Thai-Kiwi

Just booked Mrs TK a AKL-WLG positioning flight 'P' class Seat+Bag. she has no status with NZ.

I was surprised that there was an additional charge of $5 if she wanted to selected a seat anywhere in the aircraft. I hadn't noticed this change before now - although she hasn't travelled domestically without me (*G) for 12 months or so. We didn't bother at this stage to pay for a seat - can I assume that with OLCI she will be able to select a seat anywhere?

When did Air NZ make this change...?

cavemanzk

henrus

They started charging for them around the same time the seat to suit options were introduced (ie A long time).

It's free for Gold, Elite, Star Gold and Koru and any passengers in the same booking (hence why you've probably never seen a fee before).

At online check in the system just assigns a random seat but you still need to pay if you want to change it to a different one. Only once at the airport can a seat be selected for free either via a kiosk (don't do online check in first though) or via a staff member.

HVC seating areas are only able to be selected by HVC however sometimes pax with no status will end up in one if other seats are taken however they can't change to another HVC seat via the Kiosk (only airport staff can do that)

Hope that helps and answers the question

Bub001

Thai-Kiwi

Remarkabke the small changes that you just dont know about! Didnt help that we were was away from NZ for around 4 years 2014-2017! She didnt travel alone in 2018.

Oh well, I am still ok for another couple of years *G with TG.

sbiddle

You mean there are people in NZ who don't actually have status with Air NZ?

I've just gone to select seats for a few trips to Australia in a few months and can't even select a Frequent Flyer seat on my flight back from BNE as there is a single middle seat left. Will take my chances that there are still Preferred Seats on the right hand side free at T-48 or I can get a Works Deluxe seat at check-in otherwise I'll be cramped down the back.

nzkarit

It did surprise me that even though the A321NEO is a larger plane it has the same number of FF seats as the International A320s. And if you included the preferred seating the domestic ones which do have more legroom is less than the domestic A320s. So don't see this situation getting any better. So when are we going to see the complaints about overloaded flights for FF seating like we do for the lounges? Spend longer on the plane than the lounge.

Chessboxin

Slightly off topic but recently booked NAN-AKL-WLG in J and had to pay to select seats on the AKL-WLG leg which surprised me

henrus

That's odd... Officially domestic connections to/from a business flight should allow the domestic economy seats to be selected in the HVC Frequent Flyer section. It's got to be on the same booking though.

If you're connecting to/from a long haul business class flight on the same ticket then you're also entitled to lounge access at the domestic lounges AKL/CHC/WLG (not the 11 regional lounges though).