Air New Zealand Avis 

Online check in didn’t work at all. The booking reference I received didn’t even fit the format

Check in was awful. Waited over an hour because someone with poor documentation hogged a station for an hour

Unfortunately, our wonderful holiday in New Zealand ended on a very sour note at the Air New Zealand check-in counter at Queenstown Airport.

This review is **not about the baggage policy**—I completely understand and respect airline policies. It is about the attitude of one customer service officer.

There was no greeting, no courtesy, just an abrupt demand for our passports. When we politely asked if the weight from our three checked bags could be balanced (one bag was only 14 kg while another was slightly over), she immediately dismissed us, rolled her eyes, and repeatedly said, "There's no room," without even allowing us to rearrange our luggage.

The most disappointing moment was when I asked for her name to provide feedback. She replied, **"You don't have to know my name."** That level of disrespect is simply unacceptable in any customer-facing role.

A Duty Manager later explained the baggage policy, which we accepted without issue. The policy was never the problem—the behaviour was.

Throughout our trip, every New Zealander we met was warm, kind and welcoming. Sadly, this interaction was the complete opposite and overshadowed an otherwise unforgettable holiday. I sincerely hope Air New Zealand invests in better customer service training, because no passenger deserves to be treated this way.

What was most shocking was not the baggage policy itself, but the complete lack of courtesy, the dismissive attitude, the eye-rolling, the refusal to identify herself, and the apparent disregard for treating customers with basic dignity and respect. This interaction fell well below the standard I would expect from any organisation, let alone an airline that represents New Zealand's reputation for warmth and hospitality.

Attempted to change flights due to weather impacting travel to Christchurch.
Cost: was more than original flight.$800+.
Spent over an hour on phone and ANZ were inflexible.
Cancelled Christchurch to Auckland leg- no refunds
Seat: very small
Food: (vegan) tasteless, undercooked, mush. Mash potato was gloop.
No dietary alternative to pizza offered for second food offering
Air hosts: Tired and grumpy
Announcements lacklustre and droning

Auckland to Sydney flight NZ111 was delayed 1.5 hours due to mechanical issues. Had to
miss my connecting flight to Adelaide.
Stewardess told me in-flight that accommodation and transport would be comped and to speak to Air New Zealand ground staff.
After coming out of customs, I had no direction on where to speak with ground staff. Called the customer service line and they told me to speak to the check in Air NZ staff. Hauled myself up to check in and there was no staff there.
Called the customer service line and they put me on hold for 20 minutes while calling everyone they could including the Sydney Operations Manager for Air New Zealand. No one answered.
The customer service rep said there was nothing they could do and I had to find my own accommodation and transport, paid out of my own pocket, and then seek reimbursement (no guarantees). I did not understand why customer service couldn't just organise it on their end and pay upfront, "we just can't".
Eventually they just hung up on me.
Another airport staff member working for a different airline very kindly provided me a phone number for someone at Air NZ in Sydney, but it rang out and messages went unanswered.
What frustrates me isn't just that they promised to cover my accommodation and inconvenience only to then break that promise and effectively abandon me overnight at Sydney airport, it's that they can just get away with doing that to anyone.
If I were old, had a disability or was a minor, I'd be in a vastly worse position and Air New Zealand wouldn't have been able to help them either.
Have never seen such disturbing incompetence and callousness from an airline – sad to see how far this once great airline has fallen.

I rarely leave negative reviews, but I feel other travellers should know about our experience.

My wife and I were returning to our home country after several years of living abroad. Naturally, we had several checked bags, including two overweight bags. Air New Zealand's website states that overweight bags are accepted upon payment of the applicable fee, so we expected the process to be straightforward.

When we arrived at Sydney Airport, we asked a member of staff if we could check in at the counter because of the amount of luggage we had. We were told to use the self-service kiosks instead.

Unfortunately, the kiosks only allow a limited number of bags per passenger and cannot process overweight bags. After wasting time trying to use the system, we had to ask for assistance again. Two staff members eventually helped us, but they did so reluctantly, making us feel like we were causing a problem simply by following the airline's own baggage policy.

The entire check-in process took more than an hour.

We were then charged AUD 893 for our excess baggage, but the receipt only states "3 PC" without any explanation of how the total was calculated. I still don't know whether the amount was correct because there was absolutely no breakdown of the charges.

I've flown with many airlines over the last decade, including full-service and low-cost carriers, and this was honestly the poorest airport customer service I have experienced. The staff, the check-in process, the self-service baggage system, and the lack of transparency regarding baggage fees all fell well below what I expected from a premium airline.

I flew with Air New Zealand on 21 June from Palmerston North to Auckland (NZ5120), followed by Auckland to Singapore (NZ284 at 9:30 am), and had a deeply disappointing experience across multiple stages of the journey.

Prior to travel, I had to bring my flight forward by one week due to a sudden medical issue (infection and possible gout). Despite explaining the situation, I did not experience any meaningful empathy or flexibility, and was still charged significant fees for an emergency schedule change processed within 24 hours.

At check-in, I was instructed to dispose of approximately 15 kg of my luggage. During the process, staff also made me purchase a luggage wrapping service, which I was told would cost $5. However, when I paid, the terminal charged $6. When I questioned this, the staff member (Lysandra) initially insisted it was $6, and only after I repeatedly raised that I had been told $5 did she acknowledge it, responding in a dismissive manner.

During baggage handling, several items were discarded, including canned food (baked beans) and cut fruit. In addition, a pot of food was overturned during inspection, spilling onto the conveyor belt, seating area, and floor. This caused unnecessary mess and inconvenience, and no apology was offered.

On the long-haul flight, meal service was inconsistent. I was not woken up for lunch or snacks, yet was later woken abruptly and loudly by tapping on the seat compartment to open the window.

The overall journey was extremely exhausting, made worse by operational disruptions and an eventual circling pattern before landing in Singapore, which added to travel fatigue.

To make matters worse, I was later charged approximately $1200 for a schedule change or rebooking adjustment, which felt excessive given the circumstances.

Overall, this was a very disappointing experience across both customer service and operational handling.

Complete rip off , always have been ! Iv just come back from the Uk , while there I flew from Bristol to Bergamo Italy return for the equivalent of $180 nzd , just over a two hour flight . Ryan air is turning profit and is debt free! Air NZ just price gouging!!!!!

My domestic flight was cancelled & rebooked without consultation, for a flight the following day. I had an international flight to connect too, none of which was taken into consideration. I had to work out myself how to get to Auckland & try to make it in time for my connecting international flight, which failed as the domestic flight didnt land early enough for transfer. I had to spend fees changing my international flight to the next day & had to book a motel & spend additional funds on transport and accommodation. This whole experience put a huge damper on what was meant to be a memorable once in a lifetime experience. After sending a list of all additional expenses incurred (which was under $500AUD), Air New Zealand refused to refund a cent. There was zero care-factor. I will never fly with or promote Air New Zealand again.

What Air New Zealand presents as a “solution” is, for customers living in Europe, completely detached from reality. Instead of a refund, the only option offered was a time-limited credit. No cash refund. No option for an open-ended voucher. No real choice at all.
On paper this may look acceptable. In practice, it is close to useless if you are based in Europe. Air New Zealand’s network here is extremely limited, routes are inconvenient, connections are expensive, and travel to New Zealand or the Pacific is simply not something most European customers can do flexibly or repeatedly—especially within a strict deadline.
The outcome is painfully simple:
You pay real money → you receive a credit → you cannot realistically use it → and once the deadline passes, it expires and the money is gone. No refund, no extension, no meaningful accommodation for customers thousands of kilometres away.
This is not customer service. It is risk being pushed entirely onto the customer. The airline keeps the cash, while the customer is left with a theoretical benefit that has little to no practical value.
For Europe-based customers, this credit is not compensation—it is dead money.
Whatever the legal fine print says, the experience feels profoundly unfair and deeply frustrating.
My trust in Air New Zealand is completely gone.
This was my first—and unquestionably last—experience with this airline.

I flew many airlines and definitely this airline service is the worst I have encountered for full service airline. Crew are mostly rude and dismissive. Food is salty and small portion.
Seating arrangement for economy class is very cramped with 3-4-3.

Purchased exit row seats with additional fee of $280 per seat of which the seat width is extremely narrow and below standard width as need to give space for inflight entertainment equipments. Airline should redesign the seat width to be the same width as normal seat.

Inflight entertainment systems sound not working properly for both seats of exit row. Sound comes out on and off or muffled. No compensation offered after informing the inflight manager, who sounds angry and dismissive.

Loyal Air NZ customer for decades, but recent experience felt that branding was more important than actual service. Cute safety videos, smiley cabin crew, kiwiana. Lovely. But an airfare 3x what my wife paid using Jetstar to join me on same family event. A 1kg rolled mat, as a gift for Maori hosts, cost $200 in excess baggage, and camera case at 7kg on one leg $130. Flight out of Cairns was delayed because of engineering issues for an hour (cargo door seal alert - apparently a common thing). Seats hard and crammed. Food ordinary. What I would expect from a budget airline, but not for the price I paid ... months in advance to get a fair deal. Sad to leave memories of quality Air NZ behind, but like many trusted names in NZ today, it seems to have focused on leveraging branding and profit for shareholders above service for customers. Very disappointed.

2 weeks ago our flight from Auckland to US was cancelled. Air New Zealand re-booked to a later flight but we were downgraded from Business class to Premium economy. The agent at the airport said we will get a refund. So far air NZ has been silent about this. No refund received. No e-mail about refund.
Food was also not very good. Will not fly Air NZ
internationally again.

Update 11/25/25:
Finally got refund almost 3 weeks after I submitted my complaint online.

Similar to other passengers, I booked a flight from Vancouver to Auckland months ago and have a confirmation saying I had seat 1A. Now 2 months before my flight I discover that I have been booted out of 1A. Reason why? ANZ has introduced Premiere Luxe seats in row 1 which costs an additional C$775. Fine but ANZ should be honouring prior bookings instead of, without notice, changing a seat assignment. Not impressed Air New Zealand.

We booked our flights 10 months ago and paid in full. We paid for exit row seats with the additional leg room as my friend is very claustrophobic and needs the additional space. Purely by chance-I went onto my booking 6 weeks b4 my flight, to find out the plane had been changed, and the seats allocated were economy seats ! No notification was sent to me or my travel agent, no refund was arranged - nothing! When I rang them to ask for my original seats back, I was told they were not available, they had already been allocated! after an hour they just told me to fly with Qantas instead !!!! Appalling customer service - DO NOT FLY WITH THIS AIRLINE !!!!

Booked a package deal of two flights, the first with Air New Zealand, via Expedia. Expedia then gave instructions to purchase excess baggage direct with the airline only for Air Zealand to refuse this both online and over the phone when I contacted them. (You also can't book any other upgrades too!)

They offered no reasonable and logical explanation for this other than 'it's their policy' and it was because I had an onward flight with a different airline who use a different booking system - this shouldn't make a blind bit of difference as I said I was wanting (and willing) to pay in advance to both airlines for both the respective flights. Ultimately, if I booked the two flights separately I could do it so how does that make any sense??? Moreover, this is 2025 so you would think they would have the technology now for booking systems to be integrated and to have the ability to talk to each other, no???
Instead the only option they gave me was to pay the extortionate upfront fees at the airport on the day of check in - terrible.

I have flown all around the world and NEVER experienced this issue before. In my view this is nothing more than a way for Air New Zealand to exploit their customers for more money. I will never book with them again.

Appalling. Booked a multi-city ticket with a stopover in LA. Wanted to delay my first flight to reduce the length of the stop over but keep every one of my other flights the same. Despite finding a flight for my preferred date (on a much less busy flight day) and the relevant partner airline confirming I could change to that flight and that there were numerous seats available, for some reason Air New Zealand were incapable of changing the ticket. Apparently they had no 'fares' available on any of the 4 alternative dates I provided. AVOID AT ALL COSTS IF YOU WANT A CONVENIENT FLIGHT.

They bumped me from my flight.

They didn't bump my friends. Assuming this is discrimination against solo traveler

Paid Air New Zealand for the Skycouch to secure a full row for myself and my son on a long-haul flight. Days before departure, they pulled the product due to an aircraft change. No apology. No compensation. They reassigned the row, forced one of us into a middle seat next to the stranger they resold our seat to, then offered to sell it back at a higher last-minute price.

This wasn’t a customer service glitch. It was a calculated business decision — personally overseen and upheld by Air New Zealand’s CFO, Richard Thomson. The message was clear: “We refunded what we had to. If you want the space you paid for, pay again.”

That’s not policy. That’s exploitation.

This was my first booking with Air New Zealand. It will be my last.

I would never book with them again they cancelled my ticket without a reason and six months in I’m still fighting for answers absolute joke x all they can say is it was cancelled in error and they refuse to compensate for ruining our holiday x DONT FLY WITH THEM 😡

Not recommnded to fly with air new zealand. They cancel flights and then don't return money paid for seats booked. I had to rebook all my flights because of them. Now they dont want to return all the money as return flight was not affected. But if you book a return flight all is cancelled if it cannot be rebooked due to connecting flight that do not work out.