Airnewzealand Reviews 

Flight from Queenstown to Auckland,flight cabin crew really disappointed service.

I am going to buck what appears to be a trend of lack of service, recently we had to change some flights and return urgently for a family emergency from Nashville to Auckland, from the start the customer service lady we spoke to at Air NZ could not have been more helpfull, and although we had not booked transferable flights home orignally she was just so helpfull in getting us good seats on the flight we needed.
I had also put in for one up upgrdaes for our orignal flights home, which we subsequently lost as we did not take that flight, once back in NZ I made contact with Air NZ and was able to get the credits for these put back for us to use at a later date.
The whole deal under very stressful circumstances was very very good, thank you Air NZ!

I'm adding to the already long list of dissatisfaction expressed with the way Air New Zealand is now treating its supposedly valued customers.
I flew on NZ174 on 30 Sept 2025 from Perth to Auckland. I booked and paid for my tickets through my travel agent on 24 June 2025. I paid extra for a 'chargeable pref. seat' number 34J. I chose this seat deliberately as it's an aisle seat in the front row of the economy seats and within easy access to the toilets.
When I went to check in on the mobile app I found that I had been re-seated to 47A which is a window seat in the second row of economy in that section. Not at all what I had booked and paid for 3 months prior.
I tried calling the Perth customer service number - no answer. I emailed my travel agent, she phoned customer services in NZ and was given every excuse under the sun including that 34J had been allocated to 'someone in need'. That someone in need I found out when I went to the loo, was just an ordinary person like me.
AirNZ has always been my airline of choice but no more. I feel sorry for the people on the ground and in the air who have to put up with complaints from customers. Its not their fault as they're just following directives from the top brass, hell bent on making money and who are protected from their poor decision making by their employees. And while I'm at it, what happened to a decent meal not served in a cardboard box?

Absolutely hopeless, seems every second flight is delayed. Avoid if possible.

Auckland to Houston - NZ28
The staff! Not just the crew, but literally every airport, from check-in, gate counter to airline crew were absolutely flawless.
If we had questions, they were answered immediately. On the aircraft, any concerns were answered. They even drew us a helpful map to show us where to travel across at the arrival airport. They didn't have to, but they did. I was just hoping they had advise. But they really went above and beyond. Amazing people.

Was on a delayed flight from raro last night and got put up at the pitman hotel te arkinui as our transfer flight was not available to chch. Airnz provided accomodation and $90 vouchers for something to eat, was appreciated. At the hotel though we were treated like second class citizens when we asked for room service as advertised in their own brochure (was after 1am) was advised there was no room service available with no explanation. My wire then phoned room service and same thing, not available. Vwry disapointing after a very long day

Upon booking our flight we were immediately met with a message saying tht the flight hadn't gone through. We had to contact via either phone or online chat.

We were on hold for 3 hours before needing to sleep with no indication that we would get seen. We opened 4 separate chats and each disconnected when we were next in queue. At this rate I don't think I will ever fly airnz again.

If something goes wrong you are on your own. This should be illegal.

Very dissappointed. My father who is 74yo travelling alone had a flight to catch two planes with you he has a bad hip and can’t walk for to long, i booked a wheelchair ticket for him. At the airport i asked twice the procedure to make sure he was looked after once he landed they told me it was on the system and there would be someone to help him as i couldn’t be there to make sure.
In his old age he is quiet and doesn’t want to make to much of a fuss or be a burden.

There was no one to help him as his plane landed, he had 3 bags plus a oversize bag. After walking so long to get his bags one of them he could not find adding to his stress. A lovely young lady who works for you helped him out. But he was just off 10 mins before he would have missed the other flight as he is very slow hence why i booked him a wheelchair pass.

I’m so upset your airline does not take more care when a customer books a wheelchair pass and Is told speifically there elderly father would be taken care of but is over looked.

What a rip off their flights are , expensive and un reliable !!! I alway avoid them !! But unfortunately in emergency’s I have too ! This is a multi million dollar firm that went bust two weeks in COVID and got bailed out by the Government ! All they care about is their personal profits and shareholders
Another New Zealand price gouging firm !

Wow, I see all the negative reviews and think either you have had terrible luck or your grumpy. Air New Zealand is my airline of choice, by far. I have flown across the Tasman nearly one hundred times over the last 20 years and virtually cannot remember a bad experience. Warm, genuine staff. High quality food and wine. I've never had a significant delay or been bumped off. Maybe international trans-Tasman is particuarly good.

Booked flights only to realise that somehow the departure and destination have swapped while I was checking different times. So I booked the wrong path. I realised this few days after the purchase and started to chat with the air nz call centre via a chat box. They could change this for me but for more than my original tickets were. So together that would have cost me more than a $1000! I used to be so careful about this as it had happened in the past. It happens when one uses their app. I think they count on this error and know it can happen but are only super helpful if you have money to throw away. I was incredibly upset by this mistake. As pretty much a monopoly company they can stay greedy as they realise there are not many easy options . I booked new tickets with Jetstar and will pass on the original tickets to someone who can use them , as an act of kindness in this unkind world.

Airnz has never been the greatest company to fly with, but the service was good. In the last few years, the service and domestic flights has become terrible. Flying in NZ now costs more than flying abroad, and when the plane is the main means of transport, that creates problems for people. Some destinations are simply insanely pricy, living in Nelson, it was affordable to fly to Christchurch or the North Island. But in the last few years, the cost has skyrocketed and we have stopped flying. That and all the dark patterns used in their booking and reward system make the whole experience terrible, and I'm glad to leave the country and leave such a monopoly that is rotting this country

International business class is a disgrace

Seats are terrible, and the roll out of the better layout is delayed.

Food selection is poor. Staff will skip people in your group to try force you to eat a less desirable dish as they do not stock enough of the better options. No emails prio to departure either to request people choose their food.
We all wanted beef, but my wife was skipped by the staff and she ended up with options that she didn't want.

Most of the staff are great, but some are rude and don't like that we all wanted the beef.

They don't stock enough sugar free drinks and ran out 2 hours into an 11 hour flight.

If I buy 3 tickets in business, I expect all of us to get the food we want, the drinks we want.

Air Mew Zealand also doesn't bother notifying of delays until over 30 minutes despite knowing the plane is still delayed. Instead they just sit at the gate and do nothing.

Not worth the money.

I have flown with Air New Zealand about 5 times in my life and 3/5 of those times, AirNZ messed up:
1. 2 of my flights were cancelled twice and I was only informed about it extremely last minute.
2. They also delayed my flight to Perth from Auckland TWICE within the same day, and as you expect, we were only informed about it LAST MINUTE.

I'm starting to question the competency of the leadership team in this organisation when the airline has consistently disappointed the customers with their unreliability. Suffice to say, I would only fly this airline as a last resort.

Just crap, the night before we were to fly home from Gold Coast we received a cancellation email stating their had to be an engine change. We were offered a bus up to Brisbane to catch the later flight home. Judging by those numbers on the bus, the engine change excuse was just a blatant lie. They lied to us as there would have been too few numbers for the original flight in their view, perhaps reduce your prices instead of obviously lying to your customers.
Will try another airline next time as cancellation are frequent and their excuses are just not believable.

Regardless of its expensive tickets with smaller space than some other airline.

There has been delay also on top of that, but that is due to their extrem focus on safety travel. It may sux for sure but compare to other airline, Air NZ would rather delay their flight until its 100% safe, life if more important than anything and they know it well. If you want a cheaper option be my guest but if you want to feel safe Air new zealand is the airline

This is the second time I have flown with air nz and the second time my flight has been canceled until the following day. Made our family sit on the hard ground for 2 hours, my elderly mother in law plus two children, not cool.
Very disrespectful staff who just dont seem to care. Failed to give any compensation for booked accommodation and tickets to the concert we missed after saying they would.

Entitled , rude , woke, expensive if there was another option I would take it.

In the last year, every domestic flight I've taken with them has been delayed or more commonly just canceled. Often you find out within an hour of travel that it's not going to leave and often they rebook you just to cancel that one too. Their domestic service is the pits and incredibly expensive for their terrible service. In this particular instance we just took 3 separate flights back from Borneo- different airlines, all on time, only to get home and be unable to get from Christchurch to Nelson, with the prospect of a 9 hour wait. When you travel domestically within other countries, you realise how poor the air nz service is.

We cancelled our flights to Canada via USA from Perth via New Zealand on 12 May 2025 due to possibility of not being able to complete our full holiday due to irrational and inconsistent USA border treatment of tourists. My gripe: full payment of airfares on booking, but was advised by FLIGHT CENTRE it would take up to 3 months for refund of tickets by Air New Zealand. Please explain Air Zealand. Why? EDIT Flight Centre responded same day review posted stating funds received. AUD 4600 received from original payment made AUD 9200. Air New Zealand charged AUD 175 per change in each separate flight date, plus 175 per seat for EXIT seat option. A separate Canada to America UNITED AIRLINES flight was non refundable on cancellation.

A big lesson learnt. DO NOT BOOK FLIGHTS UNTIL 100 PERCENT SURE OF DATES AND TRIP VIABILITY.