AirNewZealand joins the ranks ripping us off on CC charges.
Filed under: Cost of living, General Budgeting, Getting to New Zealand, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
Hat tip to KiwiBlog and Lance Wiggs.
From the 15th December, Air New Zealand are going to add on another extra charge to your flight.
A Credit Card Fee.
- $2 for domestic New Zealand fares
- $5 for short haul Tasman and Pacific Island fares
- $10 for long haul fares
Even worse – if thats possible, they are going to charge you per one way leg, even though it is only 1 single Credit Card transaction. How the hell they justify that I have no idea. Probably some bullshit about how they are charging flat fees rather than a % which works out cheaper for us so they are being nice to us really. Bollocks to that.
And I was really beginning to like Air New Zealand.
Now, for those who want to check this out, as I did, you can find the info here. I couldn’t find it at first, and after 10 minutes of searching the website, was beginning to think this was a figment of someones imagination – but no.
So, you dont have to pay the fees if you pay using:
- Internet banking (POLi)
- Air New Zealand Airpoints Dollars™*
- Air New Zealand Travel Card
- Cash or EFTPOS at an Air New Zealand Holidays store or travel agent
- *Bookings made with a mix of Airpoints Dollars and Credit/Debit card are not charged a CPF.
I’m personally curious as to how they are going to make it possible for us to book online and then pay in cash at an AirNZ store – but hey – I’m willing to go to the effort, and as with the bank, make them pay staff to a job that they have the sodding cheek to charge me for when I do it for them.
As an alternative, I wonder just how little they will let us pay on our Air Points – can we pay $5 on airpoints, the rest on CC, and then not pay the fee?
How bloody stupid is this? Still no line item for Staff Toilet Rolls though 
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WTG! One Kiwi gives naked scanners the finger!
With thanks to Deborah for the heads up 
Following on from my blog the other day about the new TSA “security” measures that are causing a ruckus in the US, it turns out that Heathrow and Manchester have the same measures in place. And one James Holder from Auckland refused to be scanned, after he got pulled out for the extra measures when he had gone through a metal detector without setting it off.
Is it just me, or would it at least make some semblance of sense if you were put through the second scanner if you set the metal detector off rather than if you go through the metal detector and don’t set it off???
Mr Holder was in Europe for work and was on his way home when he was selected for scanning this week. He said he politely refused the scan.
He said it was a step too far in personal invasion and he did not wish to see it enforced upon every traveller.
“It’s the principle that gets me. Some dodgy looking security officer inspecting my nude body on the screen magnifying areas that are of interest. What happens if they make this the standard procedure?”
He was happy to be stripped, searched, and patted down, but British airport security told him that was no longer a choice.
“Apparently it’s the body scanner or nothing … The law it seems offers no rights to another option.”
The Good News?
In New Zealand the body scanners are prohibited under the Aviation Crimes Act.
The Event
Just started watching this (and yes – I know it’s fiction), but someone phones the airline and says “There’s a terrorist on board that plane”, and the numpty in charge faffs around for a few minutes trying to work out if this is a joke or not, allowing the plane extra time to get away. Not to mention the fact that someone actually managed to get a gun on the plane, and it seems if the pilot is in fact the terrorist – you’re screwed cos he lock out the Air Marshal from getting in to the cockpit to save the plane.
Special Underwear now available!
CargoCollective has produced a range of undies that have the 4th Amendment written on them, in a metallic ink that apparently shows up at the scanners. Now that’s funny.
Funnier would be a nice set with this image on it – though I imagine that would land you in jail pretty smartly.
No sense of humour these “security” guys – that’s the problem! You can’t be a proper security expert without a warped sense of humour.
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Would NZ accept TSA style “security” at airports?
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, Life in New Zealand
If you take any notice of world news, you will probably be aware that there are issues in the US (where else) regarding the next level of “security” measures being foisted on the travel public. The issue is that the TSA (Transportation Security Administration – a government agency) has been using high level X-Ray scanners for a small proportion of travelers. These basically give an image of your body underneath your clothes. I don’t think too many of us would be comfortable with that. You can choose to opt out of this – but at that point you are then given a pat-down. Now this is NOT the usual pat down you get if you happen to set off the metal detectors becuase you have a forgotten hair grip in your pocket!
No – this is a full pat down, which includes having your breasts groped, and having someone feel between your legs.
It is being likened to sexual assault, something I can fully understand. I would not accept that. I am not alone in that, and there are now hundreds of complaints being made in the US about these screening procedures. These procedures were even being done on children, Now the TSA has said that children under 12 are exempt – but that still leaves teenage children at the mercy of adults touching them in a way that is considered inappropriate, but somehow is allowed when the US Government does it. Why?
The images from the full body scanners are not supposed to be saved or stored, however Gizmodo has managed to get hold of 100 of these “they will never be stored” images. Apparently the people involved are relatively lucky in this imager was not taking the clearer pictures where little is left to the imagination.
Theres a very good blog showing the issues with this latest “Security” measures, from John Tyner, who refused a body scan and a pat down. Please do read it if you ever intend to fly to the USA. You need to know just how you could be treated, and that you are likely to bullied and threatened if you choose to stand up for your right to be treated with dignity.
The TSA believes “if you don’t like it – don’t fly”. Which is why we refuse to travel to the USA, and have done since they started requiring fingerprints for us to travel there. We are clearly not the only ones who refuse to travel to the US, and it looks like rather than things improving over time, the “security” is getting more extreme, not less. And “freedom” in the USA is a distant myth – with too many people willing to give up their dignity (and that of their children) for the sake of a 1 in 25 million chance of being caught in a terrorist plot on an airline. It’s barmy.
And the barmiest thing of all:
TSA estimates that fewer than 2 percent of the 2 million passengers screened daily, or 40,000, are given the patdowns.
This is what people really need to get their heads round with airport security (in fact any security). This is a procedure that is being carried out of just 2% of the people you are flying with. 98% of the travelers on your plane will NOT go through this extra screening – they could well have set off the metal detector and got an old fashioned pat down. So all this grief, all this mis treatment of people, all this groping of peoples genitals – covers a whopping 2% of the flying public. If the danger was real, everyone would have go through it. Not just 2%. 2% isn’t going to “catch” another “underwear bomber”.
So what does this have to do with New Zealand?
Well, there is an issue with travel to and from NZ. When we first came here, we could not choose to fly with Air New Zealand, as they only fly from the UK via the US. As more and more people refused to fly via the US, Air NZ opened up flights via Hong Kong. I think that says quite a bit about how many people won’t fly via the US.
But more worrying, as a result of the latest media interest in the new scanning procedures, the Dom Post ran a (totally unscientific) poll on whether people thought the pat downs were justified.
It worries me that more Kiwis aren’t mad about these issues. 40% thinking this behavior is acceptable is actually worrying.I wonder if they realise just what these patdowns entail. I hope that if ever the NZ government loses the plot and for some strange reasons think that these invasive and demeaning measure will somehow stop terrorists, that the NZ people tell them to get stuffed. It wont. The only terrorists here are the TSA who are treating the American Public like paces of crap and hoping that continued fear will keep the public in line. Unfortunately it seems to be working.
Interestingly – in Australia, the “security du jour” is an explosives test, where people are ”randomly” taken out of the normally security line and given an extra test. Now its annoying, and honestly, I’d love to know if they have ever found any explosives residues, cos I imagine it’s just as pointless. What I can say is that is It is not in the slightest bit random.
You see, until this trip, every single time I have been though an Aussie airport, I have been given this extra screening. I finally figured out why I was being targeted. It’s becuase Hubby takes longer than me to re-pack his laptop up, and I wait for him before heading off to the shopping area. I’m a target becuase I’m standing around. I got through without being screened this time, because I didn’t wait around at the security check, but went on through. This meant that poor hubby got the explosives test instead of me, because he was waiting round too long.
That means the test isn’t random. Which suggests that neither are these scans or patdowns – which begs the question – how are the staff really choosing who to screen? Are they even aware that they actually aren’t picking random travelers?
There are many things to be afraid of in this world, but giving in to terrorism like this is not the way to fight this. The people who flew those planes into the WTC have managed to completely alter the American way of life and sense of what freedom means. If you chose to fly to or from the US, or in the country – you have no freedom.
I hope one day they wake up and realise what they have given up, and decide that the only real way to fight terrorism is to refuse to give up your freedoms. In the mean time – well done to John Tyner for standing up to the TSA and refusing to be terrorised by a bunch of bureaucrats. And I remain grateful that I live in country that continues to refuse to give in to the sillier “security” abuses.
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Air New Zealand 1: Listener Magazine 0.
It seems that the New Zealand Listener magazine ran an article saying that Air New Zealand was heading towards become a budget airline on its flights to Australia. Personally I can actually attest to the fact that the flights have improved – you now get a choice of movies to watch and personal screens.
However here is the article. [Updated 19/6/2011, sorry the Listener no longer has a link to the article]
In answer, Rob Fyfe, CEO of Air New Zealand took out a 1 page ad in the papers last week (part of it shown here):
And for those of us who cant read that – take a look at the video here.
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