We might be a little premature in declaring a new travel trend, but it appears that selling empty middle seats is the new checked baggage fee. WestJet recently shed a little light on plans to make passengers a little more comfy while cashing in at the same time. Now Air New Zealand, the airline that loves wacky stuff like in-flight dating and body paint, is looking to do the same thing.

As part of a total makeover of the airline—they’re looking to change up their livery and uniforms among other things—they want to sell empty middle seats to coach passengers. If the seat next to you is empty it will be yours as long as you are willing to part with $150. You’ll even be allowed to fully stretch out, as apparently the two seats will slide forward to make some sort of economy bed. They are still hush hush about all the details, and they want to wait until next year before revealing all the secrets about the new seating configurations. ]]> kjb 2009-11-05T08:39:22-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/12/131221/76

That Air New Zealand Matchmaking flight we've been telling you about is finally taking off tomorrow. The LAX to Auckland event aims to bring together singles for a raucous itinerary of love connecting (or, failing that, sex). There will be a shindig at the gate in Los Angeles, with party packs and an open bar, followed by some in-flight activities. There are more parties after the flight lands, with the whole thing emceed by Jason Mesnick and girlfriend Molly Malaney of The Bachelor fame.

Yeah, listen. The flight from Los Angeles to Auckland is over 6,500 miles long and takes about 13 hours once you factor in takeoff and landing. Romeo and Juliet would get sick of each other about 8 hours into the trip. Romeo, Juliet, and all their best friends would all get grumpy after about 10 hours. That's just too much time in an airplane to feel good about your life, let alone the existence of another human being. ]]> Omri 2009-10-12T17:03:37-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/13/33229/3968

What is going on with Air New Zealand these days? They are releasing one gimmicky promo after the next. First, there was the group of people who wore body advertisements for the Kiwi airline, then came airline employees covered in body paint, followed by the announcement of a matchmaking flight and then some more body paint.

This time, the matchmaking flight from Los Angeles to Auckland has decided to bring onboard a successful love match to inspire hope in the other singletons on the flight—Jason Mesnick and his girlfriend, Molly of the ABC show, "The Bachelor."

The October 13 trip is all about finding love (and filling up Air New Zealand planes), with a plane load of singles heading down to Auckland for a major party. And we're expecting at least a few Kiwi-American marriages to come out of this.

Since everyone else will be single, we're not sure that inviting Jason and Molly along is quite the right thing to do, but there's definitely one good side to it – to celebrate this announcement, Air New Zealand is offering tickets at $200 off. If you book by Wednesday with the LOVE200 code=, you'll get your return Los Angeles to Auckland flight plus all the attached partying for $580, which is a pretty low price to pay for the prospect of some Kiwi love.

Related Stories:
· The Matchmaking Flight [Official Site]
· From Body Paint to Matchmaking: Air New Zealand is Feeling Frisky [Jaunted]
· Air New Zealand Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: thetruthabout] ]]> amandak 2009-07-13T12:11:39-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/9/134231/6811

Airlines have developed a suspicion - from where, we have no idea - that we passengers aren't really listening to their pre-flight safety instructions. Apparently they feel that their prerecorded soliloquies about emergency doors and water landings are being adhered to with something less than rapt attention.

In response, they're going out of their way to get passenger eyeballs onto video monitors. Virgin America changed up the game first with their cartoon safety instruction video which has tongue-in-cheek humor and shows a cute girl with a bad nicotine habit and a nun that is more plugged in than a 13-year-old boy.

And how could we forget Deltalina? In fact, we really wish we could forget the image of her botoxed face telling us to put on a seatbelt.

Now, everyone of course knows about Air New Zealand's new naked safety video, which we covered while it was being produced. The final commercial is currently inching its way toward 4 million views on YouTube. Reasonably attractive but suitably everyday male and female attendants in body paint. It's viral magic.]]> Omri 2009-07-09T14:14:19-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/8/72715/71125

Usually Air New Zealand is pretty eager to share its wacky promotions and latest news, but this time not so much. Remember when they were all proud about their biofuel test flight? Well, it must not have worked out that well, since they are preparing to send the plane used for it to the scrap yard.

The poor plane headed for an early retirement is a Boeing 747-400 named The Bay of Islands, and has been flying for almost twenty years. After the fancy fuel test last December, the bird sat unused and unloved while looking for a new buyer, but there were unfortunately no takers. In this economy, when it’s hard enough to fill up the average flight with passengers, it’s even harder to fill a jumbo jet.

This 747 started its life flying for Cathay Pacific after being leased from Air New Zealand, but now it will take one last flight towards its final destination. An official resting place hasn't been finalized, as a couple parties are still working out the details regarding who will disassemble it. The dismantling company will sell off all the good parts like the electronic components, and most of the body will be recycled. Too bad, we'll just have to stick to buying carbon offsets for now.

Related Stories:
·First 747-400 Heads For Wrecker [Stuff.co.nz]
·A New Paint Job for Air New Zealand...Body Paint [Jaunted]
·Airline News coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of Another 747: Eduardo O.] ]]> kjb 2009-06-08T09:17:08-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/5/15/85217/3218

Just in case the sexy painted bodies of Air New Zealand staff aren't enough to get you hot and heavy with booking a ticket, there's yet another little marketing strategy coming out from the Kiwis this week: the world's first Matchmaking Flight.

Sadly the flight of fancy is still months away; you'll need to be free on October 13 to get involved in this Kiwi love-in. On that date, an Air New Zealand flight will leave Los Angeles full of singles making the trip to Auckland for the Great Matchmaking Ball.

Air New Zealand will even help you to get through the butterflies by opening up chats on their website by posting your profile and linking up with either Americans or Kiwis who plan to turn up at the ball too.

Round-trip tickets for this romantic route start at $780, which includes a party at LAX before you leave, special in-flight food and entertainment (games, even), and the singles-only ball in Auckland. This is all well and good, but they're leaving out the most important information: will any of those body-painted flight attendants be on board?

Related Stories:
· The Matchmaking Flight [Official Site]
· Air New Zealand Offers Singles Only Matchmaking Flight [The Australian]
· A New Paint Job for Air New Zealand … Body Paint [Jaunted] ]]> amandak 2009-05-15T09:31:11-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/5/12/72152/1598

Those Kiwis at Air New Zealand have always had a strong team of advertising executives thinking up some pretty unique ideas. It's not surprising then that they've got another new and similarly salacious campaign up their sleeve, and this one lets everyone know that their staff has nothing to hide (as well as some hot bodies). ]]> kjb 2009-05-12T10:55:26-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/