Air New Zealand Air Points - Dominion Post on long-haul! Why?

The recent changes to Airpoints and service quality have massively reduced my flying with Air New Zealand, and so the flights I've done in recent weeks are my first for several months.

I was warned about the Business Class bathrooms having empty toiletry holders, but what is with the Dominion Post on long-haul flights on aircraft which never, ever rotate through Wellington? In pre-internet days I would buy the Evening Post from time to time in Auckland, but really, is this a suitable journal for long-haul flights?

As a Kiwi living in Australia I've always enjoyed reading the New Zealand Herald, because it is so much more cosmopolitan than any other paper I can name, as it uses a wide range of agencies and international newspapers as sources.

But after four "Dominion Post" flights I am already bored to death reading about stray dogs in Upper Hutt, or the opening of an envelope in Wainuiomata. And what on earth must American, Canadian and British visitors think when they sit down in Business Premier and are doled out this comically parochial rag?

I presume that Fairfax must have made the airline a compelling deal to shift unwanted Dominion Posts. But does anyone care about what the passengers might want?

hi DCF

when you are referring to the empty racks in BP restrooms, are you referring to short-haul? Those on short-haul have been emptied for quite sometime when flying 772 or 77W on BP

however, they are still populated (or at least I hope they still are now) the last time I did Long-haul.

Also puzzled about the Dominion Post... saw those on A320s TT but never on Long-haul.....

I prefer NZ herald too, but honestly, I cannot recall the last time I pay for a copy, it is on my iPad now..... just download @ Koru or over cellular.

But Cost cutting is becoming an apparent thing unfortunately..... :confused:

hi DCF

when you are referring to the empty racks in BP restrooms, are you referring to short-haul? Those on short-haul have been emptied for quite sometime when flying 772 or 77W on BP

however, they are still populated (or at least I hope they still are now) the last time I did Long-haul.

Also puzzled about the Dominion Post... saw those on A320s TT but never on Long-haul.....

I prefer NZ herald too, but honestly, I cannot recall the last time I pay for a copy, it is on my iPad now..... just download @ Koru or over cellular.

But Cost cutting is becoming an apparent thing unfortunately..... :confused:
No, the empty bathroom racks stare you in the face on North American services too - and draw attention to cost-cutting!

But how much money can they be saving by replacing the Herald with the Dominion? It's utterly absurd, and it's also very conspicuous - I asked the flight attendant this morning and she told me that "the majority" of New Zealand-based Business Class passengers who take a paper from her query why it is the Dominion and not the Herald.

The Dom Post has replaced the Herald on almost all longhaul flights - I think the only exception possibly being very early morning longhauls (of which there are hardly any) and possibly some weekend flights.

I believe it was part of a total package supplied by one provider as many of the magazine titles changed at the same time, so the cost savings may have been quite considerable.

When the toilet amenities are loaded they're just exhausting the existing stock of outstations. The stuff in the passenger amenity kit is quite high-spec so I guess that was the rationale, rather than downgrade those. I do hope the racks are removed at some point however.

I've gotten the DP on NZ 83 (YVR-AKL). Not really sure what that's about. The kiwis on board chuckled at it. I took an hours-old Vancouver Sun instead.

The recent changes to Airpoints and service quality have massively reduced my flying with Air New Zealand, and so the flights I've done in recent weeks are my first for several months.

I was warned about the Business Class bathrooms having empty toiletry holders, but what is with the Dominion Post on long-haul flights on aircraft which never, ever rotate through Wellington? In pre-internet days I would buy the Evening Post from time to time in Auckland, but really, is this a suitable journal for long-haul flights?

As a Kiwi living in Australia I've always enjoyed reading the New Zealand Herald, because it is so much more cosmopolitan than any other paper I can name, as it uses a wide range of agencies and international newspapers as sources.

But after four "Dominion Post" flights I am already bored to death reading about stray dogs in Upper Hutt, or the opening of an envelope in Wainuiomata. And what on earth must American, Canadian and British visitors think when they sit down in Business Premier and are doled out this comically parochial rag?

I presume that Fairfax must have made the airline a compelling deal to shift unwanted Dominion Posts. But does anyone care about what the passengers might want?

Take my word for it the NZH ain't much better - I'm sure after 4 NZH flights you'd be sick of hearing what the Ridges have been doing and where their reality show camera people have been, or how bad the Blues are Etc. etc.

Plus the majority of NZs revenue probably comes from the government in WLG these days anyways

Brenrox, I've lived on Auckland's North Shore, in Christchurch and even in Ashburton (don't ask, I'm trying to forget!).

The NZ Herald seems to me to have excellent international coverage, and the Auckland-centric component at least is relevant to the 60% of the country's population living in Auckland/Tauranga/Hamilton and surrounds.

But Wellington-centric news is just too parochial to be the window for international passengers, and even if you include the population all the way up to Palmerston North you are still looking at around 500,000 compared with Auckland's 1.4 million.

I do understand the need to contain costs, but this is just absurd. Do Air NZ's current management not understand that the art of cutting costs is to avoid looking cheap?

And believe me, every NZ-based passenger knows what the Dominion Post is, and every international passenger reading about stray dogs and malodorous cats is going to very quickly wonder where on earth they are going.

I have just dredged up the Dominion Post's daily readership figures, which if divided by 3 give the actual circulation:

Wellington + Porirua + Hutts + Kapiti + Manawatu = 185,000
Hawke's Bay = 22,000
Rest of North Island, including Auckland = 18,000
South Island = 7,000

I find that pretty shocking. The newspaper which Air NZ is using in and out of Auckland long-haul has an actual Auckland circulation below 6,000 per day, compared with the New Zealand Herald's 170,000.

Do they not think that anyone is going to notice? How long would Qantas get away with carrying the Canberra Times instead of The Australian or the Sydney Morning Herald?

I personally much prefer the Christchurch Press and the Dominion Post over the NZ Herald, I normally read them online but was recently delighted to have been gifted two editions second hand whilst in Bali!!! Hours of pleasureable reading.

It would be interesting to see their PR spin on this. "Our customers asked for it"?

It would be interesting to see their PR spin on this. "Our customers asked for it"?

Sure. I have asked for it and are very happy having the Dom on board :)
Better than the advertising flyer that aucklanders call a newspaper in my opinion :D

IMO having the Dom is a nice change from the Herald, which is generally part of my staple reading diet.

This was offered on the AKL-YVR flight I just undertook.

My better half rates the cryptic crossword puzzles in the Dom Post over the NZ Herald, although for real news, neither score highly.

Did I read somewhere that The Herald is moving to tabloid format (about time!) ?

This would be a good reason for NZ to switch back to it - considerable weight savings.

Sure. I have asked for it and are very happy having the Dom on board :)
Better than the advertising flyer that aucklanders call a newspaper in my opinion :D

Well a few customers asking for it would be all they need to tell us that customers asked for it (and therefore we all get it, like it or not). But in this case I really don't see why it should be an 'either-or'; if there is genuine high-value demand for the Dom then load some Doms as well as some Heralds. Give people what they pay for, so they don't feel ripped off.

The Dom Post has replaced the Herald on almost all longhaul flights - I think the only exception possibly being very early morning longhauls (of which there are hardly any) and possibly some weekend flights.

I believe it was part of a total package supplied by one provider as many of the magazine titles changed at the same time, so the cost savings may have been quite considerable.


Will the next round of cost savings for longhaul will see in the Taranaki Daily News and NZ Pig Hunter?