Air NZ pays passengers $1000 after ‘poor customer experience

[beagle]

Air New Zealand will pay $1000 to each customer who has been stuck in Honolulu since Sunday due to delays.

The airline has apologised for what it describes as a "poor customer experience" and says the flight is now scheduled to depart at 7.30 tomorrow morning Honolulu time.

Air New Zealand says the 227 passengers on flight NZ9 have been "caught in an engineering related rolling delay".

General manager of customer experience Carrie Hurihanganui says "due to the lengthy nature of this disruption, the difficulty we've experienced in adequately communicating with customers and the fact we have repeatedly let them down, we have made the decision that in addition to our unreserved apology we will also be compensating each customer $1,000 in either cash or Airpoints Dollars".


OUCH

[Dave Homewood]

Free holiday in Hawaii AND $1000 spending money? Awesome.

[ErrolC]

Because hanging around the hotel / airport for a couple of days, worrying about job, school, pets etc is a ' holiday'?

Sent from my D5503 using proboards

[kiwithrottlejockey]

I await the day when JETSTAR doles out $1,000 to each passenger on a delayed flight....

[obiwan27]

Jul 30, 2014 12:49:10 GMT 12 ErrolC said:

Because hanging around the hotel / airport for a couple of days, worrying about job, school, pets etc is a ' holiday'?

Sent from my D5503 using proboards

The Air NZ CEO has acknowledged that a better job could have been done and there have been several instances where this has been the case for Air NZ. having improved it's customer service it should know that expectations of its customers are accordingly higher.

www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/10328117/Air-NZ-staff-told-to-lift-their-game

First world problems though - email, text or messages on What's App or similar can soon inform the boss, school what's going on and arrange for pets to be cared for a little longer.

Not a red letter day for Air NZ, an opportunity for improvement for sure.

[Dave Homewood]

You're right Ken, a First World Problem. Not that long ago travel across the Pacific took months and people would die onboard during the journey! People take technology for granted till it breaks down.

[ErrolC]

Jul 30, 2014 14:07:32 GMT 12 obiwan27 said:

Jul 30, 2014 12:49:10 GMT 12 ErrolC said:

Because hanging around the hotel / airport for a couple of days, worrying about job, school, pets etc is a ' holiday'?

Sent from my D5503 using proboards

The Air NZ CEO has acknowledged that a better job could have been done and there have been several instances where this has been the case for Air NZ. having improved it's customer service it should know that expectations of its customers are accordingly higher.

www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/10328117/Air-NZ-staff-told-to-lift-their-game

First world problems though - email, text or messages on What's App or similar can soon inform the boss, school what's going on and arrange for pets to be cared for a little longer.

Not a red letter day for Air NZ, an opportunity for improvement for sure.

My point is that 3 days of uncertainty, being repeatedly let {them} down, probably stuck in hotel lobbies or the airport with your luggage, possibly with bored and tired kids, is not a 'free holiday'. You won't get fired, but your work life is likely to be stressful for the next couple of weeks (or your holiday shortened). A First World problem, resolved in a First World way (cash).

[Dave Homewood]

I only made that comment above as a joke, but I see I am not the only one thinking it:

Best delay ever? Stuck in Hawaii with £500 to spend
Holidaymakers have been forced to extend their break in Hawaii by three days and given £500 to spend due to an aeroplane fault



By Natalie Paris12:01PM BST 30 Jul 2014

You might not receive much sympathy from your boss. “Hello, I’m afraid my flight has been delayed, so I’ll have to extend my holiday by three days. It’s ok, I’ve been given £500 to cover my costs. And yes, I am in Hawaii."

Such was the predicament of more than 220 holidaymakers who were due to fly back from their holiday on the tropical island on Sunday but were told that - due to a fault on their Air New Zealand plane - they would be unable to leave.

Pilots on the Boeing 767-30 aborted the take-off of flight NZ09 to Auckland after the indication system was found to be faulty. Around half of those due to fly were sent home in a Hawaiian Airlines flight later that day. But the remaining passengers were given £500 in compensation when later rescheduled departures were also thwarted.

These holidaymakers instead had to spend three nights in hotels on the island, which is known for its lush volcanic topography and surf beaches.
Air New Zealand said it was “incredibly sorry” to have let customers down.

Carrie Hurihanganui, a general manager, said: “Due to the lengthy nature of this disruption, the difficulty we’ve experienced in adequately communicating with customers and the fact we have repeatedly let them down, we have made the decision that in addition to our unreserved apology we will also be compensating each customer $1,000 in either cash or Airpoints Dollars.

“Due to an unfortunate combination of events this group of passengers has travelled to Honolulu Airport on three occasions expecting to fly, however, on each occasion the aircraft has been unable to depart because of a series of evolving engineering issues.

“A part was required and we attempted to source a replacement within the US, however, despite assurances, the right part was not supplied. Fortunately, as a backup, we also loaded the part onto NZ10 from our Auckland Technical Operations base this morning and this will arrive in Honolulu this evening.”
The flight was finally expected to leave at 7.30am, local time, on Tuesday.

[kiwithrottlejockey]

[Dave Homewood]

A plane load of dementia patients?

[eieio]

For crying out loud ,some times things really do go wrong ,count themselves lucky they were not shot out of the sky .So there was not 220 people with work to worry about . Kids would be happy to miss more school and half the passengers were flown on Hawaiian presumeably with little delay .

[kiwithrottlejockey]

I would take the attitude that at least I would have the perfect excuse for not turning up at work for a few more days.

And as I've got HEAPS of accumulated annual leave and lieu days, I'd just dip into that.

[suthg]

I gather that the only place they received updates and were requested to be present at, was at the airport. Indications were they were stuck in a hot room/lounge without airconditioning and their care was less than expected - in fact very uncomfortable conditions and a lot of the time with uncertainty and no-one to answer their concerns. A real PR fiasco. So no extra vacation time but a nervous wait with unpleasant discomfort.

[scrooge]

Quite a few comments of being required to be at the airport on successive days for 0600 and 0730 departures, then waiting for hours before being told to repeat it again tomorrow. That would be horrendous for most, let alone those with children.

Assuming you could get away with a 2 hour check-in, that would mean arriving at 0530 for a 0730 departure. With kids that would be a 0330 wake up. Assuming the travel to the airport was not too far as well. The earlier departures would be worse.

[suthg]

More embarrassing news over this event, although delays were never caused by this type of airline staff behaviour...

Air NZ chiefs embarrassed by behaviour of some staff in Hawaii to help deal with stranding

Air New Zealand passengers stranded for days in Hawaii are "gobsmacked" at revelations crew were out drinking, making them unfit for duty if the plane had been made airworthy.

Several crew who were in Hawaii this week to fly stranded passengers home are believed to have been warned that they were unfit to fly, after drinking.
The crew's breach of the 12-hour "bottle to throttle" no-drinking rule has prompted a stern warning from Air New Zealand managers, who say a "small group" is not living up to the airline's standards.

...

The standard staffing of a Boeing 767 is three pilots and seven cabin crew. Two crews were in Honolulu during the stranding.

In a media release yesterday, the airline said the delays with Flight NZ9 from Honolulu to Auckland were "entirely related" to ongoing engineering issues and challenges securing a necessary part.

"As previously stated, we have launched a comprehensive internal review of all aspects surrounding the delays and our management of the situation, both from the customer and operational perspectives. This review includes the performance of all functions involved with the disruption, including pilots and cabin crew."

...

The letter follows an internal memo to staff from chief executive Christopher Luxon in which he said the airline had failed more than 200 customers.

"As chief executive officer, I am ultimately accountable for this."

In the memo, Mr Luxon said events like the management of NZ9 had a big impact on Air New Zealand's reputation and the trust customers placed in the airline.

He said the company had been let down by some of its 11,000 staff and some suppliers.

In the past few months, Air New Zealand has dealt with a number of embarrassing incidents that made headlines, including a standoff between pilots over cockpit entry, a Transport Accident Investigation Commission report into a potentially dangerous landing at Christchurch, a former cabin crew member being accused of importing drugs sewn into his uniform, and the bussing of passengers from Christchurch to Nelson during a storm at Easter after flight cancellations.

NZ Herald