Boarded on time, smooth flight and "gentle" landing in Palmerston North. Ahead of time due to a tailwind
My experience with Underpricer was not great. The representative assigned to me did not tell me beforehand that selecting seats, which i could not do through ANZ, WOULD ADD SIGNIFICANT cost to my ticket (all flight segments were reg economy seats. The seat selections for the ticket, MCI-AKL, AKL-PER, PER-MCI, cost $284 USD. I WAS NOT TOLD AHEAD OF SELECTING SEATS chosen by the rep OF THE COSTS and never received an itemized invoice of the seat selections.). The costs of seat selection, an option solicited as a service, with no mention of costs, should have been disclosed to me prior to seat selection and certaily should have been itemized. For all I know, the $284 was not referred from the airline but made up and taken directly by Underpricer. Next, when i checked in, united couldnt find my ticket. This is probably why i didnt get a seat selection on that flight and couldnt check in online, despite Underpricer prompts to do so a week before departure, or at the kiosk at the airport. I had to wait for special help at the counter, then was told that because the flight segment, MCI-IAH, operated by United Airlines via the ANZ. ticket, had changed schedule slightly since I BOOKED MY FLIGHT, the MCI-IAH segment had been decoupled from the rest of the ticket because the IAH layover was now 12.5 hrs AND DID NOT QUALIFY AS A THROUGH FLIGHT TO AKL.. This meant my checked bag could not be checked through to AKL and id have to pick it up at IAH, THEN WAIT MOST OF the long layover WITH the large checked bag until ANZ counter in IAH OPENED for checkING just prior to the flight. Apparently, although underpricer had notified me of schedule changes, they did not update the ANZ TICKET, leading to this problem. Finallly, although I RECHECKED TH BAG IN At IAH 3.5-4 hours before the scheduled departure and the IAH-AKL segment was a direct flight, ANZ LOST MY bag and it took 4 days to find it and get it to me. Not fun.
A better selection of entertainment would have been nice. I found nothing that appealed to me as a middle-aged traveler. The flight attendants were gracious, helpful, and attentive. It also would have been nice to have more bathrooms as the flight was full and the plane was big.
Appreciated the ability to get an earlier flight home after flying in from in from Japan. No problem with boarding or crew service. The limited choice of snacks, compared to previous years. Aircraft seats seem to be getting harder and more uncomfortable all the time. Overall, happy to be home
The Air New Zealand product is terrible, it's as expensive as a Jetstar ticket with add ons but with surely staff and old aircraft.
Wonderful trip. Everyone from checking in to the gate to the flight itself was amazing - kind, helpful, and has a beautiful smile.
The Premium Economy seats were very comfortable and the food was quite tasty. I did not use the entertainment system, but I was able to charge my phone and tablet with the seatback connection.
The seats are feeling very hard to sit on. All the padding is flat, like sitting on a park bench for over an hour
Nothing better than Air New Zealand. Top scores in every category.
Space between seats on Air New Zealand is generally tight. The crew on this flight was excellent! Very attentive and nice. You get free wine or beer and chips and of course the Air New Zealand candies. 1 hour and 35 min flight approximately.
