Air New Zealand - Māngere

Typically I like Air NZ and when everything goes well they are great but if something goes wrong it's another story. To be clear this is NOT a review of the awesome Air NZ staff this is a review of the corporate company and how they fail to implement crisis training and equip their staff with adequate resources to have the correct information and to act and react appropriately in these unprecedented COVID-19 times. We were on Air NZ flight NZ151 to Brisbane due to take off at 2.45pm on Saturday the 4th of July 2020. My daughter and I offered to leave the plane once the captain advised it was off balance and overweight. 9 other passengers were made to leave the plane. We over heard on the AirNZ staff walkie talkies that they should remove 30 passengers however that didn't happen. We were advised to call our families to come back to the Auckland airport to pick us up and were then held in customs and told we would have to quarantine. Incredibly odd situation that was handled terribly by AirNZ. We were handed a letter saying accommodation would be our responsibility. I refused to accept this and if it wasn't for the NZ Police I'm not sure we would have received the amended letter that eventually came. The NZ Police were really helpful and managed to find out we'd have to quarantine because Americans in transit were also on the flight. All 11 people removed from the plane were New Zealanders and we are yet to find out how the 9 passengers removed were selected. We were then in quarantine until Tuesday when we left on the next flight to Brisbane. There's been speculation AirNZ took perishable freight on the same flight which offloaded us 11 passengers but they have not responded to my queries and instead sent an email to apologise and offered me $350. I have requested the money so I can donate it to needy families however have not heard back. I would not have booked the flight if I knew Americans who hadn't been quarantined were on board. Why do AirNZ risk NZ citizens safety by not disclosing overseas customers who had not quarantined would also be on the flight? Why was the flight overbooked and overweight? Did AirNZ choose to take perishable freight to Brisbane instead of paying customers?

I paid for premium economy..however lounges were closed no duty free available in Brisbane and Auckland..Airport near empty and sad really not seeing many people and most businesses closed for now..Airnz staff very helpful and customs also all went smoothly at both ends..The flight was great and staff very friendly and welcoming..My flight was delayed by another day..I was informed via email all good.Thanks Airnz for all our safe journeys home.

No doubt they are the best airline in the World. Service is great and food was amazing. This is the only airline where you wont find those over makeuped air hosts with fake smiles. Everybody is so genuin. Their safety videos are best not one of those boring one that no one cates.I would definitely fly again with them.

FLIGHTS TO/FROM: Los Angeles, California to Auckland to Queenstown, New Zealand and Queenstown to Auckland DATES TAKEN: 02/21/20 and 02/27/20 I always thought it was weird to review an airline, but my husband and I just enjoyed our experience with them so much that I had to say something. Actually, from now on when traveling to that part of the country, I'm sure we will make it a point to travel using Air New Zealand (it also helps that we fell in love with Queenstown) LONG FLIGHT - For a long flight (12 hour sand 55 minutes from LAX to AKL), this was a blessing. It's always tough to make a long flight comfortable but I found the seats as comfortable as they can be for an airplane. It was easy to walk to the bathroom without feeling you were inconveniencing the flight crew and they were respectful of requests for water. I always hate when you feel like its an inconvenience to ask for more water. They also offer options like the space couch that's cheaper than first class. SERVICE - Great service, as mentioned above, I never felt like I was inconveniencing the flight crew. Always nice to see how "green-conscious" they are - on short flights they had us hold onto our plastic cups, so we weren't using so many for 1 flight IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT - the free wifi for the entire flight (only for the longer flight) made the flight go by even faster. The in-flight center was also packed with games, TV shows and movies - that I actually wanted to play and watch INTERNATIONAL TO DOMESTIC TRANSFER - My biggest word of caution is the transfer from Internal to Domestic part of the airport. It is quite a haul and 1 hour and 45 minutes was BARELY enough time - we were walking to the stairs to our gate as they were announcing final boarding. It is a POSSIBLE connection in the time-frame if you know the airport. We walked the wrong direction (towards the gates) then realized the baggage check-in was the other direction - losing time. With automated check-in kiosks, it was also a little tough to get information on what to do to get our bags checked in for our domestic flight. BOOKING - We booked both through their website as well as using our Chase Ultimate Rewards points

Worst experience ever! I lost my flight connection because the immigration crew held me for some questions. I tried to change flights with Air New Zealand and they said to me that there wasn't any available for that day and I would have to sleep in Auckland and buy a whole new ticket for the next day (besides losing my already paid flight, I would have to buy a very expensive new one). It turns out THERE WAS a flight, scheduled for just one hour later, on the panel. So, I tried to change it through the app and voilá: it's worked - for a quarter of the price they had requested me. I feel they just wanted more money and tried to scam me. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and send them a question about it. I have never received an answer, so what else could I think?

Whilst checking in I asked if I could check in my hand luggage also as I had 8 kg left. I believe checking it in would’ve made my check in altogether over by 1kg. I used the exact same weight when traveling with Singapore during my arrival so didn’t see the issue. Lili Shang who was checking me in made a big issue about it and told me I needed to rearrange my entire luggage to make the weight work. I did so but asked to see the manager Megan (blonde kiwi lady) she was extremely rude to me sniggering and giving dirty looks whilst talking. She said “we are not letting you get away with 1kg I don’t care if you did when you arrived now go away”. I thought this was very odd coming from Singapore airline manager and is not how I expect to be treated after flying with you for several years. Any how after I queued again and picked my things to accommodate I came back and Megan was smiling sarcastically as if she was happy I just had to rearrange and queue again. As I was going to my gate I saw her again and overheard her speaking to someone and to be clear this is exactly what I overheard when she didn’t notice I was there “I made life difficult for this gond checking in”. This is really disturbing and shocking. I’ve tried to call your department several times to find a disconnected line as I did not feel safe boarding this flight. I will never ever be flying with you guys after Megan’s remarks it’s disgusting and as a British citizen very sad to hear these words come out of a Kiwis mouth. I will be sharing this experience on my travel blogs and leaving reviews where I can of this as it is not acceptable. If this is not escalated I will be pursuing legal matters if need be as I now have to endure a 14 hour flight with this on my mind making me anxious. Hope this has shed some light on the situation with Megan. I can’t for the life of me understand how someone like her is a manager for your Auckland International Airport check ins.

The app said my flight had left when it hadn't. Prompting me to book another flight asap but then straight after booking it it said I couldn't check in. But still took my money.. They then tried to fob it off as my fault as did the manager until I physically showed him the evidence of their app displaying incorrect data. Refused to refund on the spot. Said would have to wait at least 5 working days. From the get go they tried to blame the customer.

I flew Dunedin to Wellington on Saturday returning on Sunday with my elderly mother who can't walk far and has dementia. The whole experience from check in to flight was wonderful. They were expecting us had a wheelchair ready to go for Mum and were so lovely helpful and professional. I would class the service we received at both airports as exemplary, second to none. I would highly recommend this airline. A huge Thankyou to Air New Zealand not only did Mum have a wonderful time with family at the weekend but we both were absolutely delighted with the whole experience ?