Air New Zealand

✅ Trip Verified | I flew to the US on the 1st of February and my return flight was booked for the 14th of February. Unfortunately my return flight was cancelled due to Cyclone Gabrielle. The first flight I was able to rebook on was the 20th of February, which means I am stuck in LA with no extra spending money and have had to book another 6 nights accommodation via a credit card. I lost the seat I had booked for my return flight (an Air NZ policy?) and have now been waiting on the phone for 3&1/2 hrs (and still waiting) to book a seat. I am unable to do this online for some stupid reason. I realise Air NZ were not responsible for the cyclone but they are responsible for providing their customers with actual customer service. They should so embarrassed about their shoddy dealing with this emergency. Don’t fly Air NZ. They are a disgrace.

Not Verified | We should leave at 14 February at Los Angeles, flight is cancelled, but now a day later we are still in Los Angeles and no response from Air New Zealand only one text message at 08.55 pm, with message that plane is leaving at 08.55 pm on the same day.

✅ Trip Verified | Avoid this airline at all costs. There is not one positive thing that I can say about Air New Zealand. Customer Service never answer the telephone. I made numerous calls to try and pre-book sports equipment and vegetarian meals, but all went unanswered. In the end a kind gentleman at Lufthansa (our main carrier) did this for me. I flew economy fair enough, but assumed I would at least get a seat to sit in. Sadly no, the passenger sitting next to me was very large and the seats very small, he put up the arm rest and occupied half of my seat plus all of his own throughout the entire flight. It was without doubt the most unpleasant experience I have ever endured on an aircraft. I discreetly complained to the cabin crew and asked to be moved, however they just laughed, told me the flight was full and studiously ignored me for the rest of the flight. Finally to cap it all our flight was diverted from Auckland to Christchurch due to flooding at Auckland. Here we were abandoned by Air New Zealand, but only after they announced that there was no accommodation available in Christchurch and there would be no flights back to Auckland for at least two days. We made our own way to Auckland (a bit of a road/sea/road/flight adventure) arriving 30hrs later. Obviously it is not possible to get help or complain to Air New Zealand by telephone because they never answer the phone. I did however email my complaints and surprisingly received a relatively quick response asking for all the information a second time. Regarding the diverted flight I await their decision as to whether they will refund the costs I incurred. Regarding the seating arrangements they simply said that they were sorry and that there is nothing they can do when situations such as this arise. Well perhaps they should not seek to maximise profits by reducing seat size (yes I did measure the seats and Lufthansa’s were bigger!) and expecting your average size adult to accept half a seat instead of a whole one. Choose another airline!

✅ Trip Verified | Check in and service at the airport pure disaster to Lounge. Almost no staff, 2 counters only for premium check in. Pure chaos and no staff Staff prefer to hug known passengers and chat with them. Premium looks different. Check in und Service am Flughafen reine Katastrophe bis Louge. Fast kein Personal, 2 Schalter nur für Premium Check in. Chaos pur und kein Personal Personal umarmt lieber bekannte Passagiere und quatscht mit denen. Premium sieht anders aus.

✅ Trip Verified | We had a great flight with air new Zealand. Easy check in online and selecting seats. The flight was slightly late departing due to cyclone Gabrielle coming in. The cabin was clean and crew were really welcoming and efficient. The seat was comfy for me (5 ft 4inches) and with the foot rest up I was able to nap. The food was from part of the business class menu and was tasty and a good size serving. Slight negative was entertainment as not a large new movie selection but the flight was only 3.5 hours. Happy to recommend.

Not Verified | I had booked a flight for my husband and me for a flight from Wellington to Christchurch on February 13, 2013. Unfortunately, my American Airlines flight from Dallas to Auckland on February 1 was cancelled due to an ice storm in Dallas. American Airlines could not get me a new flight arriving in Auckland until February 14 at the earliest, so I had to cancel my entire trip to New Zealand. I spoke to an Air New Zealand customer service agent (after being on hold for 2 hours.) I explained the situation. The agent checked with her supervisor and relayed to me the bad news that I would not get a refund (tickets cost $170). I was told I could change the flight dates with a change flight fee of $64.72 for the two tickets, but I had to pick now the new fly date. Furthermore, she said I couldn't book past January 2024. (I plan to rebook my flight to New Zealand for February 2024.) So if I booked 2 tickets for some random date in January, then changed them when I finalized my travel dates for February 2024, I would have to pay a flight change fee again of $64.72. Given that my international flight was cancelled due to weather which was beyond my control, it seems reasonable that my fare would be refunded, or at least that I be given a travel voucher to use in the future. I will not book with this airline in the future.

✅ Trip Verified | This was a code share with Singapore Airlines from Paris to Auckland and on the return Auckland to Singapore leg SIA booked me on Air NZ. After flying 2 legs in Singapore Airlines premium economy the Air NZ seating was vastly superior, both comfort and space. Same 2-4-2 seating but in each row of middle four there was one seat empty so the configuration in the middle was actually 1-2. After reading so much bad press about Air NZ it was a surprise that the cabin crew made a huge effort to walk around the premium economy cabin and introduce themselves to each passenger by name, there was also a hot towel. But what made the Air NZ premium product vastly superior was the friendliness of the crew, they made an effort to replenish drinks and chat to customers and provided excellent service! Now the management of Air NZ need to catch up with their crew and improve their EU website which is a disaster, I actually tried to book this trip on AIR NZ but the website was useless.

✅ Trip Verified | Very good entertainment screens. Tasty food even though it was a short flight. Good space seats, did have escape row. Had a very good flight, was very impressed.

✅ Trip Verified | Air New Zealand The Air New Zealand experience used to be one of the best in the world. Sadly it has fallen off so far, one has to question the upper management decisions. The premium check in at Auckland airport is horrible. Escape the chaos of the normal checkin to be bundled into the chaos of the premium check-in. Just the same do it yourself experience in a small room. The business premier seats now just feel old and poorly thought out. I don't want to directly face every single person boarding the plane. For some stupid reason face away from the window and directly at your fellow passengers. They have a distinct lack of privacy. The seat and cracks were dirty and dusty, it didn't appear to have been cleaned in quite some time, including previous passengers earbuds sitting clearly visible. As I write this onboard I can see fingerprint smears on the seat across from me. Nothing has been wiped down. I did bring this to the attention of the attendant, who did take the feedback and assured would pass it on with thanks. The food was just average. The movie & entertainment selection was pitiful, clearly lacking choice. Further to this anyone who has had to contact and deal with Air new Zealands contact centre in the past year probably understands how dreadful it is. Expect multiple hour wait times just to speak to someone if calling from abroad. I don't know if anyone from Air New Zealand reads this or cares. But if you do - you have fallen far from acceptable standards. It feels as if you no longer care and it shows. Poor. Zero wow factor. Fly someone else when possible.

Not Verified | The business class experience with Air New Zealand is excellent. The cabin crew were friendly and attentive and nothing was too much trouble for them. The drinks were served well and more was offered, the food was OK, though not brilliant, and the lie flat beds (a mystery to set up, but the crew did it for us) were extremely comfortable. The stand out for us was the excellent customer service on the flight. However, we would not fly the route via Hong Kong again as the code share arrangement with Cathay makes it very difficult to pre-book seats and Air New Zealand customer service on the ground is non existent. A recorded message telling you that there is a three hour queue for the phone to be answered is unacceptable. We tried email and got an answer two weeks later telling us to phone. Ridiculous! We finally solved it by emailing the Air NZ office in Hong Kong and got an almost instant and helpful answer. If they can do it there, why not for UK customers?