The Only Thing Air New Zealand Ever Got Right

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 25 Apr 2004, 17:19

Everyone here knows that I am no fan of Air New Zealand, but I do give praise where it is due, and I have to say that the one (and only) thing Air New Zealand ever managed to get right was their in-flight audio entertainment (note I emphasised "audio" because their screen showings were indescribably awful, boring affairs!)

When we flew with them back in 1995, we spent hours listening to their "Classic Hits" on channel 9. I remember all thorugh the 14 hours 20 minutes flight from Los Angeles to Sydney I listened to that channel, with only very short breaks.

Here's some of the music on offer on there:

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help from My Friends by The Beatles
Telephone Line by ELO
Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics
Be My Baby by The Ronettes
I See Red by Split Enz (I had never heard that song before, but I have to say that it is superb to play it on the CD loud, like I was doing last night

)
April Sun in Cuba by Dragon (a New Zealand group, I had never heard that song before, but I now have it on a CD and also played it loud last night

)
I Want You Back by The Jackson Five
Hold the Line by Toto

to name a few. That is the only thing I liked about Air New Zealand in 1995.

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 25 Apr 2004, 17:28

Nice to see you did like one feature on Air New Zealand

I remember all thorugh the 14 hours 20 minutes flight from Los Angeles to Sydney I listened to that channel, with only very short breaks.

Wasn't it boring in the end, to listen to the same music, all the time.

Chris

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 25 Apr 2004, 17:35

Chris - there was nothing else to do for the majority of that long flight. It was about 12 hours of continual night, and apart from seeing a far off storm through the window, I got quite bored. Once we saw some daylight, as we approached nearer Australia, I turned the music off a bit and looked through the window more.

justy · Post by **justy** » 25 Apr 2004, 22:40

Hey guys there's nothing wrong with air new zealand.i fly with it quite often and have found it a wonderful airline to fly with .i am not only that because i am a kiwi either

LJ · Post by LJ » 28 Apr 2004, 20:44

I've flown Air New Zealand LHR-AKL-SYD and MEL-AKL-LAX-LHR and I must say they're better than KLM on long haul as the economy seats in their B747 are just wonderfull (you really get to appreciate the important aspects of service when you travel on NZ001 all the from LHR to AKL).

The fact that they don't have PTV is not an issue for me (maybe a problem for others).

BTW their music selection is indeed very good.

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 29 Apr 2004, 11:45

LJ wrote: (you really get to appreciate the important aspects of service when you travel on NZ001 all the from LHR to AKL).

What service? Last time I travelled on NZ001, the crew refused to answer call buttons, on this 10 and a half hour flight there was no drinks service apart from what was offered with the "meal". The crew were more intent on heading off on mass to their rest area. We weren't allowed to have the windows uncovered because of the bloody in flight film. Passengers were spoken to like second class :pukey: (I am honestly surprised that I never saw air rage against the Air New Zealand crews because they were so bad). The steward was lucky he didn't get the bloody awful "fish" he served up tipped over his stupid head. These so called "native English speakers" don't seem to understand the English language. When I asked for "tea" to drink they hadn't a bloody clue what I was talking about (I have never had problems on Spanish, Belgian, French, Finnish, Irish and Icelandic carriers!)

Contrast all this with what I wrote about my flights with Sabena, VLM and more recently SNBA and then you will know what the "important aspects of service" really are.

Flybe · Post by **Flybe** » 29 Apr 2004, 17:18

Comet, you seem to be somebody of extremes 8)

Either you love it (VLM, SNBA, ...), either you hate it thoroughly (in this case NZ001).

Isn't it possible that you just had a bad flight? Maybe not all the flights are like that (i would say, probably not all flights were like that). every airline makes mistakes sometimes.

Greets,

Pieter.

5Y-KQV · Post by **5Y-KQV** » 29 Apr 2004, 19:12

Spot on Pieter. I would say Comet had a real nasty flight which does occasionaly occur but a single flight shouldn't be used to classify the airline as that terrible. If you flew Ghana Airways a couple of times, you would think that Air New Zealand is paradise.

My $0.02 worth.

LJ · Post by LJ » 29 Apr 2004, 20:46

Comet, looks like you and me had a totally different flight. When I flew NZ001 last year my friends got the NZ playing cards ("we officially don't have them anymore but on a 24 hour you guys probably want to play cards at one point"), we did receive a very good meal plus the snacks and drinks (didn't have to use the call button) and last but not least we chatted we the FA's. The only drawback is that some of the LHR based crew don't have a clue about New Zealand as most of them haven't been to NZ (they only fly LHR-LAX).

However, my remark about the more important things refers to the 34 inch seat which would, for me atleast, one of the reasons why I would take Air New Zealand again on my next trip to New Zealand.

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 30 Apr 2004, 15:07

Comet wrote: Last time I travelled on NZ001, the crew refused to answer call buttons, on this 10 and a half hour flight there was no drinks service apart from what was offered with the "meal".

Louise,

It's maybe the button which was broken

Chris

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 30 Apr 2004, 19:57

I have had several flights with Air New Zealand, we booked a multi-stop holiday with them (which incidentally we almost lost because of the incompetence of the ANZ reservations staff cancelling all our flights without our knowledge until we phoned the airline to reconfirm our reservations!) We had one good crew - that was between LAX and SYD - the rest, well, I've never come across crews like them!

The love/hate thing with airlines is merely illustrating the two extremes - Air New Zealand have the worst service I have experienced and SNBA the best (even beating Sabena after that flight from BHX-BRU

) Other airlines I have flown with are generally ones I have liked such as Air France, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Cyprus Airways - I like those carriers, I have no problems with them and I would fly them again, but the service on those carriers was what you should be able to expect (spoken to properly with crews who have learned some manners) and not above what you would expect like it is with SNBA sometimes.

Chris - the call buttons were working fine, several passengers had pressed buttons, it was just the brains (if indeed they have brains) of the Air New Zealand cabin crews which were not engaged in anything useful (ie their job!)