Air New Zealand Air Points - Changes we'd like to see to NZ's Website.

With NZ upgrading part of their website to go with November 16, i thought i'd start a thread on changes we'd like to see to the website.

1. A new booking engine that actually works properly and allows you to select the fare basis you would like to book under for long haul flights.

2. Online statements in the members section

3. Shows the seating *without having to go through itn* and upgrade availability

Agree with your 3, plus ...

Ability to book codeshares (at the least and if possible other partner flights) and multi-segment trips.

Easier to use schedule - eg look up all flights from XXX on a particular date rather than entering every destination individually.

More info in members section - transaction details, e-upgrades, when things expire, how much more needed for status or for awards, future bookings, etc.

More up to date news - the HighPoints and Koru news are around 6 months old!!

Just tried to login to the Air New Zealand site and got this

The members' section of the Air New Zealand website is temporarily unavailable. Please try again in a few hours time, or if you would like to check your Airpoints account balance or make an Airpoints reward booking, contact your nearest Airpoints Service Centre.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

I take it they are setting up for airbucks.

I might add that neither the Airpoints Jade, Silver or Gold phone lines are working at present.

well...it's been a few hours (5 to be exact) but nothing yet...

The changes are up.

You can now see your activity and it tells you how many airbucks are needed to retain your status.

Oddly, There is no information about status credits, which IIRC were going to stay in force as well until the end of next year.

On line check in would be a real plus.

Question. On my account summary is says 'To reach Gold Status you need 299.85 airpoints dollars' My question is does that figure remain the same or does it change daily/monthly?

On line check in would be a real plus.

Question. On my account summary is says 'To reach Gold Status you need 299.85 airpoints dollars' My question is does that figure remain the same or does it change daily/monthly?

I would very much assume that figure to reflect your current number of needed airpoints dollars - take a flight and it should be updated straight away.

Keeping in mind that a status-airbuck is valid for 365 days including the day of earning.

The online activity statement would be handy for calculating how many flights to go up to the next status as it goes back 12 months.

The activity statement is a big improvement. ^^^ It is slightly annoying that only the last 20 items show - to view others need to select the month.

Crediting of airbucks seems to be slower than in the past (taking a week to credit NZ flights) - hope this is only temporary.

Has anyone tried using the online upgrades/companion awards yet?

Has anyone tried using the online upgrades/companion awards yet?

Yes - last week I requested online for Y-J upgrades for 3 of us travelling together, using 2 different airpoints accounts. It's fairly simple to do the request, though you have to enter the flight details etc manually, so one could easily get it wrong. It took just over a week to get email confirmation that our requests had been processed, although when initially requesting the upgrade the message on screen said that we would be contacted within 24 hours.

An interesting quirk is that the itineraries now seem to be inaccessible online (using the 'view online bookings' feature) - you get a message saying "The booking reference entered is not valid, or is an Airpoints reward booking, which is not viewable online. Please check the details and re-submit or call 13 24 76 for assistance." If requesting an upgrade turns your itinerary into an 'Airpoints Reward booking' for the purposes of the website, that is a bit of a pain. Why you shouldn't be able to view airpoints bookings online anyway is a mystery to me. This highlights that one of the weakest aspects of the site is the view bookings feature, in that you have to manually enter your booking reference etc. I love the way that the QF site will automatically display all bookings with your frequent flyer number in them, regardless of where they were booked or by whom.

Apart from that, the new online functionality is pretty good. I like the way that they show your 'Smart Saver' flying activity too.

Apart from that, the new online functionality is pretty good. I like the way that they show your 'Smart Saver' flying activity too.

Yes, I noticed that too - I wonder if it has always been visible to booking/airpoints agents.

I too love the QF site, also the 'where can I go with my points' feature.

Will they please allow us to store a complete profile including credit card(s) for one-click (ish) domestic ticket purchase? One even has to enter one's Airpoints number every time, even after logging in.

Please :D

justakiwi

Just now logged on for the first time and the new services are pretty fantastic! Had to ceremoniously opt out of statements sent by mail - no more waiting months and months for statements to wind their way to the UK, woohoo! :D Also like that you can gift upgrades just by selecting the giftees name from the drop down list and putting in the flight details. Only thing I would have liked to see added (as someone mentioned above) is the ability to see details of upcoming flights, especially the ability to reserve seats rather than always calling reservations. Very nice though!

Cheers, Zac

One problem with the new online statement.

For partner hotel credit it only shows the chain and date credited (not date of stay). When one (or more) is missing need to phone up to find out which one(s) need to request missing credits for. All the info is there at call centre staff's fingertips so dont understand why it couldnt be included (date of stay and location) like the old paper statements.

One problem with the new online statement.

For partner hotel credit it only shows the chain and date credited (not date of stay). When one (or more) is missing need to phone up to find out which one(s) need to request missing credits for. All the info is there at call centre staff's fingertips so dont understand why it couldnt be included (date of stay and location) like the old paper statements.


Update - online summary now shows date of stay. Thanks NZ for listening and restoring this info ^ Doesnt show name of hotel but that would only be an issue when staying twice in one day at same chain, and the airbucks dont post - so quite unlikely to be a problem.

Wish they'd hurry up with crediting my missing stays!

Not alot has changed since I started this thread, but today I noticed the mess that ITN makes of the new J product’s seatmap. NZ should replace this current ITN/Whatever online booking setup with a functional one driven directly from the NZ sever.

The members area could do with some more features

Online Check in
Details of Upcoming Flights [Ability to change allocated seating, cancel, see waitlisting status]. This is a difficult one as NZ agents can only find bookings by searching by name in the CRS.
All Rewards Booking [Interactive Upgrade Requests, Longhaul Awards]
Secure Private Messaging to Air New Zealand

Why will NZ not replace their website ? They make do with patching it up when they change their business model [Express Class, Airpoints dollars] but won’t replace it. The missing Airpoints claim doesn’t work and the longhaul reservations service is still useless.

.... NZ should replace this current ITN/Whatever online booking setup with a functional one driven directly from the NZ sever.

I totally agree with you ntddevsys.

If NZ wishes us to use online bookings more & more ,then it must be useful and user friendly.The ITN driven one is anything but. Delivers fares that would drive the customer to other airlines when in fact we know NZ has fares on offer that are ok.In the end we go to a TA (not what NZ wants) to get what we require and end up booking with the rival...

As an example, they should take a look at Continental.com.Their booking engine is something I use on a fairly regular basis.You can book online from 'downunder' with CCard.Gives you all the options -seat allocation,dom & Int flights,cheaper days ,etc ... above all USER FRIENDLY ^

Come on NZ - we live in hope that the relaunch of Int. product on Jun 10 will see a whole new era of onboard and booking online quality.
We want to support you but you need to do better.

As an example, they should take a look at Continental.com.Their booking engine is something I use on a fairly regular basis.You can book online from 'downunder' with CCard.Gives you all the options -seat allocation,dom & Int flights,cheaper days ,etc ... above all USER FRIENDLY ^

Come on NZ - we live in hope that the relaunch of Int. product on Jun 10 will see a whole new era of onboard and booking online quality.
We want to support you but you need to do better.

I know NZ could do much better than CO's website; then I wouldn't have to spend 30 minutes talking to people at NZ on the telephone each week.