Air New Zealand Claims Best Service Gong

[blackguard]

The highly respected Air Transport World Magazine has awarded Air NZ its Best Passenger Service Award
The award recognised the airline as innovative and consistently superior in providing outstanding quality passenger service at a fair price.

The magazine's Editorial Director and Associate Publisher Perry Flint said the airline's customer service and a new suite of offerings in business class, premium economy and economy had helped it win the award.

Air New Zealand has become the carrier of first choice almost everywhere it operates, he said.

Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe said to be judged as having the finest service in the world reflected extremely well on the continual efforts made by the airline.
Qantas is looking for a new CEO
Rob Fyfe simply invited the staff to participate in making it an outstanding Airline.
Voila.... it succeeded.

[packrat]

A few years ago TEAL was a basket case.Now with morale at an all time high nothing is impossible.
Those in the management castle talked to the troops and actually listened to what the troops had to say.
Outstanding turnaround...Helen Clark will be pleased

[BAe32EP-Chief]

Wonder how much AirNZ paid the editor /magazine / judges for that write up.......

:(:(:(:(:(

[blueloo]

More than Jetstar this year obviously! :}

[joehunt]

All they need to do now is to make the male cabin crew look presentable. At the moment they look a right scruffy bunch, with no neck ties. Why dress down? Why not dress up?

[RedTBar]

One thing that ANZ has which is beaut is their airshow with their ife.it is far better than qf's.

[speedbirdhouse]

Interesting what is achievable with a CEO and management culture that understands the need to respect, listen to and work WITH your staff.

[tartare]

Don't be fooled.
The reality concerning said individual is the complete opposite to the rosy picture you guys see.

[mattyj]

..now all the staff need from Koru is that fat cheque for their time and a half and their days in lieu!!:}

[WynSock]

Tartare,

hiya, got any examples there?

What is the reality?

[Mr.Buzzy]

Everyone gets a ribbon at the special olympics.

bbbbbbbbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzbbbbbbbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzbbbbbbzzzz zzzzzz

[tartare]

Wynsock
the law of defamation prevents me from posting details.
Suffice to say, for anyone to accept the person concerned at face value is naive in the extreme.
Ask around.

[Indianzz]

Very regular SLF of Air NZ here and I would agree with the sceptics as far as this "Award" goes.

I won't bore you with countless instances of slack to absolutely disgraceful service both international and domestic but believe me I have experienced them - on and off the aircraft.

Not so say that it's like that all the time but to suggest there is anything exceptional about ANZ service is at least misleading.

Also from the regular informal chats I have with ANZ staff at all (non executive) levels I would also argue that staff morale is not particulalry good - and this is probably reflected in the lapses of service.

As for those uniforms - embarassing for staff and customers and an excellent example of management not simply admiting to a colossal cock up and fixing it.

[tartare]

Indianzz,
all fair and objective comment... and in the case of the uniforms, very accurate!

[Defenestrator]

I flew with them on a long haul flight 6 months ago. Was nothing short of outstanding. Good on them.

D:ok:

[RedTBar]

I agree Defenestrator as I have flown with them and found them to be excellent.It's true that I personally don't like some aspects of the uniform but I'm not there to be interested in what they wear.
A regional airline in Oz wear jeans and to be honest they look fine.It's the service I get and their product that matters and I find them to do the job well.

At least ANZ cabin Crew do something as compared to another airline that recieved an award for the best cabin crew in this region.After a rudimentry drinks and snack service which you have to pay for they stand at the front and the back of the aircaft for the rest of the flight.Which is ok because it's only a domestic flight but how can you win an award for doing so little.

ANZ crew do a very good job and no I'm not a kiwi or even an all blacks fan.

[Defenestrator]

I'm not a Kiwi either Red. It's a good product.

D:ok:

[tartare]

My comments are not directed at the many hard working and decent people at NZ.
Rather, they are very specific.

[Indianzz]

To clairfy

I'm not knocking the hardworking staff at Air NZ and as I have indicated the service is not always bad - but it is not consistently good enough to rave about and present awards for.

I did note that I am a very frequent SLF - if I flew less and only encountered the good days then I would of course have a different view.

This is a management issue not a staff issue and I think that if you take the time to scratch the surface that is what you will find.

[Rongotai]

Your experience is your experience Indianzz - but I am Gold Elite on NZ (one of about 1000 I think), and my experience is also that NZ service is uniformly excellent - and I'm also silver on QF, but there is no comparison at present.

I'm just wondering if your frequent flying is more on the A320s. I never fly them, but I'm told that there is a whole different culture on those.

[kiwipilot02]

They must have been the only entry!!!!

[Malthouse]

Another view from a regular SLC...

I have not flow with Air NZ for years, partly because I had a couple of really bad experiences with them a while back and partly because I have been doing less flying over all.

I just got back yesterday from an internal flight WGN to AKL followed by AKL to LHR via Hongers, all with NZ, so my recollections are still sharp.

To my perception the product has improved over the last few years, by which I mean the routes, interior, facilities and catering. But the service has gone down the way, ie customer care, loading style, uniforms, training and staff morale.

Air New Zealand pilots have always been some of the best in the world, in my humble view; they are forthright and business like in their dealings with us cattle and that has been consistent over the years. The cabin crew on the other hand were patchy this time around, there was some excellent Kiwi hospitality and banter but otherwise very scruffy in demeanor and presentation. One lady CC was heard to announce to the entire back end that she hated having to work so far back because there is too much movement and it makes her sick, she even went one to explain that she can never sleep because of it. :ugh:

[tartare]

Rongatai,
I'm not surprised you think NZ are uniformly excellent.
Your details will be in Carina, flagged everytime you step on board a flight.
You'll be well known to marketing and some senior execs... even though you may not be aware of the fact.
In short... they want you to think its consistent.
Because you're regarded as a key influencing opinion former, and you will tell your friends the same thing.
You won't see the bad stuff.
NZ has made some good progress recently.
But its culture is still utterly appalling.
Tolerance of bullying, character assassination etc. both in town right at the top, and out on the line.
The stories I could tell...

[Rongotai]

I accept your point, Tartare. What you describe about awareness of my status is what I would expect. I do also know that the culture you describe was the case last time I had up to date 'insider knowledge', which is a few years ago now. It distresses me to hear that this is still the case.

You also say that things have improved. I would suggest that my experience is evidence of that. When United still came down here and most of my travel was to and within the US I was an elite member of UA's programme. I quite frequently had experiences where staff obviously knew my status, and kind of tried to respond for the reasons you give, but they just didn't have the motivation to sustain it or make it feel real. I haven't had that experience on NZ in the past couple of years.

However, as somebody who works with many different Kiwi companies, I might guess that a factor might be one that is common in New Zealand companies that have significant off shore custom and presence. That is that New Zealand's size and inferiority complex leads many people to do their absolute best to impress the overseas customer despite the toxicity of the organisational culture. In these cases the loyalty is to 'kiwiness' rather than to their bosses.

Bullying by managers and supervisors, by the way, is more prevalent in New Zealand companies than most of us care to admit. And despite our view of ourselves, and how we imagine ourselves compared with Australia and the USA, it is unfortunately more common and more tolerated here than it is in either of those countries. And that isn't an anecdotal comment, it is a report on empirical research. I believe it is an important factor in Trans-Tasman migration - not just the money. I get quite fed up with the failure of the New Zealand business lobby groups to admit that there is an 'elephant in the room' - their own poor management practices and levels of management skills - when moaning about the skills and labour market situation in New Zealand.

[tartare]

A fair reply.
Yep, its sad, but for many... little has changed.
What's a pity is that there are so many good people there.
I actually think they're worse than the phone company... because at least there, the nastiness is in your face.
At NZ, it's all so sweet and light on the surface...