Flying to the Snow in New Zealand
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- Do I fly direct?
- Which airline should I use?
- How much luggage am I allowed?
There's a huge difference. In our example below of 1 suitcase and 1 ski bag, the cost ranges from $15 on Air NZ to $160 on Jetstar - per person! Let’s take a look ...
Direct New Zealand Flights?
Depending on where you are coming from flying direct might not be a good idea. But I hear you say, “Surely it’s best to fly direct”. Saves all that hassle of renting a car or transport, right? Maybe.
Let’s assume you are flying in to Queenstown domestically. Let’s also correctly assume that Queenstown is located within the heart of the mountains and is a difficult place to fly into. Well, if you fly Air NZ, their planes are equipped with Required Navigation Performance (RNP) technology, meaning they can land or take off in bad weather, when other airlines can’t. Actually, there is only one other airline that flies into Queenstown – it’s Jetstar. So, if you fly Jetstar and it’s bad weather, expect a 6 hour bus ride from Christchurch. Jetstar say they are adding RNP in 2010. Jetstar can't land at Invercargill, like Qantas used to, as their baggage handling is different.
Now let’s assume you are flying direct from Australia. Well, Air NZ is now adding RNP to its Australian routes. John Harrison, GM Air New Zealand, Australia says, “We can’t control the weather, but we will have a highly advanced capability in place that will greatly reduce disruptions due to weather and low clouds, which means customers can plan their ski holidays with much more certainty when flying on Air New Zealand”. So that’s good news. Less chance of ending up in Invercargill, as lovely a place as it is...
Flights aside, the other consideration is that if you fly into a major hub, such as Christchurch, and rent a car, it gives you plenty of opportunity to visit other areas en-route, such as boutique areas like Ohau. More variety, more flexibility, certainly a decision factor.
Which Airline to Use
Well we kind of covered that in the last point, but there is another factor that you might consider in your choice of airline. Flight frequency. Some airlines fly routes with limited capacity, in terms of planes, so if something goes wrong then the news may not be good. Expect delays of hours (and sometimes days!) if they don’t have another plane available. Some discount airlines simply won’t put you on another airline, as I experienced recently: you wait while your precious holiday hours tick away. So my recommendation is to choose an airline that flies frequently, or at least is able to divert you on another route to get you there. I’d have to say again, that Air New Zealand is pretty good at this.
Luggage Allowances
Ok, here’s the big one. Who allows the most? Because let’s face it, when you go skiing you do have a lot of stuff. Last week I flew to Ruapehu. I had 27kg - and had packed light. So, domestically, how do they all stack up when comparing the cheapest fare type?
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Free luggage allowance |
Additional |
Per bag |
Sporting goods allowance |
Child Equipment |
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1 bag |
- |
$15 for another 1 bag (up to 23kg) |
One snowboard and one pair of snow skis each count as one piece of baggage. Max weight limit of 32kg. |
Free | |
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None |
$10/kg over 23kg |
Free | |||
| Jet Star |
None |
$10/kg |
$40 for 20kg if booked through the call centre or website or $80 if at the airport | Skis and other 'bulky items' may be included in the 20kg baggage allowance at Jetstar's discretion. | Free |
So here’s an example under the baggage allowances. One person is flying Christchurch to Queenstown with 1 suitcase and 1 ski bag, weighing a total of 30kg.
- Air NZ will charge you $15
- Pacific Blue will charge you $80 ($10 for prebooked 23kg + $70 for 7kg excess) or $90 if you don't prebook*
- Jet Star will charge you $140 ($40 for prebooked 20kg + $100 for 10kg excess) or a whopping $180 if you don't*.
If you are flying as a family this might mean hundreds of dollars of baggage charges. Ouch!
*Obviously there are different fare structures on offer with baggage allowance included which would reduce these costs. For the excercise above we assumed the cheapest possible fare type for each airline.
In Conclusion...
If you sum all that up, the airline you may decide to fly is Air New Zealand for route options, frequency and luggage costs. You obviously do also have a choice in New Zealand of Pacific Blue and Jetstar, but they do come with potential compromises. It’s your holiday and it’s really important you get there on time. What’s it worth to you to make that happen – probably a lot!
And, out of interest, who do we fly? We either drive (being based in Christchurch) or, to be honest, fly Jetstar or Pacific Blue because typically they are cheaper. But we know we should fly Air NZ, it’s just they are so popular and generally more expensive!
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