air new zealand review

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Average Ratings

Flight on time?	7.1/10
Customer service	5.6/10
Comfort on flight	5.7/10
Quality of food	6.2/10
Value for Money	5.2/10
Reviewer Rating	5.5/10
Overall Rating	5.4/10

53% Recommended16 out of 30 Reviews

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By rpar003 on 17th May 2006

rpar003's Ratings

Flight Date	May 2006
Flight From - To	LAX - AKL
Ticket class	Economy
Flight on time?	8/10
Customer service	3/10
Comfort on flight	7/10
Quality of food	5/10
Value for money	2/10
Overall value	2/10
rpar003's recommendation

Good Points

Spacious aircraft
Helpful cabin crew

Bad Points

Call center staff
Ridiculous re-booking policies/charges

General Comments

I have flown Air New Zealand many times, but I will not be doing so again after my last experience.

Due to circumstances outside our control we had to delay our trip by a couple of days. We also had to change our bookings on United - United were friendly and helpful, and allowed us to change while paying only the $100 fee. Air NZ on the other hand offered no sympathy and refused to do anything to help. The call center supervisor told us we had to rebook the tickets by the time we were due to *check in* at LA - no exceptions. This was not something I had been told when I called a couple of days earlier. At this stage we weren't sure exactly when we would be able to travel, and had only 1/2 hr to rebook tickets. They charged us $US200 each, plus a $50 "service" fee each (including charges for my infant!) and then made us upgrade to the current last minute fare offered - obviously *much* more expensive than the cheaper fare we'd booked a couple of months earlier. It was either that or we lose the entire $2000 we had originally paid for the tickets. At the end of the day these tickets cost me THREE MONTHS salary - we could have easily flown business class for the cost! The call center supervisor had the gall to tell me I should be thankful Air NZ was letting us change at all rather than just pocketing our tickets.
She also kept repeating that they had it on record that we had agreed to the terms and conditions when we purchased the fare. But they do not (as part of the itinerary they email you or anywhere else except from on the website when you book) include these terms and conditions, and it is impossible to find them again so you have to take their word for it.

I have usually had good experiences on Air NZ flights, but obviously if anything goes wrong it is all over!

I'll be flying Qantas in the future (comparable to Air NZ in terms of in-flight service, but in general slightly more expensive for trips from US - NZ).

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