Stranded in Auckland

Sat, Sep 18th, 2010  |   Places, Adventures 9 Comments

Air New Zealand flight 277 from Tonga to New Zealand was delayed by around two-and-a-half hours due to an engineering problem, meaning I missed my connecting flight.

Fortunately, by making enough of a fuss in Tonga, I was able to notify the onward carrier, Singapore Airlines, that I would miss the flight, so SIA arranged a new flight for me and got the message to me when I landed.

Thank you Singapore Airlines!

Air New Zealand, on the other hand, left me stranded in Auckland at the nice hour of 01:30 with no help. No assistance getting a room. No help with transport. Not even a “Sorry we messed you up.”

Thanks Air New Zealand.

What a contrast in customer service.


Dumped in Auckland by Air New Zealand at 01:30

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  • http://www.Jens-Kuhfs.com Jens kuhfs

    Good luck Tony ! I had the same problem 09/11 ;) + Ansett Australia stopped their business. Airline of The Olympic Games 2000 ;) ))
    Jens

  • Yao

    Poor Tony.

    We also got some troubles when we flied back with Air New Zealand from Tonga to Auckland.

    We have 4 people together, the total check in luggage is only 78kg, much less than the limitation – 23kg*4=92kg. But the women of Air New Zealand in the counter didn’t allow us to check in a one of our 30kg case.

    We explained to her that we didn’t exceed the total limitation. And we got no trouble when we flied from Auckland to Tonga with same case and same weight. one of my friend even showed the golden card of Star Alliance – we suppose to have more luggage weight with it.

    Her answer is still: No way. You need to pay if you want to check in this 30kg case!

    Finally, we found her supervisor and got it done.

    We can not image how big difference between SG Air & Air New Zealand. Both are belong to Star Alliance, but have so huge gap in service.

  • http://www.Jens-Kuhfs.com Jens kuhfs

    Good luck Tony ! I had the same problem 09/11 ;) + Ansett Australia stopped their business. Airline of The Olympic Games 2000 ;) ))
    Jens

  • Yao

    Poor Tony.

    We also got some troubles when we flied back with Air New Zealand from Tonga to Auckland.

    We have 4 people together, the total check in luggage is only 78kg, much less than the limitation – 23kg*4=92kg. But the women of Air New Zealand in the counter didn’t allow us to check in a one of our 30kg case.

    We explained to her that we didn’t exceed the total limitation. And we got no trouble when we flied from Auckland to Tonga with same case and same weight. one of my friend even showed the golden card of Star Alliance – we suppose to have more luggage weight with it.

    Her answer is still: No way. You need to pay if you want to check in this 30kg case!

    Finally, we found her supervisor and got it done.

    We can not image how big difference between SG Air & Air New Zealand. Both are belong to Star Alliance, but have so huge gap in service.

  • http://www.tonywublog.com Tony

    Sorry to hear about your problems. Air New Zealand gave us problems at check-in about luggage too. Our ticket said we had 20kg of baggage allowance/ person, but the check-in person said we have 1 bag only, up to 23 kg.

    Apparently, they changed their system recently, so they can charge more money per bag and for weight over 23kg/ bag.

    We had three bags, total of 40kg. They wanted to charge excess baggage for the 3rd bag. I won this argument, but I can see that Air New Zealand will continue to increase prices and reduce service.

  • http://www.tonywublog.com Tony

    Sorry to hear about your problems. Air New Zealand gave us problems at check-in about luggage too. Our ticket said we had 20kg of baggage allowance/ person, but the check-in person said we have 1 bag only, up to 23 kg.

    Apparently, they changed their system recently, so they can charge more money per bag and for weight over 23kg/ bag.

    We had three bags, total of 40kg. They wanted to charge excess baggage for the 3rd bag. I won this argument, but I can see that Air New Zealand will continue to increase prices and reduce service.

  • Ldc7

    Yesi could not agree more they really DO NOT GIVE A DAMN!!!

  • Syracuse

    Air New Zealand have the best customer service bar none in the World.

    It seems that the ones that do complain are also teh ones that expect gold-class service when they buy a discount fare.

    Yao …

    As for the baggage allowances – read your terms and conditions. 23kg is the ‘per bag’ limit, not 30kg. Pack your bags so none of them exceed 23kg – there are rules for a reason and just because you don’t understand them doesn’t mean you’re right.

    I’m well-travelled, and I find the ignorance of other travellers rather deafening.

  • http://www.tonywublog.com/ Tony Wu

    Wow, thanks for that thoughtful and constructive comment.