Travelling long-haul on Air NZ next year? Your flight may have been rescheduled

Air New Zealand will reschedule nearly 2,000 international flights next year. This could affect the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers, some of whom will have to reorganize their vacations.

Although relatively few passengers have had to change their flights to another date, they are faced with having to rebook their accommodation, car rentals and activities at their destination.

Responding to questions after passengers changed flights next April, Air New Zealand said it was looking to add flexibility to its network.

“As in August of this year, we have made changes to our long haul schedule from the end of March to October to give our network more flexibility and certainty,” said Leanne, Air New Zealand Chief Customer and Sales Officer. Geraghty said.

She said adjustments were made to 1,900 flights in eight months.

This “ensures customers that the aircraft and crew will be available to get them where they need to be in the event of a disruption.”

About 90% of the changes are retimed or change aircraft types within 60 minutes.

However, the remaining 10% of flights mean that passengers cannot travel on the dates they book. They were offered flights on either side of what they had booked.

One Auckland man said he was irritated by the sudden flight cancellation without any explanation.

The man and his wife have been working hard to plan and save up for a trip to the United States with their three adult children and their families, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. With nine adults and five children in total, his once-in-a-lifetime six-week family trip requires a lot of planning and logistics.

“Can Air New Zealand cancel a flight four months in advance without any explanation? It’s costly for our group.”

All accommodations, activities and many cruises were already booked and paid for by the group and could not be changed.

They now have to leave a day earlier, which increases costs when meals, accommodations and new flights (an additional $4200 to get a similar seat) are factored in.

“The trip cost me an extra $6,500. That money has to be recovered from part of the trip. That’s it,’ he said.

Air New Zealand said domestic flights were unaffected.

Airlines are still struggling to match capacity to the still strong demand.

Geraghty said he plans to fly all seven Boeing 777-300s again by late May.

It “is an important moment for us as it will help further ease the capacity constraints we are seeing.”

The airline has retired all eight smaller 777-200s that were sent to deep storage early in the pandemic.

The airline also had hired an additional 700 staff by the end of February.It has rehired about 2,000 staff over the past 12 months but is still facing the upheaval of the Covid-19 disease. .

House of Travel commercial director Brent Thomas said hotel reservations, cruise vacations and rental car reservations will need to be rescheduled for those currently traveling on different days. Those who booked through an agent were able to contact the agent to do this.

He said Air New Zealand did the right thing.

“This is a lot of work for us, but we appreciate you giving us enough warning.”

Thomas said the return of more aircraft was welcome news as there were no signs of a decline in travel demand despite the prospect of a recession next year.

Bookings have traditionally declined in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but this year they have not slowed down.

In August, the airline cut summer schedules by 1.5%, allowing flexibility in schedules after disruptions caused by illness and staff shortages.

He then said he wanted to avoid sudden confusion.

To build more padding into the network over the summer, the company contracted Spanish wet lease operator Wamos to fly between Auckland and Perth. Wamos will provide the planes and crews to operate the service, allowing Air New Zealand resources to be used on other routes.

The airline is gearing up for its busiest day in nearly three years tomorrow, with more than 55,000 passengers on its network. We ask for patience for those who may face delays or wait in line longer than usual.