Quality of Trans Tasman service

[Liroquai]

Flew SYD-AKL earlier this week on DJ54 and unfortunately was on an older 737-800. Seats were the old blue/red leather and no J class, rather red premium economy seats with the middle seat blocked out. The only substantial items available for purchase from the menu were the sandwich and wrap - no pies despite the flight being 3+ hours. I realise the menu states "selected flights over 3 hours", but you'd think with a flight departing at 7:50pm, hot food would be available. There's only so many times in a month that I can stomach the New Yorker.

IMO, IFE is a big issue on trans-tasman and trans-con flights. The Digeplayer just doesn't cut it - $15 for a limited selection and being forced to watch in an awkward position. Compare this to my return flight CHC-SYD with Air NZ; served a decent breakfast, seat back IFE with a great range of movies and shows and an infinitely comfortable seat.

I do wonder if this particular route is down on the list of importance for VA seeing as there is only 1 daily flight, and hence getting the older aircraft to service it. It's a real shame because while I mostly adore VA's domestic product, there is no way I'll deliberately choose this service again over the Air NZ alternatives.

 

[cavemanzk]

Going into the agreement with NZ they said they where going to up there standards to the same level. Well hasn't been my experiance on my last two DJ flights & only would fly them if JQ was the only other option.

 

[yohy?!]

Agree on the IFE/J seating points, the hard product needs to upped urgently - however TT flights are crewed by NZ DJ staff whom I have always found to be vastly superior to Aus DJ crew. Also if travelling on NZ in the cheap seats there is a lot less room than the DJ 738.

 

[haydensydney]

I think the trans tasman offering by Pacific Blue is below the domestic VA offering which is a shame (though in complete contrast to yohy?!s thoughts above).

The crew on my recent Queenstown > Sydney flight (trip report here) were all over the shop, fumbling over each other etc etc. Quite unprofessional. The other time I flew trans tasman the crew were just as bad. At least we got a refurbed aircraft this time which was a bonus.

 

[lovestotravel]

NZ Pacific Blue staff are amateurs at best

Had 2 flights with Pacific Blue to NZ and NEVER AGAIN

For the same price you can fly NZ (even scoring the 772 or 77W) or Emirates

I have had various people who booked Air NZ but ended up on Pacific Blue for one leg of the trip, and they have vowed never to fly them again as the difference between the NZ A320 and PB B737 is miles

Both in terms of hard and soft product

As for PB/DJ/VA bringing their B737-800's into line with the A320s of Air NZ, it's just not going to happen I feel. Seat Back TV's don't seem to be a consideration for VA......

 

[lovestotravel]

I think the trans tasman offering by Pacific Blue is below the domestic VA offering which is a shame (though in complete contrast to yohy?!s thoughts above).

The crew on my recent Queenstown > Sydney flight (trip report here) were all over the shop, fumbling over each other etc etc. Quite unprofessional. The other time I flew trans tasman the crew were just as bad. At least we got a refurbed aircraft this time which was a bonus.

You are correct!

 

[Fruitcake]

I almost always fly NZ trans tasman, booked via NZ. Although I feel NZ service standards have fallen slightly under 'seats to suit', it's still ahead of Virgin offering.

Although most of recent and all future booked trans tasman is booked on NZ, trans tasman is one of the very few occasions where I bother to price QF flights - Jetconnect crews are fantastic.

 

[eastwest101]

Yes - unless the Pacific Blue fares are significantly lower than Air New Zealand then NZ is a far better product (even the NZ 320 is better).

 

[smit0847]

I've travelled on NZ MEL-QZN-MEL and MEL-CHC, AKL-MEL on their A320 Y Works package.

Each time I was really, really impressed. I think the have got the balance perfect (apart from having so many confusing fare types). Gate to gate IFE, comfy seats, pleasant, if not mature staff, great food, proud heritage, kids handing out sweets etc - I would not hesitate to fly them again. I guess the trans tasman routes are an enormous part of their business and as they are all in the 3 - 4 hour range they have really thought about what people will want for a flight of that length rather than just assuming every flight on their network should be the same. A hot breakfast followed by a movie and I'm in NZ.

I know their domestic product and long-haul Y has its opponents but I really think the trans-tasman A320 is excellent. I would be ropeable if I had booked this and was bumped onto DJ.

 

[haydensydney]

I do consider the PB trans tasman services to be a reputational "thorn in the side" for VA... On both of the flights (I will be careful here as I'm not implying any racial undertone) I had Polynesian crews that struggled to even get the basics right - the announcements were inaudible and they used empty Row 1 / Row 2 seats for storage of their own bags and would 'park up' there throughout the flight. The crew would bark at you when ordering... Just really unprofessional.

 

[cavemanzk]

On my OOL-AKL flight back in November the purser didn't speak english, made for some very laughable announcements.

 

[lovestotravel]

I do consider the PB trans tasman services to be a reputational "thorn in the side" for VA... On both of the flights (I will be careful here as I'm not implying any racial undertone) I had Polynesian crews that struggled to even get the basics right - the announcements were inaudible and they used empty Row 1 / Row 2 seats for storage of their own bags and would 'park up' there throughout the flight. The crew would bark at you when ordering... Just really unprofessional.

I think we have talked about this before, I am sure we had the same crew.....

The CSM who was of a "darker appearance" was inaudible and was just a pretty face... All smiles and no substance.

 

[smit0847]

On my OOL-AKL flight back in November the purser didn't speak english, made for some very laughable announcements.

On an English to English speaking country flight?!? How on earth would you get on a route like that if you couldnt speak?!?

 

[greenfish]

Unfortunately the sentiments expressed in this thread match my trans-tasman experience. Flying DJ trans-tasman is poor value, arguably struggling to complete with Jetstar and certainly not a patch on their partner, NZ.

Only reason to fly DJ trans-tasman is if they're the only direct option to a destination e.g. BNE-HLZ. Otherwise, book the NZ codeshare....

 

[Deleted member 29185]

My only PB trans-Tasman flight was.........well, horrible. I'll not make that mistake twice.

 

[cavemanzk]

Only reason to fly DJ trans-tasman is if they're the only direct option to a destination e.g. BNE-HLZ. Otherwise, book the NZ codeshare....

Fly BNE-AKL and make the hours drive, its worth it!

 

[Sprucegoose]

On my OOL-AKL flight back in November the purser didn't speak english, made for some very laughable announcements.

Quite frankly that's substandard and a safety risk no one needs...how do they get away with this?

 

[yohy?!]

Yikes well there's an abundance of differing opinion as a disclaimer I'll note that my previous flights of which there were several were crewed out of CHC perhaps this made the difference. ( And I maintain the a320 NZ product is about as comfortable as JQ so in other words avoid..unless upfront )

 

[cavemanzk]

Quite frankly that's substandard and a safety risk no one needs...how do they get away with this?

Employ contract crew on temporary new zealand work visas!

 

[samh004]

Pacific Blue:

ex-BNE had pretty good check-in staff and pretty good staff onboard, but this was before reconfig so old product, however suitable for the flight and a good recognition of status.

ex-ZQN great staff on the ground, upgrades at checkin, onboard staff same as above.

ex-CHC awful staff on the ground, onboard staff same as above.

Haven’t flown them since last year though, and will be flying QF this year as I’ll have DSC.