Thanks all for the feedback.

Mwenenzi - Thanks for the codeshare info and yes I fly YVR -AKL several times a year, only enough for *S now post COVID, used to be at a GE level.

Top of Climb - agreed, splitting between TN to AKL and NZ to CHC is probably the best option right now

Xiaotung - that makes sense, spoke with someone at the call center and they basically said the same thing.

I get all the vagaries of long haul flights, crewing, aircraft utilisation, airport slots, where the aircraft needs to be for the next flight etc - but still think NZ could try a little harder to put their PPT-AKL departure at more amenable time. It's about as bad as it can be right now, especially as the vast majority of seats will be leisure travelers / families who don't care to be up all night. Especially if you are coming from Bora Bora - basically means you either need to pay for another night in Tahiti for part of the evening, or hang around Bora Bora and then Tahiti all day (and most of the night) before getting on the plane. Likely driving quite a few NZ customers toward TN, like myself...