Flying domestic with Air New Zealand this summer? Here’s what you can expect

Kiwis will be taking to the skies above Aotearoa at pre-Covid levels over the summer holiday period.

Air New Zealand chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said December 23 was shaping up to be the airline’s busiest day for domestic travel, with more than 32,000 customers booked to travel at this stage – 1000 more than the same time last year.

December 15 and 16 were also expected to be some of the biggest days for travelling, as many Kiwis looked set to start their Christmas holidays a week early.

Here’s what else you can expect if you’re flying domestic with Air New Zealand this summer.

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Aircraft

Some Air New Zealand passengers can look forward to flying on the new A321neo aircraft, the airline’s biggest-ever jet dedicated to domestic flying, with 217 seats.

The first entered service this week, while the second – which will be the world’s first black Star Alliance aircraft – will arrive on November 22.

These snazzy new jets will be used on trunk routes, that is between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown and in some cases, Dunedin. As Geraghty explained, they’ll be put into the schedule where they’re “needed the most”.

The usual domestic jets – the A320s, with 171 seats – will also be in action on the trunk routes.

If you’re travelling to the regions, you’ll be flying on one of the airline’s turboprop planes. These are the 68-seat ATR72, and the 50-seat De Havilland Q300.

Onboard experience

If you’re travelling on one of the jet aircraft, you’ll be offered a water, tea or coffee and your choice of snack. Snack options could include Proper Crisps, Beetroot cracker bites, a One Square Meal bar, bliss bites, corn chips, or the popular Cookie Time cookies.

On ATR72 or Q300 flights of less than 45 minutes, you won’t get a hot beverage, but you’ll still get water and a snack.

If you’re flying on an A320 jet between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown on a weekday between 4.35pm and 7.05pm, you’ll enjoy special snacks and beverages on offer for Koru Hour. You get cheese and crackers, and a choice of New Zealand wines, beers, cider, L&P or Coca-Cola.

Geraghty said while they don’t usually offer Koru Hour on public holidays, they would be as a special treat over the Christmas period.

If you’re on a jet service, you can spend the flight testing your knowledge with the Air New Zealand quiz, which is displayed on the screens.

Or you can get some destination inspiration from the free Kia Ora magazine in your seat pocket. For the summer, Air New Zealand is also launching Kia Ora Kids – a 36-page interactive magazine to keep the little ones entertained during their domestic flight.

Dealing with disruptions

Air New Zealand has a plan in place which it hopes will help avoid any potential disruption over summer.

Back in August, the airline announced it would be operating a slightly reduced schedule to ensure it would have crew available on standby to cover illness – which should mean fewer cancellations.

“We moved early to make those changes to make sure we can deliver our customers to where they want to be over the holiday period,” Geraghty said.

Geraghty said while they were continuously looking at demand and whether more capacity was needed, they weighted that against their ability to operate the schedule with the resources available. Which means we probably won’t see too many flights being added over the summer months.

”We might change an aircraft out – we might swap an A320 for an A321 which would give us some extra seats – but largely the schedule will be as it is today,” she said.

Changing your plans

If you need to change your flights or are no longer able to fly, whether you can change them for free or get a refund will depend on the type of fare you booked.

If you’ve booked a standard seat or seat and bag fare, you’ll be charged $50 per leg, per person to change the flight time or date. You’ll also have to pay the difference if the new flights are more expensive.

Flexichange seats allow you to change your flight date, time and route prior to the day of departure, with no change fee. And on the day of departure, you can change to an earlier or later flight for no extra cost, if there is availability.

You’re only eligible for a refund on a cancelled flight if you’ve booked a Flexirefund seat.

Last-minute bookings

Still figuring out those New Year’s plans? While there are still flights…