We've found an Air New Zealand sale, seems to be from eastern Aussie ports (MEL/BNE/SYD) at least, to AKL, WLG, CHC - prices from $269-$292 return which is basically the same as LCC Jetstar prices!
Goes up to mid-December, and some dates in early 2019 as well.
Airline: Air New Zealand
Alliance: Star Alliance
@Flight Scout
Example: https://www.flightscout.co/au/cheap-flights/melbourne-austra…
They offer economy fares at premium prices. That's for sure.
Yes. And these discounted fares will be on their aging 767 fleet. Flights on the newer planes don’t tend to go on sale as often
We flew Air NZ from Dunedin to Brisbane a few months ago and it was honestly no better than Jetstar. No meals, pay extra for a suitcase, departure time of 6am and then none of the fresh or hot the food options were available to purchase as Dunedin is not a "major" port for them, so they don't carry those meals on that route (apparently).
Virgin Australia do the direct flight from DUD
I bet Dunedin was well impressed when they got that airport code allocated to them.
Edit:
Doesn't even make it into the top ten dodgy names though according to a site I just checked:
DIK – Dickinson Airport, USA
NOB – Nosara Beach Airport, Costa Rica
KOK – Kokkola/Pietarsaari Kruunupyy Airport, Finland
BOG – Bogotá Airport, Columbia
BUM – Butler Airport, USA
PEE – Perm Airport, Russia
POO – Pocos De Caldas Airport, Brazil
SEX – Sembach Airport, Germany
FAT – Fresno Yosemite Airport, USA
DOH – Doha Airport, Qatar
I'm such a child.
PEE – Perm Airport, Russia
I've had a few chuckles about that one recently. It comes up in search suggestions on airlines when I put in "PER" for Perth.
If Air NZ want to compete with the now improved Virgin and QF offer across the Tasman they need to offer baggage, even light refreshment, ff points.
Essentially the A320 service is the same as JQ. Try and get on a 777/787.
Onboard entertainment, games, tv shows for free. Far more comfortable seats IMHO.
Has Virgin metal improved though? Having flown multiple times across the ditch codesharing I always prefer Air NZ planes and service.
From 28th October virgin changes its product.
Virgin metal has added WiFi; meal/drink/baggage in all fares; WiFi on all flights; and tweaked earn rates on status and FF points. They're also now codesharing with SIA on Melbourne-Wellington. However, they are still mostly operating a 737-800/73H fleet trans-Tasman (at least from Melbourne).
https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/about-us/media/2018/TR…
Air New Zealand are running a mix of A320s, 777-300s and 787s; most days they're running at least one wide-body flight. Wifi is being installed (they're about done with the 777-300s). Their business class is vastly better on the 787/777 (business class on VA is about the same product as Air NZ's Premium Economy).
https://www.airnewzealand.com.au/wifi
Service standards on VA's narrowbodies aren't totally different to that on NZ's - there's not that much difference between the A320s and the 737s. The difference between the service on the widebody jets (NZ's 777s and 787s) and VA's 737s is immense though.
What lounge can you use when travelling to NZ with Virgin? Air NZ international at Melb craps all over any of the Virgin domestics I've been in!
I flew Virgin to NZ and AirNZ back recently and the AirNZ product was significantly lower grade.
Have flown Air NZ to North and South america as well though, and their product there is world class
From 28th October the virgin/anz partnership ends. From this date virgin are offering baggage,meals, free wifi, higher ff earning, more flights.
I have actually booked a flight to Queenstown for travel in late November before this announcement from virgin. I am hoping that with this new change I will get these benefits like check-in baggage, free wifi etc even though at the time of booking it was mentioned to be extra. Will call them after 28th oct and check.
Price does not include baggage and meal. Typical Air NZ.
baggage
*Beggage
while I need depart at mid Dec and return at early Jan, no sales at all. :(
Yes, and with Air NZ prices is 3 times higher than if you fly at the end of Jan.
How is it a deal when Jetstar do $180 returns to Auckland and similar to other cities frequently?
I just flew back from NZ with Jet Star never again, the flight to Sydney takes 3 hours but our flight was delayed 12 bloody hours
Jetstar sent a second aircraft from Sydney to prevent us waiting from 4am to 6pm
Once that landed, they announced it too needed to get fixed! Absolutely terrible, an $8 meal voucher was the only compensation received.
Do NZ Airways still have the varying tiers of economy fares? No bag, bag plus meal, optional life jacket etc?