There are some airlines serving NZ for the first time in 2011, ahead of the rugby world cup (and also some airlines returning after years of absence).  Announcements to date include:

• China Airlines – from Taipei to Auckland via Brisbane starting January
• Low cost airline Jetstar Asia – from Singapore to Auckland starting March
• Skyteam member China Southern Airlines – from Guangzhou to Auckland via Melbourne starting March
• Low cost airline Air Asia X – from Kuala Lumpur to Christchurch starting April
• Star Alliance member United Airlines (Continental) – from Houston to Auckland starting November (maybe)

The trans-Tasman flights will, as usual, have 5th freedom rights meaning they can be bought standalone.  Typically there is good award availability on these “tag” flights, and fares in premium cabins are low as the airlines try to win customers off more well-known competition (Air New Zealand, Qantas/Jetstar, Emirates and Pacific Blue).

Flying to central Asia on an award ticket, an around the world fare or other discounted air fares has long been problematic.  This is because there have been few flights to Central Asia and most of these originate in Europe.  Backtracking between Europe and Asia is not permitted on round the world fares.  Availability of award and discounted paid seats are also relatively low.  Flying to central Asia is becoming easier as more flights to the region are being added, and with a rule change.

In Star Alliance, Asiana provides a Central Asia connection with South Korea through flights to Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan), while various airlines fly from Europe.  In Sky Team, China Southern Airlines now provides flights from China to several cities in Central Asia with Aeroflot providing connections to Europe.  To date Oneworld has no service to central Asia other than on codeshares.

With the pending entry of S7 to Oneworld, the rules for the Oneworld Explorer RTW have been amended to include Central Asia within the Europe continental definition, which means back-tracking is permitted.  S7 flies to all the major cities in Central Asia so these will all be available from later this year.

One of my peeves are websites that don’t hold a fare when you select flights and only after you’ve entered your details let you know the fare is not available.

Low cost airline Jetstar does this whenever there is a super sale, which is why I no longer bother.  Air New Zealand grab-a-seat also does this meaning getting $1 (or $20 or whatever) fares is a lottery even after you’ve selected the flights.

Yesterday I encountered similar on a normal, non-sale fare with Emirates.  No matter which flights I selected from the many options available, when I hit the button for purchase now (after entering all my details) I was advised the fare wasn’t available and to use search by schedule function instead.  The search by schedule consistently returned fares about $2000 more than the search by price function, for the exact same flights and dates.

This website flaws are annoying and not limited to the 3 airlines I’ve mentioned.  What airline/online TA website issues do you find annoying?  What do you do about it?

Sky Team is offering a discounted around the world fare to mark their 10th anniversary.  According to the SkyTeam website this saves up to 30%.  I’m not sure which countries/class of travel this worthwhile level of saving applies to.  Please add a comment if you find some good fares.

There are some significant restrictions – maximum 20k flight miles (except for Kenya origin 22k miles), bookings by 30 September for travel commencing between 15 July and 31 December 2010, a maximum 6 months duration (minimum 10 days), and no more than 5 stopovers.

Emirates have a sale today through Thursday 22 July in economy and business class for New Zealand to Australia (ie Auckland to Brisbane/Sydney/Melbourne and Christchurch to Sydney). Economy class travel dates for next several months excluding school holidays, business class travel dates now until mid December.

As usual Air NZ and Qantas have matched, kind of. Air NZ business class fares are slightly higher than Emirates, with Qantas higher again (and blackouts on certain flights).

As posted by the Wandering Aramean, Air France are flying A380 for a few days a week between Paris CDG and London Heathrow during (northern) summer.  Air France also has promotional fares (eg London to Paris return £80 for economy and £280 for business class). Be quick – many seats have already gone at these sale fares.

These short hops on longhaul aircraft often happen when an airline introduces a new aircraft type. They are an easy way for the airline to train up lots of flight and cabin crew in a short period of time (of course there is also training before they fly the aircraft!).  I’m waiting for Air New Zealand’s 77W to arrive to take one such flight across the Tasman as a cheap way to try out their new longhaul seats in economy, premium economy and business class.

Air NZ has a non-mileage earning (except when credited to Air New Zealand Airpoints) fare from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Auckland return for $399+tax, about $480 all in.  Travel to NZ in May, with return late May or June. See sale page for more info.

Edited to add – some more dates in June have been added for both directions, and Qantas has a limited match (Los Angeles to Auckland only).

Since I don’t credit to United Mileage Plus and try to avoid flying United as much as possible, I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to the elite upgrade changes this year on United. These are now processed automatically in advance for top elite status, subject to availability.

Last week I had a need to make a last minute change of flights due to a horrid schedule change (forcing an illegal connection). Since I would only know if I could make the earlier flight an hour or less from departure (dependent on my previous flight on a separate ticket arriving on time, and not being held up at immigration and customs), and I was flying on a busy route, I half expected to not be able to switch flights and be forced to cancel.

As this was a QUP fare (discounted economy fare that books into first class at time of purchase subject to availability) for a little mileage run, I wasn’t too fussed if I had to cancel.

Nonetheless when I reached check in, at 50 minutes to departure of the earlier flight, it was no problem switching flights. The reason – since the flight is a prime business route (Los Angeles to San Francisco), United had stopped the elite automatic upgrade process in the hopes of selling last minute first class fares. Fat chance – at the gate I saw the available first class seats at 8 until about 5 minutes before boarding when it rapidly dropped to zero.

If United had processed the upgrades at the 72 hour window as advertised, there would have been no seats available for me (and economy was oversold so I couldn’t have downgraded either).  United stinginess meant I could complete the little mileage run.

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.

I think I’ve been spoilt this year. There have been too many airfare and accommodation sales.

Today I went to book a great sale air fare only to back at at the final purchase to confirm stage because my inner voice asked if this was really the best rate I could get for that particular trip.

I also went to book several nights of accommodation for a few upcoming trips in an Intercontinental “72 hour” sale (sneak link here for early bookings in the really 96 hour sale period). These 72 hour sales have been recurring throughout the year. Once again I found myself backing out of booking at the final step figuring I may be able to do better booking later and there is no urgency to book these nights.

Hopefully it doesn’t come back to bite me later with higher rates.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.