Qantas and Air NZ announce codeshare partnership

[moa999]

watch this space I guess the codeshare could be the start.

I think anything more would require competition approval, which is unlikely to be givem

 

[azza_1992]

Some interesting omissions from the code share in New Zealand

• All flights to or from Invercargill, Hokitika, Whangerie, Taupo, and Hamilton
• Christchurch to Tauranga
• Auckland to Blenheim

 

[NZflygirl]

Some interesting omissions from the code share in New Zealand

• All flights to or from Invercargill, Hokitika, Whangerie, Taupo, and Hamilton
• Christchurch to Tauranga
• Auckland to Blenheim

I think you'll find if Air NZ is flying the route or Jetstar and it is currently bookable on Qantas departing out of Australia now, then I can't see any reason why it won't be part of the codeshare in the future. I'm not taking the map at face value currently. There isn't any reason to exclude Christchurch to Hokitika given it's currently bookable on the Qantas website as part of an itinerary flying across the ditch.

 

[Geoffm]

This will solve the issue I have had before - you can book Sydney to Rotorua on line - Eticket comes back QF to AKL and ANZ to Rotorua. No lounge access in AKL and a few hours in the layover.

 

[travellerqff]

Are you talking about Hamilton - Wellington?......Air NZ doesn't fly Auckland - Hamilton. I think they dropped that a while ago.

Yes, Wellington and Christchurch to Hamilton, which have plenty of flights daily. I hope they’re included!

 

[NZflygirl]

Yes, Wellington and Christchurch to Hamilton, which have plenty of flights daily. I hope they’re included!

Doesn't look like they're bookable on the Qantas site currently. To be honest most people from Australia would fly from their east coast airport and drive to get to Hamilton which is only 1hr 24min according to google map drive time. Would be a bit strange to route Sydney - Wellington - Hamilton. I can see why that's not on the code share route. There's probably Airport to door shuttles as well. I know there are for other regional city centres further away than Hamilton.

What you can do is book the Qantas flight to Wellington or Christchurch, then book a separate Flexitime ticket on Air New Zealand. You can switch on the day to any other time after midnight that day for free. Kind of like a fly forward or backwards whichever way you like to view it. Or a flexiplus so you can cancel it. I don't think you'll have lounge access though. There's a Rydges hotel supposed to open in Wellington later this year but I don't think these things run to time but it's definitely under construction so I'd head there instead if a long layover. On airport grounds and supposed to connect to the terminal.

Christchurch Novotel opening September 2018 so head there during your layover. Probably better food and drinks, comfy seating. I don't see the lack of lounge access as being a big deal with these other options. I guess you have to pay but would only add up if you were doing it often. If infrequently then just view it as a change of scenery.

But you'd have to agree that flying via Wellington or Christchurch from Australia isn't the normal way to get to your destination.

Edit: Never book the last flight of the day! And if you know your Qantas flight is departing on time then make the change before you board the flight while at the airport. Remember other NZ flyers use this and you might be trying to swap to a full flight. No status required for flexitime or flexiplus changes. Just read the terms and conditions and you'll get it.

 

[rocket47]

How can this possibly be good for Trans-Tasman prices?

Read the article, it's for domestic only. Both airlines have made it perfectly clear that it does not apply anywhere but within the borders of Australia and NZ (separately). If you choose to fly AKL to DRW on NZ then you would book AKL/MEL/DRW (for example) and the AKL-MEL segment would be NZ and the MEL-DRW segment would be QF but with an NZ flight number. Inter-Airline Through Check In will enable all BP, tags, etc. to reflect the relevant info. If you're a QF customer and want to go SYD to ZQN on a day with no direct flight then you'd book with QF SYD-CHC (for example) and then on QF CHC-ZQN but the second segment would have a QF flight number and be operated on an NZ aircraft. It won't be possible to fly NZ trans Tasman or anywhere else and get QF points, QF and get NZ points except for the domestic leg - that's why they don't need approval because TT entering the NZ market balances JQ and QF/NZ combining domestically can't be queried as there is plenty of competition present.

 

[rocket47]

A few have said they were surprised by this and I was too... I think Virgin might be as well, judging by the fact that it's nearly 48 hours and still no response or comment on their media page.
I think it's a great move and now gives a decent alternative for QFF that don't want to fly JQ domestic in NZ but instead, can now fly on an NZ operated aircraft with QF flight number and benefits... for us QC Members also good news.
I think Virgin have no one but themselves to blame really... the company left the hands of Brett Godfrey with a couple hundred million dollar profit and has not made one since under current management. I know for a fact that Air NZ had terrible problems if say, they had a diversion, in getting Virgin to seamlessly take the passengers - significant pushback on the use of FIMs and the like and literally led to Air NZ simply giving their disrupted passengers to Qantas. Unfortunately, as Virgin have nice crew and some good people on the front line working for them, they are being run by people who know nothing about reality in aviation - you can't expect to play with the big boys and refuse to cooperate. This complaint about misconnections and disrupted passengers is not isolated to Air NZ either - the problem is that while Virgin have good people and their Business Class trans continental on the A330 is brilliant (but IMHO so is Qantas'), the people running the show - many - have been in the industry for 5 mins and the company has made many 'beginners mistakes' - on top of this, there is talent in Virgin but those with knowledge, experience and ability are constantly driven out - I know several people who have had this happen. What this does is result in phenomenally DUMB decisions such as adopted SABRE rather than retain Amadeus Altea DC as their system, refuse to engage in many cases in the most basic industry norms - even when to Virgin's advantage such as being gifted disrupted passengers - then arguing from head office for hours about paperwork and/or the dysfunctional system making it almost impossible for staff to handle the situation. Very sad because the senior management have been drawing significant salaries and bonuses and the airline has gotten worse (no, I don't count the piddling $4m profit off $2-3bn revenue as a turnaround).
Short story, because of the difficulty of working together where Air NZ passengers were often shortchanged from what I've heard but when Virgin had a problem, Air NZ was expected to drop everything to help (including with pouring money in), Air NZ finally had enough and decided their 20-30% shareholding and the money tied up in it was better spent on product and aircraft for Air NZ. The other difficulties I think just helped Air NZ make the decision. I mean why bother, they can now keep the money and codeshare with Qantas who has a bigger domestic network anyway and is pretty efficient at handling things like NZ's disrupted passengers and leaving the paperwork until later.
I just don't know from a business perspective how long the management of Virgin can keep their jobs. It might be an idea to have a complete clean out and put some front line people with ability into the roles. We should have two strong competitors in this market but at the moment we have one strong profitable airline and one circus act (certainly from the management perspective) which is a pity because they could learn from each other.
Who would have imagined 5 years ago that Qantas' costs would be lower than Virgin's and Virgin unable to make a return.
I just hope this creates a shock wave at Virgin and they sack their management and put people in with ability and a bit of guts, rather than arrogance and gall.
I am a Velocity Member and was a Lounge Member and also am a Qantas Club and QFF Member so I'm not playing favorites here. I just can't understand how the product is so good (except in economy) yet the company can't make a profit, can't make a decision and the senior people keep being paid bonuses - on the share price alone any other executive would have been out the door years ago. I know QF's share price was down, but we knew it had cash and a good debt/equity ratio. It just beggars belief that a Board allows this to continue.
Not sure how many more hits like this VA can take.

 

[Virgin Bart]

Interestingly, I had heard about five months ago that VA New Zealand domestic operations were on the cards [again].

 

[NZflygirl]

Interestingly, I had heard about five months ago that VA New Zealand domestic operations were on the cards [again].

Trying to think if that was before the announcement of VA & NZ parting ways.

 

[pauly7]

A few have said they were surprised by this and I was too... I think Virgin might be as well, judging by the fact that it's nearly 48 hours and still no response or comment on their media page.
I think it's a great move and now gives a decent alternative for QFF that don't want to fly JQ domestic in NZ but instead, can now fly on an NZ operated aircraft with QF flight number and benefits... for us QC Members also good news.
I think Virgin have no one but themselves to blame really... the company left the hands of Brett Godfrey with a couple hundred million dollar profit and has not made one since under current management. I know for a fact that Air NZ had terrible problems if say, they had a diversion, in getting Virgin to seamlessly take the passengers - significant pushback on the use of FIMs and the like and literally led to Air NZ simply giving their disrupted passengers to Qantas. Unfortunately, as Virgin have nice crew and some good people on the front line working for them, they are being run by people who know nothing about reality in aviation - you can't expect to play with the big boys and refuse to cooperate. This complaint about misconnections and disrupted passengers is not isolated to Air NZ either - the problem is that while Virgin have good people and their Business Class trans continental on the A330 is brilliant (but IMHO so is Qantas'), the people running the show - many - have been in the industry for 5 mins and the company has made many 'beginners mistakes' - on top of this, there is talent in Virgin but those with knowledge, experience and ability are constantly driven out - I know several people who have had this happen. What this does is result in phenomenally DUMB decisions such as adopted SABRE rather than retain Amadeus Altea DC as their system, refuse to engage in many cases in the most basic industry norms - even when to Virgin's advantage such as being gifted disrupted passengers - then arguing from head office for hours about paperwork and/or the dysfunctional system making it almost impossible for staff to handle the situation. Very sad because the senior management have been drawing significant salaries and bonuses and the airline has gotten worse (no, I don't count the piddling $4m profit off $2-3bn revenue as a turnaround).
Short story, because of the difficulty of working together where Air NZ passengers were often shortchanged from what I've heard but when Virgin had a problem, Air NZ was expected to drop everything to help (including with pouring money in), Air NZ finally had enough and decided their 20-30% shareholding and the money tied up in it was better spent on product and aircraft for Air NZ. The other difficulties I think just helped Air NZ make the decision. I mean why bother, they can now keep the money and codeshare with Qantas who has a bigger domestic network anyway and is pretty efficient at handling things like NZ's disrupted passengers and leaving the paperwork until later.
I just don't know from a business perspective how long the management of Virgin can keep their jobs. It might be an idea to have a complete clean out and put some front line people with ability into the roles. We should have two strong competitors in this market but at the moment we have one strong profitable airline and one circus act (certainly from the management perspective) which is a pity because they could learn from each other.
Who would have imagined 5 years ago that Qantas' costs would be lower than Virgin's and Virgin unable to make a return.
I just hope this creates a shock wave at Virgin and they sack their management and put people in with ability and a bit of guts, rather than arrogance and gall.
I am a Velocity Member and was a Lounge Member and also am a Qantas Club and QFF Member so I'm not playing favorites here. I just can't understand how the product is so good (except in economy) yet the company can't make a profit, can't make a decision and the senior people keep being paid bonuses - on the share price alone any other executive would have been out the door years ago. I know QF's share price was down, but we knew it had cash and a good debt/equity ratio. It just beggars belief that a Board allows this to continue.
Not sure how many more hits like this VA can take.

Wow tell us what you really think I think a lot of Velocity members and VA customers myself included share levels of frustration with the way VA is being run. A twist appeared when they parachuted in John Thomas who was lined up to take over from JB and duely booted out very quickly under very murky circumstances.

I know people who worked at Virgin corporate (both Village and Corp in Sydney) and I do share your bewielderness that bonuses are still being shelled out with the less than average financial performance. Tight labour market in AU helps explain this though - if people don’t get their bonus they just walk to another company! In a lot of functions outside of direct sales bonuses have become ‘expected’ in AU unlike other countries like the US where you fight for every last cent..

VA did issue a media response though in a hurried reaction (yes appears they got caught out) basically saying it was a bad thing and competition in domestic NZ would suffer... perhaps opening a gate to domestic VA or TT NZ.... but honestly as a shareholder and member I don’t want them going back into that bloodbath, Pacific Blue NZ was a disaster and would be yet another drain on financial performance.

Air NZ had a nice little response for them though: ‘Happy for Virgin to come and talk to us about a baggage interline agreement if they like’. Burn.

VA need to focus on filling their fledging and promising international business with great product. Their US business looks anemic with awful load factors just publically released for the latest month for example. Need to jump on that and forget this sorry chapter!

 

[Quickstatus]

NZ and QF are a much better fit than NZ and VA or QF and JQ (NZ)

A bit OT - rather than spend capital on the JQ Asia experiment QF should rinse and repeat this. EK,NZ, who else - Asia beckons. SQ? .

QF - please fix up the Asia domestic sectors!!!
Forget the restrictions of Alliances

 

[Quickstatus]

So in the end its a straight up and down codeshare?

Is the codeshare flight priced by the operating carrier and does the operating carrier keep the money net of an agreed commission to marketing carrier?

 

[ICUDr]

Quite a boost for Star Alliance - their global network map now covers Australia. Probably more significant for global travelers than OneWorld accessing NZ.

Very good point

 

[Quickstatus]

Quite a boost for Star Alliance - their global network map now covers Australia. Probably more significant for global travelers than OneWorld accessing NZ.

SQ already has codeshare access to VA domestic network.

 

[RooFlyer]

Can you include those VA metal flights on a Star Alliance RTW itinerary?

 

[dajop]

Can you include those VA metal flights on a Star Alliance RTW itinerary?

No. Assuming fare rules will be updated, it will be very unlikely that you will be able to use NZ codeshares on QF in a Star Alliance RTW itinerary either.

 

[p--and--t]

There's no *A - *A interline on separate tickets.

AirNZ won't even interline NZ - NZ on separate tickets.

Really?

Last year I had a return ticket (award) from SQ [MEL-SIN] and a separate paid ticket from LH [SIN-FRA-SOF] and when I arrived at Mel the check-in agent checked my bags direct to SOF saying you are on *A all the way today so there's no problem checking your bags all the way regardless of having two tickets issued by two different companies.

 

[Quickstatus]

Can you include those VA metal flights on a Star Alliance RTW itinerary?

Will these NZ codeshares be allowed on a *A OW itinerary?

 

[serfty]

Really?

Last year I had a return ticket (award) from SA [MEL-SIN] and a separate paid ticket from LH [SIN-FRA-SOF] and when I arrived at Mel the check-in agent checked my bags direct to SOF saying you are on *A all the way today so there's no problem checking your bags all the way regardless of having two tickets issued by two different companies.

I have seen many references to SQ have an unpublished policy of doing this; they are agnostic - I have seen reports of even through checking to BA services. (BA definitely won't do it the other way on separate tickets.)