Boarded on time, smooth flight and "gentle" landing in Palmerston North. Ahead of time due to a tailwind
Lost my luggage and brought someone else luggage to my airport.
I flew United from San Francisco to Auckland. My connecting flight from Auckland to Christchurch was canceled with no explanation. I was finally told the cancellation was due to fog. Even though it was clear when we landed. I am from San Francisco, I know what fog is! And I didn't see any fog. I was told the next available flight was 7 hours later. Unacceptable, they should have had a flight ready to go as soon as it was deemed safe to take off.
Two hours was not enough time to transition from the international to domestic terminal. You have to go through customs, a biological hazard check, gather your luggage, take a bus to the domestic terminal and recheck your luggage. The bus was slow and crowded and the lines to recheck your bags were very long. We missed our connecting flight. Initially, the Air New Zealand officials were not helpful at all in helping to get us on another flight. Told us we would have to buy another ticket for a flight 11 hours later. Found another agent that was more helpful. He helped arrange to get us on standby for another flight three hours later. Had to ride in jump seats next to the flight attendants, but at least we eventually got to out destination.
Great! Flight was delayed by 30 mins but all was great. Thanks.
Overall experience was poor. In general crew was polite in speaking but that was all about it. I am vegetarian so I always carry a cup noodle box with me just in case. So I pressed "CALL" button for hot water for my cup noodle on my seat and waited for 10-15 minutes but nobody came. I personally took the box and went all the way to back of the plane. When I requested stewardess to put hot water in my cup noodle she refused as it was a "safety" hazard. I told her that you always serve coffee and tea these are also hot. But she still refused. I went back to my seat and from the seat I ordered hot water and it was brought to me without any problem. I poured THAT hot water in my cup noodle and ate. I was sitting in seat 36A, which was 2nd row in economy class. After eating my noodle I took the box and went 2 rows in the front where there was a kitchen to throw it. Again the stewardess there told me she didn't have a waste bin there and asked me to go back of the plane and throw it there. Tell me if above experiences are 'ok' for your airline??
Wonderful Airlines…our American Airlines could learn from ANZ. From boarding to landing everyone was professional and gracious. Kiwi’s really are the nicest of all people! Thank you
Overall excellent but the Captain kept the seat belt sign on for far too long, especially at the beginning and end of the flight. It was 2 hours after take-off before the crew were able to start the service (on an 11 hour night flight, reducing our sleeping time) and the seat belt sign on went on during breakfast (90 mins before landing) and was not turned off again until we landed. This made for an uncomfortable journey of trying to limit fluid intake because it was unclear when the toilets would be available for use.
So here's the rub - my flight was booked through Chatdeal even though I bought it under the Kayak umbrella. All the return flights were theoretically through Air New Zealand, however except for the initial leg from New Zealand, they were all partnered flights. So when I arrived at the airport in New Zealand they could only issue me my ticket to Fiji. Once in Fiji I had to do some serious leg work and finagling to get my ticket to Los Angeles through Fiji Air. This included a monitored covid RAT that I wasn't aware I needed to do. So I gave the score I did because of the complexity and annoyance created in the process of getting a boarding pass for my Nadi-LA flight.
Just a hiccup being added to the NZ Traveller Declaration a bit late.
