Kiwi Flyer

Hi nz_crew

Is there a manual reference we can quote for this? (In case I should ever be in PE again.) Of the above all I got was the cheese plate

nz_crew

Hi KF,

It's part of the "Service Flow Update, September 2006". I suppose that may help.

BTW, to all reading this thread - as a crew member of an airline that is, to be brutally honest, a gnat amongst giants, it frustrates me just as much as you when the service standards we hope to attract and retain customers with aren't met.

The most effective method of having your concerns raised is to ask to speak to the Flight Service Manager. They are the onboard manager and a major part of whether their 3 year contract is renewed is based on passenger onboard satisfaction.

If you don't get satisfaction from them, I suggest you obtain their name and correspond on the issue with [email protected].

Kiwi Flyer

Thanks nz_crew

TiggerK

Yes thanks nz_crew, good to get some clarification.

One thing however, your list says NO to noise cancelling headsets, but this is what is current on the airnewzealand.co.nz website, Traveller Info - On The Plane - Pacific Premium Economy Section.

Someone is wrong??

Cheers
TiggerK

AndDee

PE: Active noise cancellation headsets to ensure crystal clear sound.

Interesting that the website says YES, but the FA's have been told NO.

As for the pre-departure drinks, even if no Business Class passengers took up the offer, and the drinks were "wasted" it wouldn't be fare to start offering them to the PE passengers only to run out after the first few rows.

Another Q:

Is there a snack area downstairs ?

philnohat

STAFF UPDATE 07 December 2006

Please ensure this information is distributed to other staff that do not have access to computers.

Pacific Premium Economy re-launched on Air New Zealand long-haul services

The relaunch of Pacific Premium Economy on 20 December will continue to set Air New Zealand’s premium long-haul service apart from our competition.

Pacific Premium Economy has been remarkably successful since its launch in the middle of 2005 with our first re-fitted B747, but it is critical that we continue to meet and surpass customer expectations.

Customer feedback on this class shows that while passengers love the additional leg room and the exclusive feel of the cabin, they would be willing to pay more for an enhanced food choice.

Pacific Premium Economy on all long-haul services will see a significant increase in the level of food and amenities our customers receive. These include pre take-off drinks, printed menus, proper glassware and a full tray meal service - largely the same as the Business Premier service, but with some modifications to create a more simple service flow. Additionally, Business Premier snacks will be available to Pacific Premium Economy customers. They’ll also receive hot towels, amenity kits, Living Nature Lip Balm, slippers (JPN / PVG services only) and Premium headsets.

Pacific Premium Economy will be available on all long-haul B747 and B777 dedicated routes. The Tasman and Pacific Islands will continue to have Pacific Premium Economy as we currently know it.

The evolution of this service clearly demonstrates that we are listening to our customers and crew and responding with changes in a timely and nimble manner.

I’d personally like to acknowledge all our people who have been involved in the relaunch of the Pacific Premium Economy service and to thank them for their efforts in delivering this initiative to Air New Zealand customers so quickly.



Ed Sims
Group General Manager International Airline



--issued by Internal Communications

I will be travelling on Air NZ and using this service in March 07. I will keep my expectations neutral and will hope to be pleasantly surprised. My wife and I are hoping this service will make the trip easier for us and our three children (11-8-7)...

AndDee

Thanks but that was posted several weeks ago now

mrpet

It has been very interesting to read the various opinions of NZ's PE.Obviously the standard is not good in many areas.All goes to reaffirm I made the right decision to cancel PE flights I had booked.
I booked PE on NZ2 AKL to LHR in Mar 2007 because at a travel show in Wellington the NZ rep was really pushing the "wider seat" on the 747.Both my wife and I have done RTW in Y seats and decided this time we would pay the not insignificant extra $$$ to have wider seats. The other benefits of check-in, legroom,cheeseboard etc we did not think on their own warrant the extra $$$.Well not for us anyway.It was either PE with wider seats or bite the bullet and pay J class.

After booking in April NZ changed the Aircraft to a 777 on those sectors.When I rang NZ and explained that we wanted the wider seat they basically said tough luck. When I asked if we could re-route via HKK on NZ39 they said yes no problem but it will cost you a further $1342.00 to do so because thats the only fare available at this time. The off-hand and disinterested manner in which they dealt with my query I have to admit got to me so we have cancelled and rebooked with an alternate carrier.

Perhaps they need to look at standards on and off the aircraft.

AndDee

I think your main frustation was the deceptive condcut pushing the wider seats but not fully informing you that it was only on the 747 ? Also probably changing the flight to a 777 without telling you about the loss of width ? Did you have to pay cancellation fees ? Who did you re-book with ?

I find Air NZ attitude and customer service to be poor. After getting stuffed around mainly due to weather from a RAR-MEL flight, where we were told the AKL-MEL plane would wait for us, whereas when we got to AKL, we were told there was "no way that it would have waited for a few passengers" I thought I would give them another chance.

So as per my other thread, booked PE for MEL-LAX in Jan/March next year. Air NZ decide to change the return flight times on me and the aircraft WITHOUT NOTIFYING ME OF THE CHANGE. Rang up two different agents on the phone and their attitude was "well you would have been told when you checked in for your flight TO LAX". That is simply not good enough, also the downgrade to the 777 was nothing in their books. When I asked what about the upper deck and the extra width and the JK seats on the upperdeck, they said "some people MAY find that a benefit, but most people dont like the stairs"

Anyways I let it go and thought fine, no more flights on Air NZ after this one. I mean they have all my phone numbers and email address and dont feel the need to inform me of a 2 hour + change in departure time from LAX until I check in.

The icing on the cake was the fact that a few days later I could change back to the 747 from LAX-AKL then connect to the 777 as they changed the connection times enough so that it's a valid connection. SO another phone call back and I was re-booked but in the process lost my 23 JK previous seat request.

I still think the $ spent is worth it, at this stage as the onboard service on other flights has always been good. Will defaintely write a very detailed review in either Feb or March for you guys.

I will reiterate some facts that Air NZ needs to be well aware of, I would email them but what's the point. Better to let hundreds of potential travellers that read these forums aware of the problems

Air NZ
Will change your flight times and not let you know until you check in, if it was for your initial flight you'll probably miss it
Will (possibly not anymore) advertise products/services that you won't actually get, even though you booked it on that premise such as
Noise cancelling headphones
premium wine/drinks - You may get to "taste" them if your lucky
Treat you like a fool when calling their contact centres

ajnz

Alright... for the recent Tasman flight I did:

Route / Plane NZ6 MEL-AKL
Day/Night flight Day
Seat No. (aisle / window / middle) 22C - exit row aisle, upper deck.
Check in ok?Check-in was great - I'm *G so used the business checkin and avoided the huuuuge economy line. However, the checkin agent (QF staffer) not only didn't priority tag my bag.... he didn't tag it all . Something I didn't realise until I got to AKL. More on that below.
Seat comfort (width ok?) With all the conversation about the width lately I did notice it a bit more this time around than previously. Yes, it is just an economy seat. It doesn't strike me as being any hugely notable amount wider (the 1.5" quoted here regularly seems right).
Legroom Leg room was fine - exit row, so plenty of space. Foot rest is still useless.
Ease of getting in and out no problems at all.
Food Regular Tasman Express product - choice of ham & cheese or chicken sandwich, Kapiti icecream. I've often wondered about people's comments re. the Tasman Express food, as I normally fly the 6am WLG-MEL and 7pm MEL-WLG flights, which seem to have better food than this lunch time flight. The food definitely was not the relaunched/re-vamped product, but the crew were aware of the new product. They did comment that they didn't have the time to offer a full business class style menu on the Tasman services, but I'm not sure I buy that. I remember reasonably decent meals on AKL-CHC "back in the day".
Drink Real disappointment here. The alcohol product on the Tasman services is not business class. It is the regular economy product, so no premium drinks at all - 42 below not available, etc.
FA attentiveness Very friendly, helpful, etc. Somewhat embarrassed when I asked for better alcohol and was surprised about it not being available. They were again a crew to a high standard and something NZ should be aware of, proud of, and continue to achieve these standards across the network.
AVOD The displays in 22B and 22C were both suffering from "the droop" - that is, they wouldn't stay in position. A little bit of cardboard wedged did the trick (off the boxed lunch actually), but was concerning that it hadn't been caught by maintenance before. This combined with 31H not reclining in November on my AKL-MEL flight did have me wondering. I let the FSM/FSD/ISD/whatever-the-abbreviation-is-now know about it and he did say it would be fixed before the long haul onto LA. I imagine it would be pretty annoying otherwise.
Would you do it again? On the Tasman? No. Long haul? Yes, absolutely. I was op-up'd at checkin to Premium Economy, so I'm not going to complain about it/look a gift horse in the mouth, but if I was paying (as I am on my way back next week due to PE being cheaper than full fare Y which is all that's available), I would be unhappy.

Ground Services in AKL on arrival was a shambles. They managed to lose almost all premium tagged bags between the aircraft and the terminal. We waited 40 minutes, after all other pax had left, to receive our priority tagged bags. There were a lot of extremely annoyed/disappointed pax who were in business (flight went out with only 2 C seats empty, 100% in PE and Y), and a large number of people in all classes who missed connecting flights.

After someone flipped out, they "found" our bags and they all appeared at once very quickly. It was only when my friend picking me up pointed out that my bag wasn't priority tagged that I noticed that it had no tag at all!

AndDee

Thanks for the review, still disapointing by the sounds of it, at least on the Tasman experience.

As for checking bags, I always make a habbit of checking the tag put on the bag, IF any. Something my father taught me many years ago, heard too many stories from him.

Only had to pull a gate agent up once when the tag said the wrong destination, he was very apolgetic, and glad that i checked it for him...

ajnz

Yes - I generally do check the tags/ensure they're on as well. I was in a rush; tired; hung over; and on the phone. And knew that at 11:15am for a 12:00 flight was pushing it, especially to get through customs and security...

It was a good reminder to always check, but atleast it did turn up. I wonder if baggage services "assumed" that I was on NZ6 because of the NZ*G card on the bag?

They could definitely improve the product on the Tasman run. I can't imagine why anyone would pay for it otherwise - it's not as if the seats make that much of a difference on such a short flight. I could have bought business on the same aircraft for less than my B-fare ticket; or business (maybe even First) on Emirates, but that's not permitted with our travel policies.

mrpet

Thanks for your comments AndDee.
My main frustration was that they did make note that the seats on the 747 were wider and that is why I booked via LAX and not via Asia. The unhelpful response to my call annoyed me. Upshot is I found WT+ on BA AKL/SYD/LHR for $20 less than I paid on NZ. I rang BA and they gave me the full run down. Basically wider seats and more legroom. They did point out that it is WT+ and not CW- so don't get too carried away but at least they were upfront with what they were selling.

Yes I did get stung $600 in penalties which I figured was better than paying NZ an extra $1342 to go on NZ39. I wrote to NZ about the penalty but got a big tough luck response similar to the phone call.

At the end of the day I'm off to see my kids and grandson in the UK and gonna enjoy myself no matter what. Life moves on and is too short to waste time worrying about things like this.

everywhere

Seems more likely the tag was lost after it had been put into a container (ie on it's way out).

And for services which have containerised luggage it's not necessary to have priority tags. But until they've done away with them completely on these services, rather than having patchy application depending on the square route of the derivative of a variable 2c2 divided by pi times a simple one-dimensional time-independent Schrödinger equation for a particle of mass m, moving in a potential U(x) where h,d & m are numbers decided using a random simulation, I'll be demanding them.

taupo

This has been my experience as well. I find the inflight staff to be anything from good to excellent, however the non inflight staff I have dealt with are uncaring.
Having said this, I will continue to fly NZ for the entire inflight experience and value received.