FiferJohn

Just a quick question if anyone has ever flown with Air New Zealand, what type of flight did they have--good or bad? My wife and I are thinking about flying with them to the States in Dec 03 and we were just wondering about their service and comfort on long flights. And also how do they compare to the other airlines such as Qantas, etc. If anyone has any thoughts or recommendations they would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Chris and Dani

Don

I flew with them half way round the world LHR - Los Angeles - Sydney and they were fine in every respect (but full up - no empty seats anywhere).

Cheers - Don

colind

I would recommend them. I fly to NZ for business once a quarter and prefer them to Qantas. Better food (and wine!) and better service.

BritboyNZ

Flown with them 3 times this year (AKL-LAX-LHR) every time the service/food etc was good. Seat pitch on their 747's is 34" in economy - more than other airlines where 31/32" is common. The only downside is that they don't have in-seat entertainment systems like Singapore/Cathay do.

Another important point worth mentioning (It's not my intention to scare people here, just provide info so you can make an informed decision) is that they have had a few incidents over the past 6 months - a wing panel dropped off a 747 & landed in a Manukau carpark shortly after take off from AKL last August. The inquiry found that it was secured by only 4 screws, instead of the usual 120 odd. A few weeks after a portion of wing flap broke off a 747 (again just after take off from Auckland), and in early December an engine blew up on a 767 flight from Brisbane to Auckland, forcing an emergency landing. Air NZ have received a lot of flak over what on the surface looks like poor maintenance, they have recently announced that Boeing are going to perform an independent review of ANZ's maintenance operations. Prior to all of this they have had one of the best aircraft safety records in the world. Personally I think they've just been unfortunate & suffered several unconnected incidents, the panel dropping off was a maintenance failure & apparently they've changed their systems to prevent this happening again. I've no problems flying with them inspite of this & will continue to do so.

Russ

www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&st oryID=2747098

www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&st oryID=2847449

www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&st oryID=3008463

colind

Reading your links, Russ, seems like Manukau is a pretty dangerous place to be!!!

jeannie

On the Movie Rainman they said Quantas is the only airline thats never had an accident, that would be my choice. but then I'm a huge scaredy cat :scared: :scared:

BritboyNZ

I cant stand QANTAS - had the misfortune of flying with them last year on an internal flight from SYD to BNE (brisbane). The plane was dirty & the service was terrible - stuffy attendants who were so up themselves it was unbelievable. Breakfast was a soggy croisant served in a cardboard box complete with sour orange juice. This, together with the way they shafted Air NZ when ANZ ran into financial problems about a year ago means I'm in no particular hurry to fly with them again, accidents or no accidents!!

IMO it really does stand for Queer And Nasty, Try Another Service.

colind

This is not a particularly uncommon experience, unfortunately; IMO, they get away with murder but they have the domestic business market pretty much cornered in Australia and they know it, so little prospect of it changing.

sofistek

What about other airlines that fly to New Zealand, like Singapore and Malaysian. How do they measure up? I see that they often have some of the cheapest tickets, is this reflected in the service?

BritboyNZ

Cathay Pacific & Singapore airlines are very good (SIA have 2 flights a day Singapore-AKL and a daily flight into Chch). Service is excellent on both these airlines & both have in-seat TV's. Never flown Malaysian/Korean/JAL, so can't comment. United airlines are not flying into NZ as of end of March if I remember correctly (Air NZ are adding extra flights to their schedule, though)

Pippa

Have just booked 2 one way tickets with Air NZ Heathrow - LA - Auckland.

We chose them because we had heard of their good service, 34" pitch seats. But the main reason is that if you fly via the USA you are allowed such a lot more luggage ie 2 bags weighing 32kg each, per person. That beats a rubbish 20kg via Asia.

Oh and we're not emigrating but going on a 3 year work visa, so could of asked for emigration baggage via Asia.

Kerikeri, Northland NZ here we come 8th February......YIPEEEEE arty:

cinderella

We used Air NZ in August 2002 and could not fault them. Great food, plenty of leg room in cattle class and good service.

Have a good trip,

Cinderella

Pollyana

Little question after reading post from Pippa - if you are emigrating, do you get a bigger baggage allowance then?

Anyone going to Sydney or Melbourne - I can recommend Lauda Air/Austrian Airlines - often fairly cheap, though you have to transfer in Vienna if travelling from London. Good food, efficient and polite service.

pegasus

I flew Air NZ SYD-LAX last Nov, could not fault the service, although I did use frequent flyer points to upgrade to business class! We always fly ANZ Per- Akl, refuse to fly Qantas- poor service, would not assist me with 2 small children and 60 kgs of luggage in either Syd or Perth.
Yes ANZ has had a few problems, but so has Qantas, but I feel most of that is media related ie slog the kiwis while you can.
Have also flown Malaysian and Singapore (they have Nintendos to entertain the kids, ANZ doesn't). A long way to go though if flying Perth to Los Angeles.

BritboyNZ

The ATSB released their preliminary report into the Air NZ Brisbane-AKL engine failure today. Apparently fatigue cracking in a turbine disk caused the incident, although the root cause of the cracking has not yet been found. Air NZ have been quick to point out that their maintenance procedures were not to blame stating that the manufacturer of the Engine (GE) will require more frequent inspections of this type of engine worldwide, indicating a possible design fault.

http://www.atsb.gov.au/aviation/occu...ail.cfm?ID=530