PacificTwo

kiwi_norway - Interesting comparison again. I would agree then that NZ's pricing discrepancy is a little confusing!

It's a sad indictment that all these "innovations" end up further confusing the passenger experience.

WLGNZ

Not so much confusing.
AirNZ are showing a very short term single transaction focus. Aimed at extracting every last dollar out of every transaction and interaction with a client. Which shows no care for long term business relationships.
It does not matter to AirNZ if you spend tens of thousands on business class travel. On single transactions for $100 domestically they nickel and dime you for every last cent.
This is poor poor customer management by AirNZ where they have no perspective on the total business a client does with them.
It makes the client regard the relationship with AirNZ exactly the same way as AirNZ regards them. On a single transaction basis. So going forwards clients show no loyalty and shop around for a good deal instead of giving AirNZ their business.
Well done AirNZ. You have encouraged your high spend clients to shop with other service providers.
The management of this airline really needs a dose of training on customer client relationships!

PacificTwo

Yes! All of that too!

And will only get worse if the new Direct Marketing Manager in the loyalty team keeps driving these "customer segmentation strategies"...

wayoutwest

A little birdie has told me that they will be revising the seat charge in the next couple of days as they missed out business class who will have to pay to select seats across the aisle which cannot be done online and only through contact centre so a fee to come for that

No one has mentioned the step charge yet, that is something I believe Fly Lo introduced late last year, covers situation when steps are needed to offload pax and air bridge is not available, they came in at 50 p UK so here call it a $1

ANZ787900

I guess that's probably due to the fact that if you book these fares from anywhere else in the world, you only see smart saver and flexi plus fares.. Which defaults to no charge as the seats are entitled to a standard seat selection regardless.

brenrox

I think wayoutwest's post was very much tounge in cheek....West Coast sense of humour

milan luka

Have just heard Mike Yardley on ZB interviewing Bruce Parton re this change.

Mike didn't go in like an attack dog, in fact the tone was more of a general chat amongst friends. Goodness, I'm a level headed easy going guy but the bluff and nonsense coming from Bruce regarding this was driving me crazy...!!!...!!!

I'd go into more detail but difficult to as he contradicted himself, didn't answer questions, talked up the direction the airline is going. Possibly the most gauling thing he said, reflected in the correspondance I've received from the airline regarding this is that "it's great to be able to give our customers choice!"



Thank you for that choice NZ, I've chosen to stop flying you on any international route and spend as little money as possible with you on domestic routes.

oranjemakker

...and have to pay for the biscuit and cup of tea on domestic flights?

stephen2d

Judging by UA (since they seem to follow their approach), water and soft drinks free + pay for everything else, including bikkies. We will get a "great choice" of an in flight menu - "even on domestic routes".

Blackcloud

Bruce was the one who made the decision to dump the biscuit on domestic jet services, the begining of the product downgrades for me.
He also was the one who introduced Koru Hour, to successfully compete with QF, and the various service improvements, available to all not just GE.
NZ also reversed the reduced pitch for more seats and introduced Space+ on domestic jet services, seeing off QF and DJ.
Lets remember there are some good things that remain on NZ. (for the time being).
I will leave the litany of extra fees, charges, service reductions to the others on this site.

ajnz

As a top-tier FQTV on UA you don't tend to see most of the fees - basically the only thing I've had to pay for in recent times has been fare triggered penalties, and food onboard (when in BOB cabins/routes).

UA Y is definitely not great, but NZ Y is heading down in quality while UA Y is heading up in quality. The crew on NZ of course make the Y experience far more enjoyable than UA Y in general, but when flying on a UA 777 you're getting 3-3-3, Economy Plus (if eligible) for no charge, AVOD and AC power, and a much better FFP. And that FFP will reward you, maybe not so much with upgrades (I'm not doing so well there) but definitely with flight rewards...

So the incentive for me to fly UA has become much stronger in recent times, while NZ has reduced to near-zero and remains only for route convenience -- but even then I am trying to find creative ways to get to AKL and WLG using NZ as little as possible. Fares have increased ex-US and the FFP and product have declined.

Like others, I very much appreciate the NZ crew and have nothing but good things to say about them (with one or two very notable exceptions!)

baldingeagle

Well I'm not top-tier on any program, so I get all the fees and bad service

But, I appreciate that there should be an incentive to participate in a carrier's FF program, so one would think that if all these extra fees are the best financial course of action (not necessarily true, but possible), then Koru, or G/GE should get you out of them. At least Koru, since you can basically buy your way around it if you have the money and not have to wait for SP to accrue, etc.

Unfortunately the only real international route I travel at the moment is AKL/LAX, which doesn't leave many options... I'm not willing to go the wrong direction just to fly another carrier.

Didn't either UA or QF fly the AKL/LAX market at one point? When did they stop? What prevents it from being a competitive route? NZ gov't policy? AKL airport? As a recent American expat, I'm not up on all the history, but I would think that a monopoly route isn't great for the passenger.

oranjemakker

Air NZ operate so many monopoly routes, all their domestic regionals and a fair slew of international ones (USA, Canada, most of the Pacific, i think). Seems they cant make it work when they don't have a monopoly!

ajnz

UA stopped flying AKL-LAX a number of years ago (early 2000s), while QF pulled out this year. NZ fares ex-US went up substantially after the QF pullout too.

UA also canceled their IAH-AKL plans which was disappointing to me.

While I'm not enthused about flying the wrong direction (or overflying), SFO-AKL on NZ is pricing itself out vs. UA or QF through SYD to AKL/WLG...

Placebogirl

As a new parent (who JUST booked bassinet seats in J class for 3 trips one of which is my first trip with the midget AND on my own--hope I don't get bounced by some later booker who paid) and NZ*G charging for a bassinet seat is the stony flipping end for me. I am transferring my allegiance to DJ--at least there are some benefits on DJ with status.