poopbunny

It does seem odd that "improved customer experience" includes "Its a 'Kiwi' 'Safety' " inflight video.
Though feedback may be 'mixed' for both, I am guessing likely, in favour of an Elite Gift and against the video.

NZbutterfly

They were given out on a flight a few days ago.

WLG Base

Of course the feedback would have been mixed as the quality of the gifts were reduced each year.

graham_d

Last flight up to Singapore the FA handed out the lap belt but took the time to explain there had been a policy change and its at the discretion of the flight manager to ignore this policy.
My flight back I had 3 seats on a sky couch but no lap belt handed out so So it appears to be at the mercy of the flight manager at the time.

sbiddle

I assume this is when your have not purchased the Skycouch?

It has never been policy to hand out belt kits for a DIY Skycouch so no policy change has occured.

graham_d

Correct, no sky couch purchased, otherwise there would be words.
However as for the policy change/non change the FA did take the time to explain to me that there was indeed a change as she was handing out the belt.
Of course as in any large organization including the ones I directly work its often their own personnel may not understand their own policies.

NZbutterfly

I didn't know it was policy. I'd rather elites received the seat belt pack in place of any xmas gift whenever they received an unsold sky couch row. It would be a small change in policy but largely appreciated. Surely it doesn't cost that much for a single belt to be wiped down after a flight.

If I've had a row to myself I usually use the seat belt from the middle seat when lying down. I guess an alternative is to request an extender seatbelt if a bit more wiggle room is needed.

JayKiwi

Hahahahahahahahaha........excellent. Air NZ have started writing Christmas cracker jokes this year too :-)

sbiddle

Allocating unsold Skycouch rows to Elite (and even Gold) HVCs was an official benefit up until about 3 years ago.

Over the last few years there has been an unofficial policy from crews to simply hand out belt kits to people who asked for them or at times without even asking because CAA had raised issues over the seat as a normal belt is not approved for pax when sleeping across three seats. By doing this they didn't need to wake passengers and get them to sit upright when the seatbelt sign came on which they would have needed to do if they were lying down sleeping and didn't have the belt kit.

Policy now is that Skycouch product is not to be given away for free unless pax have paid for it. It's not a policy change per se, simply the leeway that was being used by crew has been clamped down on.

codyc1515

And on the other hand they will sell it to you for the grand sum of... $1!

jawnbc

It makes common sense to give out the belt kits. Otherwise you have people who might get injured if there's turbulence. No pads is fine, but the belts are a safety issue.

sbiddle

Policy is (and has been for many years) to wake people up sleeping across seats who only have a standard seatbelt as these are not technically approved for that position.

I would assume that crew will simply do this again.

NZ_Flyer

dadig

Best gift ever actually.

lionred2012

I am Gold Elite with Air NZ and Platinum with Malaysia Airlines. This year I have received nothing as a thankyou from Air NZ, however Malaysia very kindly have me vouchers worth NZ$125 to spend on in flight purchases on my next flight.
I have cut my air NZ flights by 66% over the last 2 years and fly the minimum to maintain GE status with Air NZ. The customer experience just doesn't bear comparison with MH.