Air New Zealand Axes “Works Deluxe” Product

Air New Zealand will no longer offer “Works Deluxe” fares on its international flights operated by narrow-body aircraft from May 2024.

The airline has removed Works Deluxe fares from sale, for travel dates on or after 1 May 2024. This update is already reflected on the Air New Zealand website.

The product will continue to be available on most trans-Tasman and Pacific Island routes until the end of April 2024. For example, if we search the Air New Zealand website for the same Gold Coast-Auckland flight on 30 April 2024, Works Deluxe is offered for sale.

Air New Zealand will not honour Works Deluxe tickets already booked for travel after 1 May 2024. It is offering a refund to affected customers, who will also have the option to book a new ticket with The Works.

Since last year, “Seats to Suit” is no longer offered on flights to Perth, Tahiti or Hawaii.

What is Air New Zealand Works Deluxe?

In 2010, Air New Zealand switched its short-haul international routes from a full-service to a low-cost business model. Instead of offering included baggage and meals to every passenger, Air New Zealand started offering four different types of Economy Class packages with different inclusions. It called the new fare types “Seats to Suit”.

Under this arrangement, the cheapest “Seat” fares only include a carry-on bag and access to TV shows. The “Seat+Bag” fare includes a checked bag, while “The Works” also includes catering and access to movies.

The highest fare offering, which is being discontinued, was “Works Deluxe”. This came with all the inclusions of The Works, as well as:

• A seat at the front of the plane with a guaranteed empty neighbouring seat (i.e. a blocked middle seat in your row of 3 Economy seats)
• 2x checked bags with priority tags
• Priority check-in
• Priority boarding
• Premium headphones

This product typically comes with a $100 surcharge over a “The Works” airfare, although it varies by route.

With the removal of Works Deluxe, Air New Zealand will no longer have any sort of premium cabin offering on its international Airbus A320 or A321 services. These aircraft only have Economy Class seating.

Air New Zealand continues to offer Premium Economy and Business Class on its Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 aircraft. Premium Economy is typically a bit more expensive than a Works Deluxe fare, but it’s a much better product in a dedicated cabin with larger seats and better meals.

Why has Air NZ stopped selling Works Deluxe?

It’s not clear exactly why Air New Zealand no longer wishes to sell Works Deluxe fares.

On one hand, perhaps sales were not meeting the airline’s expectations.

On the other hand, having to block seats reduces the capacity of the aircraft and therefore the number of seats on each flight that Air New Zealand could sell. That could also be problematic, although this is pretty much exactly how European airlines – quite profitably – offer Business Class on their short-haul flights.

This change comes as Qantas expands its Neighbour Free seating product onto trans-Tasman routes.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.