Air New Zealand Air Points - HKG-LHR cut to 5x weekly from October.

Hi all,

Fresh off the press, Air NZ is cutting 3% of group capacity for the financial year 2010. The predominant change sees capacity reducing on the Hong Kong-London service from daily to five-days-a-week from mid-October and a reduction in frequency on some domestic routes serviced by the regional airlines. Daily Auckland-Hong Kong services will continue.

It'd pay to check any HKG-LHR-HKG bookings you may have ASAP so you're first in line to get rebooked on suitable alternatives.

:td::td: to the global economy!

So alternatives would be going onto a Lufthansa connection or something?

Oh dear!

Where are the details on the regional cancellations?

and these....

SAN FRANCISCO FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS
All Tuesday and Thursday B777 flights between AKL & SFO from 15Dec09 until 25Feb10

LOS ANGELES SCHEDULE AMENDMENTS/FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS
A number of schedule amendments will apply to Air New Zealand’s schedule between Auckland and Los Angeles as follows.
- NZ5/6 on Wednesdays between AKL-LAX and LAX-AKL are cancelled from 16Dec09 until 24Feb10
- NZ5/6 on Mondays between AKL-LAX and LAX-AKL are cancelled from 21Dec09 until 18Jan10
- A new Tuesday B747 service (NZ5/6) will operate on AKL-LAX and LAX-AKL from 15Dec09 until 23Feb10

and these....

SAN FRANCISCO FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS
All Tuesday and Thursday B777 flights between AKL & SFO from 15Dec09 until 25Feb10

LOS ANGELES SCHEDULE AMENDMENTS/FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS
A number of schedule amendments will apply to Air New Zealand’s schedule between Auckland and Los Angeles as follows.
- NZ5/6 on Wednesdays between AKL-LAX and LAX-AKL are cancelled from 16Dec09 until 24Feb10
- NZ5/6 on Mondays between AKL-LAX and LAX-AKL are cancelled from 21Dec09 until 18Jan10
- A new Tuesday B747 service (NZ5/6) will operate on AKL-LAX and LAX-AKL from 15Dec09 until 23Feb10

Thanks for the heads up! We were booked on NZ5 on Dec 16 - now on NZ1. I'm really glad we snagged the A class seats when we did, as Premium Economy is now entirely full for that date, even in the expensive fare classes. As it turns out, this will also allow for a much more convenient connection from our UA JFK-LAX flight, so that's good news as well. And to my surprise, although PE was entirely full on our new flight, seats 22H&K were unallocated, so I nabbed those as well. Thank you FT! :)

So alternatives would be going onto a Lufthansa connection or something?

Most likely yes, via FRA or MUC. Hassle huh... :(

Wow that sucks, just better off flying SIA via SIN

... or flying the next day.

if they even have to cut down on the HKG-LHR flight, then this economy is really bad
but their timing is also quite..not right for many people
landing in London around 3-ish pm, by the time people get to central london it would be 5already, which meant whole day gone..not that good
worse would be people that lives outside london or further away

"alternatives would be going onto a Lufthansa connection or something?" (Rebound)

Have flow Lufthansa HK to Fra in economy. Never again!

Was the worst long haul flight experience ever. Recommend you avoid.

but their timing is also quite..not right for many people
landing in London around 3-ish pm, by the time people get to central london it would be 5already, ..not that good
worse would be people that lives outside london or further away

Its not really too bad -- especially for leisure travelers and those who don't deal well with jetlag.

Flight arrives 2.30ish, check into hotel in London or elsewhere around 4.30/5pm, shower and then a meal and bedtime for 9pm or so. Next morning wake up like a fresh daisy. Most people living outside of London should have a journey home of less than a couple of hours (it is well timed to miss the morning or the height of the afternoon peak on the motorway network around the south of England)

Its also well timed to connect comfortably to the late afternoon bank of SK/LH/BD/LX flights out of Heathrow, and is a point of difference to the many QF arrivals from downunder at 5, 6 and 7am, which leave you as a zombie for much of that first day (once you can get home/check into hotel)

Its not really too bad -- especially for leisure travelers and those who don't deal well with jetlag.

Flight arrives 2.30ish, check into hotel in London or elsewhere around 4.30/5pm, shower and then a meal and bedtime for 9pm or so. Next morning wake up like a fresh daisy. Most people living outside of London should have a journey home of less than a couple of hours (it is well timed to miss the morning or the height of the afternoon peak on the motorway network around the south of England)

Its also well timed to connect comfortably to the late afternoon bank of SK/LH/BD/LX flights out of Heathrow, and is a point of difference to the many QF arrivals from downunder at 5, 6 and 7am, which leave you as a zombie for much of that first day (once you can get home/check into hotel)

Not quite sure about people can miss the afternoon peak, if it is going to be around afternoon when people drive out of london
Maybe this is one of the reason, to try get connection for other *A flights as well, some are NZ codeshare right?

QF, I think the only one that does not have the same problem would be the MEL-HKG-LHR because it leaves around the same time as NZ from HKG

So alternatives would be going onto a Lufthansa connection or something?

Or flying NZ on AKL-LAX-LHR

This is what the WingTips bulletin says:


SCHEDULE CANCELLATIONS BETWEEN HONG KONG AND LONDON
The following B777 services (NZ38/39) between HKG & LHR are cancelled as noted below.
- Wednesday services between HKG-LHR and LHR-HKG are cancelled on/after 23Sep09
- Monday services between HKG-LHR and LHR-HKG are cancelled on/after 12Oct09
Flights between Auckland and Hong Kong will continue to operate daily however as a consequence of these changes there will be some flight number changes. i.e.
- Between 24Sep-22Oct09 all Thursday HKGAKL flights will be renumber NZ1038
- Between 13-20Oct09 all Tuesday HKGAKL flights will be renumber NZ1038
- From 25Oct09 all Tuesday & Sunday AKLHKG flights will be renumber NZ81
- From 27Oct09 all Tuesday & Thursday HKGAKL flights will be renumber NZ82

Rebooking Process for passengers affected by the HKGLHR flight cancellations
Customers affected by these cancellations will be automatically rebooked via the schedule change process to the closest Air New Zealand flight. i.e.
a) Passengers travelling non-stop between AKL & LHR will be rebooked on the same day on NZ1 or NZ2 to travel via LAX
b) Passengers that have booked a stopover in HKG will be rebooked on the following day on NZ38 or NZ39 between HKG-LHR and vv
Customers with a Hong Kong stopover booked and ticketed on 086 ticketing paper who are unable to travel on the alternative date may choose to rebook their journey to travel on their original travel date by rebooking the flight between HKG & LHR onto Virgin Atlantic (VS) as follows.
- Economy fares book X class on VS
- Premium Economy fares book K class on VS
- Business Premier fares book Z class on VS
Where the schedule change option provided (above) is unsuitable to the passenger for any reason, they may travel the day before or the day after on the same route on Air New Zealand services.
Reissue / Revalidation
a) Customers already booked and ticketed on 086 ticketing paper will need to have their tickets revalidated/re-issued as appropriate and PNRs and documents must be endorsed “INVOL REROUTE DUE SCHED CHNG”. The flight coupons will reflect the new travel dates/flight numbers but the original fare calculation must be carried onto the new ticket.
b) Customers who hold Air New Zealand connecting flights within New Zealand will be allowed to change if the schedule change causes a misconnection. This applies to travel on the same and separate tickets. PNRs and documents must be endorsed “INVOL REROUTE DUE SCHED CHNG”. For domestic travel on separate tickets on other airlines within New Zealand, normal terms and conditions apply.
c) Customers holding tickets for connecting flights on another airline at Hong Kong or London will be allowed to change as part of the schedule change process if the schedule change causes misconnection. This applies to travel on the same ticket only. Where connecting travel is separate from and not part of the same ticketed journey, the normal terms and conditions of that fare apply. Where a change is permitted, the travel documents will need to be revalidated/re-issued and PNRs and documents must be endorsed “INVOL REROUTE DUE SCHED CHNG”
d) Customers holding tickets affected by flight number changes between AKL & HKG need to have their tickets revalidated to reflect the amended flight number.
Travel re-booked via LAX:
a) Please remind passengers of the baggage allowances for travel via LAX.
b) Please advise passengers now travelling via LAX that they will need to ensure their documentation is in order. For example passengers who qualify for the visa waiver programme will need to complete an ESTA (online travel authorisation) at least 72 hours before their departure.
So - VS, not Lufty. I wonder if they'll allow "original mileage credit"?

So - VS, not Lufty. I wonder if they'll allow "original mileage credit"?

Quite surprising that they rather use VS than LH, maybe because they only have VS as their choice, BA, QF CX are all Oneworld, so they would not give up the seats for sure

Quite surprising that they rather use VS than LH, maybe because they only have VS as their choice, BA, QF CX are all Oneworld, so they would not give up the seats for sure

Not that surprising. VS is a partner of NZ and NZ would prefer to reroute onto a direct flight rather than indirect requiring 2 or more flights.

Plus, LH doesn't have Premium Economy.

This is what the WingTips bulletin says:

Customers with a Hong Kong stopover booked and ticketed on 086 ticketing paper who are unable to travel on the alternative date may choose to rebook their journey to travel on their original travel date by rebooking the flight between HKG & LHR onto Virgin Atlantic (VS) as follows.
- Economy fares book X class on VS
- Premium Economy fares book K class on VS
- Business Premier fares book Z class on VS


I forgot about VS. This will make these tickets Market fares, with the optimism that X class on VS can be found, which is never a straightforward task. I wonder if VS has increased their X class allotment to accommodate this?

...Plus LH in Y is pretty dire these days!

So are these cutbacks confirmed??? I'm on a Wednesday NZ38 LHR-HKG in December :(

If i switch to VS, can i still credit the miles to another *A program (eg. SQ or OZ)???

Yes, and yes. Claim original routing credit - your record will be anotated that it was an invol reroute (assuming you don't want to fly a different day on NZ), but miles will need to be claimed manually.

So are these cutbacks confirmed??? I'm on a Wednesday NZ38 LHR-HKG in December :(

If i switch to VS, can i still credit the miles to another *A program (eg. SQ or OZ)???

Yes, if you are NZ member, you can credit to that, or SQ

So which has the better business class.... NZ or VS??????

So which has the better business class.... NZ or VS??????

Seats are identical, service/meal is slightly better on NZ.

If we're talking specifically about LHR-HKG route, VS has much better lounge and more pleasant check-in area at LHR and (I think - haven't done HK clubhouse) HKG; NZ LHR based cabin crew are very similar to VS.

...Plus LH in Y is pretty dire these days!'these days' must be an entry in the understatement of the century going from some reports!