Air New Zealand shorthaul goes smorgasbord

The downward spiral of fares and services on most Tasman and South Pacific routes continues with news from Air New Zealand of a radical overhaul of their fares and service offerings.

The longer shorthaul routes (Auckland to Perth, Auckland to Tahiti/Papeete and Sydney to Rarotonga) are unaffected by the changes but for the rest there are significant changes.  Economy service will differ according to fare at 4 different levels, as outlined in the table below.

* Business class replaces Works Deluxe on 767, 777 & 747 flights only, and empty adjacent seat does not apply in business class. 

Air NZ has stated they intend that Works is equivalent to current fares, Works Deluxe is a heavily discounted business fare and the cheaper fares are more in line with low cost competition (ie Jetstar and Pacific Blue).  We’ll see if that is so when they release fare information later.

As alluded to, this means A320 aircraft are losing business class, business class seating and also space+ seating. Space+ seats at the front of economy are regular seats but with an extra few inches of legroom and are very popular with elite frequent flyers and high fare passengers who can select them currently.

As a result of the changes, on some trans-Tasman routes Air NZ will have regular economy seats, space+ seats (on 767 aircraft), current premium economy seats (until refurbishment of 777 and 747 is completed next year), new premium economy seats (initially only on 77W aircraft), old business class seats (767 only) and business premier seats (777 and 747 aircraft) - 6 completely different seats, 2 different levels of onboard service and 4 different levels of on the ground services.  Managing customer expectations will be tricky in this environment!

The changes start with Christchurch to Sydney on 18 August (for sale from 29 April) and roll out to other routes in November (for sale from September).

Air NZ hasn’t yet provided details on many aspects (treatment of elite passengers, longhaul connecting passengers, those who booked flights while the current services were promised, etc). This is causing some angst on the Air NZ forum of Flyer Talk, but it is refreshing an Air NZer was quickly posting responses to questions (purportedly the GM of Shorthaul himself). 

On the information provided so far it looks like Air NZ is providing more choice and not really taking stuff away except for those who only buy sale fares, but the devil is in the details.

Updated to add

Existing bookings for travel after the switch to the new offering will be treated as Works if economy fare and Works Deluxe if business class fare.

Lost in all the other changes, but check in kiosks will be progressively added for flights to Australia from June 2010.

The shorthaul service changes are finally up on Air NZ’s website, although there is no new or additional information.