Air NZ, 'don't tell them till we get there'

[John Hill]

Air NZ have started Auckland-New York service and the first service has arrived back in Auckland. TV news tell us there is no economy class baggage on board!

[PHXPhlyer]

New feature of economy class?

PP

[TheGreenAnger]

Air NZ have started Auckland-New York service and the first service has arrived back in Auckland. TV news tell us there is no economy class baggage on board!

I see it was the first return flight of their 17 hours non stop service announced in March this year.

Luggage fails to arrive on Air New Zealand's first flight from New York to Auckland.

Passengers on Air New Zealand’s inaugural flight from New York arrived in Auckland this morning after a marathon 17 hours in the air – only for many to discover their bags hadn’t made it.

Flight NZ1 departed from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport at 11.20pm on Saturday, local time – an hour and 20 minutes later than its scheduled departure time, according to Flight Radar.

The flight landed in Auckland shortly after 8.30am on Monday morning, an hour later than scheduled.

According to RNZ, many passengers on the flight found their luggage had been left in New York, with one passenger saying only business class and Koru members had their bags.

In a statement to RNZ, Air New Zealand chief operating officer Alex Marren apologised for the luggage being left behind.

"Unfortunately given additional fuel requirements due to adverse weather, some customer bags were unable to be loaded in New York and we are getting them to New Zealand as soon as possible," he said.

“We are in touch with customers to update them and reunite them with their bags. We're sorry for any inconvenience this has caused."

With a scheduled flight time of 17 hours, 35 minutes, the flight from New York to Auckland is one of the longest in the world.

If they keep this standard of service up it isn't likely that there will be many further such flights!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-t ... o-auckland

One suspects that the flight planners haven't necessarily thoroughly scenario planned this route and thought the economics all the way through either. Having to fly luggage separately isn't conducive to profit and/or customer satisfaction.

The flight is the longest Air New Zealand has operated, and the fourth longest flight in the world.

Travellers from New York were welcomed off the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft on Monday morning with a kapa haka performance.

Air New Zealand general manager Auckland airports Tessa Auelua said it was a huge milestone for the company.

More like Kaka Hapa!

The economy passengers would certainly have been hopping mad!

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/475 ... rn-journey

[John Hill]

I believe this is not a case of bags being mislaid as they were deliberately put aside to suit the interests of the airline. I trust the lawyers were to hand to give advice to POPs*.

*(POP, p'ed off passenger)

[G-CPTN]

Whilst I understand the desire to instigate a non-stop service carrying as many passengers as possible, if the mechanics of the operation don't stand up, they have to adjust their parameters accordingly.

If it means not carrying baggage then they should reduce the number of passengers until they can.

[prospector]

It was the contrary wind wot dun it!!!

[TheGreenAnger]

You can imagine the flight operations situation with the planing people with furrowed brows poring over the list of waypoints in the Auckland Oceanic FIR with the chart in front of them and with the Met Office forecasts of unfavorable jet stream winds and the curse of ICAO regulations and fuel contingencies right up their yazoo!

Cue one lone little voice "Why don't we reduce our fuel uptake at Kennedy and refuel in Hawaii?"

"You fool Green Planner. This is a non-stop flight, so we will take on additional fuel at Kennedy and offset the additional weight to stay within the MAUW limit by leaving the economy baggage behind. We must be seen to be flying the advertised route and plan, we owe it to ourselves to save any embarrassment!"....

[Woody]

You don’t have to be a 17 hour flight to leave all the bags behind

[TheGreenAnger]

You don’t have to be a 17 hour flight to leave all the bags behind

I shall think of you when I am next incommoded by BA!

[Woody]

NEWS FLASH.... A man who took British Airways to court over missing baggage....
has lost his case

[John Hill]

If they knew before departure that not all passengers would get the service they paid for those passengers should have been offloaded and compensated according to their contractual rights.

[TheGreenAnger]

Any lie will do when it comes to some airlines. I have a friend who worked with SAA at Cape Town who warned me that the flight I was booked on from Johannesburg to Heathrow was severely overbooked and that they might try and bump me. The lying so and so's tried to tell me that the aircraft had gone tech and could I please catch the later Lufthansa flight via Munich which would get me back half a day late. With such scruples I will not up put! I have never flown SAA again nor will I ever.

[Woody]

You’ve obviously never had the pleasure of staff travel, especially from CPT
I’ve been offloaded in more countries than some people have visited

[ExSp33db1rd]

At least you get Staff Travel, the lying barstewards "promised" me lifetime S.T. in retirement when I joined, and also when I accepted "their" suggestion of voluntary retirement some 24 years later. Wouldn't be living 12,000 miles away otherwise.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I'm never flying with that Skydive outfit again. No seats. They make you hang onto the outside of the aeroplane, then chuck you off midair!
That nice Ryanair chappie was with us, said it gave him an idea.

[Boac]

The subject of extra fuel carriage is fascinating. Many moons ago I looked into the 'economics' of fuel tankering for airlines. Using the traditional 'impirical' formula for how much fuel you need to carry fuel I recall a practical maximum limit of 20 hours (still air) flight time was reached. Given adverse winds, a '17 hour flight' could easily be limiting.

[Boac]

At least you get Staff Travel, the lying barstewards "promised" me lifetime S.T. in retirement when I joined

Likewise, but then that nice Mr Walsh made it 'as long as your service', so 24 years after retirement it will go. (Not, I guess, too much of an issue for you... )

[llondel]

They need to stick a refueling probe on the aircraft and contract with the USAF to RV with a tanker somewhere around Hawaii if needed. It would probably still work out cheaper than having to transport the baggage separately.

[Woody]

The real problem will start with todays flight, if there’s similar weight and balance issues, which do you leave behind, live pax bags or the reflighted ones from the previous flight?

[k3k3]

It would probably be cheaper just to throw a few thousand dollars at each of the passengers in compensation.