Air New Zealand

Not Verified | The absolute worst customer service I have ever experienced and sneaky tactics with Australians. We booked our flights under a full refund policy they had for Trans Tasman Bubble flights, all flights were under a policy of full refunds for flights before 31st Dec 2021. They then changed the policy when the NZ border closed (yet again) and claimed they never had any knowledge of it. Spoke to a “customer service” representative who basically told me “oh no what a shame. No refunds”. Be very wary of this airline. They clearly have a monopoly in NZ and have been known for their sneaky tactics with customers. Consumer NZ is also investigating these issues. In an uncertain travel climate like this with Covid, avoid these people at all costs.

Not Verified | Air New Zealand need to step their game up hugely. First of all, the price of the tickets were extremely high ($500+ one way), and for the inflight service you receive on these flights which is a water, tea or coffee and a biscuit and some lollies, is just way too much. The staff at Dunedin airport do not seem like they want to be there and did not make me feel welcome at all. If only New Zealand had another airline flying domestically and regionally as much as Air New Zealand does! Air New Zealand seem to be exploiting their customers as they are the only airline flying regionally in New Zealand with the exception of Jetstar flying on main routes within New Zealand. Overall unhappy with Air New Zealand.

✅ Trip Verified | A quick back story, my wife and myself were moving to Spain, we had previously contacted both Airlines (Qatar and Air NZ) and had been confirmed by Air NZ that they would honor the luggage requirements set out by Qatar Airways. Our flight was 1298 on Thursday 26th of August departing at 14.00 from Christchurch to Auckland. Our connecting flight was with Qatar who obviously have different hand luggage requirements than Air NZ. However as we were trying to get through security and to note "we were the only ones passing through security". The male Aviation Security officer who was supposed to screen our bags refused to let us screen our bags stating we could only take 1 piece of luggage onto the aircraft. We explained that we were actually traveling internationally and had already called and confirmed with Qatar Airways that our carry on was acceptable however he insisted that he was unable to screen our bags as it wasn't the acceptable carry on allowance for the Air NZ flight. He stated we would have to check in our hand luggage so we returned downstairs by which time the flight was already closed and we were told by Air NZ staff it was ok to take our hand luggage and to board the plane. Upon returning to Av Sec, another Air NZ service agent who saw us talking with the agent who had checked us in had followed us up to the Aviation Security and as the Av Sec officer again began berating us and firmly insisting that we must leave behind all hand luggage with the exception of a laptop the Air NZ service agent began to join in stating "Either you leave everything except your laptop behind or you are going to miss your flight". Even with my pregnant wife beginning to cry this continued on with being pressured to leave behind our hand luggage except a laptop each and my wife's wedding dress with the Av Sec officer continuing to raise his voice and at one point even throwing plastic security tray towards me and in a raised and angry tone stating "Don't you know laptops have to be placed inside the trays!". After some minutes of this the Air NZ service agent realized that such actions of herself and the Av Sec officer we beginning to escalate too much and reminded the Av Sec officer that he wasn't allowed to be throwing the plastic security trays around and to be careful in front of the other staff. At this point after throwing out some items from our carry on we were finally allowed to place our carry on luggage through security.

✅ Trip Verified | No refund policy is disgusting. Have had flights with other airlines cancelled due to covid & have received refunds without a problem. No chance I’ll be able to travel to NZ in the next 12 months either but apparently that’s not a good enough reason. Told to just sell the credits. Cost of flights were already exceeding pre covid flights drastically & with all the advertising they had been doing of late you’d think they’d have some kind of courtesy. Hard to contact & just plain rude when you do. Will not be booking with them ever again.

✅ Trip Verified | Air NZ cancellation policy is not with other airlines. The main reason is AirNZ is not bound to ACCC guidelines relating to when an airline cancels a flight. Our example was just that. AirNZ cancelled the flight, the alternative was a 15hour journey around Australia and NZ, which just wasn’t acceptable for my family when the original journey was meant to be 3hours. We are now not entitled to a refund. AirNZ customers service specifically said they are not bound by the ACCC guidelines as they are NZ based. As a contrasting example, our return flight was with Jetstar. We got a refund from them with no questions asked when their flight was cancelled. It blows my mind that an airline like AirNZ hasn’t updated its policies to support COVID scenarios and flexibility like other airlines have adopted. I have no loyalty now nor do I choose to fly with this airline and I will work my hardest to leave this review anywhere I can to assist other future travellers and prevent them from experiencing the same.

✅ Trip Verified | I was travelling with my partner through New Zealand during a visit to our hometowns. We currently live in Melbourne and knew that traveling during covid would be a difficult time, but didn’t think that the flight dramas with Qantas we had would be so extensive. We were fortunate enough to have a connecting flight with Air New Zealand within NZ and Nat from Nelson airport went absolutely above and beyond to help us with a flight issue Qantas had created. This issue was not her responsibility to resolve at all but she could see we were in destress and did everything she could to help us change our flights and make a bad situation completely turn around into a positive one. I wish we had just booked all our travel with Air New Zealand from the beginning and have learnt from that mistake! The customer service team were amazing and Nat was a true highlight.

✅ Trip Verified | Air New Zealand refuse to give out any refunds, even for flights cancelled by the airline itself. More people should know about this unethical practice. I wish I had known when I booked my ticket with the airline! I tried to travel from China to Australia via Auckland, and booked my second leg with Air New Zealand. At no point during the whole booking process was I informed that the flight I was booking was a quarantine-free flight, which, as a transit passenger, I was not eligible for! I only learned of my ineligibility on the travel day, when I was denied boarding at the Chinese airport. All right, no big deal, I can cancel my flights and transit at another city, right? The answer from Air New Zealand is a big NO! All my attempts at contacting the airline on the travel day went into a black hole. I tried calling their call centre during office hour and was put on hold for more than one hour without any answer. I tried emailing them and sending them Facebook messages. Neither produced any response. I only got a short reply on Facebook two days after my original travel day, telling me that they cannot offer any refund. I was sold a product that I cannot use and was not told about it, and it was my fault? Ever since then, the airline has ignored all my requests for refund. A quick look at the recent Air New Zealand reviews online shows that I am far from the only one. Many people had their flights cancelled by the airline itself and could not get their money back. That is just insane! Even their budget airline neighbor JetStar is giving out full refunds for cancelled flights!

✅ Trip Verified | I booked this ticket online, however due to COVID border closures the flight has now been cancelled. My agent advised me to contact Air NZ to arrange a credit or alternative flight. However after many phone calls Air NZ is not interested in offering me any form of a credit or another flight and state the flight was booked through a third party agent and I am not their problem. Absolutely pathetic service from my national airline. On the same booking I also had a Jetstar flight booked, absolutely no problem to change the booking. I will never ever fly or recommend Air NZ again.

✅ Trip Verified | Such a stupid experience. I been to airport on time and i was new in the airport and waiting in the line for half an hour for drop of my bag. Nobody told me its a wrong line and after half an hour they aaid go back to drop off area as they are still open byt when i been there, they said drop off area is closed and lady was only rushing to go home. There was still half an hour left to flight take off but She forcefully extended my flight and charge me $100 extra. I was not happy at all, then after charging me she informed me that she didn’t add my luggage in that flight and i need to pay another extra charges to add my luggage. Also she wanna go home and told me to do online. When i was trying to do online then nothing working and i again tang to customer service department and she said because this flight extended from airport so they can’t do online. The phone lady again rebook my flight and charge me another amount for my luggage. Such a bad experience with Air NZ will never book again.

Not Verified | Very overrated airline, stopped me from flying due to circumstances out of my control had to make extra payments because of the situation, doesn’t deserve the praise it gets.