Air New Zealand Air Points - Air NZ comes first, or: get to know New Zealand overnight

I like NZ, but this was a lousy experience.

Flew from Brisbane to Wellington. The captain terminated the approach due to turbulence and diverted the plane to Christchurch. Other planes made it just before and after, so a go around might have been worth it. Still, no problem with that: Safety comes first.

Arrival in Christchurch at 12:20 am. We sit on the ground for nearly an hour, reful, and the take off again to try to land in Wellington. The only problem - Wellington has a 1 am curfew and the plane left Christchurch at 1:15 am. Not surprisngly, we do not land in Wellington but go to Auckland. Arrival at 2:45 am.

By the time everyone is processes it is 3:30 am. I had to get on a 6:00 am flight to Wellington to make my morning meeting. Result: 2 hours in the Auckland airport terminal because getting into town to the NZ provided hotel would have resulted in 30 minutes time in my room. Ditto for many other OPs who stayed in the terminal as well.

What is deeply annoying is that the Auckland flight had only one reason: NZ repositioning its plane at its hub. No consideration of 110+ customers, many with children, who got shipped across NZ through the night. That's pretty inconsiderate. We all could have deplaned in Christchurch. All NZ would have had to do is to get an extra crew to Christchurch (if at all). Apparently NZ does this quite a bit, which does not make tihs any more pleasant.

Not a very nice experience, and one I've never had myself (in hundreds of flights). But to be devils advocate - if NZ had kept the a/c in CHC overnight and flown it up to WLG next morning that would mean every flight operated by that a/c the next day would be a couple of hours late - inconveniencing far more people. And that doesn't even consider knock on effects due to eg crew being in wrong place.

travelcomments, what a nightmare. I fly into WLG frequently and I know how bumpy it can be without the pilots apparently so much as raising an eyebrow, so I can only imagine what the conditions were like to make them call off the approach. I hope whoever you were meeting in WLG appreciated the trials you experienced in getting to that meeting on time :)

Not a very nice experience, and one I've never had myself (in hundreds of flights). But to be devils advocate - if NZ had kept the a/c in CHC overnight and flown it up to WLG next morning that would mean every flight operated by that a/c the next day would be a couple of hours late - inconveniencing far more people. And that doesn't even consider knock on effects due to eg crew being in wrong place.

Fair enough to reposition the aircraft up to AKL, but why force all the passengers to go too? If they are all going to have to get on various scheduled services to WLG anyway, why not give them the option of staying in CHC and at least getting a little bit of rest time...

It has happened to me, after flying from LHR-ICN-SYD-WLG. This was due to fog, but CHC was also closed so you can imagine how AKL was:mad: Left airport at 3:30 was told flight back was scheduled to be 9:00. NZ had taken us to the Grand Chancellor, 10 minutes from the airport but after waiting for check-in it was 4:15 before we got in the room.
Just a couple of points:
1) The winds in WLG have been very bad, they were very bad northerly cross winds, with the mountains either side of WLG causing severe turbulence. I have done two return flights this past fortnight, one took three landing attempts and the second took two. I much rather have the pilot fly to their and the aircraft's limits than for them to attempt heroics.
2) WLG has a 1:30 curfew, there have been exceptions to this, I live close to the airport.
3) AKL may have been a better choice for diversion. If the wind kept up the Cook Strait ferries would not be running, while you can always drive down from AKL in the worse situation. More hotel rooms close by and AKL may have a better crew base.
It is a pity that your flight was disruptive but the weather in NZ lately has been very bad.

travelcomments
Fair enough to reposition the aircraft up to AKL, but why force all the passengers to go too? If they are all going to have to get on various scheduled services to WLG anyway, why not give them the option of staying in CHC and at least getting a little bit of rest time...

Agreed. I thought Air NZ could have sent an empty plane to AKL, allowing passengers to have some good rest and letting them catch a plane to WLG next morning, and yet not causing any troubles to the schedule next day.

Again, being devils advocate, it may be much easier getting pax from AKL to WLG next day than from CHC to WLG - much greater number of flights. If staying in CHC meant not getting to WLG until the following night, vs morning if going via AKL, which is best? I don't have any of the facts but you can't please everyone.

Again, being devils advocate, it may be much easier getting pax from AKL to WLG next day than from CHC to WLG - much greater number of flights. If staying in CHC meant not getting to WLG until the following night, vs morning if going via AKL, which is best? I don't have any of the facts but you can't please everyone.

Hmmm, your points are quite true too Kiwi Flyer. Didn't think of that.

Perhaps Air NZ could do the passengers a real service if they asked the passengers individually what is their priority, and arrange the passengers accordingly!