Air NZ Booking Classes?

[mr_osborne]

Hey,
Apologies if this is in the wrong thread, please correct me if required
I'm looking at booking on Air NZ for trans-tasman, but am trying to establish if it is possible to tell what booking classes the different fares relate to (eg works/seat/works deluxe), for the purposes of working out how many points I'll get.

I have used Matrix (by ITA), and can see the classes there, but It's not clear what the class is (does it come with a bag, or a meal, and is it flexible).

I have read that it is available in the source code, but can't find an obvious location for it. I can find a few 2 character codes, but I'm just stabbing in the dark, so If someone else has a solution it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[mr_osborne]

Would this be better in another thread?

 

[serfty]

I have moved it to the AirNZ forum.

AFAIK, the booking classes don't always actually directly relate to Seat/Seat&Bag/Works/WorksDeluxe - it's an additional indicator to the booking.

It probably best to indicate that the relevant extras to the booking are recorded elsewhere.

See this FT post:

New Australia/Pacific Island structure
​

 

[richie9x]

This is the information my travel agent has. Not sure if it directly answers your question, but the info should be useful. These rules are applicable from 26 July 2011.

NZ Trans-Tasman

TASMAN SMART SAVER FARES
K, X, G, L, T, W, V
No Airpoints Dollars accrual on Seat/Seat + Bag Smart Saver fares.
Airpoints Dollars can be accrued on The Works and Works Deluxe Smart Saver fares.
Note: Status points are accruable on all fares.
Not eligible for Airpoints dollars companion tickets.
Eligible for Airpoints dollars standby upgrades (not eligible on NZ7000 series flights).
Children and/or infants travelling with an adult on an Airpoints dollars redemption ticket do so at the applicable child and infant discount
rates.

TASMAN FLEXI FARES
Q, H, M, B, Y, D, C
Airpoints Dollars & Status points accruable on Flexi fares.
Eligible for Airpoints Dollars upgrades and companion tickets (not eligible on NZ7000 series flights).
Children and/or infants travelling with an adult on an Airpoints dollars redemption ticket do so at the applicable child and infant discount
rates.

Note: NZ7000 flights are codeshares of Virgin Australia/Pacific Blue.

 

[mr_osborne]

Ok...
So it appears that ritchie9x's information is more up to date...

The reason I ask this is that I plan to get points credited to my virgin account, and the table for accrual (trans-tasman) is as follows:

Discount Economy (L, G, S, K, P, F)	0.25 Velocity Points​
Discount Economy (V, W, T)	0.5 Velocity Points​
Discount Economy (Q, H, M)	0.75 Velocity Points ​
Economy (Y, B)	1 Velocity Point ​
Business Class (C, D, J, Z)	2 Velocity Points ​

Based on ritchie9x's info:
K, X, G, L, T, W, V = Smart saver
Q, H, M, B, Y, D, C = Flexi

So I'm not sure what the S, P & F fare classes are, or the X fare class. but it is interesting to see that on some classes in economy you can earn business velocity points (and I assume business status credits)

But then looking at air nz's table, I see that even with them, sometimes flexi fares only earn discount status credits....

If I rang Air NZ direct, would they be able to tell me? or should I just book, then see(not my preferred option)?

 

[richie9x]

Just to be clear D and C fares are discount Business class fares what Air NZ call 'Business Saver'. They seem to be classed as 'flexi' by Air NZ as they have some of the similar restrictions as economy flexi fares. While full business class fares like J don't have those restrictions.

My understanding is that if you pay for a ticket no matter what booking class you will get status points. The only fares that don't get status points are free tickets for example point redemptions and tickets given away for promotion reasons.

As for what brand of economy ticket maps to the exact class and hence how many points you will earn. From what I can tell AirNZ don't make it easy to work this out. Certainly don't seem to be able to do it via the website.

 

[mr_osborne]

Just to be clear D and C fares are discount Business class fares what Air NZ call 'Business Saver'. They seem to be classed as 'flexi' by Air NZ as they have some of the similar restrictions as economy flexi fares. While full business class fares like J don't have those restrictions.

Ok. Thanks. That makes more sense.

My understanding is that if you pay for a ticket no matter what booking class you will get status points. The only fares that don't get status points are free tickets for example point redemptions and tickets given away for promotion reasons.

Yea, but there is a difference between status points earned for discount economy and full economy. but I suspect most of the time I will only qualify for the discount rate, it is just for velocity points virgin splits it into 4 different classes, and it starts to get a bit more confusing...
since seat+bag doesn't earn anything on airnz if you don't book flexi, then I figured I was better crediting it to virgin, where at least I'd get something. (also, it is a lot easier to achieve status with them afaik). Does anyone else fly with Air NZ and credit it to velocity for the same reason?

As for what brand of economy ticket maps to the exact class and hence how many points you will earn. From what I can tell AirNZ don't make it easy to work this out. Certainly don't seem to be able to do it via the website.

Yea. It's a lot simpler on pacific blue, where they have a clear division, saver, flexi, premium...

 

[mr_osborne]

hmmm...
I just discovered this on the agent's website: /assets/agents/fare-advice/tasman/Longterm-Guide-Tasman-GDS-Fares-ex-nz-sales-eff-08Jul11.pdf
By the looks of it, I can subtract the taxes/airport fees, and then work out the class based on the cost. It also shows that the classes are the same/similar for works and works deluxe.

I haven't actually tried this, and it won't work for anything marked as a deal (I think, as I assume those will be a "tactical" fare class), and it's also complicated by the fact that I'm often booking through to launceston although potentially this will help : /assets/agents/fare-advice/tasman/Virgin-Australia-Domestic-Addons-eff-08Jul11.pdf

It's certainly more than I had yesterday, and I found that first link from an earlier post by serfty, so thanks for that.

EDIT: I can't post links, so if you go to the AIRNZ agent's website, and add that on, you should be able to find them.

 

[serfty]

http://www.airnzagent.co.nz/assets/...-Tasman-GDS-Fares-ex-nz-sales-eff-08Jul11.pdf

 

[Tuddy]

This still is all still rendering me clueless as I try to make sense of it. So the Seat Only fare, as well as Seat + Bag fare will qualify as "Discount Econ." on Virgin in relation to SCs. How about domestically speaking? What is a Q fare on domestic NZ flights?

 

[Clobu5]

Im also struggling with this as well. Booking a trip in Feb 14. ADL - AKL - WLG, WLG - CHC - ZQN, ZQN - AKL - ADL. Wanting to make sure that I get Y, B classes for 320 sc (2 pax). But where you have seat, seat + bag, the works and works deluxe all available at flexi fare im well confused!!

Any tips?

 

[greenfish]

Apologies for reviving an old thread, but have just discovered that you can find your AirNZ booking class before paying (sorry if this is old news)

If you select the flights, the following page where you input the traveller details has a hyperlink center right labelled "view full itinerary"

Clicking this link shows the booking class (which for a flexi works BNE to OOL was Q, so discount economy earn on VA).