Air New Zealand Air Points - Help Request Booking NZ Only Fare

Hello everyone -

We're traveling to New Zealand in August and hoping someone can refer us to a local travel agent [hopefully in Auckland] who can ticket us on Kiwi only intra-New Zealand fares. Does anyone have a referral for us?

Thanks so much for the help and you can e=mail at smarten@skitrips.net. Aaron

Cheaper to book online.
Wongo

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QF Silver Status. Yar baby yar.

Wongo is correct. Go to the www.airnz.co.nz (http://www.airnz.co.nz) and search for flights there.

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Latitudes.

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move; to feel the needs and hitches of our life more nearly; to come down off this feather-bed of civilisation, and find the globe granite underfoot and strewn with cutting flints.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)

To add to what the others have said - just book it online: although it says that these fares are for NZ residents only, there is no checking or verification of this. You can pay with a foreign credit card with no problems.

Also the other guys www.qantas.co.nz (http://www.qantas.co.nz)
They are often cheaper on the main routes

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by smarten:
Hello everyone -

We're traveling to New Zealand in August and hoping someone can refer us to a local travel agent [hopefully in Auckland] who can ticket us on Kiwi only intra-New Zealand fares. Does anyone have a referral for us?

Thanks so much for the help and you can e=mail at smarten@skitrips.net. Aaron</font>

Just remember that if you book your flight locally in New Zealand (via the web, travel agent etc.) you will be restricted to the usual domestic baggage allowance which is 20kg, instead of the 64kg you'll have on the international flight to NZ. Also, if you book any tight conections and the domestic flight is delayed, AirNZ might not help you out as those domestic flights are not supposed to be used in conjunction with international ones. If any of this is a problem you could get a New Zealand airpass (forget exactly what they're called) at your TA in the states (or directly with AirNZ on the phone) which will give you the full baggage allowance and take care of your connections. It's probably a bit more expensive and might not be worth the cost, but if you're planning on taking lots of bags it would probably be worth it.

Cheers, Zac

P.S. thought I'd save airnzboy the trouble http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

So generous of you, Zac!

I'm sure the more cynical members of the board will think I'm just toeing the company line in advising overseas visitors to buy the Airpass, but the real reason is that I've heard too many horror stories in which the hapless passenger ends up paying far more in excess baggage and/or purchasing new tickets when they miss the flight!

I silently groan when passengers book the cheapest, nonchangeable fares, and brush off the warnings with "No, nothing will happen - we're all healthy, we won't run late, and we won't oversleep!" http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif



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

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Latitudes:
Wongo is correct. Go to the www.airnz.co.nz (http://www.airnz.co.nz) and search for flights there.</font>

Thanks to all for their input.

Originally went to the airnz.co.nz site and was taken aback by the: 1) NZ telephone number; 2) possible foreign credit card number; 3) actual foreign e-mail address; and, 4) I.D. at check-in requirements; 5) given the residency requirement for the "smart fares."

If actually this easy to circumvent the residency requirement as some posters suggest, then why continue to make it a requirement? All on-line bookings can circumvent the process then.

Went to the qantas.co.nz site as well and could not find flights out of ZQN [our departure point]. Did find flights to CHC, however, no less expensive than ANZ but operated by some other "partner" carrier. Not knowing that carrier, should we be concerned? And will travel on Qantas' partner accrue AAdvantage miles? And will the baggage limitation be 64kgs vs. the 20kgs on ANZ [had this problem on an on-line booking we made on Air France for intra-French travel. The confirmation absolutely limited total baggage to 24kgs. which we could not satisfy. Yet when we checked in for the flights no one seemed to care]? Does ANZ really weigh baggage and are you permitted a carry-on in addition?

Also had problems on the ANZ site. Am attempting to make an open jaw itinerary; AKL/CHC on the outbound and ZQN/AKL on the return. Have attempted to make this work on the portion of the site which addresses multi-city travel and no matter what I do it just doesn't seem to work. Can someone please help?

Finally, the air pass is really not a solution. First, it is priced based upon segments [3 minimum] and requires 2 segments for travel from/to ZQN/AKL besides being very costly. Of course if anyone has ANZ points they want to sell or trade [I have the 20K Mileage Plus miles/seat but quite frankly, they're worth more than then NZ$250/ticket or so it looks like this itinerary will cost if it can ever be made], I am amenable.

Thanks again for everyone's help and hopefully with a little bit more advice I will be able to make this work!

If you book online at either Qantas or Air NZ's domestic websites, the domestic baggage allowance will apply.

The airpass is sector based and has a minimum of TWO coupons - if you call NZ's tollfree US reservations line on 1800 262 1234, you'll be able to get more information on it.



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

So are you actually allowed to book without being a resident of the origin country? How do ticket delivery work or has NZ transitioned fully to e-ticket?. I'm looking to travel SIN-CHC-AKL-SIN but I'm in the US. Thanks.

They definitely do weight. The question is whether they enforce it. You should find out how much overweight charges are and then decide between the two. Also, if you are *G, you can get an extra 20kg.

[This message has been edited by seawolf (edited 06-17-2003).]

Seawolf, in your case, if you are looking for SIN-CHC-AKL-SIN airfare, try one of the online SIN travel agents. Some posters have
mentioned Misa Travel.

www.airfares.com.sg (http://www.airfares.com.sg)

Also www.zuji.com.sg (http://www.zuji.com.sg)

But I have never used either of them, so I can't tell you how reliable they are.


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Qantas - Air New Zealand

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by seawolf:
So are you actually allowed to book without being a resident of the origin country? How do ticket delivery work or has NZ transitioned fully to e-ticket?. I'm looking to travel SIN-CHC-AKL-SIN but I'm in the US. Thanks.</font>


I have requently booked domestic NZ tickets from another country. NZ does have full electronic tickets. I have never had a problem

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by igel:
Seawolf, in your case, if you are looking for SIN-CHC-AKL-SIN airfare, try one of the online SIN travel agents. Some posters have
mentioned Misa Travel.

www.airfares.com.sg (http://www.airfares.com.sg)

Also www.zuji.com.sg (http://www.zuji.com.sg)

But I have never used either of them, so I can't tell you how reliable they are.


</font>

Thanks. Misa travel is usually pretty good. But I rather go thru NZ if they offer etickets for that itin.

Buying a domestic ticket from any TA (or online) is not a problem if you're not a resident. As airnzboy says, though, don't miss that flight, or at least pray that your intl flight is on time (if it's NZ, it usually is, if not early!).

Also, those 'differential' fares for residents/non-residents are interesting because a tourist who has already arrived and, say, spent two weeks in AKL may decide to fly to Dunedin (hey, it could happen!). They would not be paying more because they are a tourist (yet?).

I flew my mother from AKL-DUD last Feb. She bought her YEG-LAX-AKL tickets in YEG, and I emailed her the e-ticket number. Not a problem.

Thanks to all for the advice. Following is our online booking experience with several outstanding questions. Sorry for the rambling but wanted to include an accurate history.

Went back to the airnz.co.nz site and went through the booking process. Found some interesting anomalies.

Was asked what country we were residents of. I answered the U.S.

Was asked for a telephone number which specified a country code. I inserted country code "01" and my regular California telephone number with area code which the form accepted.

Was asked for an e-mail address. I inserted my regular e-mail address which has a ".net" suffix [signifying U.S.].

Was asked for a credit card number along with a mailing address for the credit card bill [to verify the two matched]. I inserted all of my regular informatin which again indicated a U.S. cardholder with a U.S. mailing address.

Was shown "fare conditions" which only stated "endorsement 1: VALID NZ ONLY." I do not know what this means and a careful review of all terms and conditions and the carriage contract [which I had to check "agreed" before the form would process the booking] provided no explanation. Therefore I construe it to mean valid for travel in NZ only.

This construction seems reasonable given I checked the links under all three types of fares offered [smart, flexi and fully saver] and ALL three specified "VALID NZ ONLY."

Anyhow the reservation took and I was sent an e-mail attaching our e-tickets. Interestingly, at no place does it mention anything concerning the phrase "valid NZ only."

Notwithstanding, after printing out everything I pressed the "back" button on my browser to start printing out pages for "confirmation." When I got to the page that had all of my info I noticed ANZ's software had changed my place of residence from the U.S. to New Zealand. Otherwise everything else I had inserted was correct.

Now for the fun part. The e-ticket states, "please remember to carry proof of identity with you as you WILL be required to present this at check-in." SO ARE WE GOING TO HAVE A PROBLEM WHEN WE PRESENT OUR U.S. I.D. at check in? Interestingly the e-ticket states "check in? Why queue? ExpressCheck kiosks...the faster way to check in." Will we be able to avoid presenting proof of identity by checking in using an ExpressCheck kiosk?

Since our intra-NZ flight is two days after arriving from the U.S., we are not concerned about a misconnect although I guess it is possible - thanks for the advice on this one. However, we are concerned with the weight limitation of 20kgs. Are they really going to check weight and really going to charge for excess baggage? And if so, does anyone have an idea of the excess amount?

Any advice and answers to our questions would be appreciated. The fare savings were substantial [NZ$120/seat for AKL/QZN one way travel (we'll return from CHC)] sod if we have to pay a bit more in excess baggage, so be it.

Insofar as our return flight checked the qantas.co.nz [actually qantas.com.au] site and saw nothing about residency, the lack of FF mileage, and many, many more flight options [as long as traveling between the major NZ airports]. So will probably look for a return flight on qantas although am a bit concerned about the carrier involved inasmuch as the we site states all flights are operated by another carrier. Should we be concerned about this?

Thanks again in advance to all!

VALID NZ ONLY means this ticket is only valid on Air New Zealand flights. No flights operated by anybody else.

This has nothing to do with residency sales restrictions. Proof of identity is just what it states. A piece of document proving you are the passenger but I do believe you need your passport if you don't have a New Zealand identity document.

Most of the fares I've seen are only sales restrictions as in ticket must be issued by an New Zealand travel agent and not necessarily a Kiwi-only fare.

As for baggage charge, they have the right to charge for overweight bags according to the domestic New Zealand standard. That will be up to the agent. Of course, you get an extra allowance if you are *G.

Not sure about QF, but I think those flights are operated by the low-cost arm of QF. sort of like UA Express vs. UA.

[This message has been edited by seawolf (edited 06-23-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by seawolf:
As for baggage charge, they have the right to charge for overweight bags according to the domestic New Zealand standard. That will be up to the agent. Of course, you get an extra allowance if you are *G.</font>

Thanks Seawolf. What is "*G?" And do you know anyplace that describes ANZ's excess baggage charges so we know the worst scenario ahead of time?

*G - Star Alliance Gold

Call NZ for excess charges.

You won't have any problems presenting non-NZ ID at check-in. Official photo ID like a drivers licence will be absolutely fine.

See here for info on excess baggage for domestic flights:
http://www.airnz.co.nz/travelinfo/ontheplane/baggage.htm#expressclassbaggage

They'll sting you NZ$5 for every kilogram over 20kg (or whatever your additional allowance is if you're *G).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by seawolf:
Not sure about QF, but I think those flights are operated by the low-cost arm of QF. sort of like UA Express vs. UA.
</font>

Flights are a codeshare on Origin Pacific Airline. (www.originpacific.co.nz) They give QF points, so guessing they would give AA points

As for identity, both QF & NZ just want something that matches the name on the ticket