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Tags: In-Flight Comfort / Air New Zealand / Airlines / Airline News / Seats / → All Tags
Air New Zealand Wants To Sell Us A Coach-Middle-Seat-Bed Thing
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.
Tags: Romance Travel / Air New Zealand / Airline News / → All Tags
Air New Zealand's Matchmaking Flight Hits The Lonely Skies Tomorrow
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.
Tags: Air New Zealand / Airline Gimmicks / The Bachelor / New Zealand Travel / Air Fare Sales / Deals / → All Tags
Air New Zealand Seeks Help From 'The Bachelor' For Its Matchmaking Flight
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]
Tags: Airline Safety / Airline Safety Videos / Air New Zealand / Thomson Airways / → All Tags
Airlines Getting Creative With Pre-Flight Safety Videos
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.
Tags: Air New Zealand / Airline News / Biofuels / Green Travel / → All Tags
Air New Zealand Sends Its Biofuel Jumbo Jet to the Wreckers
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: [Photo of Another 747: Eduardo O.]
·First 747-400 Heads For Wrecker [Stuff.co.nz]
·A New Paint Job for Air New Zealand...Body Paint [Jaunted]
·Airline News coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Air New Zealand / Parties / Airline Gimmicks / New Zealand Travel / → All Tags
From Body Paint to Matchmaking: Air New Zealand Is Feeling Frisky
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]
Tags: Airline Marketing / Commercials / Air New Zealand / Airline Ads / → All Tags
A New Paint Job for Air New Zealand...Body Paint
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).
Tags: Air Traffic Control / New Zealand Travel / Air New Zealand / → All Tags
You Can't Land Now, We're Eating
Thought about taking a trip around New Zealand soon? Feel free, but don't expect to be able to catch a plane around lunchtime. The air traffic controllers will be easy eating their sandwiches.
After years of working flexible hours to accommodate aircraft movement, the control tower staff will now be taking fixed breaks at particular times, and towers at five regional airports--Gisborne, Napier, New Plymouth, Rotorua and Invercargill--will be closed for half an hour twice a day. Air New Zealand is furious because it means the cancellation of 25 of its flights; regional airlines Air Nelson and Eagle Air might end up having to cut staff.
We definitely don't doubt the importance of satisfied air traffic control staff in keeping our flying experiences safe, but we're not convinced fixed lunch breaks will keep us out of danger. We'd suggest the infamous Kiwi company Hell Pizza just delivers up to the towers. See, Jaunted solves problems.
Related Stories:
· Air NZ Forced To Cancel Flights Due To Lunch Breaks [The Age]
· No Boundary This Kiwi Pizza Chain Won't Cross [Jaunted]
· New Zealand Travel Guide [Jaunted]
[Photo: superciliousness]
Tags: New Routes / Jetstar / Air New Zealand / Qantas / Pacific Blue / Airlines / → All Tags
Jetstar Wants to Conquer the Kiwis
Obviously it wasn't just a rumor that Qantas low-cost spin-off Jetstar was thinking of crashing into the New Zealand domestic flight market.
Now it's official. Starting from June 10, Jetstar will be making domestic flights between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown, while big bro Qantas will completely pull out of the market.
To kick off their Kiwi entry, Jetstar offered NZ$1 fares for two hours earlier this week; but regular flights will start from NZ$29 ($15). This means more competition for Pacific Blue and Air New Zealand; it looks like Jetstar will work out to be cheaper for flights most of the time, but without any comfortable extras.
Looks like Australia really does want to reach out to the Kiwis, contrary to what Bret and Jemaine think.
Related Stories:
· Jetstar Launches New Zealand Flights For $1 [The Age]
· New Zealand Travel: Jetstar Wants Its Piece of the Pie [Jaunted]
· Jetstar Coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Travel News Briefs / Air New Zealand / Travel Pillows / → All Tags
We Don't Love Air New Zealand Enough to Shave Their Names Into Our Heads
With so much travel news raining down on us, we don't always have time to give every story its own forecast. Here's more of the day's news, in brief.
· Cranial Billboards: Actually, we're guessing this has more to do with love of money than love of Air New Zealand. But still shaving your head, wearing a temporary tattoo for a free flight or $777? Crazy. [NY Times]
· The Recession Affects Fido Too: Rates to bring your furry friends on board are going up. [Sun-Sentinel]
· Another Travel Pillow Victim: This time it's Anthony Bourdain's cameraman. [TravelChannelTV]
· Yes, We Know. She Meant "Peanuts": The CNN anchor who messed up the word peanuts with penis is now receiving death threats from peanut allergy sufferers who are upset the story has turned away from them and their needs for a peanut-free zone on-board. (Kidding!) [TMZ]
· Travel Sites Ordered to Pay Up: A court ruling has ordered online booking sites like Hotels.com and Expedia to pay Anaheim $21 million in owed taxes. Burn! [LA Times]
[Photo: NY Times]
Tags: Australia Travel / Air New Zealand / V Australia / Airfare Sales / → All Tags
Air New Zealand Says Partying Saves You Money
It doesn't surprise us that airlines like Air New Zealand are coming out with big-fanfare deals on United States to Australasia routes right now--they've got to get in quick before they lose half the market to V Australia which starts up at the end of the month.
The Air NZ deal is trying a little too hard to sound cool by calling it a party fare: basically if you book as a group of between two and six passengers, you get a discount of up to 30% discount depending on the size of the group. That means 10% off for two passengers, 15% for three, and so on.
Calling this a good deal depends a little on how many friends you have who you can convince to make the long haul Down Under with you. We checked a few dates on the LAX to Sydney route and came up with a variety of different prices based on traveling in a group of six--basically if you book from May and beyond, you can do well with a return for around $700. With only one friend, this price rises to $800 but it's still comparable with current V Australia fares. The biggest catch is the fast decision--fares are okay for travel up to October 31 but you have to book by February 18.
Related Stories:
· With V Australia at Its Heels, Qantas Steps Up With Cairns Deal [Jaunted]
· Air New Zealand Coverage [Jaunted]
· V Australia Coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Wake Me When It's Over]
Tags: Airfare Sales / Five Airfare Sales / Alaska Airlines / Alitalia / Open Skies / Cathay Pacific / Air New Zealand / → All Tags
Our Top Five International Airfare Sales Of The Moment
Since winter is only half over, we've decided that what everyone needs right now is a hardcore international escape. If your desire for the tropics has been replaced with a desperation to just get far, far away, then have we got the deals for you.
Taking a cue from some of our stories in the last few days, we've rounded up our Five Favorite Airfare Sales with a focus on globetrotting. There will be no mentions of commuter flights to Ypsilanti or Sulfur Springs this week, so sit back and book a serious sojourn already. Any tips on what you want to see more of or less of? Let us know.
