They can be very 'liberal' in their interpretation of what is a Tag flight. Just look at the Auckland - Rarotonga sector, there is no open skies agreement on this sector and to start an NZ - Cook Islands flight requires government approval. Jetstar answer was of course to construct this pattern as a Melbourne - Auckland - Rarotonga tag flight meaning that no authorization was required. The confusing thing though is that the two sectors are operated on Different Aircraft....... Different Crew ......... and of course no pax actually purchase a MEL - RAR flight, all the pax get on in AKL. I am amazed that Air NZ hasn't kicked up more of a fuss about this as it opens up so many NZ routes under the guise of being a tag flight. But hey, they get away with it and so will keep on doing it...... and don't get me started on 'we take fatigue very seriously'!
Last edited by Ollie Onion; 15th Aug 2018 at 02:50.
Reason: spelling