Air NZ kill London-Hong Kong route...
 

early in March. And I shall be in the middle of a two week visit which I've already booked and paid for via HK.

Therefore they will get me back to Hong Kong as planned but then I shall have to fly Cathay for the HK - LHR leg.

Now that's all very well, but I'm told that I cannot prebook a seat, as I have already done on the cancelled Air NZ flight. Joining a scrum of Chinese trying to get a decent seat at Hong Kong is not my idea of fun and not, of course what I paid for!

They clearly want me to return via LA but having been through there many times before that's the last place I want to go again (and anyway, I haven't got the relevant US "visa" or whatever's required). Of course I went through LA in the early days but it got steadily worse so the HK route was a boon.

Having flown Air NZ some 30 times to NZ since 1983 seems like this may be the last time. Actually unless I can get a satisfactory answer from Cathay, I might cancel, get my money back and start all over again with another carrier.......

Respectfully, do you think a once a year passenger has much clout?

The economics simply don't work. As the Asian economies have grown and built airlines of their own the old imperial club has to withdraw to routes that are profitable, simple as that. It's happening everywhere.

Thread drift.
 

But ANZ have only been operating the LON/HKG route for (I can't remember but not more than 10 years). Hardly " the old imperial club has to withdraw".

When they started I did wonder if part of the reason was to provide a non stop Star Alliance presence on what was otherwise a oneWorld fiefdom(!).

Correct, Hartington! The route started in 2006, and since then I've flown it nine times; every sector has been at least 85% full so historically they haven't been struggling for custom!

Clearly they haven't got the custom to make it work or they would stay there. By the "imperial" club I mean the countries that had airlines when they were still an exclusive sort of thing as opposed to the modern world where every man and his dog can set something up and see how they go.

I would not touch any US Airport & KLAX in particular for a transit stop. With so many pax wishing to avoid the US, I can't see why Air NZ have apparently chopped the HKG to LHR sector, don't we have an international airline anymore in this country?

TightSlot,

Hoping that this doesn't impact on you too much.

Thanks - Yes it does, unfortunately. Should know by Xmas whether my career is over (I'm now too old to get employed elsewhere). I'll let you folks know when I know - until then, I hope that you don't mind if we don't discuss it in here.

The route was chopped because it didn't make enough money: Anybody can fill aircraft seats - It's whether you can do so at a profitable yield that matters

Thanks for asking, by the way.

TS, good luck.

always seems to be pretty full when I use it - upfront is always solid

and there is no way on earth I'd go via LAX

very depressing

Fingers crossed for you Tightslot Judging by what you post here, you'd be a sad loss to any employer.

So would that be the end to the last 'round the world' flight?

I don't think it IS a RTW??? AKL - HKG - LHR (turn) HKG - AKL. Of course, you can do a RTW with AirNZ using this route and the LAX one in sequence but they are not sold as RTW. I sit to be corrected.

Traditionally a RTW would have a single flight number from origin to destination. However as PA didn't have domestic rights their WB RTWs originated on the west coast and ended on the East. The EB flights did the opposite.

However NZ is the only airline, at the moment where you can do a RTW journey on the Metal of one airline.

Thanks ExXB, I was thinking of the one flight number.

I would say that you could also do RTW on SQ. EWR-FRA-SIN-EWR. But I understand that EWR-SIN is also going away.

Good luck to Tightslot. Hope it all works out well for you
Ancient

The LHR-HKG route has been a bloodbath for some time. At it's peak there were 3xBA, 4xCX, 2xVS, 1xQF and 1xNZ on the route each day. Nobody was making money on it! Now it's down to 2xBA, 4xCX, 1xVS and yield is coming back. Unfortunately many airlines will now stay on a route to try to keep market share when there's little profit involved, hoping the rivals will pull out.

TS - Best of luck. I'm sure you know there's no age limit at BA Mixed Fleet and I've flown with older guys than yourself.

Well, I'm still going out on 26th Air NZ to AUK and having argued with Cathay can't get them to tell me when I might be able to reserve a seat for HKG - LHR on return (might have to wait until 90 minutes before departure at HKG!) so I've bitten the bullet and will return via LA!

Hope you find something gainful, Tightslot! Perhaps you'll be on NZ38 on 26th for my last LHR - HKG - AUK

Rgsaero.....Having just completed the NZ-US-UK I can honestly say that it was a breeze......The transit system has changed you walk through have a photo anf finger print and then you are out into the airside of the airport so no more hoops to jump through, have a drink/meal and then get back on board. I can honestly say that my trip both ways was easy and had no problems, I anticipated loads of waits etc but they were no longer than anywhere else in the world. No problems with any of the authorities and the people were pleasant perhaps I have that look about me that people dont want to annoy me!!!!