CHCflyer

Given the benefit of fast bag is due in four days time I am surprised that Air NZ has not contacted its frequent flyers and officially advised them on how the revised system will work. I can see some difficult conversations with gate agents and passengers as they try and police a new process no one has been made aware of. My check in conversation last Tuesday involved an 'oh, by the way' heads up.

edmm

I just checked and it is now on the Air NZ website:
https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/fast-bag

mad_atta

I'm with ZaphB on this one. It's not that the information wasn't there, it's that it wasn't obvious. Honestly, I'm the kind of person who often *does* read the detail on an airline website, but this completely passed me by. In fact you can see the exact moment I discovered that you were supposed to be on a S+B fare or higher in this post right here.

Everyone's entitled to their own view on this one, of course, but can we please keep it civil. A little less leaping to conclusions about others' habits and moral code would be nice too.

mad_atta

Ugh, these new rules really dilute the benefit - at least for what I valued about it. Unlike before, you need to faff around checking in bags and dealing with those fiddly self-service luggage tags (and unlike QF where I can just use my RFID tag on my bag and be done with it).

Then what does this bit mean:
"Then, ask one of our friendly airport team to attach your Fast Bag tag and we'll take care of your bag from there"

So you have to wait for a staff member with a special tag? How well will that work in practice? Not much about this is sounding very 'Fast'... And I've generally found domestic baggage handling on NZ to be pretty speedy anyway so it's not like you're avoiding a huge wait. Still, I guess it's better than nothing.

Will be interested to hear people's experiences of this in practice.

WLGNZ

Agree...
Faffing around with checking in is time consuming. And my carry on often has items like chargers that I would use in the lounge before departure.
Before it was super simple. Drop off at the plane and pick up on the way off. A super simple thing for the client has now turned into a multiple step process.
Personally it is not attractive to me. So a bag I would of dropped off on the way on I will now take on and stuff in a locker. Which is how it is now without Fastbag.

HighFlyingKiwi

Exactly - more often then not there are things in my bag I want to use in the lounge. Fast Bag was handy for not having to cram it in the O/H locker or under the seat.

And now we are just going to end up with the issue of too many Carry On Bags vs Locker Space - and they are just going to end up in the hold anyway.

Proof in point yesterday flying out of WLG, full flight, lots of HVCs making use of the 2 carry on bags entitlement and a whole heap of them ended up in the hold...

nzkarit

Yes I personally would to see fast bag for the carryon.

The bigger bag (10kg) of the 14kg carryon should be fast bag to save overhead space.

As that would help the on board experience.

Though this version of fast bag may be too show it isn't being used and kill it for good.

mad_atta

I have a horrible feeling you may be right...

edmm

I can see why some don't like it, but for me the new system is actually quite good, probably better.

I am an "early" person, so I'm there early anyway, and work in the lounge.

I don't find dropping off check-in luggage at the Premium desk much trouble, so I think that mostly it will be pretty quick.

I always have everything I need like chargers etc in my small computer bag, so I'm happy to get rid of my bigger bag early. This is a distinct advantage in CHC, not having to take a big bag through security to go to the main lounge, rather than the birdcage.

And a major advantage is that with only eligible people using it, there will be fewer bags, therefore less time unloading on arrival, thus quicker.

I used the previous fast bag routinely, and I think this will be equally good for me. I just hope they have sorted it out for multi-sector flights.

Kiwi Flyer

New fastbag isn't available on connections.

Having to check in the carry on defeats the purpose. I hope NZ reconsiders.

CHCflyer

I upgraded my ticket from seat-only to seat+bag to use fast bag (was the fare differential always $20, as I recall it being $10?).
The airport staff were helpful and there is a purple tag that gets stuck inside the luggage tag - I guess that the loaders now don't have to weigh the bags as it will be included in the trip weight data.
The bags were loaded in the back of my ATR , as in former times. The trolley was there with three fast bags at CHC.
Frankly I won't be continuing to use the fast bag service as it is $20 I'd prefer to keep ($40 round trip) and my bag isn't that heavy.
One benefit of fast bag was that there were three fewer bags fighting for locker space towards the back end of the ATR.

WLGNZ

I am TRG based and well over 50% of my flights are connections.
New Fast Bag will not work for me either.
Happy enough to jam my two items of cabin baggage in the lockers on board.
Safe travels.

HighFlyingKiwi

Was $10 a few years back now, but jumped to $20. At the time I thought it was quite a severe jump.

CHCflyer

Thanks for responding. It shows how long ago I have bought S+B.
I have 43 seat-only bookings, I don't think I will upgrade them at $20 a pop.

Hector99

I was at CHC yesterday and used it for an ATR to PMR. Needed to go to premium desk to get the purple tag that identifies you as fast track. I can see that being a log jam. Can check in online but still need to see staff to get the purple ticket. Nice not having to cram it in up top or wait for luggage tho. Not as good as before but better than nothing...