For some carriers, when you pay for just a seat, that’s all you get, but with Air New Zealand’s latest overhaul of its Seats to Suit offering, buying JUST a seat now gets you inflight entertainment and even a snack.
Air New Zealand has announced significant changes to its Seats to Suit offering, catering to travellers between New Zealand and Australia or the Pacific Islands.
These changes, effective from 11 June are set to simplify fare options, offering flexibility and basic inflight essentials to all passengers.
Jeremy O’Brien, Air New Zealand’s General Manager of Short Haul, says that these adjustments stem from customers’ expressed preferences for greater flexibility in ticket purchasing, allowing them to tailor their choices according to their needs.
“The new Seats to Suit updates are based on customer feedback and changes our passengers were looking for,” he says.
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What’s changing?
The refreshed Seats to Suit offering will be live from 11 June 2024 for new bookings on flights between New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Here’s a quick guide to what will be impacted:
FOOD AND FILMS
Under the new Seats to Suit offering, all passengers will enjoy full in-flight entertainment and a snack or meal, tea, coffee, water and juice.
Because there will be snacks for all, inflight purchases of snacks will be discontinued, but a range of beverages will still be available for purchase.
FLEXI FARES
“Our customers have told us affordable flexibility is important, especially for many of our frequent fliers, so we’re introducing a new fully flexible and refundable fare option in each cabin,” O’Brien says.
The new fare options are: worksflexi, premiumflexi and businessflexi. Customers booking these fares will be able to with a fully flexible (change fee is waived, fare difference will apply) and refundable ticket.
So, the changes will see the following fare types available:
- seat
- theworks
- worksflexi
- premiumeconomy
- premiumflexi
- businesspremier
- businessflexi
GONE FOR GOOD
The discontinued Seat+Bag product will be replaced, allowing passengers to add a bag for $30 when purchasing a seat fare.
Also, customers will no longer be able to purchase vouchers at the airport to buy items onboard. All transactions will take place inflight and customers will need a Visa, Mastercard, or Amex card or they can use Airpoints.
Los Angeles, Houston schedule changes
As Air New Zealand awaits delivery of new aircraft, it has proactively dry leased an additional Boeing 777-367ER, boosting schedule support and network resilience.
While passengers on this aircraft will experience the same Air New Zealand service and enjoy familiar amenities like food, drinks, and entertainment, minor cabin adjustments may be noticed.
The airline has advised travel agents that these flights will be designated as code 773 in the GDS, with a notice indicating potential differences in inflight amenities. Economy Stretch and Economy Skycouch™ options won’t be offered on these services.
Flights are available for booking now, with service commencing on October 27, 2024, initially on the Auckland to Houston route. The aircraft may also serve other routes as needed.
LOS ANGELES SERVICES INCREASED
From 28 October, 2024, Air New Zealand will increase flights between Auckland and Los Angeles, offering up to 12 flights per week during peak times. To support this, the airline will utilise its leased Boeing 777-367 (773) aircraft on select days.
Here are the key updates:
- Daily NZ5/6 flights will continue using its current Boeing 777-300 (77W).
- On Tuesdays and Fridays, NZ3/4 services will operate with its leased 773 aircraft.
- NZ3/4 flights on Thursdays (previously using 77W) have been cancelled, with affected customers rebooked on same-day NZ5/6 flights.
- Certain NZ3/4 flights on Tuesdays and/or Saturdays between October 29 and November 15 have been cancelled, with affected customers also rebooked on same-day NZ5/6 flights.
- NZ4 departure times have been adjusted to 18:00 AKL with 09:00 LAX arrival for 77W services, and 19:45 AKL departure with 10:45 LAX arrival for 773 services.
- For the complete schedule and timings, Air New Zealand asks agents to refer to your GDS (times may vary due to daylight savings). Note: occasional services may utilise different aircraft types/times due to maintenance needs.
For changes/refunds, agents are asked to endorse them with ‘SKCHG NZ3’ or ‘SKCHG NZ4’.
HOUSTON CHANGES
The Auckland to Houston service will go from seven to five days a week, operating on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
The airline has called for agents to check their queues for impacted bookings, advising that schedule adjustments for passengers affected on Tuesdays and Fridays will be gradually implemented in the GDS, with PNRs receiving a UN status update.
Agents are asked to endorse changes/refunds with ‘SKCHG NZ28’ or ‘SKCHG NZ29’ as applicable, and refer to the International Schedule Changes page on Airnzagent for rebooking guidelines.
Agents should visit airnzagent.com.au for more information.
