mad_atta

Thanks for the review, poopbunny. I assume this was on a J ticket? Any idea of what the meal service was like for PE?

Rebound

Meal in Economy was a Cold wrap, slice and cheese and crackers. Normal bar service. Regardless of ticket all pax were given the same thing. IFE was as stated, ended up just listening to music. As the HiFly operation has been extended i'll have the joy of at-least 6-7 more highfly aircraft in the next month...

cavemanzk

That J meal looks shocking, It almost looks like what an Y passenger gets on the Tasman - did you get any partial refund or additional points to make up to the 'lack of product'?

Hard to believe that old EK F Galley is unable to provide an meal service simliar to NZ offers on the Tasman, sure the galley has enough space to stock all of the items you typically get?

For reference her is an recent MEL-AKL (PE Dinner - 777-200)

poopbunny

Yes J. PE don't know, might try next time, unless someone else post here first.

It was definitely J Chicken from NZ, I recognised it from another flight. Take away the BS menu and the gloss of J plating, it tasted as good as it looked.
Taste wise, still the same as before, I saw past the smoke and mirrors a long time ago. The side dish top left, I recognised as entree on another NZ flight.

No, I did not get a partial refund or extra points.

I don't think it is about the galley space. The A340 ultra long range capable of 2+ full meals. It could be Hi Fly crew not familiar with NZ plating + NZ crew not familiar with Hi Fly aircraft, ovens, etc...
or maybe NZ does not want to make a temp product too good. Metal cutlery in J would have been nice.

Pre-flght drink - plastic cups
Wine was served in a glass. (Billecart in a plastic cup would cross the line)
Coffee in those signature bee hive shaped ribbed mugs.

Late last year, I flew one of my staff TT in NZ J (on NZ metal 787). It was her first time on any J product and she is the sort that is easy to please. After her trip, I asked her how her flight was and was surprised to hear her remark that she expected the food to be better. Some, you just can't fool.

libertyuk

Deciding on an upcoming NPE-SYD (via AKL or CHC) afternoon trip whether to:
- Do HiFly in Y (PE is nearly double the price)
- Do HiFly in Y and use SH RU to go to J (seats seem good, but catering hardly worth it)
- Go 3 hours later on an A320, but surrendering catching up with someone for drinks in Sydney
- Just do QF on the A330 in Y at a similar time to HiFly
- Can go via CHC on EK A380 in Y, but it's later too

A340s are quaint now, the last one I flew on was AY SIN-HEL in J, but I'm not sure how much value I put on that if flying in Y and tbf if I travel when I want, I can eat in Sydney, so catering isn't a huge deal (and both NZ and QF lounges aren't a substitute)

Similarly I'm looking at going PER-WLG, and thank goodness for the PER-CHC route having PE availability, as HiFly via AKL is soldout in PE and J

edmm

I flew HiFly a few days ago SYD-AKL in paid-for J and have one piece of advice: don't do it.
The seats are OK, big and comfortable with lots of room.
They've solved the problem of the pre-flight drinks being in plastic cups (mentioned by poopbunny), we didn't get any pre-flight drinks. Neither did we get pre-dinner drinks. The "meal" was at the level of a bad Y class meal, nowhere near as good as earlier photos on previous posts. It was Y class style, the whole "meal" on a on plastic tray with plastic cutlery, with Y style service. The wine was good, but the refills were not offered and reluctantly given when asked for.
It looked like the PE passengers were getting the same meal and service.

Overall, it was bad and not worth the money or using an upgrade. I will be very unhappy if I have to do it again, and have already changed to Virgin for one upcoming flight to avoid it.

pdxflyer12

Would love to get everyone's thought on how the HiFly business/first product compares to the Quantas business class product? I'm scheduled to fly on NZ0108 in business on 03/24/2018 and just got the message about the change. I can't take an earlier NZ flight as I'm arriving in SYD mid-day from Hamilton Island, but I do see there is a Quantas flight leaving SYD around the same time. My current flight and any other potential flight would be booked with points so cost isn't a factor, but I guess I'm wondering if the hard/soft product is a significant enough improvement on Quantas to switch my booking to them? The other thing to consider is I have a flight the next day from AKL-SFO on United, on a separate ticket, and by keeping my connecting flight on an A* carrier I **should** get flat tire coverage should the flight from SYD-AKL get canceled, that I wouldn't have booking with Quantas. Appreciate the help!

cavemanzk

QF149 at 18:55 is an A332 - I would 100% percent take this over J on HiFly.

Qantas short-haul J is pretty good (full service dinner) and with it being an A332 lie-flat beds with QF's new J product.

pdxflyer12

That is the flight. Appreciate the info, as I wasn't sure if the J product i saw on Quantas website had made it throughout their fleet.

Mwenenzi

What other airlines have you considered?
An exit row can be worth the extra for the ~3:30hr flight

Airlines that fly Australia (CNS* MCY* BNE OOL SYD CBR MEL ADL PER) to/from New Zealand (AKL WLG CHC DUD ZQN) (not from all airports to all airports).

• Air Asia D7 (OOL - AKL)
• Air New Zealand NZ Codeshares with VA. [Star Alliance] {* winter seasonal}
• China Airlines CI (BNE SYD MEL** – AKL CHC**) [Skyteam Alliance] {** November to March}
• Emirates EK (SYD – CHC, BNE MEL – AKL) Codeshares with QF. EK will only fly SYD-CHC from March 2018
• Jetstar JQ (owned by QF)
• LAN LA (SYD AKL) [OneWorld Alliance]
• Philippines PR (CNS - AKL) Withdrew from route 06 Dec 2017
• Qantas QF Codeshares with EK. [OneWorld Alliance]
• Singapore SQ (CBR/MEL- WLG) [Star Alliance]WLG CBR to be replaced by MEL CBR from 04 May 2018
• Virgin Australia VA Codeshares with Air NZ & AC*. (Delta & AC** partner) [*= some routes in 2017, ** ffp late 2017]

poopbunny

Ha ha ha, typical AirNZ. Complain about something and they take it away.
Complain about, Xmas gifts....poof! Gone!.

I assure you, they were NZ J meals, just without the smoke and mirrors of J plating, metal cutlery and colourful menu.
Luxury is a state of mind.
My review was too kind.

I booked a SYD flight.
Hi Fly J ($1298) vs QF First (EK metal) via CHC ($898)
It was a no brainer.

No doubt, Air NZ will still have its fanboys.

ottiehund

I have today had a commitment come up in Sydney that I wasn’t anticipating and have just booked to travel ZQN to SYD in a couple of weeks, via AKL with the TT leg on the A340 in PE. The fare was reasonable and while mindful of comments here I have never flown the A340 (despite having experienced most of the older aircraft types) so it is an opportunity to do that while there is still one flying in this part of the world. Hopefully I won’t regret it. Return leg is direct on NZ service in Y.

I was surprised that seat select is still not offered on the Hi Fly aircraft, and guess that won’t change after this length of time but it can’t have been that big of a task for NZ to incorporate the option online so that is a little disappointing. However, given I will be departing from Queenstown and thus checking in earlier than most others on the flight, I anticipate I should have plenty of choice available at check in.

What is the seating advice from those who have flown this aircraft in PE (I guess business cabin)? - I usually opt for a forward aisle on TT given there isn’t a lot to see for most of the flights so expect that is what I will request unless anyone has specific advice to the contrary..

Craig Whitmore

jeffrocowboy

yes I agree this is very disappointing that seat select and online check-in is not available. Surely they could have put some effort into getting this done. I am not going to be pleased if I don't get an aisle seat.

Rebound

You can ring people in other seats on HiFly aircraft, it comes up with incoming call on their screen much to their confusion