LyingFlat

It has everything to do with how much gets spent. The point of programmes like this is to ensure the airline keeps getting that spend, rather than having it diverted to a competitor.

Several of my clients are EP1 and their annual spend is substantial.

FlytoomuchNZ

Agree he’s awesome, been with the airline for years. However I’ve noticed he’s the exception. ISM’s are greeting GE less and less and in fact in recent months, Akl -Perth return (yes), Akl-Mel return (no), Akl-Sin return (no), Akl-Bkk return (no), Akl-Syd return (no) and never on domestic. In most cases not even welcome back, and certainly never by name.

The transformation to a nuts and cola airline is complete.

FlytoomuchNZ

correct that’s my point - no sense in all the *G getting wound up over it. It’s not aimed at loyalty it’s new business.

kiwifrequentflyer

If we were being nosey, could you estimate how much...

LyingFlat

It wouldn't be an estimate. With my CRM I can see down to the cent how much they've spent. I won't say how much on a public forum as this will obviously reveal the spend criteria for 'individual spend' EP1s.

However, I can say that there have been several times I've booked some trips where the flights for one person have been in the high five-figures and some into the six-figures. Obviously only the NZ portions of these trips count for EP1 but it does demonstrate how much in general they spend.

nzkarit

There have been numbers thrown around in past like corporate spend in the half to a million+ a year. EP1 is to try and set the corporate policy such that flights are AirNZ > *A > others. An guess if AirNZ doesn't see your company jumping ship it won't EP1 the decision maker. E.g. a large portion of the spend is domestic.

And with things like the UATP travel card they can see how much you are spending with other airlines etc.

With the way "gifts" are set up in NZ Govt and the All of Govt travel contracts. Don't think any Govt employees or MPs will get EP1

LyingFlat

There are multiple categories of EP1 each with it's own criteria. That is why some large companies have multiple staff who are EP1.

Not necessarily true. Large companies often have multiple FOPs for various reasons. One of which is to prevent NZ seeing their total travel spend on other airlines. Many of these companies use UATP for NZ only and then have a credit card for other airlines. All of this is usually held on file by their TMC. However, NZ can infer how much their corporate contract holders are spending on other airlines from the booking data of clients of Tandem Travel, a TMC which is a business division of NZ.

Correct. There are no government employees, MPs, or Ministers who are EP1s.

alacritynz

I remember Adrian with enormous fondness, but haven't seen him for ages. Indeed, a few weeks ago when flying domestic A320 in Row 1, I was chatting the two crew and neither had heard of him - even with a description as well as the name, so I assumed he had left some time ago.

Regarding the person commenting about greetings for Elites, I can confirm that of my last 6 Int'l flights over the last 6 months, I was only greeted at my seat twice. It has been steadily getting less frequent over the last 6-8 years though - I assume all due to the burgeoning number of Elites that started in 2011 with the changes to the tier system that made it much much easier to get GE. (Not forgetting the 10 banked years given to all existing Elites that had had 10 or more years of Elite at that time, to stop their complaints about the changes).

sbiddle

Adrian left a few years ago now - might have even been pre Covid.

So many of the A320 cabin crew these days are new hires that wouldn't know him. A number of A320 ISMs have also moved to widebody now as well, with quite a few of those people people outside Auckland.

airbourne_kiwi

Just passed through SYD on my way back from LAX and got a peek inside the EP1 space. Very swish, understated - reminded me a lot of the private room in SIN, but it’s not as big as Auckland, which is two storey.

I was speaking with a friend who’s a member (hence my quick peek inside, before I had to go), the invitation to membership is exactly as LyingFlat explains, it’s based solely on spend, with a large portion calculated based on local spending.

My buddy is a CEO of a public firm, and has been EP1 for at least three years, he explains there are only 100 members (or so) at a time, and he was invited via., a personal letter from Mr Foran. It certainly sounds very cool!

Cheers,

AK

JANZFlyer

I know 2 x EP1's and both of them travel around (prob around 2400-3000SP), they are EP1's because they are massive freight forwarders - with NZ

greg23

That seems an incredibly low threshold. I often fly for around $11 NZD per status point, which would make 3000 status points (if all metal) only a spend of $33,000 NZD.

Considering you can spend around $20K on one return business class ticket to JFK, I'd think the threshold for EP1 would be more like 24,000-30,000SP, or $330K per year spent on NZ metal?

Maybe an invite to EP1 is based more on who you are vs your actual spend with the airline if the spend threshold is so low?

nzkarit

The key was they are freight forwarders. It is not personal spend it is about looking after the decision makers in companies.

sbiddle

EP1 has never just been just about $ spend or who you are.

greg23

That makes sense, if it is generating business for NZ then absolutely makes sense they are EP1. I imagine the business sent NZ's way is in the tens or hundreds of millions per annum.