Air NZ Inflight Concierges

[airnzuniformlover]

reply to koru kid

Well good on you for not caring about your appearance by not minding about the hideous air nz uniform. You are obviously not shallow like me. May I suggest that a grey sack cloth would be a more attractive look than the wet armpit soggy grandma look thats going now. Air Nz has gone form having the best uniform in the world to the worst and I think that is a real shame as there is no pride - a number of my friends have left and gone to work for virgin because of it.

[koru_kid]

I don't really know why I'm replying to this drivel.. but anyone who leaves an airline because they don't like the uniform either has deep, deep-seated problems or is being less than honest about their reasons for leaving the airline. Perhaps some who don't like the uniform feel the need to strut around in something showy and flashy to assauge their frustrated egos? Who knows..

If you liked the old uniform, good for you - but realize that it's a personal opinion. I thought it was fine when I wore it, but now I look at photos of me in it, it looks very dated compared to our Zambesi.

[airnzuniformlover]

well...

You are quite frankly the only one I know who actually likes the uniform! And my friends and I do not have problems - just good taste. As attractive females we do not like to be dressed in grey rags.
Apparently Trinny and susannah, the uk's fashion gurus have trashed the uniform as well.

[TightSlot]

Guys

A uniform might be one of the subjective elements in a package that you consider when applying for a job, but should never be the sole reason for making a career decision. If you find yourself making a career decision based on the perceived nature of a uniform, then you really need to sit back for a moment and have a talk with yourself.

[Muizenberg]

2nd stage LHR

Have made it through to the assessement centre for the position at LHR. Can anyone in NZ shed any light on what Air NZ is looking for? Also for anyone that attended a walk-in London, did Air NZ give you any salary/terms and conditions info. I was unable to obtain any info as the details were all TBA when I did the first stage. Many Thanks in advance.

[back2front]

Does anyone know if a Kiwi passport holder working at Air New Zealand in London can transfer to the Auckland base?

I'm thinking about accepting a job with AirNZ but would like to be able to transfer back home at some point without going through the recruitment process again.

Cheers

[travelnut]

Congratulations! Your girlfriend must be very pleased. Out of interest's sake, what sort of background does she have?

The two guys I know who missed out are following up, but Air NZ seems very busy and not responding very well. These guys have fantastic backgrounds in travel - sales/marketing, leadership, networks, lots of overseas experiences, passion for NZ and just the sort of people you would love to have help you out when you are travelling.

[sebby]

Well there is such a thing as overselling yourself - similar to the way you are overselling your friends.

[flyingkiwi]

shanghai base

I notice someone said there was to be positions at the Shanghai base. I have not seen it advertised on the website yet. Only AKL and LHR does anyone know when it will be advertised?
Many thanks

[travelnut]

Fair enough - it wasn't meant to come across that way. They were just looking for answers really mainly because there is a vacuum in communication from the airline. Maybe this is the wrong forum to be seeking those answers. Congratulations to everyone who has succeeded, it sounds like a great job!

[joeflyguy]

Its not actually overselling them at all

I am an Internation FA with Air NZ and know a few of the CSA (Customer Service Agents - Ground Agents) Team Leaders that applied. Great people, awesome personalities and fantastic experience/job knowledge trhat were turned down.

Anyone that wants to apply - good for them. I would rather not. There are at present no well defined models of what the role demands. There are no Duty Time limitations and the rest provisions for crew do not apply to this role.

It has been suggested by the airline that they will be required to be there to assist not just the high yield but all pax, at check in phase. How long before take-off will that be. Then they will be in lounge (shmoozing ?) and escort the pax to the aircraft. Then once onboard will be required to assist in passenger service as may be required. All the time completing their duties as a Concierge. Doing what ??? And if any delays at destination, after a 13 hour flight (and by this time about 16 hours of duty) they may still be required to stay working on ground, rebooking pax on onward travel and making hotel bookings etc before they may go to hotel. Then up again next day to head back home and do it all over again. But out to Airport two hours before crew to do more of the ground role before boarding.

The news brief mentioned being a booking and destination specialist. Also said they might be conducting inflight wine tasting for example.... Really..... So guessing they are going to load a hell of a lot more wine as am sure the Revenue pax in Bus Class will not be too happy to learn they cant have another Pinot as the pax in Economy have the last bottles for a wine tasting. And where exactly might the wine tasting be occuring.

I cant think of any crew that suggested to management that a position like this was either necessary or a good idea. But it has been labeled as a crew initiative. Call me cynical but maybe as somewhere to lay the blame if this turns out to be a lame duck.

I am all for change and great new ideas but surely if they had focused in simply putting more crew on board as suggested they would have a much better outcome.

Be careful what you wish for. The airline had the great idea to change the old onboard manager role and introduced the new FSM position. They are now struggling to not only fill the vacancies they have in that role, but retain the FSM's they currently have. Many are wanting to demote themselves but are unable as there is no-one to take their place. If this is such a great role why does no-one that knows anything about it want it, and why do so many that have it want out.

[Eddy]

Hi all

I've just submitted an application to attend the open day on the 19th of April for this interesting sounding role.

It's the open day at Heathrow that I've applied for but I've had nothing back yet (had assumed an automatic response) to confirm times or venues.

Can anyone assist?

I'm with British Airways at the moment and I love my job, but I also miss my work as a Travel Agent which I did for six years - including a year in New Zealand and a similar amount of time in Australia. I'm going to head along primarily to get more information about the role but in the hope that I'm offered an opportunity to give it a try.

Cheers

[komac2]

Youtube video from Youtibe Channel: AirNewZealandUK
Air New Zealand Inflight Concierge:
Find our more about Air New Zealand's Inflight Concierge

YouTube - Air New Zealand Inflight Concierge

[okanechris]

concierge interviews!!!

Hi all,
Ive just attended the interview stage last thursday in Hammersmith Grove and i am awaiting to hear back. If you want to PM me about the questions asked at interview im more than happy to help. Fingers crossed im meant to hear back sometime today!!!
All the best and happy flying!!!

[joeflyguy]

More Concierges on the way

AirNZ recently announced employing another 7 IAC (Concierge) in Auckland. This is simply to cover the number leaving by attrition, but they need to be careful as there are many many disgruntled IAC's out there and they are losing some of their best people.

[vanderaj]

As SLF on a recent horror flight back from the USA, I can say that the crew on our flight, and in particular our concierge and cabin manager on the SFO to AKL leg did a fantastic job of re-seating almost everyone around us in Premium Economy from SFO to AKL to make our journey as best as it could be.

Some background. I lost my job in January, one of the 550,000 folks put off that month alone. My E3 visa is tied to the job, so 10 days and much stress later, we're on a flight back to Australia. We paid for premium economy to make the flight back as pleasant as possible. This actually turned very sour on us IAD to SFO was economy, on a plane that had premium economy seats, so not a good start. Despite paying ze big bucks for PE seats, we only got them on the SFO to AKL leg. I doubt we'll ever pay for P.E. again until the airlines have their booking and code share arrangements worked out such that they don't bait and switch about what you're actually going to get. Instead of 27 hours P.E. class, we got 12.5 hours, despite paying for 27 hours of P.E. seats.

We had to get seat allocations at the SFO gate because the AirNZ online booking system, multiple calls to the AirNZ call center, and the ground staff at IAD could not work out why they could not allocate our seats to us.

The reason turns out to be as my wife is disabled, upstairs is barred to her once you ask for a wheel chair to meet you at any of the gates (and we did at all of our stops). This should have been in the reservation system (to allow us to pick valid seats three weeks out), on the call center system (so we didn't have to call multiple times - futile), and at IAD. This stuff is not rocket science. So initially our baby, me and my wife were separated on the longest leg of the flight. Not happy Jan! We had booked baby girl as a child to get her meals and a seat. She's too tall and heavy to be in the bassinet, and eats normal food, so we were happy to pay for her to have a seat as we weren't going to carry her for nearly two days. So we had to get some serious seat re-organization at SFO to let at least me and baby girl sit together, but to find my wife was four rows away even after that... unbelievable. If this happens to every family or family with disabled family members, it's no wonder that the airlines are so hated.

But not to worry - the crew on the 747 from SFO to AKL were wonderful. The concierge upgraded three folks, moving them into business, and gave us two rows to ourselves. She also let us have a few minutes to have a bit of a cry in the crew rest area next to our seats until it was time for take off. The cabin manager was also wonderful.

So this crew in particular, and the next crew from AKL to MEL, did a fantastic job. I don't think SLF say this often enough to crew. Good work folks!

But huge brickbats to the AirNZ booking system, inflexible call centre operators, and management that allowed this to go on for the way seats are allocated to disabled folks or those traveling with children. We booked nearly three weeks out - more than enough time to book three seats next to or near each other. This stuff is not rocket science.

Andrew

[joeflyguy]

Someone has missrepresented the position to you Andrew, at least if the previous flight up was on Air NZ.

I know that with Air NZ the only requirement to be able to be seated upstairs whether disabled or not, is that the pax are weightbearing and are able to make their own way up the stairs unassisted. No matter how long it takes.

This is of course Air NZ's Policy and will no doubt differ on other code share carriers.

[ashlea]

removing all hot meals from business class on their Tasman services a while ago

Why was this?

[vanderaj]

Someone has missrepresented the position to you Andrew, at least if the previous flight up was on Air NZ.

I know that with Air NZ the only requirement to be able to be seated upstairs whether disabled or not, is that the pax are weightbearing and are able to make their own way up the stairs unassisted. No matter how long it takes.

It might have taken my wife a good five minutes to get up those stairs, and a little more to get down them, but she would have managed it.

However, the cabin manager was adamant that disabled folks could not go upstairs. Whether this is to dissuade us from trying again in the future, or warning us that booking W class and wanting upstairs seats whilst disabled could be problematic, or actual company policy, I have no idea. I hope not.

My wife wrote them a letter thanking the staff involved, and detailing our other troubles, but we've not had a reply yet. I hope it got through.

The way we'll do it next time is to book the seats, get the seat allocations we want, and THEN once we arrive at the airport AFTER we have our boarding passes - then ask for the wheel chair to meet us. We're not trying to get into exit rows or anything life threatening for us or other PAX, just a very simple three abreast row is all we want.

Andrew

EDIT: I don't want to hijack this thread. I just wanted to say thank you to the concierge and cabin manager. Back to your normally scheduled CC thread.

[TightSlot]

It might have taken my wife a good five minutes to get up those stairs, and a little more to get down them, but she would have managed it.

The issue is not about the use of the stairs under normal circumstances, but in an evacuation. Other people would be prevented from using the stairs if they were blocked or even partially blocked by one person. Additionally, exit via the upper deck slides is potentially problematic even for fully mobile people.

The way we'll do it next time is to book the seats, get the seat allocations we want, and THEN once we arrive at the airport AFTER we have our boarding passes - then ask for the wheel chair to meet us.

Sadly, if seated on the upper deck, this will result in your seats being changed by the crew on arrival at the aircraft door, assuming that the error isn't picked up by an alert check-in agent when you request the Wheelchair. The upper deck rule, for reasons stated above, is a constant. This will not only inconvenience you, but if the aircraft is full, it will require that somebody else be moved, and therefore inconvenienced to accommodate you. I can tell from your posts that this would not be a desired outcome.