Airnewzealand Reviews 

Booked a multi-leg flight through Etihad Airways (legs 1 +2 with Etihad, leg 3 with Air New Zealand). Similar for the return. Paid around £100 (for the return journey) to upgrade to 'comfort', which includes choosing seats free of charge.

No problem reserving seats free of charge with Etihad. The Air NZ flight seats have to be reserved directly through the operator apparently. Fair enough. Unfortunately the operator (Air New Zealand) refuses to honour the money I already paid for free seats and is demanding I pay more! Complete disgrace to be honest and what looks like a dirty trick to try and get more money. (As if I weren't paying several thousand already.) I will certainly try to avoid this airline any chance I get in the future.

Such an horrible custom service. I've called like 20 times and they never answer... I bought a ticket on in the ANZ agence in Tahiti and I can tell that they're not that busy at all to don't be ale to tak the call.

Would give zero if I could. Flying domestically with Air NZ is a joke - constant cancelled flights or delays, inaccurate information in their flight app - staff are friendly and helpful but the company is being run awfully. It’s faster, cheaper and more reliable to just drive.

The configuration of business class is terrible with no shelves to put objects such as glass case, unlike business class in other airlines in which I have travelled. I had asked for a Hindu meal as I have a special diet ( medical reasons) as chick peas, dahl and rice I can eat. My meal was barely recognisable as Indian and did not taste like one. I have never seen an Indian meal with red kidney beans or roti (Malaysian) They usually have naan bread. The meal from Cathay Pacific on my outward flight was fine.

I decided to pay a little extra and get a short domestic flight rather than spend 4-5 hours on the bus. The flight was cancelled around when it was supposed to depart, and after an hour or so a bus was organized. I appreciated the quick alternative transport, but full refund or credit seems far more reasonable than keeping the full fare which was 300% of the normal bus fare. I booked a flight to avoid the bus. Instead, I just got to pay 300% for a delayed bus ride. That doesn't seem reasonable.

I made a $6,350 payment to Air New Zealand. They can't find the payment. It has been 14 days and they still haven't given me any information.

I have now had to pay my bank a fee to cary out an investigation into the "missing" funds which could take weeks.

UPDATE: I am now taking Air New Zealand to court to reclaim the funds

4 trips, they didn’t add airpoints to my account.
The claim back option isn’t working for me

Coming back from Sydney to Auckland the flight waa ok but the chicken lunch I got was awful - the first time I have ever had a mad meal on Air NZ - when I got out of customs I took a bus for my connecting flight to Tauranga leaving at 7pm but Air NZ had cancelled the flight- not sure why - was taken by coach to Tauranga Airport & finally got home at 11pm. There will be no compensation aa we did get to our destination in the end.

Worst airline service ever. Even European low budget airlines provide better service. Air New Zealand canceled our tickets for another day because they had overbooked the flight. There was nothing to do and they couldn't give a refund because we had bought non-refundable tickets - yes we bought non-refundable tickets because we didn't want to change the flight schedule. We explained to Air New Zealand that we were only in transit (arrived from Japan), but they wanted us to wait at the airport for 2 days (2 adults and 2 children). We bought our tickets directly through Air New Zealand

AirNZ cancelled NZ125 and put me and my daughter on NZ121 which departed 4 hours BEFORE I arrived in Auckland. How can an airline whose business is based on bookings make such a basic mistake? I guess they just don’t care.
AirNZ cancelled the flight and because I booked through Webjet they say they have no responsibility to help me. And I’ve had to apply, yes APPLY, for a refund that will likely take 12 weeks to arrive, if it ever does. After speaking with a veteran travel agent of 40 years, it’s apparent that AirNZ does not honour agent bookings as a means of driving customers onto their ticketing system. This cancellation has cost me $1600 to rebook, including accommodation, to get me and my daughter home in time for work and school. That’s almost 3 months of savings on my salary. Quite clearly AirNZ have a pattern of behaviour that is not customer focussed. In fact, I say AirNZ has stolen this money from me.
Last time I flew in AirNZ cancelled my domestic flight while I was in the air and I paid $1350 for a taxi to Hawkes Bay to make an appointment on time. In addition, some of these passengers missing their connection to a cruise thereby ending their holiday before it began.
My recent experience clearly shows that when you fly AirNZ you can expect to pay at least 50% extra for the inconvenience, but the shareholders still get a healthy dividend. Where are your priorities AirNZ? The customers ARE your business NOT the shareholders. The fact that you operate a monopoly in NZ is the only reason I’ll choose you again. Oh, and by the way, how to you think this type of experience affects how your staff are treated? Is this why your staff retention is so low?

My Experience on the 2nd Sept 2024.
A golfing party of 5 were booked to fly on NZ200 Brisbane to Christchurch. We arrived at Brisbane International Airport 3pm the 2nd. As we checked our clubs in AirNZ cancelled the flight.(a blocked toilet was given as the cause). Then ensued a mad scamble to get seats. It became hard to get any sense from the staff available and we ended up in several queues. The Air NZ staff then appeared to rank us. Two of our party were Kouru members and so got rushed to a Qantas line. I was allocated an Auckland flight 2hours sleep then Akld to Chch red-eye flight . I opted out of that and was to be dispatched to Chch from Brisbane early Tuesday. Enter the Air NZ operations Manager for both the Brisbane airpoirts. The final allocations started to get sorted. I and another of our party were to stay in Brisbane and exit via Qantas at 6.55pm the 3rd. The other in our party went on the Auckland flight with limited sleep. (his golf clubs got left behind in Brisbane). We were well looked after in Brisbane that night and the next day with vouchers from Air NZ. We flew out the night of the 3rd on Qantas and got full service with them including a meal. In hindsight Air NZ would have known they would have delays to schedules because 100 flights around the Melbourne area had been cancelled, causing logistics problems throughout the Pacific. I just think it could have been handled better. But thank goodness the Air NZ airport operations manager was working that night.

It's terrible experience, we travel to US from Brisbane and transit at Auckland to US, we arrived at Brisbane's airport 3 hours before the fly take off which should give us enough time to check-in and sort out any unexpected issues might happen. We didn't aware of we will need US travel documents to able to board, as my husband and my daughter are American and I'm Australian. One of the staff took about more than 45 minutes to check-in then said that we are unable to check in because we don't have an authority to travel to US. They then advised us to go to esta Website to apply for it and said it should be approved instancely. We did as they told, then we got the system error that did not take our payment for the application, they then cancelled our fly then about an hour later, we able to get help from travel agecy to get approval. The NZ airline then re-book the fly for us with the price is 3x compare to our original fare and took about 90 minutes waiting on the phone for them to do it. Question to ask: why do they need that much time to re-book fly for us then just let us know how much the fees we will have to pay? At the time we have started check in, the fare price still very cheap, but at the time they re-book for us, the fare price went up rapidly. Speak fairly, they should advise us upfront that we will need US travel authority documents when we just arrived at the airport but they let us wait for almost an hour then just advised us, plus let us wait on the phone for extra 90 minutes to rebook the ticket. Aren't they tried to buy time to take advantage of customers? After that, the fly continues delay 3 times before it would able to board, It's very terrible experience and definitely will never ever chose NZ airline again unless that's our only choice.

This is a reluctant one star do not bother paying to upgrade to business class it guarantees you nothing. I've checked him my business class flight from Rarotonga to Auckland I went to the Air New Zealand lounge only to be told there were no seats there is no point in paying the extra just fly premium and economy or better still use another airline.

Air New Zealand Domestic Flight: A Disappointing Experience for Pet Travel

I recently flew with Air New Zealand on a domestic flight from Auckland to Dunedin, departing at 12:30 pm. I was traveling with my cat, and after thorough research and multiple calls to the airline, I made sure to meet all the requirements for her safe travel. I paid a total of $180 for her journey, expecting the "special treatment" and safety the airline promised for pets.

Unfortunately, my experience was far from satisfactory. Upon arrival, I was shocked to find my cat left unattended and in distress at the overweight baggage collection point. This not only compromised her safety but also left her vulnerable to being claimed by anyone, which is unacceptable.

The problems didn't stop there. When I retrieved the carrier, it was damaged in a way that could only have resulted from rough handling, such as being dropped or thrown. To make matters worse, despite the airline's assurance that my cat would be provided water during the flight, she was not given any.

The most concerning issue arose when I got home and discovered that my cat had an injury on her paw, clearly indicating rough handling during the flight.

This experience has left me deeply disappointed with Air New Zealand's handling of pet travel. I have already filed a damaged bag complaint but have yet to receive any response, apology, or assistance regarding the damage and trauma my cat endured. I now have to purchase a new carrier since the damaged one will not be accepted for future travel.

Overall, the handling and safety of my pet were terrible, and I expected much better from a reputable airline like Air New Zealand.

Took 3 months to get a refund. Who else could get away with that.

Air NZ has been relegated to the budget airline group in my opinion. It started from waiting at the gate brisbane to Christchurch, when the airline staff member paged 'Ruth...' but pronounced it 'Roof'. The flight was delayed,which happens, however, the staff were indifferent during boarding and did not assist some elderly people that were struggling to put bags up. This delayed boarding and it was a total circus. During the flight I was informed curtly that because I had only purchased a 'seat and bag', I coud not buy a drink until the paying customers had been served. Fine in theory but the attitude was abissmal. The woman spoke with a tone as if saying it was my own fault not to book meal service and pay the extra! The drinks trolley was right there yet I coudn't buy one. As the flight was short enough I just didn't bother. The food I saw was revolting, two rice dishes and hardly anything except rice. Snacks were horrible as well, cheap and nasty muesli bar which looked like it was from a budget supermarket. On my return journey my AirNZ flight was cancelled due to technical errors. I was so happy to be rebooked on a Qantas flight, where I enjoyed the full meal and drink service for the same price as AirNZ's shoddy provision. Wonderful staff in comparison. I have previously had excellent flights on AirNZ prior to Covid19. This is our national airline, not Ryan air. The group think that is evident with AirNZ is shocking with it being defended as "Oh there was a lot of food wastage". Absolute rubbish! I have given the two stars for the rebooking procedure, which was done relatively well. I will avoid AirNZ like the plague, sadly I am ashamed to be a NZ'er.

I have traveled between NZ and Brisbane for 17 years, but today's experience was exceptional. From the friendly conversations at the gate to the warm smiles during ticket inspection, the inflight team truly shined.

Special thanks to the male flight attendant who helped with the WiFi setup—your assistance was amazing. The entire crew was polite, helpful, and full of positive energy.

After a disappointing previous flight, today’s journey restored my faith in Air NZ. Your team's fantastic service, especially during a difficult time as I head to a family funeral, has won back my loyalty. Thank you for making me proud to be a Kiwi.

5thJuly2024: I arrived at 9.15 am at Keri Keri airport to find no one in attendance at the check in counter . Another passenger was waiting also she had been there since 9.10 am.
I had checked in online the day before and was travelling to Melbourne .
At 9. 22am an Air NZ concierge appeared and said the flight was closed and accused me of being at fault for not hearing her announcements when i wasn't at the airport.
She was hostile unreasonable and excessively rude to myself and the other passenger who was waiting to check in.
It clearly states on the ticket attached check in closes at 9.20am. see attached
This is a BINDING commercial contract.
They closed early they had no right to do so.
They could see I was on an international flight.
I was told after complaining I could board but my luggage couldn't go I was offered NO ALTERNATIVES and they called security to remove me and my husband.
High handed ignorance.
They had plenty of time and the baggage handler tried to remove me from the flight.
He was supposed to loading luggage ; couldn't load mine though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was treated like excrement by indolent incompetent staff.
This was reported to AIR NZ call centre on the day there is a record.
The call centre personnel were excellent, very helpful as I had to communicate with them while DRIVING TO AUCKLAND AT GREAT EXPENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
I requested a refund of my fare at the airport this was supposedly noted.
I want my refund plus $50 for the cost of driving to Auckland paid into my account. see attached
I also require a written APOLOGY from all the Kerikeri staff on duty that day.

I am a senior citizen and have been an AIR NZ customer for decades. My family have flown extensively with Air NZ both in NZ and globally and I have NEVER been treated in such an unreasonable manner by Air NZ before.
This incident has been posted on social media.

Utterly useless airline. Been bumped and changed and cancelled on flights so many times it’s not even funny. I refuse to fly Air NZ now. Who would’ve thought Jetstar would now be the preferred carrier in NZ! Totally frustrating and just not good enough.