Air New Zealand: NOT Recommended
Unfortunately, part of my air arrangements for a recent trip made by the Tauck Air Department included New Zealand Air. I have to say New Zealand Air is the worse airline I have ever flown and a complete waste of money. I would have had more privacy flying economy! You face other people or their feet for multiple hours (almost 14 in this case). I was in shock upon entering the cabin. I cannot believe Tauck would ever book someone in business on New Zealand Air, but then Tauck's customer service has decreased dramatically in recent years (my personal experience and from reading reviews). The food was horrible, the flight attendants were rude or nowhere to be found, the seats/beds were the most uncomfortable business/first class seats I have ever experienced and the cabin was not very clean. Just a total waste of almost $10K!
Comments
When we flew Air New Zealand a few years ago, it was just premium economy and we were very pleased with it.
What would have been you alternative airline? Did you do research before booking withTauck like looking at Seat Guru?
We have flown Air New Zealand Business class and found it very pleasant. The business class lounge at Auckland Airport is superb.
It was a booking due to a cx and my travel agent was away. I wrongly assumed Tauck wouldn’t sell/recommend something subpar and that they employed trained, educated and accredited individuals. You could never tell the seat configuration by looking at a map. As it was, I had to follow-up with Tauck twice to get the aisle seat assigned. I almost didn’t post this because why should others benefit from my costly mistake and be uncomfortable for 14 hours in a supposedly business class seat. Customer service is subpar at Tauck these days, just like everywhere else. Fortunately, I’m done traveling. I’ve been all over the world (and not traveling with Tauck) and have visited all seven continents (again, not with Tauck). Anything I do do, will be through a travel agent, so I can receive assistance, when needed, and be treated like a customer should be when booking a high-end trip! This was just a bad ending to a subpar trip.
Anyone who thinks Air New Zealand and/or their lounge at the Auckland airport must have very low standards--looking at strangers or their feet for 14 plus hours and the reverse...having strangers look at you. As I said, and economy seat would have been better. Also, you must enjoy sleeping on a hard board! As for the business class lounge at Auckland, it was crowded, hot, filthy and the food was horrible. Used plates were piling up because no one came around in over 6 hours to pick up or clean the tables.
travelhj I flew Business Class on Air New Zealand for the Grand Australia/New Zealand trip and it was fabulous--albeit this was over a decade ago. I remember the airline attendants were very pleasant, the turndown service very nice and the bed was very comfortable. I did not have the same plane configuration as you describe. I admit, I am a bit of a plane snob. I thoroughly check type of plane and seat configurations prior to booking. What you're describing sounds like those awful British Airways Biz Class seats. Agree with PF606590 - The lounge was also very nice. Sorry you had that experience.
Anyone who thinks Air New Zealand and/or their lounge at the Auckland airport must have very low standards--looking at strangers or their feet for 14 plus hours and the reverse...having strangers look at you. As I said, and economy seat would have been better. Also, you must enjoy sleeping on a hard board! As for the business class lounge at Auckland, it was crowded, hot, filthy and the food was horrible. Used plates were piling up because no one came around in over 6 hours to pick up or clean the tables.
I looked at their seat maps on the Air New Zealand website and internet images. Definitely a different take on BC than many airlines. All depends on the price. I always do my own research on different airlines and even after booking check on my seat assignments making changes if I'm not happy. I'm my own best agent.
We researched ANZ before a trip that never occurred thanks to COVID. We found numerous complaints about the seat configuration in BC and an an article indicating ANZ was aware of the unhappiness and had plans to reconfigure the seats over the fleet, but that would take time. Flyers seemed to be happier with premium economy. BTW, Seat Guru should not be referenced. They were purchased by Trip Advisor many years ago and the website is not maintained or updated, unless things have changed very recently.
I've flown Air New Zealand business class and their herringbone seating is not my favorite. There's no way for a couple to be together. My wife and I tried seats across the aisle and also two seats at the window, one behind the other. Neither is really nice.
Other than the seats, however, the service and food was fine. I would avoid them in the future unless they have a new seating arrangements. I really dislike herringbone seats.
[I agree with Folsomdoc - Seat Guru is not very useful now that Trip Advisor bought them. In fact, when you go there, you don't see seat maps, you see them trying to sell you airline tickets. I'll have to find another website for seat maps.]
On a semi-related note, the new Lufthansa A340s and A350s, which are the new replacements on many routes, are 2-2-2 in biz. I much prefer 1-2-1 (my last trip was a British Air A350 1-2-1) because most of my trips are solo, and even when they're not, we fly from different cities. So unless there are no other options, I won't be flying Lufthansa any longer.
And this is one of the reasons I always book my own air. I do my research in advance - determine the equipment), check out details on seatguru, etc.
Mike, I just went to SeatGuru. I just clicked on the Seat Maps link at the top of the page then entered in some flight information and got the seat map just as always.
Perhaps the interface is different than you recalled, but I can still get to Seat Maps on SeatGuru.
Like others above, I usually book my own flights, but even when I use Tauck, I check out prices, routing, layovers, etc. but always check out the seat configuration in Business class which is one reason I have never flown in BA's terrible BC seats and never will. As one of the reviews asked, "Who invented such a terrible seating arrangement, and why?" In addition to looking on the carrier's website and sites like Seat Guru, I ALWAYS, go to sites like the Points Guy or One Mile at a time where I read the reviews and watch the the cabin videos to be sure I know what I "should" get. I say "should" because a carrier can change the plane in a heart beat! We try for 1 - 2 - 1 seating. Depending on whether it will be a red-eye special or daytime flight with good scenery, we will opt for the two middle seats, but have often chosen to both sit in window seats.
As to what Tauck should do or have done, everyone needs to read the disclaimer on the website. Tauck just acts as a broker for the convenience of customers. They solicit fare bids for flights to various places, which may or may not be cheaper than what you can get on your own. They are not acting as a travel agent for the customer nor agent of an airline. Could this be another "bait and switch" discussion that contains misinformation?
Sam, the site is still there. There question is whether they are actually keeping it up to date. Example, we flew AF to Paris last month on a Airbus A350-900. AF now actually has 2 different versions of this plane. One with a single BC section forward of a kitchen. The other - which is the one we flew on - has 2 BC sections with the second smaller one behind the kitchen. Seat Guru only lists the first one. The second is newer. So new the flight crew was still learning how some things worked in the cabin.
FYI - The second one is better in that it has 8 bulkhead seats with full width foot rest areas instead of the narrow ones normally provided. I tried switching to those seats and could not as they basically are blocked until about 24 hours out. Ironically, when we checked into our flights my husband and I were moved to a window and adjoining center section bulkhead seats. Very nice.
Claudia - I agree that if the site isn't being updated it isn't useful. I give them some slack if they haven't instantly updated to a new configuration (so new the crew wasn't even totally familiar with it).
My comment was to Mike's comment where he said, "In fact, when you go there, you don't see seat maps".
You do see seat maps. Whether they have all of the latest and greatest configurations is a different subject. I still think SeatGuru is a useful resource, but if you want more assurance then you will have to do research like Alan describes in his post just before yours.
Alan - I felt the same way, but never say never. I flew BA about 10 years ago on a 40 year old 747 that probably hadn't been refurbished since they got it. Those planes are now retired.
On my recent ESW tour I flew BA biz on a very comfortable A350 with 1-2-1 seating AND a sliding door on each cubicle for added privacy and quiet. I've taken BA off my AVOID list and am flying them to Italy next Spring. Lufthansa is now on my avoid list with their 2-2-2 seating in biz on their A340 and A350 planes. Not much of an inconvenience as United flies non-stop from DEN to FRA and MUC, as well.
I too had a great flying experience recently with BA. HOWEVER, I was very unhappy having to pay >$100 for an assigned seat and paying >$300 is airline fees. For these reasons, BA is on my avoid list.
NancyCohen - I agree with you on the seat fee. Very annoying. BA's marketing director should be fired. The sensible thing to do would be wrap it into the price for biz seats.
NancyCohen...That's insane! I've never been a fan of BA due to their Biz seating....I would definitely never pay for a seat assignment..
As a solo traveler, I liked the 1-2-1 seating in biz. But to avoid a ‘neighbor’ in the next seat, I felt compelled to pay for an assigned seat. Once was enough.
I could be wrong, but I would guess that in all of those cases where you're having to pay for a seat assignment is because you booked through a partner airlines website.
As an example when I booked tickets for the Russian Glories ... tour through American some of the flights were on its partner Finnish Air. To reserve a seat in advance of, I think 30 days prior to the flight, required that you pay an additional fee directly to Finnish Air for each leg on Finnish Air for which I wanted to reserve a specific seat farther in advance of the flight than the 30 day window.
Nancy were you booking directly through BA and still had to pay additional fees? If so, then I agree with BKMD about the marketing director. If you were booking through American, a BA partner, then I suspect you ran into the same thing I did with Finnish Air when booking through American. In this case, it's some partner airline agreement so I don't know which marketing directors should be fired.
This is one example of misleading the customer on the true cost of a ticket (at least to the expectation of the customer who things the cost cited includes the costs of reserving all seats). The additional seat fee isn't shown until way down the process.
Another example of misleading pricing is when you go onto a website like Google Flights and ask for a Business Class ticket from A to B. Google Flights then lists the possible options. Oftentimes, at least when flying from Tucson, it will list a United ticket as being a cheap possibility, until you investigate that flight legs from Tucson to some major hub are actually Economy legs (even though you specifically requested Business class). This only happens for United flights. For all other airlines the domestic legs are First Class, with the international legs being Business class. So in actually the United Business class flight isn't an apples to apples comparison to other airline flights listed (hence the cheaper price). This type of practice is one reason I rarely fly United from Tucson.
Sam - Not correct. BA charges for the seat rez, whether booked directly or thru a partner. The only inconsistency I've found is sometimes they charge one fee for the across-the-pond flight and any connections, and other times, they charge for the connection on their fake biz class intro-Europe flight, too. In the latter case, I only pay for the across-the-pond flight and really don't care about the row (still up front) whether I get a window or aisle on the uncomfortable connection.
Regarding google flights, I seem to recall something in settings or preferences to exclude mixed class flights.
Good to know - Avoid BA.
This would really be even more of an issue if there are more than one in your party. If you can't reserve a seat without paying additional then everyone in your party could end up sitting apart from each other.
When flying internationally from Tucson you can't avoid mixed class flights since there aren't domestic business class seats.
So it's just that American and Delta quote their "Business Class" tickets as First Class domestic and Business Class international, whereas United, sometimes but not always, quotes their "Business Class" tickets as Economy domestic and Business Class international. These are two much different "Business Class" tickets.
Sam - Let me play devil's advocate for a moment:
Suppose a BA flight was $4000 (plus seat rez fee of $100) and a Delta flight was $4400 (including seat selection). Which would you choose, everything else being equal (plane type, seating, etc.)
Yes, I just wasn't specific enough. What I meant was that the default was to sell you a ticket. I was aware that I could get to the seat maps but it was an extra step. In the original seatguru, you went directly to the seat maps.
BKMD - The trouble in your scenario is that you have to get to far down the reservation process before you learn that the seat reservation fee was $100 (which also seems low since the prices you threw out there seem to be round trip prices, so there would be at least two seat reservation fees involved) and not $400 which easily could be the case for a round trip ticket that has multiple legs in it.
For me, the gap would have to be larger than the $400 you propose to make up for a possible journey down the BA fools gold path only to learn that the reservation fees eat up more than the $400. If the gap was $800 then I think I would feel safe that the BA seat reservation fees wouldn't engulf the entire $800.
And it would have to be an even greater gap if the Delta flight avoided Heathrow, whereas the BA flight would most assuredly involve Heathrow.
I didn't know about the seat reservation fee (even in business class?). I've always used a Travel Agent and I just get the total price from her. The most important thing to me is the routing - as Smiling Sam alluded to. I'll pay more for a route I want than just take what they give me.
My TA knows what I want so she generally only offers me choices that meet my requirements.
I think we can all agree that the BA seat fees stink!! Just a friendly reminder as many of us are getting back into traveling, that if you have achieved status through a number of methods, the fees are often waived, e.g. One World (AA) status often alleviates the BA fees.
A friend of mine just returned from Kenya and flew Qatar business class. Qatar has varies business class levels. She had to pay an extra fee to choose the seats she wants for her and her husband in advance. I don’t know she would would have been assigned random seats in business class 30 days in advance of the trip.
OurTravels34 That's surprising to me. Next month I'll be taking my 3rd Qatar Airlines flight in Business class. I have never been required to pay for advanced assigned seating. I book my air travel through Amex Platinum--that may make a difference. As a bonus, the Amex International flight program offers discounts on international flights. If I booked directly with Qatar, the same route & seats was an additional $1200.
We fly Qatar quite a bit now. Even when we have had assigned seats, if the plane changes, we may have to ask for a change of the ones we have been given.
We booked Economy seats for our children next year and had to pay extra for seat assignments. We wastes near the front because of a short connection.