Air New Zealand Air Points - Loosing Advance Seat Selections

My colleague just returned today from NZ5 LAX-AKL. He was quite surprised that his seat, 45G which he pre-selected, confirmed, reserved, and never changed when he made the online booking disappeared. After the agent printed the boarding pass to him, he discovered 38F to be printed on the seat assignment. He then took it to the attention to the customer service rep near the boarding gate who checked the records to inform him that there were never any history of him pre-selecting 45G. Luckily there was still an isle seat available when the agent dug the seat map and found 45C still available for an isle seat which was why he selected 45G at the beginning so he could get that isle seat in advance. But anyways is it common for NZ to not confirm seat assignments chosen at time of online booking? :confused:

Have seen it somewhere on the web site but can't find it right now. I can confirm though that NZ always state that pre assigned seating is not guaranteed and can change :(

Yes, it's not guaranteeed seating, it's a seating request!

I rang up to change my Prem Economy seating the other day and she gave me the normal speil that it's not guaranteed and just a request.

So if a frequent flier comes along, they will take my seat :(

I've also noticed that, as a *A Gold, the check in staff swill sometimes change your seat because they think they are doing you a favour (LAX) or simply because they can (NAN - we call it the Nadi treatment :)). This has included an attempt (I think) to upgrade me from a aisle seat at the back in economy to a premium economy window seat (and you can drag the aisle seat out of my cold dead hands when I'm going to be stuck in a metal tube for the best part of 12 hours).

Air NZ seating process..

The agent brings up a seatmap, checks the seat is available, and enters the seat request. As long as the seat is empty, it comes up as an 'HK' (Holds Konfirmed) straight away. Travel agents who don't have access to the Air NZ system thru their CRS either have to call the airline to enter the request, or enter a seat number 'blind', without knowing if it's full or not (if it is occupied by someone else, the seat request will show as 'PN' (Pending Need).

24 hours prior to flight departure, flight editing will lock the seat map and start assigning the seats for the departure control system. If your seat is required to seat special needs passengers in (unaccompanied minors, prisoners, deportees, security personnel, etc) it will be taken at this point.

This means that when you check in, the seat that prints out on your boarding pass is the one that has been assigned by flight editing, and 99% of the time the seat you request is the one they'll give you. Checkin agents do possess the power to bump you out of a seat you've been assigned and give it away, but this generally is more trouble than it's worth and is only used in extreme circumstances (3 year old sitting in 68E while Mummy's in 35A, for example). A decent chunk of seats are not available for advance selection for these very circumstances, however, so it doesn't happen often.

I think the best way to do things if you book with a travel agent is to call Air NZ direct and get your seat request. This cuts down on the possibilities for error.

(PS - from memory 45G is a bulkhead seat. These are the MOST LIKELY seats to be taken off you, since the bulkhead is the only possible place for bassinets to be fitted, and most parents travel in twos.)

I think the best way to do things if you book with a travel agent is to call Air NZ direct and get your seat request. This cuts down on the possibilities for error.nz_crew, this is very good advice! I'll mention the drawback, though: sometimes your travel agent will be 'helpful' and re-assign you out of seats you request with NZ. This has happened with me, with my travel agent knocking me out of 10A/B on PER-AKL to 9J/K (argh!).

incidentally, just stepped off an awesome nz754 mel-wlg in biz... absolutely great service.

I think the best way to do things if you book with a travel agent is to call Air NZ direct and get your seat request. This cuts down on the possibilities for error.
My colleague booked directly from the NZ site and the system allowed him to manually choose seating assignments which he pre-selected 45G.
(PS - from memory 45G is a bulkhead seat. These are the MOST LIKELY seats to be taken off you, since the bulkhead is the only possible place for bassinets to be fitted, and most parents travel in twos.)
Ah.....indeed might be the story behind this. From what he told me, the flight was chock-a-block with many families travelling with children flying back home.

Air NZ seating process..

Is only used in extreme circumstances (3 year old sitting in 68E while Mummy's in 35A, for example).

Why change? I couldn't think of a better outcome. My youngest banshee down the back of the plane being attended to by a suitably trapped stranger while I am up in the nose...... :D