Don't fly Pathetic Blue

[Qkchk:Me]

Story starts at the end of July 08. Qkkid and I had decided to take a couple of days off over on the Gold Coast in November (we are real suckers for the waterparks, it aint cold over there). Being the sensible person I am, I book well ahead so you get a better price - 'like durrgghhh' it ain't rocket science. Look at Air NZ prices - ohh bugger, not cheap anymore since getting rid of Freedom Air. Same for Qantas, hell we are only hiring a seat not the whole bloody aircraft! (p/t) So decide to try Pathetic Blue. Never delt with them before (and after this BS, never will again) but the prices look pretty good. Book the flights and receive the intinerary. 2 months pass..............

So my mother decides that she might come over as well. I look on Pathetic Blues website to see if there are any seats left on our flight. Hmmm, thats strange there is only one flight out and thats for 1600. (We had booked our flight for 0700 to make the most of our time over there) Think nothing more of it as she had to see if she could get the time off etc.... On Saturday (just gone) Mum decides to go ahead and we ring the call center up and ask if there are any seats left on my flight.

Here is the best part..........

The call center rep informed me that Pathetic Blue had changed the flight I had purchased 2 months earlier because of 'route changes'. So this meant my flight time was changed from 0700 in the morning to 1600 in the afternoon after I had made my purchase. I asked him when PB had intended on informing me of this important flight change. His only reply was 'they had you penciled in to be informed'. How bloody pathetic. I had seen something 3 weeks prior and they still 'hadn't got around to telling me' and if I hadn't called them up - Would they have bothered to even inform me?? So now Im slugging it out with them, I have spent 70 mins on Sat and 40mins this arvo trying to sort their stuff and still waiting to see if we can sort this out. Best thing they can do is send us to Sydney then catch a transfer to Gold Coast but then we have to make sure we check our bags back in, blah blah BS. I even asked for a full refund - Pacific Blues policy (I had purchased non-refundable tickets) even if its THEIR fault is that I cant get my money back only a credit. But who would want to fly with them again after all the BS you have to go through? If I went with another carrier I would have to fork out another $900+ just to get over there. The best thing is they cant even upgrade us to better seating or give a vocher for one of their DVD players. So I'm still waiting to see if they can get us on this Sydney flight or if its a 'suck it up' and fly over @ 1600. They are just bloody luck that Qkkid hasnt had the chance to talk to them yet..........

Pacific Blue must be one of the worst companies when it comes to dealing with its customers, even worse than Telecom!

Pacific Blue - You SUCK.

Lesson learnt - At least you can trust Air NZ.

[cynna]

air nz often changes flight times - its bloody annoying but at least they do email you

[scracha]

Get your credit card company to reverse the transaction.

[Maha]

I think you will find most Airlines have their 'moments'...
Two years ago, while taking my daughters to Auckland Airport we realised we left the tickets at home, turned around at Albany and came back to get them. Rang Air NZ and told them we might cut it fine but doing our best to get there. We were three mins late!!
I had to fork out another $300+ to get them on the friggen plane (bastards)

We used Pacific Blue last week for an internal flight (they were quite a bit cheaper then Air NZ) had to pay for my muffin and fizzy drink but what the hell, live a little I say!
They were a tad 'carefree' at checkin, no ID needed and they asked if I had anything sharp?? my reply....''Only my wit''.... got a smile and sent on our way.
The flight crew were full of jokes and the male flight dude was called Troods?...
I will use them again, but for overseas flights? Air NZ!!!

[R6_kid:Me]

Assuming you do fly on them, take only NZ money on the plane, they'll charge you the same amount for what ever you buy, and they dont care if its AUD or NZD... so if you pay in AUD then you are getting charged 40% more for the same item. I thought that was a bit shit.

[P38]

I hear your frustration.

Watch out for the flight to Coolengatta via Sydney.... you probally only land an hour or two ahead of the 1600 direct flight and there is always the possibility of delays at Sydney along with the hassel of Customs and baggage transfer, especially if several flights have landed at the same time which seems to happen a lot there as Sydney is the major hub for Oz.

Try Royal Bruni or Emerates, both are very competitive on their pricing if you can be bothered to sniff out the deals and both give excellent service.

We flew Royal Bruni Auckland to Brisbane for $260nz return last September. Had to keep a close eye on their web site to snare those seats though only four avalible at that price and I bought three of them less than a minute after they were listed

We have also just returned from Melbourne flying Emerates. $580nz return including 3 nights accomidation at the Victoria Hotel in the CBD. Awsome service, even the food was delicious.

Used Virgin Pacific for internal flights in Oz too. They are as good as anyone else and can have some good deals at time.

Quantas is having a big problem with bits falling off their planes at the moment. Two Quantas flights were delayed when we left Melbourne last week. Lots of poor bastards sleeping on the floors in the terminal.

I avoid Air NZ at all costs as I have been on the recieving end of there cock ups too many times.

[Big Dave]

The Air NZ Koru club has free beer.

[merv]

The Air NZ Koru club has free beer.

... and Sav Blanc and sometimes Kapiti Icecream mmmm Vanilla Bean mmmmm and last time I was there American hotdogs with mustard sauce and real blokes tomato sauce mmmm. I'm there for breakfast in the morning what will they give me?

I've only flown Pacific Blue once before from Brisbane to Welly but are risking them domestically next week so let's see how we go.

[scracha]

The Air NZ Koru club has free beer.

That's the least I'd expect after paying their ridiculous joining fee.

[Big Dave]

That's the least I'd expect after paying their ridiculous joining fee.

Co-pilot's gig. I sponge.

[marty]

I'm doing AKL-MEL rtn in a few weeks. $400 return. Business class. Ouch.

[Pussy]

I'm doing AKL-MEL rtn in a few weeks. $400 return. Business class. Ouch.

Over paid aircraft engineers.... pfftt... ag pilots can't afford that sort of extravagance

[doc]

Don't think you will get much sympathy here. Some of us a struggling to recover from the Cold Kiwi. You were in the Gold Coast after all. Must have been real tough. Hope you didn't forget the sunnies

[marty]

Funniest thing is, the wife is going over the day before for work, my daughter and I are following her, and she thinks the $400 (each) is for cattle class!

[dickytoo]

Pacific Blue must be one of the worst companies when it comes to dealing with its customers, even worse than Telecom!

you should try dealing with telstra in australia. it took them nearly two weeks to get me a landline. even had the job penciled in for the wrong address (even after i had been forced to fax them my tenancy agreement - with the address on it, twice).

after that, they mucked me around for nearly two weeks getting my broadband sorted out. told me i was connected, oops, sorry not done at the exchange, try again tomorrow. oops, something wrong with the exchange, try again tomorrow, after another two weeks down the line, i finally get my broadband sorted out. i hate to think how much time i've spent on the phone making many, many phone calls to try and sort things out. i was on hold for long durations during many of these calls.

telstra australia has a deservedly bad reputation is Oz. come to think of it, when i was here two years ago, they mucked up my broadband connection as well, just didn't take as long to sort out.



to keep on topic, air nz made me empty my carry on baggage which had text books in it until i was left with just an empty bag. it was one of those fancy wheeled type bags and weighed about 4kgs empty. i now use just a cheap (and light) backpack so i can at least take some stuff with me when i fly. i always fly air new zealand (mainly because of air points) but may try somebody else when i come back for my chrissie break.