RSkipage

Im really interested in Air NZ's Long Haul Frequent Flyers' views about whether they see value in staying loyal to Air NZ going forward.

Ive had reason to be disappointed with some aspects of the service of late and so, just as I always thank and compliment cabin staff for their service, I recently chose to raise operational issues with Management.

Its fair to say the most recent response came across to me as passive aggressive at best. So given there are a number of airlines that will fly me to London in J for the price of NZ's PE - Ive taken the plunge and purchased my next return flight elsewhere - airpoints and status points be damned.

Don't get me wrong - I'd love to stay loyal to the national airline, and price isn't in itself the deciding factor. But when I consider it alongside some recent experiences together with a general feeling of reduced care for HVPs - I think Im probably making the right decision.

I'd be interested in other's thoughts.

dadig

Let's just say you are not the only person raising operational issues with management. The response I've got officially was words to the effect of "nothing to see here, our practices are well within tolerances compared to benchmarks" (failing to mention how those benchmarks are obtained or compared). It was purely a subjective response from management.

Lastlay, Air NZ is hardly national, serving the interests to shareholders like any public listed company. I'm not entirely bitter about this, just stating the observations and sitting bemused at the patience of customers and exec management who think everyone is in love with them.

Non companion fares can be had to LHR between 8-9k for business return return on EK or QF. I am willing to bet the service would match against Air NZ and would be open this when I book

jawnbc

As soon as a viable NZ-based *A credit card is on offer I'll be looking at shifting away from Airpoints. Crap loyalty scheme.

casualtravler

I have stopped flying with NZ for 2 years, switched all bookings to Qantas, wished i have make the switch earlier- Qantas ffp is not great, but still way better than NZ

Kiwi Flyer

My flying on NZ is limited to domestic and the odd trans-Tasman flight. Longhaul there are plenty of other reasonable options.

BTW these days 8k or 9k for business return to London/Europe is at the high end. There are options around 5k and 6k, sometimes 4k.

cavemanzk

Problem being there is an market that is willing to pay NZ's prices, just look at how fill J/PE are on these routes. Unless this market changes there mind, don't see NZ dropping the price.

sbiddle

Nothing will change because nothing is wrong. Didn't you read the annual report that said HVC satisfaction is at it's highest ever?

poopbunny

Seems to be a recurring thread/issue
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-n...ld-elites.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-n...-happened.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-n...w-zealand.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-n...o-much-bp.html


My bemusement is how exec management is fine with losing customers/business. From a bottom line perspective, it cost a lot more to win back customers you lost, than gain new ones. With increasing competition and few new routes, this will get difficult. Focus seems to be on the big picture (KPI's like ASK, CASK) rather than micro (eg. why are some customers unhappy or flying NZ less, etc.)

Like sbiddle correctly pointed out, nothing is likely to change, NZ's 'yes' men
has said nothing is wrong.

codyc1515

From what I've heard from friends, family and colleagues the consensus seems to be that the service is "good enough" (which is not what I have come to expect from NZ in the past).

Qantas has several cards with ANZ in NZ. Admittedly not *A and I highly doubt there will be enough interest for an overseas FFP scheme that is not Qantas or Air NZ.

sbiddle

You'll be waiting a while because that's simply never going to happen. There would be no incentives for any banks to offer it and probably no airlines interested in such a tie-up.

Even ANZ are the only one to have a Qantas offering, and they got pretty close to scrapping that a year or two ago.

ajnz

This is pretty much the case. There are far too many people who rate NZ highly that allow NZ to ignore negative frequent traveler feedback.

I'm pretty sure NZ don't care, and they will point to their revenue/profit statistics as a good reason why they don't need to care - although it's hardly a long term sustainable approach.

Blackcloud

I agree not likely to happen and the ANZ QF card was gutted several years ago.
There is also Amex MR points that can be converted and of course QF cards are now Qantas Cash so you can earn points that way as well.
I gave up on NZ 6 years ago and have heard of further reductions of services since then making me happy that I gave up the unrewarding cost of maintaining GE.

NZbutterfly

UK/Europe flying goes to the middle eastern carriers for me. I pretty much think they're in a league of their own. Great pricing, onboard experience and hard product I'm very happy with.

Otherwise I'm happy with NZ around the pacific rim. I can't fathom the idea of flying backwards to Oz to fly to Sth America or the US, or flying AA to the US then CX to HKG. SQ due to timing I will use on the way back from SIN but NZ out. I used to think the departure time was awful but now I think it's great for sleeping. NZ is convenient for direct flights to many destinations. I'm probably not really into the whole 'service' focus that others are. I know some other airlines are better but an FA would literally have to punch me before I swapped carriers due to poor service. Food, booze, sleep and I'm happy. Pretty much what I do on other carriers anyway. I seem to only eat once with dine on demand as I've usually eaten in the lounge.

Try QR out of Oz (bringing the A380 to MEL in July, but already out of SYD). They should put a smile on your dial. The 777 coming soon is also still good but - that would be a very long flight! I like the short haul TT, long haul to ME then med haul. I just deal with that better mentally than 2 long hauls back to back via LAX/LHR.

I'm still loyal to NZ, but I've never been blindly loyal. They are still my number 1 carrier.

bce1

What I struggle with is the price difference for exactly the same flights with Cathay. I fly enough with NZ to retain status and bank a year and then have been shifting to Cathay. Just booked ALK to LHR for a couple of months - $6200 on Cx web site. $11000 on NZ website for the same flights. Obviously NZ feels they can carry those high prices - but a cost difference on seats in the same planes (NZ HKG rtn and CX HKG to LHR rtn) of $5K just seems bizarre. I would happily book via NZ for a small premium but not for a $5K premium. So money to Cx.

curioustill

Transit via Hong Kong is much nicer than via LA too