression of New Zealand.

B747-400 Premium Economy SFO-AKL B767 Works AKL-SYD. Pretty disappointed with the NZ service offering. Old Premium Economy seat had lots of recline but the legrest didn't extend upwards enough so it was essentially useless. Entertainment had a decent selection but the system was slow and not very responsive. Food was fine although some passengers were served using porcelain mugs while others given paper cups for drinks service which was odd. Inflight service was very inconsistent some smiling while others looked like they wanted to be elsewhere. Definitely not worth it if you paid full fare for Premium Economy. B767 was old although updated with AVOD. Breakfast was basic either continental or hot.

We were also in the flight reviewed by D Snyder on 4 March 2013. We suffered over 12 hours of misery being confined in a cabin in suffocating heat - the cabin crew told us it was 28/29 degrees as the air conditioning was not working - a fault which was known about a long time before takeoff. Whilst our cabin staff worked hard the flight deck were indifferent with not even the courtesy of a visit to see how bad the conditions were. We understand others like us complained to Air NZ but we did not get a reply for almost 6 weeks. This reply was wrong saying that we were offered iced towels and the opportunity to move to cooler areas of the aircraft - neither of which happened.