If the Press gets this wrong...

No doubt executives in newspapers wonder how they can stop the inexorable decline in business, the drop in circulation and how to stem the competition from online media.

Air NZ official photo of its first Boeing 787 arriving 

I submit Exhibit A as a reason why this continues to happen.  It isn't about a particularly serious news topic at all, more a travel feature, but it demonstrates clearly the slip in standards.  

It is from The Press and the article is meant to be a review of Air NZ's latest plane, the Boeing 787-9 "Dreamliner", because the airline took it on a training trip down to Christchurch last week before it starts commercial service. 

Quite simply it is an article that would fail a high school student, which may be why there is no name put to it.  It may well be a high school student who wrote it.  It's as if the writer didn't even though there was something called the internet, and research isn't difficult to undertake on it.

It's a shocker that is up there with the Gareth Morgan words of wisdom on North Korea in terms of not only saying nothing new, but actually being so inaccurate as to be misleading.

Contrast it to the excellent articles on the website Australian Business Traveller, which frankly has better information about air travel for New Zealanders than any New Zealand source.  Aussie Business Traveller wrote three articles in detail about the plane (one on each cabin, Business, Premium Economy and Economy).  Now I don't expect that level on a newspaper, but I do expect accuracy.  This was a slapdash lazy effort by someone who didn't only know nothing, but didn't even try to find out anything beyond what was seen.

My point with the article title is, that if the Press can get this so wrong, what else does it get wrong that I don't have such knowledge about?  Is it really any wonder that people are abandoning newspapers?

What did the Press get wrong? (I did submit a comment online but it has presumably been too embarrassed to publish it)

Shonky journalism on Stuff about airline seating

Shonky journalism.  That's what the Fairfax news article on Stuff claiming Air NZ wedges passengers into seats really is.  Not that is it that important.  It is a fairly trivial travel issue.  However, given the willingness of some journalists to slam bloggers for not being professional, it provides just a taste of how shallow and deceiving poor quality journalism can be.

The article reports on a survey that was undertaken by Business Traveller, which owns a website about airline seat plans called Seatplans, which like Seatguru and Seatexpert are not always reliable.

That's not journalism, that's reporting.  Journalism would involve doing some research, going through such sites and maybe the websites of the airlines themselves, or even ask them, and making it relevant to those reading it. 

The claim is that Air NZ's seat width is 28th, but Emirates is best.  It came 15th in legroom apparently, yet the range of legroom given is 12cm.  

Yet all of these claims are nonsensical unless you talk about specific aircraft on specific routes.

Air NZ has aircraft ranging from small turboprop Beech 1900 to Boeing 747s.  The idea that you can average out between them is flawed.

So what really is the picture?

First of all, the routes where this matters are long haul.  Yes you might complain about sitting for an hour on a domestic flight, but most people care only about price on short haul routes, but there is nothing in it between Air NZ and Jetstar on domestic flights - unless you have Air NZ Gold or Gold Elite status or Koru Club membership, so you can access the Space + seats on 737s an A320.  They offer an additional 2"- 5" of legroom.  A320s have slightly more seat width than 737s, but that wasn't noticed.

So what about long haul?  The long haul airlines flying to NZ are Air NZ, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Korean, China Airlines, China Southern, LAN, Malaysian and Thai.  Given the connections available, Qantas, BA, Etihad and Virgin Atlantic are worth looking at.

Now the lazy thing to do is to treat all aircraft by all airlines as relevant.  They are not.  So I have simply reviewed those that operate the long haul flights to NZ (or connect in Australia or the main flights connected to by those airlines).

Bear in mind this is all economy class.  If this really matters to you that much, pay more and go in premium economy or business class.

Seat pitch is the measure used for legroom, which just means the distance between the same point on two rows.  Bear in mind this is not the same in the whole cabin of individual planes, with there being ranges of 2-3 inches on some.  You can check this on websites like Flyertalk where there is a lot of detail about individual seat rows.

So let me fact check the claims in the article, particularly since I took a little time to provide you with a full list of seat pitch and widths for all long haul airliners serving NZ or on major connecting services.

1. "Air New Zealand economy seats were among the most cramped in the skies, the airline tied for 28th place out of 32 airlines with Qatar Airways, which has an economy seat width of between 41.9cm and 45.7cm"

No.  None of Air NZ long haul aircraft have seat widths of 16.5" (41.9cm), but the 17.9" (45.7cm) seat width is also more than any it has (by a tiny amount).  The relevant figures would be 43.4cm-45.2cm.  Air NZ's seat width on the 747s and 777-200s compares well with others being 4th equal.  The 777-300s are tighter at 6th, with Etihad, Emirates (777) Malaysian and Qantas (A330 only) being slightly tighter.  So in fact, Air NZ is rather average.

2. "Budget carrier Ryanair had the most cramped economy seats, offering just 40.6cm of width. Emirates' seats were the most spacious at 45.7cm to 52.1cm."

Yes on Ryanair, but you wont be flying it unless you're in Europe.  Emirates on the other hand draws with the others listed above for having the narrowest seats on the 777 flights to NZ.  Hardly the most spacious is it? Given Emirates squeezes an extra seat in its 777s (Air NZ now does on the 777-300s only) it is not surprising.  The A380s have an additional inch of seat width, but don't reach the 19" of the Singapore Airlines 777-300ERs.  So Emirates is not the widest, as far as flights to NZ as concerned.

3.  "Air New Zealand fared better in the economy legroom category, giving between 76.2cm and 88.9cm of space, putting it in 15th place"

Um not really. Yet neither of those figures represent seat pitch on long haul Air NZ aircraft, which are between those.  The 76.2cm applies to domestic aircraft and the A320s (30") excluding the Space + cabin, the 88.9cm IS Space +.  So given Space + doesn't exist on long haul aircraft, and the seat pitch on long haul aircraft is two inches more than the bottom figure, it really isn't useful.  In fact, Air NZ ranks second best with its 747s only, and other aircraft are comparable (but only some seats on the 777-200s rank with the worst).  

Draw your own conclusions, because it is complex, with different aircraft, airlines buy different seats for them, for different routes.  There is up to a four inch legroom difference between best and worst, and two inches in seat width, but you actually need to check the route you want to fly and what airlines operate there.  Frankly, unless you are flying to Europe from NZ, your choices will be limited to one or two airlines at best.  So choose carefully if this matters and you can't afford to uplift to the next class up.

Most importantly, do you own research, don't believe what a newspaper says.

Air NZ                             Seat Pitch     Seat Width

Boeing 777-300ER          32-33"         17.1"  (3-4-3 configuration) AKL-LAX-LHR

Boeing 747-400               32-34"         17.8"  (3-4-3)  AKL-SFO

Boeing 777-200ER          31-32"         17.8"  (3-3-3)  AKL-HKG-LHR, SFO, YVR, PER

Boeing 767-300               32"               17.5"  (2-3-2)  AKL-HNL, NRT, KIX, PPT

British Airways (from Sydney to Singapore and London)

Boeing 747-400              31"               17.5" (3-4-3)

Boeing 777-300ER         31"               17.5" (3-4-3)

Cathay Pacific (to Hong Kong and beyond)

Airbus A340                   32"               17.8" (2-4-2)

China Airlines (to Taiwan and beyond)

Airbus A330-300           32"                18" (2-4-2) 

China Southern (to Guangzhou and beyond)

Airbus A330-200          35"                 17.2" (2-4-2)

Emirates (to Australia and Dubai)

Boeing 777-300ER         34"               17" (3-4-3) AKL, CHC

Airbus A380                   32"               18" (3-4-3) AKL

Etihad (from Sydney to Abu Dhabi and beyond, codeshares Air NZ)

Airbus A340-600           31-33"          17" (2-4-2)

Korean (to Seoul and beyond)

Boeing 777-200ER         33-34"          18"  (3-3-3)

Boeing 747-400              33-34"          17.2" (3-4-3)

LAN (to Santiago)

Airbus A340                  32"               18" (2-4-2)

Malaysia (to Kuala Lumpur and beyond)

Boeing 777-200             34"               17" (2-5-2)

Qantas (from Sydney, Melbourne to Europe/Asia/North America)

Airbus A380                  31"               18.1" (3-4-3)

Boeing 747-400             31"               17.5" (3-4-3)

Airbus A330                  31"               17" (2-4-2)

Singapore Airlines (to Singapore and beyond)

Boeing 777-300ER         32"                19"  (3-3-3) AKL (and many routes from SIN to Europe)

Boeing 777-200ER         34"                17.5" (3-3-3) AKL, CHC

Airbus A380                   32"                19" (3-4-3) (many flights from SIN to Europe)

Thai (to Bangkok and beyond)

Boeing 777-200ER       34"                 17" (3-3-3)

Virgin Atlantic (from Sydney to Hong Kong and London, and from San Francisco to London, from Shanghai to London all connecting with Air NZ)

Airbus A340-600         32"                 17.5" (2-4-2)

Labour's part privatisation would have been ok, but not National's

Meanwhile, the Labour Party can't reconcile its opposition to part privatisation of SOEs with its own attempt to part privatise Air New Zealand to its biggest foreign competitor.  Apparently because it was once renationalised, this is ok.  However, almost all SOEs are the result of previous nationalisations, and by that measure the Nats selling part of Kiwirail to whoever wanted it, would be fine.

It all started with Sue Moroney insinuating that John Key visiting Australia is all about a sales pitch for the partial privatisation of SOEs, as seen by this Twitter from Sue Moroney

Sue Moroney ‏@suemoroney -Really interesting that the trolling Nats won't deny that John Key is over in Aus flogging off our assets.

Sue Moroney ‏@suemoroney - John Key is in Australia flogging our assets off to them. Dumped Oz PM John Howard says its a great idea. #whatAsuprise!

Of course Labour had no problem with that in its last term, when it sought to sell 22.5% of its renationalised Air New Zealand to the airline's biggest competitor - Qantas.   

I said:

libertyscott ‏@libertyscott @suemoroney Yet Dr Cullen positively favoured selling 20% of Air New Zealand to Qantas, what's changed?

She said:

Sue Moroney ‏@suemoroney @libertyscott Labour bought AirNZ back - that's the difference. It was privatised and we got 80% of it back. Nats selling what we own.

Hold on, but when the state buys something doesn't that mean "we own it"??  

So I confronted that and made the point again.  Labour was ok with selling part of a state asset to a foreign company (and indeed competitor).

libertyscott ‏@libertyscott @suemoroney Wrong you got 86.5% back and sought to sell 22.5% to Qantas, its main competitor. Cullen press release here http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/govt-approves-air-nz-qantas-proposal-proceeding-commerce-commission

She said:

Sue Moroney ‏@suemoroney @libertyscott So you see the difference now?

 I said:

libertyscott ‏@libertyscott @suemoroney You'd support National selling down 22.5% of Air NZ to a foreign competing airline? But not power companies or a coal mining co?

No response.  The contradictions of the Labour Party remain astonishing.  At least the Greens have always had a one way view of state ownership - the more the state owns = good, the less it owns = bad.

Air NZ Airpoints greatly devalued UPDATED

Whilst I usually write about global or NZ politics and bigger issues, this one is more personal to me, and is relevant to all those who fly Air NZ frequently, especially on either long haul trips or premium fares.  

If you've never flown long haul in business class, you shouldn't read this, as you wont understand how much of a hell hole economy class is in comparison.

Air NZ has decided to abolish airpoints upgrades.  In other words, from the end of May 2012, you will no longer be able to request an upgrade using airpoints for a fixed value.  To me, this was one of the greatest benefits of sticking to the programme, even though I live in the UK.

Loyalty programmes are seen across the retail world today, but the first common incarnation of them was with frequent flyer programmes.  They came about as airlines saw an advantage in giving their customers something back if they flew regularly, particularly as the most regular customers tended to be business travellers on more expensive fares. 

The easiest way to do this at the time was to give points or miles according to how far someone flew.  A trip from Auckland to London would provide much more "benefit" to the traveller than a trip from Auckland to Whakatane.   Given that travel in premium cabins generates far more revenue than in economy, especially discount economy, airlines would provide additional points for travel in the front, but may half or even quarter the return from travel in the cheapest seats.

The return for the airline was loyalty, because the frequent traveller could use the points to buy free flights for oneself and family, or to upgrade on leisure trips.  The value being that the high value fares would remain with that airline because those "perks" were worth it.  It has become commonplace for business travellers to pick airlines as much because of loyalty programmes as with standards of service or price (up to a point).

Air NZ saw a flaw in this from its point of view a few years ago in that miles (or km) flown did not reflect revenue it gained from travellers.  A cheap fare to London would earn much more in miles than a person paying the same for a few full fare domestic flights, so it shifted to Airpoints dollars.  This meant Airpoints Dollars earned reflected amounts that more closely related to fares spent in each class for different trips.   From the customer's point of view, it meant Airpoints dollars could be treated as currency and used to buy a ticket with the points as if they were money. 

Another layer was built on top of this by setting up status grades.  For Air NZ it meant that beyond a certain threshold of points earning in a year you could get Silver, Gold or Gold Elite status.  They represented rising layers of priority for service, but most importantly Gold and Gold Elite offered the ability to use Business Class check in and luggage allowance, regardless of class of travel, and access to all Business Class/Koru lounges regardless of class of travel, for ALL Star Alliance airlines (barring the odd exception).  In short, it meant that if you travelled enough especially in premium cabins, you could be treated as a Business Class customer at the airport no matter what class you book in - a major benefit.  In addition, you got priority when booking flights and requesting upgrades.

Upgrades have varied importance in difference airline markets.  Airlines obviously want people to pay to travel in premium economy and business class, because they would go out of business if people always upgraded.  However, the value of allowing upgrades for unsold seats was that it secured strong loyalty.  

Whilst some airlines, notably in the US, offer upgrades quite freely to their customers based on status (and as a result don't have particularly good premium cabins), Air NZ has never as a rule automatically upgraded customers as a right (occasionally it happens for operational reasons).  To get an upgrade on Airpoints you had to request it spending Airpoints dollars or use one of the two maximum "recognition" upgrade vouchers provided to customers with status.  The Airpoints dollars could either be spent on a standby upgrade (which would mean that it would not be confirmed until and unless it was clear the seats wouldn't be sold) or a confirmed upgrade (costing much more and requiring the traveller to not be in a discount fare category).  

Those with the highest status had the highest chance for an upgrade, which was understandable as these were people who spent the most on the airline, or its partners (which credited it with revenue) so were the ones who are the most HVCs (High Value Customers).  Those with plain old Jade status would only get an upgrade if there were seats remaining after Gold Elite, Gold and Silver travellers had had their upgrade requests allocated.  However, if you didn't spent Airpoints Dollars or a voucher on an upgrade, you wouldn't get one (unless circumstances were exceptional).

For a frequent traveller, the ability to spend Airpoints dollars on upgrades on Air NZ long haul flights was highly valued.  It meant that if given the choice between flying economy class on Singapore Airlines or Air NZ, Air NZ would win because there was a chance of spending Airpoints dollars to request an upgrade, whilst earning more Airpoints dollars than if one flew on Singapore Airlines.   Same in comparing Air NZ with Qantas in premium economy (and soon Cathay and Malaysian both of which will offer premium economy).

It meant that frequent long haul travellers in business class could avoid the hell of flying long haul economy if they had status and points to burn, and it kept those travellers loyal to Air NZ on those long haul business class flights.  It also meant premium economy gained a lot more value than it had before, as a "tolerable" compromise class which was worthwhile if there was a chance of upgrading to business from it. 

Air NZ in recent years has tweaked the programme to effectively seriously cut the ability of those paying discount fares to gain status points and Airpoints Dollars in any great volume.  Around 15% of Airpoints members have status, meaning most of those who are members don't fly much.  Those who do fly much (and I have had Gold Elite, Gold or Silver status continuously with Air NZ for 16 years now - currently Gold), the programme has some value.

So what has been announced in the last 24 hours has virtually destroyed that.

Airpoints upgrades are being abolished, in favour of an auction scheme for upgrades.  Instead of simply requesting an upgrade for a fixed value of Airpoints dollars, a traveller will have to make a bid using Airpoints dollars or cash.  It means that frequent flyers with status may be trounced by infrequent flyers with money.  It means that instead of paying for a ticket and simply requesting an upgrade, you have to think about participating in an auction for an upgrade.   

Frankly, I'd rather just request my upgrade and if I get it, lose a fixed sum, if not, just stay put than have all the fun of an auction.

It's simple Air NZ (and as a state owned carrier I can give a damn), the people who request airpoints upgrades are high value customers whose loyalty you ought to want to keep because they generate much of your revenue.   You've now told them that their loyalty, reflected in airpoints dollars, is actually worth precious little because they are being treated like everyone else.  

So loyalty will float off to Qantas/BA/Cathay in OneWorld or Emirates.

The commercial decision to do this appears transparent - airpoints upgrades were clearly too cheap, even though the means to earn airpoints had dropped dramatically.  The airline wants more airpoints burned, but in doing so it has meant that those who earn the most, don't get any recognition for their status.  It also wants money from people bidding on upgrades, but then it would have got that anyway from those people without the airpoints dollars to do it.

The alternatives are clear:

-  Refocus earning airpoints dollars as simply being a percentage of the price of the ticket.  This will mean those who pay the most earn the greatest redemption, providing a modest incentive to pay more.

-  Tighten up the process for assessing standby upgrades to reflect fares paid as well as status.  This also means loyalty is rewarded and it also provides an incentive to pay more.

-   Restrict airpoints upgrades to those with status only.  That also incentivises status and means people will strive for status to get preferential access to upgrades.

However, no.  Air NZ has decided to devalue something that many high value customers regard as worthwhile.

Rumour has it that Qantas sees this as a magic opportunity to offer Gold and Platinum status matches for Air NZ Golds and Gold Elites willing to make the switch.  Given Qantas and Jetstar can rival Air NZ on the Tasman, on most routes to Asia and Europe and the main trunk domestic routes, this could be costly for the airline.

It has the comfort of monopolies on most of its routes, but on the routes I use the most, it has plenty of competition (London-LA, London-Hong Kong-Auckland), including airlines now introducing premium economy.

If you're an airpoints member, then you ought to notice you've just lost some value from your account. If you're not, and you wonder why I'm worked up about it, then just consider me eccentric and a travel snob - because I am.

UPDATED:  Since I wrote this, two things have changed.  First, Air NZ has since announced that it is RETAINING Airpoints Upgrades of fixed value for its Gold Elites.  However, it appears that they will only be confirmed on checkin, when previously they could be confirmed up to one-year in advance.  It appears they will come AFTER OneUp upgrade bids, which means Gold Elites don't exactly get priority, but rather the crumbs.

Secondly, Air NZ's communications to its status Airpoints members have indicated that their OneUp upgrade bids will actually be higher value than those without status.  Silver Airpoints members will have a "premium value" layered on top of their bids, but it is unclear what this means (1%, 10%?).  Gold Airpoints members will have a premium value of "three times that of Silver", but again what does that mean?  Gold Elite is more again.

My chief concern about all of this is the lack of transparency.  I have never minded throwing in an airpoints upgrade request and taking my chances, knowing full well that my chances depend, in part, on my status.  Gold Elite's first, Golds second, Silvers third, everyone else below that.  However, to engage in an auction, where anyone can bid, with cash, not knowing what status means, just cheapens the experience.

I am happy for Air NZ to introduce OneUp upgrades.  Sure, feel free to flog off upgrades to anyone, if you have any left after those with status.  However, give your status Airpoints holders first preference.   Make the leap from economy to business premier much more expensive in Airpoints dollars terms than it is now (because that doesn't reflect the fare difference), but make sure status holders feel valued.