ruff00

It's just messy, another week, another change from Air NZ.

I struggle to keep up with the earning ratio's, the new cards that arrive in my mailbox, the multiple websites, the upgrades... it's just all over the place.

Even booking a flight now is messy. What fare do I choose, what baggage allowance, what earn rate... messy.

Then I see all sorts of advertising, all over the place, different campaigns, different branding messages... I am confused, what does Air NZ stand for?

I don't know the first thing about running an airline, but I do know how to run a business, and if your best customers are confused and angry then it's time to start listening to them before they all leave.

SMcLean

All I could do was nod in agreement to this post.
Very true.

highpeak1

This is the result of an outbreak of initiatives. It is fine to let departments loose to maximise their potential, but it produces a plethora of unco-ordinated messages and confusion for the consumer and the front line staff.
To me, ANZ is an LCC, a leisure airline, a network carrier and a flagship for NZ inc - it simply can't fulfil all of these roles and reduce costs and maximise revenues, but each of the initiatives are out there to do just this.
Being NZ-based, I sort of get it, but a potential passenger at the other end of the route would be very confused.
However, they are airline of the year (twice) because of all of this experimentation.

Trumpkin

For anyone trying to send an email to Rob Fyfe at the moment, he has an auto reply on:
I suspect he may have quite a full inbox on his return.

Hubbabridge

I am sure he has someone to sort out the inbox.

kaimanawa

And methinks that this got to their head. As long as they retain that competitive advantage in the air, they'll probably keep their most lucrative HVCs - those that simply pay (or have someone else pay) for J. Upgrades, free flights, etc. don't matter to that lot, but good service does.

But this can't last forever - the only pathway from Airline of the Year is down. So it's one hell of a gamble, and absolutely ballsing up communications added to the alienation felt by most of us on this forum.

I'm suprised nobody has commented on this suggestion in the Friday e-mail:

I read this as indicating the master plan was for GE members (and possibly G/S as well) to have some kind of inflation applied to any OneUp bid. For example, all GE's get 100% of their bid amount matched with loyalty bucks, so that a $200 airbucks/cash bid = $400 in the NZ system.

We speculated this was a logical direction, but why didn't they just come out and say this in the original announcement?

The uncertainty element would have still pissed off many of us teetering on the edge of our loyalty to NZ, but some may have reserved their anger and had a go at the new system.

NZ_Flyer

I think you've summarised the whole thing right here! NZ have basically decided to make a massive change/devaluation to Airpoints Upgrades and they've jumped the gun and sent out a very vague and alarming (to HVC's) email, without having solid transparent policies and procedures so that customers can have some faith that an upgrade system is there and there is a process to follow. So what they get is everyone calling up, emailing and generally complaining and NZ can't give any solid answers because they haven't yet set up how they're going to deal with the upgrades from a back office perspective.

I called the call centre and they said that when they came into work they just got a basic FAQ sheet (pretty much straight off the website) when they came into work. They didn't know about the change in advance so they were caught well off-guard when everyone called in.

oranjemakker

Still not getting it, with the (partial) backtrack, and now allowing standby upgrades on one class for GE, does this mean they can still be confirmed up to a year in advance pending the right bucket availability?

anyone who can clarify would be great.

thanks

deconz

The standby upgrades will still be confirmed at check in - 3 days AFTER all the OneUp bids have been processed. If you still believe NZ management, your GE status will be taken into account but so far no one is prepared to explain exactly how that will work. Basically, as I see it, GE post 30/05/12 are able to offer a fixed bid of $ 220 for a one class upgrade (source: NZ upgrade chart Y to Y+) when for anyone else the minimum bid using OneUp is $ 200.

The question is, if a Jade member offers to pay say $ 450 for that seat, will NZ refuse all that additional revenue and confirm the GE at $ 220 (assuming it's the last seat available)? I have my doubts ...

flykiwifly

I too was shocked by Air NZ's email and mrs flykiwifly fired off an email saying that as a GE she was seriously looking at leaving AirNZ. This resulted in a response from AirNZ that everyone else has had.
We are shocked and will certainly look at putting any air miles earnt into UA from now on.
I still can't believe that R class for GE will go and we will not know until 3 days before we fly if our standby upgrades come off. Flying long haul NZ-UK with our own money we feel we deserve better for our long term loyalty. I don't feel i can trust AirNZ any longer.
What I can't see in what AirNZ have sent me and keeps being written about on here is where they say R class inventory will not exist and we will only be told 3 days before we fly if our standby upgrades will clear.

Ellice

Just rang Airpoints centre to clarify what was still on offer for GE. Was told that confirmed upgrades for GEs are only available up till 31 May 2012. After that you're in there with all comers in the one up system and it's survival of the fittest... Recognition upgrades, they have very kindly offered to keep the status quo, ie confirmable, subject to availability more than three days out.

I told the woman I was withdrawing my custom from ANZ Airpoints credit card, some $90k worth of transactions going through that card a year, I was also going to advise ANZ bank of the reason ie airpoints devalued. Airpoints operator not particularly helpful or sympathetic to the whole predicament - basically it was 'fk off, you can like it or lump it'.

I told her that the system regarding upgrades was very unclear and GEs who are wanting to use recognition vouchers and buy upgrades for the rest of the family were severely disadvantaged now due to the uncertainty. I told her I was hardly going to book on Air nz for our whole family with the hope that they might kindly advise us three days out from travel that our upgrades have come through. Not good.

roby

This is just great, isn't it? Two emails from Thursday and Friday and leaving all of their staff with these unclear, unanswered instructions and questions while they go and enjoy their weekend.

MikeAKL

I just wrote to BNZ, explaining that there was not much incentive anymore to use AirPoints earning credit cards given the recent developments (ability to purchase AirPoints, ever rising CC fees - even for AirNZ branded cards, etc.), and that very likely quite a few customers (including myself) will consider taking their business elsewhere ...

bce1

And I've just got an email from a manager of some sort saying the status quo will apply for GE stand-bys and they could still be confirmed up to a year in advance if R class available after may.

Directly contradicted by the call centre by the sound of it.

I don't think they have a clue what they are doing or who is promising what

oranjemakker

Yeah, my reading of the email from David Mackrell "This means that as a Gold Elite member, you can continue to redeem your Recognition Upgrades and request Standby Upgrades as you do today."

So doesn't this mean the same way we do now, i.e. R class remains? They need to clarify this.