Air New Zealand
reviews and complaints

We claimed our air points for our trip to uk on the 28 of May with Razza one of your employees after about one hour with lots of him not knowing what to do we found out afterwards he put down on the claim form we flew UA not air NewZealand so it was rejected Linda 185566 we spoke to him on the 30th Sept we flew out on NZ8 to SanFran then on to uk with virgin vs42 then bacck on virgin to San Fran then air NewZealand nz7 to Auckland on the25 August we booked with flight centre

Flight NZ939 was one of the worse experience in my life. The humiliation of the crew, with handing me the extension belt when I did not require it on seat 28D made me feel stereotyped. The constant barrage of being hit by crew and equipment as my seat was in the aisle row. Then asking to move, only to be seated to 26B opposite the toilet which was constantly visited by many, had made the whole experience utterly discussed & horrible.

I had witnesses on 27A, B, & C who had to comfort me during & after I left the aircraft. Due to the plane landing in Auckland. I then had to leave the airport due to the humiliation and spend time with my family to regather my thoughts. Shakened by the experience and on my return to the airport. I missed my connecting flight NZ101 as the groundstaff were not interested in my delimma.

After 3yrs of being flightless due to covid. I was utterly disappointed that Air NZ an airline I once admired had ruined my time with them.

I call your call centre and it identifies me by my Airpoints number.

I am a Silver Member which means I travel a bit with Air NZ.

Also a shareholder.

Still the answering Service tells me the wait time is an hour!

Why on earth is there not a call back service?

The only reason I can think l of that this does not exist is that Air NZ are hoping I get I don't have the patience to wait one hour and that I will go away.

I'm writing regarding the above booking and in particular Flight NZ 123 Auckland to Melbourne on Wednesday 21 September.

My husband and I were booked to travel to Auckland on NZ 124 on 01 September. Unfortunately that flight was cancelled and we were fortunate to get on a Qantas flight later that night. After considerable time on the telephone Air N.Z. staff kindly refunded the cost of these airfares - we had to be in Auckland first thing on the 2nd so could not travel on the Air N.Z. flight offered to us that day. Thank you for the prompt refund which was greatly appreciated.

Sadly, our return flight also caused me much grief. I sat on the telephone for well over an hour trying to contact Air N.Z. All I wished to do was add another suitcase to our flight. I was confused that I was unable to do this, and do the on line checkin on the app, as I had previously done. We were staying at the Novotel at the Auckland Airport so I had to go across to the Airport and found an Air N.Z. employee able to help me with my additional luggage. He told me I was unable to check in online as I had changed the booking (this was Air N.Z. who did so - not me). He assured me our seat request (2 aisle seats) was still there in the booking.

It was extremely disappointing to check in at the airport on 21/09 and discover we had an aisle and middle seat. There are reasons why my husband and I need two aisle seats when flying.

I ask that there be some compensation for the inconvenience we incurred - the inability to amend our booking online, hours spent on the telephone (for both flights) and not getting our requested seats. Thankfully the Auckland to Rarotonga return flights went without a problem!

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Catherine-Anne Lamb

[protected]@gmail.com

Our flight NZ7 (11/28/2022) and NZ8(12/14/2022) were cancelled (SFO to AKL) without any notice!

Me and my wife booking reference: FSLQ8H

Customer service lady was very helpful to rebooking our flights this morning, However, our new flight:NZ9817 is operated by United Airlines which we have bad experiences before!

And I have to change my rental car schedule (11/28&12/14 to 11/27 & 12/13 from AKL to ZQN) and new bookings of two hotel nights to be able to enjoy Melford because our trip to Queenstown cut short by one day!

Our flight NZ3276 was cancelled from Singapore to Johannesburg on the 11th of December at 4.35pm. No reason was given - this booking was made in May to manage finances during a very difficult time. We booked accommodation in Singapore and made arrangements to stay for 2 nights and visit friends - the first proper holiday in 3 years. I am an Air points customer with all my details up to date, I have however not received any notification via text (my preferred communications option) or email informing me of the flight cancellation. I checked online on my Air NZ App and saw there has been a flight change and I needed to contact Air NZ. I did so via Oscar the bot, Twitter and Facebook, all said to talk to a human. I then phoned and held the line for over 3 hours without someone picking up the phone? There has been no 'call back' option, this call was made on Sunday 09/10/2033 at 7pm - 11:10pm. Even with staff shortages - holding for customer service for over 3 hours is customer abuse. The call was dropped.

I made another call on Monday morning at 10.07am, then there was a call back option to me at around 12pm. You are welcome to listen to the recording. However, the alternati. Very disappointing and I am phoning again - no call back option for a 3rd time, 2.5 hours and still holding today 10 October at 5pm. I am traumatized by the way an amazing holiday is turning into such a disaster... I reached out to a travel agent and found an available Premium economy ticket leaving Singapore on the 11th December at 1.30am. I then asked the Air NZ customer representative to double check? Then there was availability at an additional cost of $4200. Your customer representatives are friendly and not the problem in this scenario.

I also could not be supported on a flight before or after - first availability was 5 days prior to the original flight. It is evident that the Air NZ/ Singapore Airline partnership is not providing customers with any experience. The trauma left me speechless.

Sun 20 Sep 2020 - Brisbane (BNE) to Auckland (AKL) - Confirmed

Air New Zealand 146

Confirmation Number:UFD8NH



DEPART

12:15

BNE

Non-stop

3H 15M

ARRIVE

17:30

AKL

Sun 20 Sep 2020 - Auckland (AKL) to San Francisco (SFO) - Confirmed

Air New Zealand 8

Confirmation Number:UFD8NH



DEPART

19:45

AKL

Non-stop

12H 15M

ARRIVE

13:00

SFO

I have spoken several times over the last 3 years to Air New Zealand. They kept saying they would send me an email re the amount paid and offer an outcome. Nothing ever came. I emailed customer support. Nothing

I recently spent a week in Maroochydore, flying from Auckland to the Sunshine Coast airport. No problems with my check-in on the way over. But on returning home, my Air NZ app said I could check in online, which I did. At immigration I was told, I needed a paper boarding pass and had to go back to the check-in desk, past a very long queue of people waiting to get through security. At check-in I was told that it is not possible to do check-in online from that airport.

My issue is that the app should know this, so passengers aren’t wrongly told they can check in on the app. Or at least there should be a warning for passengers that they must go to check-in, regardless of whether they have check in luggage or not.

This occurred on 17 September 2022 on the flight departing around 12.40pm for Auckland. It has disappeared from my app, so I can’t give you the flight number.

Thank you.

I am writing this to inform you of my very unpleasant journey and flight on my last visit to Australia. I have been very pleasantly happy with using your airline in past trips, but this trip was an absolute nightmare.

I do recognize that these are trying times, with Covid and overbooking and shortages of pilots and staff, but this did not sit well with me.

After booking my seat 3 months ago to attend my nieces wedding, I checked a few days before my flight to see that I had the seats that I had booked and I did. Upon arrival at the gate to my shock and horror they moved my seating at the last minute that not only felt cramped but was also in the middle of a row of which was not of my choosing. I was very upset and dismayed.

I asked the front desk why they moved my seat even though I specifically chose a window seating and they said that they probably moved me to accommodate families sitting together. Why should one passenger be inconvenienced, trivialized and have to suffer because a family booked at the last minute? Perhaps they paid more money to do so but I think that this is highly unfair and unprofessional.

This happened to me not only the flight going to Australia but on my return flight.

The flight attendant who was kind and gracious enough to listen to my complaint, and I did so without anger or malice explained to me that he was unhappy that this was happening on more and more of his flights and he said that he had to deal with more unhappy and angry passengers because of this last minute switching. He even asked me to lodge a complaint to the company as he was getting tired of this practice, of which I am doing so now.

He could do nothing for me, of which I understood because the flight was packed but nonetheless I had no choice but to sit in the seat that I did not choose and suffer for 15+ hours.

I have always been satisfied with your excellent service before and never had to deal with the seat that I had reserved and obviously chosen being taken away without my knowledge.

I think that the next time that I fly to Australia I will no longer fly with your airline because of this horrible practice.

Sincerely, Karen A. Washington

1. I with my daughter was travelling home from Rarotonga on the 29th August and was 2 in line in at the checkin when it opened for business class. My son-in-law and the 2 boys were travelling Premium Ecomony on the same flight. We were all issued our respective seats mine being 05A and my daughter next 04A we then went to wait at the Air NZ Lounge. Not too long before the flight departed an Air NZ ground attendant approached me and advised she had changed my seat number ! this took me by surprise ... she handed me boarding pass 03J then ripped the tag end off and took my 05A boarding pass . My daughter and I then asked WHY ? her reply was that a husband and wife wanted to sit together ... I replied that I wanted to sit with my daughter and her reply was well its too late and she can't change it now ! this astounded me as we were 2nd in line and had our trip booked and paid for, but postponed several times due to covid, for over a year. I presume that the other passangers arrived for check in after our family and there were no seats together for them ! ? I was the one made to feel unvalued.

2. I had purchased a wooden dragon in Rarotonga and the Gallery had wrapped it in many sheets of bubble wrap and finished with a solid cardboard covering. I asked the Check-in lady if this could be checked in as Fragile ... she was very good and plastered it with red fragile stickers and said it would be looked after. I arrived back at Auckland International and saw a sign that said pick up for fragile and (oversize ?) as i walked towards it a man (baggage handler)came out from a door with my parcel put it on its side and walked back ... a lady walked out and at that instant it fell over ... she looked and did nothing ... I collected it and went to Bio Security for it to be checked and during the unwrapping he pointed to me the leg and advised my it was broken off. I am not saying the damage happened in NZ but the attitude of the baggage handler when she saw it fall was "to bad " ... I am extreamly upset over this as this piece of art was expensive and was to be a focus piece for my new home. I have photos of the damaged leg when I unwrapped it when i got home ... if you are interested.

Dear Management,

Firstly, I would like to acknowledge that I understand the immense pressure placed on airlines and their services as a result of COVID 19. I am a pretty relaxed and patient person in nature, but the lack of consideration that myself and my family received from our Air New Zealand experience a few days ago is not excusable. My husband is from NZ and (before COVID) we have been regular customers of ANZ.

On Wednesday we learned (through email) that our flight from Auckland to Hobart had been cancelled (NZ197) for Thursday 21/7/22. We had already organised to spend the night of the 20th in the Airport Hotel for an easy get away with our girls aged 7 and 9. We

were staying near Keri Keri with family and had also booked to fly on Wed from the Bay of Islands (Keri Keri) to Auckland (a rather expensive short flight for a family, but it meant that we were able to spend an extra night with our family, rather than drive/hire cars etc.). Upon learning of our flight from Auckland to Hobart being cancelled, we still kept our flight from Bay of Islands and went to the Keri Keri airport to discuss our options directly. An ANZ staff member informed us that there were other available flights on the Thursday, but she was unable to book them there. She suggested that we maintain our plan to fly to Auckland, and we organise to get on one of those flights once we were in Auckland. If she hadn’t had advised this, we would have changed our Bay of Islands flight to the following day and spent another night with our family (and, in hindsight, saved a lot of money).

Once we arrived in Auckland we were handballed from one ANZ staff member to another, before finally being told to catch a connecting bus to the international section of the airport to discuss our options. The lady at the ANZ desk attempted to see what was available. It was getting late by now and the kids were getting restless and hungry, so I took them upstairs for some McDonalds whilst my husband attempted to sort it out. The lady was rather rude and said that we shouldn’t have flown from Keri Keri (despite being told by another ANZ staff member that we should). In that time, all Thursday flights had filled up, and we were left with no option but to spend another night in Auckland. The implications of this were:

- Spending money on another night’s accommodation at the Airport Hotel (around $200)

- Missing out on Disney on Ice that was booked in Hobart for Friday morning (the cost of this has been reimbursed)

- Spending money on food/entertainment in Auckland

- Paying 2 staff in Tasmania an extra day’s pay for working on our dairy farm in my husband’s absence

My husband requested some sort of compensation from ANZ at the ‘help’ desk eg. To at least pay for a night’s accommodation. And, it wasn’t until the kids and I had come back from Mc Donalds that the ANZ staff member approached me with $60 worth of refreshment vouchers that were dated to be used in the airport that night. With full bellies and limited places open because it was late anyway; these weren’t needed.

I have fond memories of previous flights with Air New Zealand. When we booked our flights this round, we were really happy to be flying directly to and from Auckland and Hobart. Unfortunately our flight cancellation/rebooking meant that we had to return via Melbourne, which defeated the purpose of booking those flights in the first place, and we had spent hundreds of dollars that we didn’t need to based on the advice of your staff. As I said, I understand that everyone is under pressure in our current climate, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of customer care.

Also - when on our flight, we didn't receive the meals that were inclusive of the tickets we had paid for 'The Works' - I showed these to the airhost. The airhost said that the airline would reimburse the difference and 'make a note' - nothing has been received in our account to date.

Please respond as a means of resolving these issues.

Kind regards,

Sarah

NZ187 Auckland to Gold Coast CANCELED FLIGHT

Notified by text at 3.30am 13th August Flight Departure time 9.20AM

What a shambles it must be there. A little more notice would of appreciated.

If I was to run my business like that. I would not have a business.

We were going to Australia to visit my daughter and new born grandson.

Totally disappointed with Air New Zealands solution to remedy a simple 3 hour flight and now sending us to Christchurch then onto Gold Coast late the next day Sunday 14th August. With us arriving to no vehicle and getting dark.

Surely there would of been seats available on a flight to Brisbane and then on down to Gold Coast by train. Air NZ must have more money than sense. Absolutely No common sense.

We now have lost our rental car due to not being able to get there on time.

As well as having to pay a non recoverable fee to the rental car company.

Absolute nightmare.

We were in the Koru lounge in NAN on 09 August from 11.45 till we boarded our flight at 14.25.

On arrival into the lounge ,we were not greeted or welcomed with a smile.As our flight was delayed ,I asked the staff member if she could put a comment into our domestic flight that night.She was not at all keen to do that but eventually relented.From that moment on ,we felt unwelcome .

She did not communicate to the passengers in the lounge regarding the delayed flight and most of us used flight radar to inform us of the arrival from AKL.

I always feel special and welcome when I use a Koru lounge as the staff have great customer service skills.

I hope this young lady realises how privileged she is to wear the Air NZ uniform ,but maybe she needs a refresher on skills and how to greet passengers and to realise that each and every person needs to be respected and treated equally.

My booking reference is ASRFTH. I was scheduled to fly at 9:20 Am Friday, 5 August from Akl to Gold Coast. I checked in, got the boarding pass, and received an abrupt cancellation message from the airline. Then they sent me an email at 3;13 am for a new flight departing at 6 am, making it impossible for me to take that flight as I could not make arrangements to leave my son in care at that impossible time. I don't wish to fly Air Newzealand again because they have completely lost my trust. No one is available to help.

I want full refund for my tickets as my return flight (booking reference SJ24DH) is also affected because I don't wish to travel anymore. I am completely heartbroken because I had saved so much money and time for this holiday and taken time off work worth about 600 dollars. Not to talk about the emotional and mental agony it has caused me and my son , I don't wish to bear the financial cost. I WANT FULL REFUND. NO CREDITS.

I DONT WISH TO FLY Air NEWZEALAND ever again.

Flight NZ 282 (co share Singapore airlines.)

Time:12.05 am Monday 25th July 2022.

My wife and I (David and Linda Soulsby) checked in early on Sunday 24th July at 8.30pm.

Counter 203.

The check in lady began in a blunt manner, then it was rude behavior.

My wife ( Linda) is a calm polite person and it takes a serious situation for her to complain. During the check in process the lady's poor unfriendly behavior

continued so Linda said "excuse me we do not like to be treated like this"

I then intervened and said to the lady "that her behavior was appalling and in the many many years of international travel have never been treated so badly".To be honest we were shocked.

Later on, after checking into the international lounge a lady traveler came up to us and asked if we were ok. We were still shaken and appreciated her concern. Interestingly that lady had a similar poor experience as us.

We believe the Air NZ staff member requires some counselling.

We can report that the Air NZ lady did offer an apology as we left the counter.

I thanked her for saying that.

The flight crew were wonderful and a special mention to Ingrid but also Andreus.

The Singapore Airline check in lady for Singapore to Schiphol on Flight SQ4282 on 27th July was exceptional.

David and Linda Soulsby

Paid for 2 x works deluxe tickets MEL-AKL-NPL. Air NZ has now changed the flight schedules so that our connection in AKL is too short to make it. Been on phone for 3 hours, no one answering. They wont allow me to make the necessary changes online, I have to ring them. If I change our AKL-NPL flight to a later one they have jacked the price up over 100%, forcing me to pay for a much worse flight, after Ive already paid for fully flex fare.

My flight from Auckland to Blenheim (6.50pm on Monday 4th July) was cancelled due to the aircraft requiring engineering attention.

I can verify this if needed.

I then was able to re-book the same flight and time for the Tuesday 5th July and this was cancelled due to operational requirements.

I can verify this if needed.

On Wednesday 6th July I managed to book myself a flight via Wellington to Blenheim, but was only able to get back to Blenheim with the flight that gets in at 5.45pm.

I understand that cancellations happen and was grateful to have a hotel on both nights paid for and breakfast and dinner x2 paid for by the airline.

I am out of pocket for 2 days pay from work because of the cancelled flights. I am asking if these 2 days pay could please be reinbursed as you can appreciate the cost of living is very high and I will be struggling to meet my costs without this.

I have experienced great customer service from Air New Zealand for many years of using the airline and hope this continues.

I look forward to your response,

Ana Woolf

ana. [protected]@gmail.com

On 21st June, I called [protected] to cancel flight (Booking reference

Q8AMNH): Flight is from Wellington, New Zealand to Bangkok, Thailand.

I waited for four hours and 22 Minutes, but no answer.

Today 22nd June, I have already waited 2 hours and 22 minutes, and still no answers.

This is ridiculous, they should be contactable through the online chat as well.

Have waited on my phone now for three hours ( heard the playlist several rounds)

And I get “ pretty busy at the moment. Will be with you as soon as possible”

There are so many other companies that manage wait times successfully - eg a dial back service eg notice of your place in the queue.

Without either of these I am left wondering if anyone knows or cares that I am waiting.

It might be different if the fares were lower but having spent several hundred dollars in good faith I expect to be able to discuss my situation.

Obviously it requires a certain amount of tenacity to sit on a phone waiting for 3 hours 11 minutes ( current)

How many ‘valued’ customers have simply chosen to lose a fare rather than experience this disregard?

Have been to the airport three times to resolve cancelled flights they say I need to call customer service number but the wait is always four to three hours I have a job that requires multiple phone calls a day so there is no way I can wait on the phone for this long air new Zealand needs to reimburse customers wait times or needs to add a call back function that you get a call back when it is your turn in a list the only acceptable wait time is 15 minutes anything over that should be fines