Boarded on time, smooth flight and "gentle" landing in Palmerston North. Ahead of time due to a tailwind
Time to upgrade those planes so you can provide first class.
My experience with Underpricer was not great. The representative assigned to me did not tell me beforehand that selecting seats, which i could not do through ANZ, WOULD ADD SIGNIFICANT cost to my ticket (all flight segments were reg economy seats. The seat selections for the ticket, MCI-AKL, AKL-PER, PER-MCI, cost $284 USD. I WAS NOT TOLD AHEAD OF SELECTING SEATS chosen by the rep OF THE COSTS and never received an itemized invoice of the seat selections.). The costs of seat selection, an option solicited as a service, with no mention of costs, should have been disclosed to me prior to seat selection and certaily should have been itemized. For all I know, the $284 was not referred from the airline but made up and taken directly by Underpricer. Next, when i checked in, united couldnt find my ticket. This is probably why i didnt get a seat selection on that flight and couldnt check in online, despite Underpricer prompts to do so a week before departure, or at the kiosk at the airport. I had to wait for special help at the counter, then was told that because the flight segment, MCI-IAH, operated by United Airlines via the ANZ. ticket, had changed schedule slightly since I BOOKED MY FLIGHT, the MCI-IAH segment had been decoupled from the rest of the ticket because the IAH layover was now 12.5 hrs AND DID NOT QUALIFY AS A THROUGH FLIGHT TO AKL.. This meant my checked bag could not be checked through to AKL and id have to pick it up at IAH, THEN WAIT MOST OF the long layover WITH the large checked bag until ANZ counter in IAH OPENED for checkING just prior to the flight. Apparently, although underpricer had notified me of schedule changes, they did not update the ANZ TICKET, leading to this problem. Finallly, although I RECHECKED TH BAG IN At IAH 3.5-4 hours before the scheduled departure and the IAH-AKL segment was a direct flight, ANZ LOST MY bag and it took 4 days to find it and get it to me. Not fun.
The flight was smooth and on time. Entertainment options were lacking and there was no food, other than some very boring snacks.
A better selection of entertainment would have been nice. I found nothing that appealed to me as a middle-aged traveler. The flight attendants were gracious, helpful, and attentive. It also would have been nice to have more bathrooms as the flight was full and the plane was big.
Both my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our return home from Tokyo to Auckland and onwards to Palmerston North. We would recommend using the Premier Business class for long-haul travel, any day. Well worth the extra cost. Cabin staff were exceptional, Thank you
The Air New Zealand product is terrible, it's as expensive as a Jetstar ticket with add ons but with surely staff and old aircraft.
This flight was the second leg of a trip that began in Auckland, New Zealand. I was unable to find a way to select seats in advance. The boarding passes we were given in Auckland did not have seat assignments for the second flight. There was no way to check on it until personnel showed up at the gate in Los Angeles, immediately before boarding time. The flight was overbooked by one, and since I was traveling with my sister, we needed two seats. We waited in considerable anxiety for everyone else to board and when one person did not show up, we had to take whatever was left. At least we finally got on the flight although we were the very last to board. We were not able to sit together, of course.
The Premium Economy seats were very comfortable and the food was quite tasty. I did not use the entertainment system, but I was able to charge my phone and tablet with the seatback connection.
We had difficulty checking in as United didn’t recognize the confirmation number and the agent was not helpful. We went to the United Assistance desk where the agent was able to process our reservation. We also weren’t allowed to choose seats in advance.
It was a red-eye, but the flight felt surprisingly quick. The seats were very comfortable, and that made resting much easier. I also want to thank the gentleman seated next to me, who graciously moved so my mom could sit beside me. We slept almost the entire way. The cabin crew was respectful in not disturbing us, while also being courteous and professional throughout. Thank you, United.
Packed in plane small uncomfortable seats elbow to elbow nobody wants to be in that situation for the money they paid
Vegetarian selection could be better. Bread was too hard to chew.
Crew was friendly and competent. Food, wine, and entertainment were excellent except the raw tuna on the flight to Split. Recommend against serving that - at least as the only option. Many medical conditions do not allow people to eat raw fish.
Overall flight was ok. Flight attendant was receptive to assisting passengers with tight connections.
Checking in united could not figure out my star alliance gold. Baggage did not get marked priority and didn't receive boarding passes. When got to SFO lounge personal fixed everything Immediately
Very comfortable flight, snacks and drinks were good, good communication from crew. Could have used a little more information on timing of boarding for group 5
It's a long flight and I would have liked better snacks between lunch and the arrival meal. It's fine to have fruit and nuts but I really don't like ramen because it's salty junk soup. I'd suggest sandwiches. They're not expensive nor are they hard to store for a long flight. The FA's had a couple of big services and they were super busy preparing, executing and then cleaning up. Then they disappeared.
Great flight. Got to watch a movie. Smooth flight and early arrival at ORD.
This was the first flight in the morning. We boarded fine. The cabin door was closed and we were ready to go. We were notified by the Captain that ATC issued and ground stop for 40 minutes. So, without even pushing back from the gate, we were already 40 minutes late. We actually were released to push-back and taxi at 30 minutes. But, some passengers had tight connections and were not going to make their connections. Some passengers asked about the delay and the effect on the connections and were told by the cabin attendant that all flights will be delayed and so they should be OK. However, that was not true. My connecting flight was on time and I arrived at IAH with 21 minutes to make my connection. I did and I'm happy about that, but the flight crew should not have given assurances to the passengers who might have missed their connections.
