The best airline?

[Dimples]

We have booked flights for a trip to New Zealand for next year and I was keen to try Air New Zealand as I had heard good things about them. When we priced up the flights we discovered that as our outward flight was still in the NZ school holiday period, the preferred flights via Los Angeles were going to be fairly expensive whereas the inward-bound flights were going to be quite a bit cheaper. On that basis, we chose flights on which the first leg of the trip was with Virgin to San Francisco and then Air New Zealand to Auckland, as that was going to save us quite a bit of money.

Since then, Virgin have changed the flight twice - once bringing the departure time forward by 2 hours, which meant we had to cancel and re-book our connecting flights from Edinburgh (and book overnight hotel accommodation)... and then they changed the flight again. In fact this time, they cancelled that flight and instead put us on an afternoon flight which was only going to give us one and a half hours in transit in SFO, which is not even allowable as far as US immigration is concerned.

After chatting about it, we realised that they could very readily change our flights several more times before we actually leave and mess up all our plans yet again so we thought we might just have to take it on the chin after all and cough up an extra couple of thousand quid for the preferred flights via LA with Air New Zealand in order to have peace of mind. We contacted Air New Zealand to bring their attention to what Virgin had done and to look at flying via Los Angeles instead. After explaining all that had happened, the customer service agent put us on hold for 5 minutes to speak to her supervisor and then came back on the line to tell us that she was moving us to the Los Angeles flight that we wanted.... and she didn't charge us a penny extra extra to do so!!!

HUGE kudos to Air New Zealand for an excellent piece of customer care. Big pants to Virgin for messing us around and needlessly costing us money to cancel connecting flights and book hotel accommodation. We haven't even flown with them yet and already I'm impressed with Air New Zealand! I hope this is a sign of good things to come.

[Holly]

Hi Dimples ...this also helps


Air New Zealand named one of the world's safest airlines

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/air-new ... es-6215552

[Dimples]

Hi Dimples ...this also helps


Air New Zealand named one of the world's safest airlines

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/air-new ... es-6215552

Hi Holly.

Yes, that's good to know too.

[Holly]

Hi Dimples ...this also helps


Air New Zealand named one of the world's safest airlines

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/air-new ... es-6215552

Hi Holly.

Yes, that's good to know too.

Are you coming down to Wellington again ? Paremata to be exact? ( that's where I am btw ) Or what are your plans?

[Dimples]

Hi Dimples ...this also helps


Air New Zealand named one of the world's safest airlines

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/air-new ... es-6215552

Hi Holly.

Yes, that's good to know too.

Are you coming down to Wellington again ? Paremata to be exact? ( that's where I am btw ) Or what are your plans?

Again?

I've not been yet.

We will be in the Wellington area for a few nights. I have relatives there so we'll be meeting up with them when we are there.

We're going to be touring both islands but travelling South to North - just to be different.

[Guest 101]

I think I may have mentioned to you that Air New Zealand are my favourite airline!!

Holly, you were probably thinking of me, I visited friends close to where you are, both times I've been to NZ.

[Vam]

I flew Air NZ in & out of Auckland. I remember the in-flight service was excellent. Nothing was too much trouble.

Never mind New Zealand for now - can I ask here how your trip to Italy went?

[Dimples]

I think I may have mentioned to you that Air New Zealand are my favourite airline!!

Holly, you were probably thinking of me, I visited friends close to where you are, both times I've been to NZ.

Yes, you did...and that is one of the reasons I was keen to try them however, I also know you are a big fan of Virgin but I'm afraid they have under-performed spectacularly in this instance. I know you have the same sentiment about BA - although I have always had good experiences with them... so it's all swings and roundabouts, I suppose.

[Dimples]

I flew Air NZ in & out of Auckland. I remember the in-flight service was excellent. Nothing was too much trouble.

Never mind New Zealand for now - can I ask here how your trip to Italy went?

It was great thanks. Tuscany was lovely and we really enjoyed visiting Florence, Siena, Lucca, San Gimignano and Pisa - as well as a few very pretty villages in the Chianti region.

However, lovely as mainland Tuscany is... it's knocked slightly aside by the stunning beauty of Isola d'Elba where we spent our second week. It was quite, quite spectacular.

[Vam]

I flew Air NZ in & out of Auckland. I remember the in-flight service was excellent. Nothing was too much trouble.

Never mind New Zealand for now - can I ask here how your trip to Italy went?

It was great thanks. Tuscany was lovely and we really enjoyed visiting Florence, Siena, Lucca, San Gimignano and Pisa - as well as a few very pretty villages in the Chianti region.

However, lovely as mainland Tuscany is... it's knocked slightly aside by the stunning beauty of Isola d'Elba where we spent our second week. It was quite, quite spectacular.

Che nostalgia you're giving me, Dimps!!
Sounds like a really lovely trip. Hope you ate, drank & shopped well, too

Some friends are trying to rope me into a trip to the Amalfi coast later this summer, including Capri, and to stay at Positano. It's been ages since I was last there, so I'm very tempted!

[Dimples]

I flew Air NZ in & out of Auckland. I remember the in-flight service was excellent. Nothing was too much trouble.

Never mind New Zealand for now - can I ask here how your trip to Italy went?

It was great thanks. Tuscany was lovely and we really enjoyed visiting Florence, Siena, Lucca, San Gimignano and Pisa - as well as a few very pretty villages in the Chianti region.

However, lovely as mainland Tuscany is... it's knocked slightly aside by the stunning beauty of Isola d'Elba where we spent our second week. It was quite, quite spectacular.

Che nostalgia you're giving me, Dimps!!
Sounds like a really lovely trip. Hope you ate, drank & shopped well, too

Some friends are trying to rope me into a trip to the Amalfi coast later this summer, including Capri, and to stay at Positano. It's been ages since I was last there, so I'm very tempted!

Well, we certainly ate and drank well. I don't usually do much shopping when I'm on holiday though. I don't see that as a good use of my holiday time, I'm afraid.

The Amalfi coast is gorgeous and Positano is delightful. Capri is gorgeous too but I bet the locals get fed up with tourists traipsing across endlessly.

[Guest 101]

I think I may have mentioned to you that Air New Zealand are my favourite airline!!

Holly, you were probably thinking of me, I visited friends close to where you are, both times I've been to NZ.

Yes, you did...and that is one of the reasons I was keen to try them however, I also know you are a big fan of Virgin but I'm afraid they have under-performed spectacularly in this instance. I know you have the same sentiment about BA - although I have always had good experiences with them... so it's all swings and roundabouts, I suppose.

Shame Virgin cocked up on the administrative side of things, as I think if you'd flown with them you'd have liked the product...however, not as much as you are going to like Air new Zealand's!

[Dimples]

I think I may have mentioned to you that Air New Zealand are my favourite airline!!

Holly, you were probably thinking of me, I visited friends close to where you are, both times I've been to NZ.

Yes, you did...and that is one of the reasons I was keen to try them however, I also know you are a big fan of Virgin but I'm afraid they have under-performed spectacularly in this instance. I know you have the same sentiment about BA - although I have always had good experiences with them... so it's all swings and roundabouts, I suppose.

Shame Virgin cocked up on the administrative side of things, as I think if you'd flown with them you'd have liked the product...however, not as much as you are going to like Air new Zealand's!

I have flown with Virgin before and the flight was absolutely fine - no complaints about that whatsoever but I am very relieved now not to have to worry that they might be able to keep messing us around. There's still several months to go and I couldn't have faced having more changes to deal with. It's not an issue for those of you who live close to the London airports but for those of us who have flight connections with other airlines to add on, it can be a real pain when they keep changing flight times.

[LordRaven]

We have booked flights for a trip to New Zealand for next year and I was keen to try Air New Zealand as I had heard good things about them. When we priced up the flights we discovered that as our outward flight was still in the NZ school holiday period, the preferred flights via Los Angeles were going to be fairly expensive whereas the inward-bound flights were going to be quite a bit cheaper. On that basis, we chose flights on which the first leg of the trip was with Virgin to San Francisco and then Air New Zealand to Auckland, as that was going to save us quite a bit of money.

Since then, Virgin have changed the flight twice - once bringing the departure time forward by 2 hours, which meant we had to cancel and re-book our connecting flights from Edinburgh (and book overnight hotel accommodation)... and then they changed the flight again. In fact this time, they cancelled that flight and instead put us on an afternoon flight which was only going to give us one and a half hours in transit in SFO, which is not even allowable as far as US immigration is concerned.

After chatting about it, we realised that they could very readily change our flights several more times before we actually leave and mess up all our plans yet again so we thought we might just have to take it on the chin after all and cough up an extra couple of thousand quid for the preferred flights via LA with Air New Zealand in order to have peace of mind. We contacted Air New Zealand to bring their attention to what Virgin had done and to look at flying via Los Angeles instead. After explaining all that had happened, the customer service agent put us on hold for 5 minutes to speak to her supervisor and then came back on the line to tell us that she was moving us to the Los Angeles flight that we wanted.... and she didn't charge us a penny extra extra to do so!!!

HUGE kudos to Air New Zealand for an excellent piece of customer care. Big pants to Virgin for messing us around and needlessly costing us money to cancel connecting flights and book hotel accommodation. We haven't even flown with them yet and already I'm impressed with Air New Zealand! I hope this is a sign of good things to come.

What a palaver? But great result in the end, well done. Are you going to both Islands? The south island has lots of fascinating glacial and volcanic stuff of great interest to visitors according to all my friends who have been, they say it is quite spectacular.
I have never ever been there and I can only hope I get the funds together to go one day.

[LordRaven]

We have booked flights for a trip to New Zealand for next year and I was keen to try Air New Zealand as I had heard good things about them. When we priced up the flights we discovered that as our outward flight was still in the NZ school holiday period, the preferred flights via Los Angeles were going to be fairly expensive whereas the inward-bound flights were going to be quite a bit cheaper. On that basis, we chose flights on which the first leg of the trip was with Virgin to San Francisco and then Air New Zealand to Auckland, as that was going to save us quite a bit of money.

Since then, Virgin have changed the flight twice - once bringing the departure time forward by 2 hours, which meant we had to cancel and re-book our connecting flights from Edinburgh (and book overnight hotel accommodation)... and then they changed the flight again. In fact this time, they cancelled that flight and instead put us on an afternoon flight which was only going to give us one and a half hours in transit in SFO, which is not even allowable as far as US immigration is concerned.

After chatting about it, we realised that they could very readily change our flights several more times before we actually leave and mess up all our plans yet again so we thought we might just have to take it on the chin after all and cough up an extra couple of thousand quid for the preferred flights via LA with Air New Zealand in order to have peace of mind. We contacted Air New Zealand to bring their attention to what Virgin had done and to look at flying via Los Angeles instead. After explaining all that had happened, the customer service agent put us on hold for 5 minutes to speak to her supervisor and then came back on the line to tell us that she was moving us to the Los Angeles flight that we wanted.... and she didn't charge us a penny extra extra to do so!!!

HUGE kudos to Air New Zealand for an excellent piece of customer care. Big pants to Virgin for messing us around and needlessly costing us money to cancel connecting flights and book hotel accommodation. We haven't even flown with them yet and already I'm impressed with Air New Zealand! I hope this is a sign of good things to come.

What a palaver? But great result in the end, well done. Are you going to both Islands? The south island has lots of fascinating glacial and volcanic stuff of great interest to visitors according to all my friends who have been, they say it is quite spectacular.
I have never ever been there and I can only hope I get the funds together to go one day.