Air New Zealand Air Points - NZ6 goes mechanical and they book F pax in Y! :(

Got your attention? Unfortunately Friday 21 March was one of those days when NZ really let the side down. A rare occurrence, but a poor showing none the less.

Not a great start to the day with NZ6 going mechanical and delayed from 3pm to a 6am departure with no guarantee it would make it out the next morning (NB many pax on NZ6 use that as a feed into the second leg of NZ2 as it is sometimes cheaper, also more tier credits ;-)). Note that bookings to the USA in premium cabins were very full over the weekend for the Academy Awards. Something about a film with some hobbits and a wizard in it perhaps?

At check in to the AKL lounge we met one passenger and his wife who were on NZ6, booked in First (paid fare). Incidentally, they were off to the Academy Awards for a potentially significant role! So quite a very high profile passenger and also high yield. Exactly who NZ needs to keep on side.

So what did NZ AKL do when NZ6 went mechanical. Rebooked them in Y on NZ1! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif (NB NZ6 went mechanical earlier in the day – not like they were all on the plane, plenty of notice, plenty of time to reshuffle and rebook).

Options open to NZ.
1. Rebook on QF or UA to LAX flights that afternoon with space available in F and C.
2. Rebook LHR or Europe pax to create space for LAX passengers (LAX/LHR was also oversold so would have created space there as well).
3. Downgrade C pax and place in them in C (could have easily found 2 non or low status C pax who upgraded from Y). Terms and conditions of AP make it clear that this could happen.
4. Put in Y and hope they were happy!

Yep they chose option 3 and told the passenger that they were definitely not allowed to be carried by another carrier!

Along we came into the AKL F lounge – we were the only ones in there at 2pm. We were in the F lounge as we were waiting for an upgrade AKL/LAX/LHR in First which of course did not happen (we did get LAX/LHR http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ).

After hearing of this, we politely went up to the counter and offered that as we were flying to Denmark (paid C) we could be very flexible in our routing and NZ could rebook us and give the other two pax our business seats, or just use the seats for a very overbooked NZ1 (not sure on denied boarding stats, but the gate was a zoo). We were not looking for compensation but were just trying to assist and also experience another airline in C would have been good, along with the potential of getting a direct flight to SK and to avoid 3 hours in Camp X ray (detention without representation) that they now use at LAX would have been good!

Staff at lounge thought it was a goer (and incidentally were great). Called the AKL DM and were vetoed and pax was again told that his/her only option was Y on NZ or to wait for a broken NZ6 in the morning, and would not be carried by another carrier. By this stage the pax was beginning to shift emotions from relief that they would get to LAX to annoyance that NZ was not doing the best job they could.

About an hour or so later in comes the UA manager to welcome any UA F pax. (NZ and UA share the same F lounge in AKL). Pax spoke to UA manager who was basically appalled at what they pax had been told and made it clear that NZ should have offered space on an alternative carrier. 30 mins later Pax was rebooked in F on UA and flown off to LAX.

So what did NZ get out of this.
1. Annoyed F paid pax who vowed they would never book on NZ again.
2. Mystified two NZ*E’s who were willing to accommodate and be flexible.
3. Amazed all F pax (UA, NZ, TG) in the lounge who watched the butt-headedness of the AKL DM.
4. A nasty message on Flyertalk! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Not overly great day for NZ.

One must wonder if NZ actually knows of Rule 240? I gather Rule 240 does not talk about class of travel, but to be downgraded from F to Y is a bit much!

Of course I am just a humble pax who watched this, perhaps someone can shed light on why the world’s warmest welcome was so cold on Friday?

The things we see and do while in lounges! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Mark

What a bizarre (and disappointing) way to handle the situation! This is an interesting contrast to the experience recounted here (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/003633.html). While NZ's service in the air is some of the best around, I often feel that's not backed up by some of their ground service and especially Customer Relations... they often seem to get away with the bare minimum. This is a pity, because if these sort of situations are handled well they can create a loyal passenger for life...

Yeah it was a bizarre mess, and the lounge staff were equally mystified. But who knows maybe every flight out was oversold in the premium cabins and they were focusing only on the pacific route rather than reruiting us back over Asia and thus opening up two business seats.

On the good side, my checking of the newspaper found that the passenger's luggage was coming back a little heavier than when he left (would you check it in? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif ). CONGRATULATIONS! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif And hope he was able to sample the NZ F product on the way back, and will just laugh off the incident.

Mark

Why didn't the F passenger just refunded the ticket and buy a F ticket with QF?

Well done, UA. Good to see them doing the right thing in trying to accommodate the high-paying pax that they are after.

I sent Koruflyer an email about this incident a few days ago - suffice to say a lot of things happened behind the scenes and the end result as seen by him was not reflective of what actually went on!



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All my posts are my own personal opinions and experiences and in no way represent the opinon of my employer.

After receiving AirNZBoy's email on the situation it was not quite as bad for NZ as it appeared - and yes they did attempt behind the scenes to do the right thing. But, the two things that remain in my mind, not wanting to drag this on, were that.

1. The pax was not aware or chose not to be aware of the full situation. Note - we are all very savvy passengers here and not everyone knows the ropes as much as we do in these situations.
2. Why NZ did not take us up on our offer of rebooking us through to DK by an alternative carrier and that releasing 2 J class seats for the original pax. NB we arrived in AKL at 2pm for an 2045 departure, and were in transit.

While not wnating to detract from the the great service of NZ I did and still feel that NZ station staff at AKL could have communicated the situation better.

Oh well, next time I will just sit down, shut up and continue to drink the Piper Heidsick.

Mark