Air New Zealand Air Points - My NZ Business class Tasman flight now operated by Freedom Air?

I just got an email regarding a change for an upcoming trip AKL-SYD in NZ Business class which now seems to be operated by Freedom Air aircraft (NZ703 instead of NZ103). I went and checked a few dates in the future and indeed two flights a day on this route now seem to be operating with a flight number starting with "7".

I'm a bit worried about the service we will now receive on this flight. Has NZ announced anything about reducing their C class product on Tasman routes and replacing them with Freedomair flights? Will we still received a business class product and service on a Freedomair aircraft?

How different are the "suite seats" compared to NZ C class seats on the 320? We were really looking forward to the new A320 C class experience and I rather rebook the flights if we will not get the product we have paid for.

This change doesn't seem to have been well handled by NZ at all. There are bits and pieces related in a few threads here.

My understanding, which could be quite wrong, is that A320 will now all be operated by Freedom Air (much like Mount Cook Airline has all the ATR flights, Air Nelson the Saabs and Q300s, Eagle Air the Beeches). However flights with NZ code still have the usual benefits of an NZ flight, and flights with Freedom Air code still have the usual (limited) benefits of a Freedom Air flight. I think the changes are more behind the scenes (eg staff contracts) than something that directly impacts pax.

That is my understanding also.

Yes it has not been managed at all well........forgive me if i sound snobbish but when i book a TT flight on Air New Zealand i expect to fly Air New Zealand and not SJ. Isn't the seat pitch on SJ on the A329 a tad tighter than
NZ?. Are all the 320s being painted in that lovely SJ livery?

I guess for FTers in the know we will be able to spot which flights will be SJ but for the general public.... I would be a tad pissed off to arrive and see a SJ aircraft.

My understanding, again could be wrong, is the a/c won't change - except that somewhere there will be a little sign "Operated by Freedom Air" (like the JetConnect sign on QF NZ and some trans-tasman a/c). So still same seats, paint job and everything else.

I guess the exception is in irregular ops where they may substitute a SJ a/c - but hopefully few and far between.

Actually MrSydney the tighter pitch will be adopted across the entire A320 fleet - both aircraft in SJ and NZ liveries (and no the liveries won't change until the next C check at the very least).

Obviously NZ hadn't been all that clear so they did issue a clarification on May 3 - Customers purchasing an Air New Zealand ticket travelling on an A320 aircraft will continue to travel on an Air New Zealand branded aircraft and receive Air New Zealand's great in-flight service.

Actually MrSydney the tighter pitch will be adopted across the entire A320 fleet - both aircraft in SJ and NZ liveries

Really? Are you sure of that ntddevsys? I'd not heard any mention of that so far - if true then it's bad news; the NZ A320 config is very comfortable but SJ have 30" pitch instead of 32" don't they?

Really? Are you sure of that ntddevsys? I'd not heard any mention of that so far - if true then it's bad news; the NZ A320 config is very comfortable but SJ have 30" pitch instead of 32" don't they?They could have reversed the decision, but the plan was 2 rows of J @ 40" pitch and 142 seats of Y @ 30" pitch. On the face value it would seem strange to squeeze it up for the sake of an extra 4 seats; but when you consider that for the sake of 4 extra U seats on the 747 they narrowed down the seats (at just 1.5" wider than Y); and they wonder why demand for Premium Economy has plateaued...

They could have reversed the decision, but the plan was 2 rows of J @ 40" pitch and 142 seats of Y @ 30" pitch. On the face value it would seem strange to squeeze it up for the sake of an extra 4 seats; but when you consider that for the sake of 4 extra U seats on the 747 they narrowed down the seats (at just 1.5" wider than Y); and they wonder why demand for Premium Economy has plateaued...

Speaking of demand for Premium Economy having plateaued, I was at Auckland airport this morning where they had big banners offering upgrades to Premium Eco on today's Singapore flight for NZ$250 each way - not what you would expect to see if demand for this cabin were booming.

[..] offering upgrades to Premium Eco on today's Singapore flight for NZ$250 each way - not what you would expect to see if demand for this cabin were booming.Yep. A colleague of mine did an AKL-SIN-AKL trip a few weeks ago, shortly after the 777 came online, and was the only person in premium economy.

I got offered 100AUD SYD-AKL in March to Premium Economy... As I had exit row it wasnt really tempting..

This change doesn't seem to have been well handled by NZ at all. There are bits and pieces related in a few threads here.

My understanding, which could be quite wrong, is that A320 will now all be operated by Freedom Air (much like Mount Cook Airline has all the ATR flights, Air Nelson the Saabs and Q300s, Eagle Air the Beeches). However flights with NZ code still have the usual benefits of an NZ flight, and flights with Freedom Air code still have the usual (limited) benefits of a Freedom Air flight. I think the changes are more behind the scenes (eg staff contracts) than something that directly impacts pax.

Just to cofirm that I understand you correctly. Even though my flight number now changed to 7xx it's still an NZ flight number and therefore we would receive the usual NZ Business class service/meals/entertainment? Or are all 7xx flight numbers Freedom Air service/no meals/no entertainment flights?

Then the only difference to us would be the "suit seat" in the Freedeom Air Aircraft instead of NZ new C class seat on the A320, right? Seats looked very similar to me on the website though...

Yes, Sydfly - You will recieve the normal service/meals/entertainment on NZ700x series flights. Also the SJ premium seats are the same design as the NZ one's, just they don't get given DVD players when being operated as a SJ flight.

As for the longhaul fleet I guess they were worrying about cannibalising their Business market with Premium Economy (If they had the same width seats as the old Business for example); but in doing so they really have devalued the product, and many people will be saying "Never again" after flying it; especially if they have a choice between other airlines with Premium Economy.

Having recently experienced premium economy for the first time (upgrade didnt clear and has now expired :( ) I'll join the chorus. IMHO premium economy, while better than regular economy, is not worth the extra money NZ wants for it. That said, on my flight business and premium economy were 100% full, and also on an alternate flight I was trying to make.

Thanks for those helpful answers, my flight from SYD - CHC has also been changed and i was worrying too.
One other question you may be able to answer, when i fly from CHC - WLG the flight is economy only, as im on a star alliance business class round the world ticket, will i have access to the lounge at CHC. thanks

Yes, but you may need to show lounge bouncer your ticket.